You will need to reserve sufficient time for reading. You should read the designated chapters for each week before the lecture. The lecture will often not repeat the material introduced there, but will instead try to provide more background and examples. If you have not done the reading, you may well be lost. The extra reading you can fit in as you find time and provides additional material.

You will find it useful to make notes while reading. Preparing a text doesn’t mean just reading it—you might want to underline central passages (for example, definitions of terminology), so that you can find them easily again, summarise main points and your own ideas in the margin, and take notes concerning specific questions that arise.

You may find it useful to take careful notes in class and in the tutorials. We will not make a point of repeating information from readings in class: we will be assuming that you have read it and will build discussions on this basis. If you have not read the reading, it may make your participation in a class difficult or impossible.

You will find it beneficial to go over your notes regularly. If you never look at your notes again until one week before the final exam, they will probably make little sense to you any longer! Review regularly so that you maintain the overview.