How to read textbooks for your qualifying exam

I recently received a question from Ilesha, a PhD student asking about how to get through entire textbooks when studying for their qualifying exam (also known as candidacy exam and comprehensives). There are a lot of study methods out there, but here is a method that I used (that worked quite well) to get the best return on my investment in time spent studying. Not all topics are equally important and there is never enough time to read the whole book*.
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[UPDATE 1]: Now includes some of my own mind-map examples

Before you even start studying...

My immediate advice is that you usually don't have to read an entire textbook. Something that helped me a lot: I visited with each of my committee members and asked them to tell me which chapters (in which books) they think I should know well for the exam.

Some of them might not want to tell you (but that is rare). Usually they are happy to give you suggested readings and textbook recommendations. Just make sure to ask them which chapters they recommend too. Bring the book with a pen so that they can directly circle the chapters in the table of contents.

But whether it's only a few chapters or they say "Understand the whole book," you still need a good strategy for getting through all that content. The method that I used most successfully was to build mind-maps (here is an example of how to do it: http://www.usingmindmaps.com/how-to-mind-map-a-text-book.html).

Creating study mind-maps:

I purchased a big spiral-bound drawing pad and created a mind-map for each key subject I needed to study. (Here's a link on the basics of mind-mapping.)

I would take one subject at a time, read the title headings within each chapter and then pull out the main topics as the first branches of the mind-map. Often I'd reference more than one textbook at a time when I did this due to the overlap between textbooks (e.g., more than one book might have a chapter on invasive species, herbivory, competition, etc.).

Then I'd go into each branch and expand on the main subheadings. Once the main branches and subbranches were complete, I'd start going into more detail and "foliating" the mind-map by studying each subject as I saw necessary.

A few points to keep in mind:

1. Draw everything in pencil first (so you can correct mistakes), but eventually color it. The color helps the final mind-map pop out off the page and stimulate your brain in a way that helps with memory.
2. Draw pictures along with/or instead of the words when possible. Again, this visual component helps with memory.
3. Traditional mind-map techniques suggest ending every branch with a single word. This can be difficult to do for a complex subject like ecology and I think it is fine to end with a statement or sentence. Technical figures or diagrams are also helpful here.
4. Creating the mind-map itself does take time. It takes a lot longer to make a nice one than you might think--but that whole time you are studying effectively.
5. The process of creating the mind-map not only helps you study, but now you have something you can use to study with.
6. All said, this process makes going through a textbook much faster. This is because it forces you to first outline the content hierarchically (chapters, then headings, then subheadings, etc). The non-linear outline (i.e., first few sets of mind-map branches) then helps you focus your reading and attention on what you know the least or what is most important for the exam (rather than spending a lot of time on the chapters that might come first in the book, but are worth less of your time).
7. Finally, I'll add that you will never feel completely prepared, and THAT IS OK. I did not have the time and energy to read everything that I wanted to, but I passed the general knowledge exam anyway. The mind-map helped me focus my limited energy/time on what mattered most even if it meant I left some subjects understudied. If anything, the feedback I got from my committee was that I could have focused my studying even more on the objectives of my research and a bit less on the peripheral subjects.

Key take-homes:

1. Remember that not all topics are equally important to study and you will not have enough time to read everything anyway.
2. Go through an entire textbook(s) quickly by reading only chapter titles, headings, and subheadings to create an outline mind-map for organizing the subject matter.
3. Then spend your time carefullying filling out the "leaves" of the mind-map by reading the most important (or least understood) sections FIRST.​

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So, here are some of my own mind-maps from my quals studying days. I have to admit, I didn't do so well in the color arena... ​??Feel free to use these if you'd like, but I can't guarantee accuracy (or spelling!). haha

​Have your own mind-maps for studying ecology (or related fields)? Send me an email and I'll share and post them here.

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* Check out the Pareto Principle (also known as the 80/20 Rule).

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