When you read actively, you use strategies that help you stay focused. Active reading is different from reading novels or magazines for pleasure. Pleasure reading doesn’t require you to annotate, highlight, or take notes. As you read college textbooks, though, you’ll use all these strategies and more. This plan will increase your focus and concentration, promote greater understanding of what you read, and prepare you to study for tests and exams. Here are the four steps in active reading designed to help you read college textbooks: