Longer essays (sometimes greater than 85 lines) present two additional challenges:

1. They waste your time simply by taking so long to read.
2. They become much harder to map intuitively.

Skim
The most efficient way to read long essays is to read closely for the main idea but skim through the details. The amount you skim will depend on you, but you will hurt yourself by treating each word as vitally important. (The same principle could apply to short essays, but because they are much shorter, it is just easier to avoid thinking about importance and instead read every word on short essays.)

Prioritize
Read the paragraphs strategically.

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3a. Short Essays

4. Find the Big Idea