Is it counterproductive to read very long text books during an MSc program? One of the professors for my MSc in Computer Science told me that students should not read textbooks that have more than (around) 250 pages during the 4-month semesters of coursework. The reason is, according to him, that a 4-month semester is a limited time to study and successfully pass all the courses. Trying to read big/heavy textbooks is nothing but a waste of time, and it reduces the chance of getting good grades.
Have you ever heard about this theory before? Is this theory very popular at your university?
I haven't heard of such a thing, but can understand where it comes from. But my advice would be that doing teaches you much more than reading. In CS we often build things to reinforce learning. Textbooks can provide useful exercises. And one learns, primarily, through repetition (reinforcement) and feedback. Only a few people have a &quot;photographic memory&quot; and even then, being able to recall some text doesn't mean that you have gained insight from it.
Seek insight. Reinforcement and feedback. Hopefully the professor provides feedback, but programs (when they fail) can also do that.
I don't think the professor means to ignore textbooks, however. Use them &quot;just enough&quot; to gain insight.