One of the professors who taught me in my first year in university used to say that to be able to fully understand a paper you have to read it three times: once to know what it’s about, twice to actualy get understand it, and a third time to highlight the contents and take notes. I admit I never read a paper more than twice in arrow, but she made me understand the importance of fully understanding a document. Over the years, I developed a strategy to prepare for class as best as I could. Here are some of the key points.