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Note: Thispost is about general reading skills that work best with print (paper) resources. Part 2 is on making the most of electronic readings, which require a few different skills.
Before, During, and After
First, don’t read the way I read here at College: I’d pick up a text, go to the beginning, and start reading.
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Do this and you will learn much more than when you simply read and highlight. And you will still remember much of it in a week or a month.
Before you read – Scan & Quiz:
Before you read, stop. Prepare your mind to receive this new information, and you can do this with the first two parts of SQ3R:
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You may feel like you don’t have time to do this and just need to hurry up and read the text. Over the last 20 years, educational research has shown that testing yourself before you study is one of the very best ways to learn. It’s an investment: Practise it, and you will understand and retain much more. Skip it, and you will remember very little.
During – Read & Recite:
Now you are ready to read, but again, don’t just start at the front, read everything in order, and walk away. Instead, engage in active reading strategies:
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A marked-up page of a reading. Note there are more comments than highlights.
After – Review:
Now that you have read the text, it is time to consolidate all that information. This is the final step to becoming an even better reader.
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And do this periodically, at ever-increasing intervals. Thus, you finish your notes one day, and review them the next. But then – and here is an important key – wait until you start to forget that information, and then try to retrieve it from your memory. Somehow, the harder the recall, the better the learning. So first review it in a day, then in a few days, then in a week, then after an even longer interval. Then you will remember that material and be able to use it for years to come.
TIP:
Your DBT units have mandatory quizzes on which you must answer every question correctly. These questions should guide you to the major points. Note the questions you get wrong, find the correct answers, and ask why they are right. Review what you don’t know, and spend little time on what you do know.
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