This is the most effective way to learn

Chapter 59 "SQ3R" Reading Method
This five-step reading method first appeared in a university in the United States. Later, it was widely used in the United States, Britain and European countries.Some foreign educators and psychologists believe that this reading method is in line with the general thinking rules in people's reading, and it is helpful to understand the content of books and enhance personal memory.

The five-step reading method process includes five steps, namely S-Q-R-R-R.

Get an overview of the material and get the big impression

The first step: Survey, that is, by reading some chapters of the material to be studied, such as the main points of the chapter, the summary, the list of learning objectives, the preface, the conclusion, etc., and make an overview of the entire material to obtain an overall grasp of the entire material.

The overview stage can be used at several different reading levels, for example it can be used for an entire book or a chapter or a section within a chapter.Reading an entire book is sometimes called an overview, and reading a chapter is sometimes called a preview or survey.We collectively call it an overview here, and the same is true if you browse an article in an encyclopedia or a magazine.

(1) When you start to browse a chapter (or section), you should pay attention to how the chapter you want to read matches the overall plan of the book.For example, is it one of the themes that is paralleled with other chapters throughout the book?Does it provide a background for later chapters?Is it a further elaboration of the knowledge introduced in previous chapters?

(2) Look at the number of pages in this chapter, make a rough estimate of the total time required to read this chapter, and decide how much time to spend on this chapter.

(3) Note that this chapter is divided into several main parts or topics, and decide how much content you plan to read now. Do you want to understand the main points of the entire chapter, or read the first section in its entirety?
(4) Study the title of the chapter, convert the title of the chapter into a question form, and consider:
What does this topic mean.

What is already known about this content.

(5) Read the main headings and subheadings on the first page of this chapter. These headings will tell learners some key words about the chapter, important ideas and how they are organized, and then convert the main subheadings into questions.

(6) Read the introduction and summary (or the first and last paragraphs), and if there are some reflection questions at the end of the chapter, read them too.

(7) Read also the sentences, phrases or words marked in bold or italics.

(8) See what visual presentation methods are used, such as charts, pictures, curves, etc., and read the titles of these charts.

(9) If necessary, further estimate the time required or the number of readings to be made.

(10) Pause and think about the various questions posed during the browsing phase.

ask questions, provoke thought

The second step: Question, question, before starting to read the data fragments in detail, there must be clear and concise questions, it is best to write them down.This step can help people focus on the key parts of the chapter when reading. Of course, only the questions are not enough, it is best to also ask the bottom line at the same time.

There are three basic types of questions in the questioning phase.From these basic questions lead to all other specific questions.

Type [-] Questions: What do I already know?
For example:

What does the title of the chapter mean?
What information do I already have on this?
What does the main title and subtitle say (or what are the key words in this chapter)?

What is the relationship between the main title and the chapter title?
What is the relationship between the main heading and the subheading?

Where had I heard this view or this vocabulary before?
Is this idea (vocabulary) similar to a previous idea in another discipline?

Which subsection was the hardest (or took the most time) for me?

Given what I already know, how likely am I to reasonably get there now?

Type [-] Questions: What is the author trying to tell me?
For example:

What question might he be trying to answer?
Can I predict some of the facts, opinions or examples he will provide?

What will he tell me that I didn't know before?
How will the author prove his point?

Can he substantiate his point with examples?

Is the author's point of view the same as my teacher's point of view?Which one is more reasonable?
Did the author explain concepts that I didn't grasp in class today?

Type [-] Questions: What do I want to achieve?
For example:

What guidance has the teacher given in the lecture?

My purpose is: ①To understand the background (experience) of the next lecture? ②Make some notes for review before returning the book to the library? ③Preparing for the next exam? ④ Remember all the content of a certain part? ⑤ Searching for materials for a dissertation assignment?
What questions do you have at the end of this chapter?
What should I know or do after reading this chapter?
Read the material with a judgmental eye
The third step, Read, is also the most important step.Read carefully, actively and with a critical eye.Didn’t you prepare some questions in the second step? You can try to find the answers by yourself during the reading process. During this process, you will often find that new questions follow. Don’t worry, this is a good sign.Learners can reflect on the meaning of the material they read, think about possible exceptions and contradictions, test assumptions in the book, and so on.

The reading stage is an intermediate stage for SQ[-]R or all other methods.Reading without preparation for the skimming and questioning phases often results in incomplete understanding or inattentive, distracted attention, leading to unnecessary rereading.Without the retelling and review phase, much of what was read would be forgotten by the next day.The reading phase can be repeated in combination with other phases.It is often necessary to do this in order to reach a level of understanding.

(1) Conduct the necessary fast reading training (High Speed ​​Drill).

3 minutes to 5 minutes of fast reading training will improve reading comprehension and encourage the use of the right brain.During practice learners will unconsciously absorb a large amount of content so that comprehension will be more rapid in actual reading.

(2) Go back and start reading a chapter or section, using intuitive information to understand the content at a speed that the learner feels relaxed and slightly faster.

(3) During the reading, try to answer the most important questions raised during the browsing and questioning stages.

Do your best to find key passages that help answer your main question.

Notice how the details relate to the main points, whether by reasoning, examples, or subdivision into smaller parts.

Pay attention to key words that indicate a turning point, such as "on the other hand," "the second point is," "another reason," and so on.

Pay particular attention to italics, boldface, and phrases.

(4) On the first reading, don't stop to reread difficult passages or ponder over unfamiliar words, or go back and look for missing details.To read straight on, fairly quickly, to the end.

(5) After reading it for the first time, it immediately enters the stage of retelling.By retelling, you can tell yourself whether this part needs to be re-read in its entirety.If you need to re-read, you need to find another time (second time).

note:

(1) In the case of time constraints, it is always more effective to read the content two or three times quickly than to read it slowly.When reading repeatedly, learners will strengthen what they have noticed (grasp) in the first reading, and can incorporate details into the overall framework that has been obtained, so the effect of understanding and memory is better.

(2) It is better to skip the particularly difficult place or stare at it to understand it.This is because:
Reading on will reduce tension, and worrying will only make things worse.

The brain has the opportunity to think about these difficult points unconsciously.Just like sometimes we also have this kind of situation during the exam, some questions can't be thought of or answered, but afterwards we find that we understand it completely.

When the learner goes back, there will be other information to help them understand this difficulty.The brain has an automatic mechanism to fill in the gaps, and this context is often helpful when reading.

(3) When learners encounter certain details or main concepts in a paragraph, it will help to answer their own questions. They can draw key points, make eyebrows, or mark with highlighters to strengthen the impression.

The following are the principles of drawing key points:
After reading a paragraph, draw the main points.If you draw key points while reading, you will find that some key points are actually not important.

Don't draw too many points.Draw too many points on the book, but you can't see the point.In principle, the emphasis on each page should not exceed [-]% of the information on the page.

Drawing key points helps to make reading notes.

Use double lines, curved lines or yellow highlighters to draw the most important concepts, only draw one most important concept in each paragraph, and only draw lines at its key points.If the main concepts are scattered in several paragraphs, they can be marked with numbers such as [-], [-], [-], etc. to facilitate memory.

Draw important details with a single line.Usually do not draw more than two important details in each paragraph, and only draw lines at its key points.

The most important concepts can be marked with "※" in the blank space of the book to facilitate review.

The definitions of important academic terms can be marked with circles.

Important details such as examples, cause and effect, steps, characteristics, etc. can be noted in the margins of the book with words such as "example", "cause", "effect", "step" and "feature" to facilitate reference.

Retell the material and test the effect of reading
The fourth step, Recite, describe and elaborate.In this step, you can restate or explain the material you have read to yourself or a study partner, and you can answer any questions you posed earlier, preferably out loud.This process can help learners clarify their understanding and mastery of the material they read. The psychologist's suggestion is to share the material with peers or repeat it out loud by themselves.

This stage is called recitation (recording, summarizing or quiz) in other learning methods.They are all about retelling about going over something you have just read or learned from cover to cover, summarizing it either through oral retelling, taking notes in some way, or by answering questions.

Without this stage of retelling, within a day or two, learners will forget [-]% of what they have read.Only with immediate retelling is it possible to remember [-]% or more.

(1) Close the book (or put it aside).In some subjects, especially science, when you have to prove what you understand and remember, you may spend half of your study time closing your books.

(2) Try to answer the most important questions, and try to use your own language to give examples when answering.When examining retelling situations, it is a good practice to come up with a model.Models can become progressively more complex as the amount of comprehension and retelling increases.

(3) Try to use visual representation methods such as charts, curves or block diagrams.If these visual forms are important in themselves, they are best described from memory.

(4) Grasp more details on the main points that learners should remember (people's subconscious will discover more details).

(5) Write down the questions that you still have to answer or the terms that you don't fully understand.

(6) Open the book again, browse this section or chapter again to check the understanding and accuracy of your answers and visual representations, and further supplement the question list that needs to be answered.

(7) If necessary, the two stages of questioning, reading and retelling can be carried out again, specifically focusing on:

Clear up the difficulties.

Perfect understanding.

(8) Restate the main points and main details of the entire chapter. Specifically, two pages can be used:

One page breaks down the entire chapter into keyword models, and each keyword should remind us of the main points and ideas associated with it.

Another page collects specific material such as formulas, definitions, statistics, diagrams, and questions that cannot easily be put into a model.Learners can relate these materials to models numerically or symbolically.

(9) Look for opportunities to repeat or apply what has been learned.Each retelling not only helps learners memorize new information, but also reinforces what has already been mastered.

Timely review materials to achieve long-term memory

The fifth step, Review, review (should also be accompanied by comments) is a necessary condition for memorizing the materials you have learned.Revisiting and reflecting on the previous steps allows you to notice how different parts of the material fit together, and it also helps develop learners' panoramic understanding of the learning content.

Regular review will consolidate what is memorized.That is, it converts information initially stored in short-term memory into long-term storage.Furthermore, it ensures that stored information can be easily retrieved if necessary.

If the learner has already used the SQ[-]R method, each review should only take a few minutes, because it is necessary to review what they have learned, rather than learning what they did not master the first time or relearning what they have forgotten. again.

(1) The first review should be done immediately after the study.It should usually only take [-] to [-] minutes, because the impression is still fresh in the brain at this time, and the review can make the information be caught before it slips away.In other words, instant review prevents forgetting.

After completing the retelling stage, rest for [-] to [-] minutes, stretch your shoulders, stand up and walk around, rub your eyes and so on.While you are resting, your brain will make stronger internal connections to what you have learned.

When reviewing after a break, consider which of the following review methods is more appropriate.

Learners can use the prepared keyword models.First, don't look at the model, see if you can paraphrase the main points at the same time, and check.Then go back and check the main points again to see if you can paraphrase more detailed points at the same time and check again.If a keyword cannot elicit the required information, it means that you need to find a more appropriate keyword to replace it.

If learners are now reviewing the entire chapter they have read, they need to prepare a keyword model that can summarize the entire chapter. When they can repeat each key point and sub-point, the brain will re-search and Keyword model associated details.

If the learner has already taken notes from a book or a lecture given by the teacher, it is possible to scan the notes briefly to see how the content of these notes fits with the keyword model.You can use lines, numbers, symbols, etc. to connect the content of the notes to the keyword model.

(2) The second review should be done the next day in order to strengthen the memory again before the information is gradually forgotten.This review should also only take [-] to [-] minutes.The first review and the second review take a total of [-] to [-] minutes, but it can save several hours of review before the exam in the future.

(3) The third review should be done one week later.The fourth time should be a month later.This not only strengthens the memory, but also provides an account of your own progress in the course.

(4) Obviously, a final review is required before the exam.The more effective the previous few revisions are, the less time you will spend revising before the exam and the more knowledge you will gain.

In fact, the above steps may be used in different ways when learning. The teacher has mentioned it, and we may have used it unconsciously.However, they are not systematically linked into several progressive steps.The most important thing is that there is no corresponding training in this area, so the effect is not ideal, and it can only be obtained by one's own self-awareness and enthusiasm for learning.If we can implement this method and persevere, we will be able to receive good results.

Finally, it must also be stated that no learning method is a panacea, let alone a fixed dogma.The only criterion for testing a learning method is to see whether it is effective for improving your academic performance.Therefore, when choosing and using learning methods, in addition to paying attention to absorbing other people's experience and learning those recognized excellent methods, we must also emphasize that in the learning practice, we must transform and innovate them according to individual specific conditions.

(End of this chapter)