In the pursuit of academic success, effective reading strategies play a vital role in ensuring you get good grades. A method that has stood the test of time is in fact, the SQ3R reading method. This strategy was developed by psychologist Francis P. Robinson, an american educational philosopher!
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What are the Benefits of the SQ3R Method?
SQ3R actually stands for Survey, Question, Read, Recite and Review!
The SQ3R method promotes active reading which essentially means that you are actively engaged whilst you are reading. This actually helps your memory retain information far better, as you are focusing on the most relevant information!
Let’s start!
1. Survey: An Important Part of All Reading Strategies
The very first step is to survey, which involves previewing the material right before diving into it.
This basically entails skimming the material in order to get a feel for the main topics.
These are the main things you should look out for in the text:
- The Introduction
- The introduction will usually briefly entail what the topic is about, which will already help you out in understanding the topic.
- The Headings and Subheadings
- These will usually give you more insight into what details the topic will go into.
- The Pictures, Charts Etc.
- Visuals are often very helpful for most people, so looking at the charts and pictures in the text will help you grasp the general idea better.
Still, this doesn’t need to take you much longer than 10 minutes! It’s usually a skill that you can build up with time, which is why it’s good to practice this a lot more in the beginning.
Once you’ve done this, you will be one step closer to approaching your reading with a clearer focus!
2. Question
Once you have surveyed the material, the next step is to formulate questions based on the headings and subheadings you encountered!
This reading strategy will guide your reading, making it an active and engaging process!
Let’s use an example! If the heading happens to be ‘The Causes of World War II’, you would when try to create a question related to that. Your question could be something like ‘What were the main causes of World War II?’
By creating questions, you create a purpose for reading and prime your mind to actively search for answers, improving comprehension and retention!
3. Read: One Of the Most Important Parts of All Reading Strategies!
Now that you’ve solidified the questions which you have in mind, you can now enter the reading step!
During this step, make sure that you are keeping every question you formulated in mind! Look out for these key things whilst reading:
- The First Sentence of each paragraph which usually has the main idea!
- It’s not always easy to pay so much attention to every sentence, which is usually why I would suggest singling one out specifically. To be fair, sometimes the first sentence doesn’t usually have the main topic, but more often than not it does which is why I would target it!
- Make sure you write notes/annotate as you read!
- Writing notes is already a great start, but annotating your notes ensures that you are using active recall. Active recall is known to boost memory retention, so any chance you have to use it, you should!
- Highlight only important points and nothing else!
- It might be tempting to highlight as many things as you possibly can. In reality, though, this isn’t a good strategy.
- The whole point of highlighting is to single out specific information. If you are highlighting a lot of material on your page, you will confuse yourself.
- The best strategy is to have 1-3 keywords highlighted per paragraph, any more than that and it might be too overwhelming.
Related: How To Read Books Effectively, A Guide for Effective Grades
4. Recite
Almost all reading strategies require you to recite what you are reading out loud in order to boost memory retention.
It is as simple as taking a moment to summarize what you have, in your own words!
Make sure that you have also taken some kind of notes, which will give an overview of everything that you’ve learnt from the text! You can further help yourself by looking back on the questions you wrote out for the second step, and see if you can answer them!
If simply reciting your notes is too boring and you don’t see yourself carrying it out, you can try an alternative option. Instead, you can try acting out the material as if you were teaching it to someone else. In this sense, you are still reciting the material but you’re doing it in a way that might be more interesting for you!
Although this step might seem unimportant, it is actually one of the most crucial tips on this post.
Related: Note Taking 101: Strategies For Making The Most Out Of Your Time
5. Reading Strategies 101: Review
This is your final step in this wonderful and expansive reading strategy.
Reviewing takes place after you have read the material, and will continue periodically through the weeks!
Naturally, over time, our memory of the topic will fade. This is why it is extremely important to review the material as time goes by, because you will definitely need to refresh your memory!
This step is particularly crucial when preparing for exams or writing assignments, as it ensures that the information remains fresh in your mind.
The night before an exam, I would usually go through my short notes multiple times, and I wouldn’t just stop there! After going through notes, I would use mind maps and flashcards to further review the topic. You need to refresh the knowledge enough times until it sticks!
Just remember to use this time to summarize anything you need, so that you can easily access it the next time you review your material!
Conclusion
The SQ3R method provides students with a powerful framework for effective reading strategies that can significantly boost their grades! Remember, reading is not a passive activity but an active process that requires engagement and critical thinking. Start implementing this method today, and pave your way to success one page at a time!
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