Nothing you do as you pursue your studies in any subject will serve you as well as learning to read—and remembering what you’ve read whenever you need to. The ability to recall a great amount of detail without having to review is a tremendous benefit to any student.
In college, where the reading demands of a single course can be voluminous, just think how much more you could get out of your texts and how much more efficiently you could prepare for exams and term papers if you got most of the information you needed the first time around!
This chapter will show you how to do it...easily.
The best way to begin any reading assignment is to skim the pages to get an overall view of what information is included in the text. Then, read the text in detail and highlight it or take notes in your notebook.
I’m going to digress for a moment, taking your side to criticize a large number, perhaps even the majority, of the texts you’re forced to plow through. This criticism is constructive: I want to show you the deficiencies in textbooks that you will have to overcome in order to be the best student you can be without unnecessary effort.
Think of the differences in writing and presentation between newspapers and textbooks. Newspapers are edited and designed to make reading simple. Most newspaper articles are organized using the “pyramid” approach: The first paragraph (the top of the pyramid) makes the major point of the story, then successive paragraphs add more detail and make related points, filling out the pyramid. You can get a pretty good handle on the day’s news by reading the headlines and the first few paragraphs of each story. If you’re interested in more details, just read on.
Textbooks, on the other hand, usually are not written to allow for such an approach. Many times authors begin with a relatively general introduction to the material, and then lead readers through their reasoning to major points.
The next time you have to read a history, geography, or similar text, try skimming the assigned pages first. Read the heads, subheads, and callouts, those brief notes or headings in the outside margins of each page that summarize the topic covered in the section. Read the first sentence of each paragraph. Then go back and read the details.
To summarize the skimming process:
If there is a title or heading, rephrase it as a question. This will be your purpose for reading.
Examine all the subheadings, illustrations, and graphics, as these will help you identify the significant matter within the text.
Read thoroughly the introductory paragraphs, the summary, and any questions at the chapter’s end.
Read the first sentence of every paragraph—this is generally where the main idea is found.
Evaluate what you have gained from this process: Can you answer the questions at the end of the chapter? Could you intelligently participate in a class discussion of the material?
Write a brief summary that encapsulates what you have learned from your skimming.
Based on this evaluation, decide whether a more thorough reading is required.
I’ve found that this is the most effective way to preread a textbook. By the time I get to the material for which I am reading the chapter, my antennae are up and my mind is ready to soak up everything.
What if, despite your best efforts and my best advice, you simply cannot slog through another chapter? You simply can’t fathom what the author is talking about? It may not be your fault. You will undoubtedly be assigned at least one textbook during your school life that is so obtuse you aren’t sure whether to read it front to back, upside down, or inside out.
Don’t keep wasting your time. Go to the library or bookstore and find another book that covers the same subject area, one that you can understand. (Your teacher or professor may even be able to recommend an alternative text—unless, of course, he or she wrote the unintelligible one, something that’s not uncommon at the college level.) As long as both books cover relatively the same ground, you will save yourself a lot of time, energy, and frustration by substituting one for the other.
While the heads, subheads, first sentences, and other author-provided hints will help you get a quick read on what a chapter’s about, some of the words in that chapter will help you concentrate on the important points and ignore the unimportant. Knowing when to speed up, slow down, ignore, or really concentrate will help you read both faster and more effectively.
When you see words such as “likewise,” “moreover,” “also,” “furthermore,” and the like, you should know nothing new is being introduced. If you already know what’s going on, speed up or skip what’s coming entirely.
On the other hand, when you see words such as “on the other hand,” “nevertheless,” “however,” “rather,” “but,” and their ilk, it’s time to slow down—you’re getting information that certainly adds a new perspective, and it may even contradict what you’ve just read.
Watch out for “payoff” words such as “in conclusion,” “therefore,” “thus,” “consequently,” “to summarize”—especially if you only have time to hit the high points of a chapter or if you’re reviewing for a test. Here’s where the real meat is, where everything that went before is happily tied up in a nice fat bow, a present that enables you to avoid having to unwrap the entire chapter.
Sometimes students have a desire to rush through the reading of textbooks to “get it over with.” Granted, there are textbook writers who seem to go out of their way to encourage such a reaction. Don’t fall into the trap.
Instead, before getting to the next chapter as rapidly as possible, stop to perform the following exercise:
Write down definitions of any key terms you think are essential to understanding the topic.
Write down questions and answers that you think help clarify the topic. Play teacher for a minute and design a pop quiz on the chapter.
Write questions for which you don’t have the answers, then go back and find them by rereading the chapter, noting questions you’d like to ask the professor or answer through further reading.
Texts for mathematics, economics, and science require a slightly different treatment. You should follow the steps just outlined, but with one important addition: Make sure that you thoroughly understand the concepts expressed in the various charts and graphs, and do not move on to the next section unless you have mastered the previous one.
You must understand one section before moving on to the next, since the next concept is usually based on the previous one. If there are sample problems, solve those that tie in with the section you have just read to make sure that you understand the concepts imparted. If you still fail to grasp a key concept or equation, start again and try again. But don’t move on—you’ll just be wasting your time.
These texts require such a slow, steady approach, even one with a lot of backtracking or, for that matter, a lot of wrong turns. “Trial and error” is an accepted method of scientific research. The key, though, is to make it informed trial and error—having a clear idea of where you’re heading and learning from each error. While trial and error is okay, it is much more important to be able to easily apply the same analysis (solution, reasoning) to a slightly different problem, which requires real understanding. Getting the right answer just because you eliminated every wrong one may be a very viable strategy for taking a test, but it’s a lousy way to assure yourself you’ve actually learned something.
Understanding is especially essential in any technical subject. It’s easy for some of you to do well on math tests because you have a great memory, are lucky, or have an innate math “sense.” Trust me—sooner or later your luck runs out, your memory overloads, and your calculations stop making sense. You will reach a point where, without understanding, you will be left confused on the shore, watching your colleagues sail heroically to the promised land.
Whether math and science come easily to you or make you want to find the nearest pencil-pocketed computer nerd and throttle him, there are some ways you can do better at such technical subjects, without the world’s greatest memory, a lot of luck, or any “radar”:
Whenever you can, “translate” numbers and formulae into words. To test your understanding, try to put your translation into different words.
Even if you’re not particularly visual, pictures can often help. You should try translating a particularly vexing math problem into a drawing or diagram.
Before you even get down to solving a problem, is there any way for you to estimate the answer or, at least, to estimate the range within which the answer should fall (greater than one, but less than 10)? This is the easy way to at least make sure you wind up in the right ballpark.
Play around. There are often different paths to the same solution or even equally valid solutions. If you find one, try to find others. This is a great way to increase your understanding of all the principles involved.
When you are checking your calculations, try working backwards. I’ve found it to be an easier way to catch simple mathematical errors.
Try to figure out what is being asked, what principles are involved, what information is important, and what is not. I can’t resist an example here: A 45-rpm record is 6.57 inches in diameter. The label is two inches wide. The song lasts for exactly 3 minutes, 14 seconds. The record is .012 inches thick.
Here’s the question: How many grooves does the record have?
Teach someone else. Trying to explain mathematical concepts to someone else will quickly pinpoint what you really know or don’t know. It’s virtually impossible to get someone else—especially someone who is slower than you at all this stuff—to understand the material if you don’t.
By the way, the answer to the question about the grooves in the record is: one. If the record didn’t have one continuous groove, the music wouldn’t keep playing! In case you didn’t notice, none of the mathematical information provided had the slightest bearing on the answer. (For those of you who aren’t sure what a “record” is, a pox on your youth.)
You should approach foreign language texts the same way, especially basic texts that teach vocabulary (we’ll deal with memorizing vocabulary words in the next chapter) and fundamental rules of grammar. If you haven’t mastered the words you’re supposed to in the first section, you’ll have trouble reading the story at the end of the third.
When I discovered highlighters during my first year of college, my reaction was, “Where have you been all my life?” I couldn’t believe how terrific they were for zeroing in on the really important material in a text. However, I soon realized that I was highlighting too much—rereading highlighted sections became nearly the same as reading the whole darn text again.
I developed this set of rules for making the most of my highlighters during college as my workload became much heavier:
I highlighted areas of the text with which I didn’t feel completely comfortable.
I identified single words and sentences that encapsulated a section’s major ideas and themes.
I concentrated on the key words, facts, and concepts, and skipped the digressions, multiple examples, and unnecessary explanations.
I underlined or highlighted my classroom notes as well as texts to make studying from them easier.
To sharpen your underlining and highlighting skills, read through the next three paragraphs, excerpted from Compassionate Capitalism by Marc Benioff and Karen Southwick (Career Press, 2004), and identify the key sentence(s) or words:
Which words or phrases would you underline in this example? Here is the method I would employ.
With this method, if you had to review the text for an exam, you would glance at the few words you highlighted to get the gist of the three paragraphs, saving you a good deal of time.
Retention is the process by which we keep imprints of past experiences in our minds, the “storage depot.” Subject to other actions of the mind, what is retained can be recalled when needed. Items are retained in the same order in which they are learned. So, your studying should build one fact, one idea, one concept on another.
Broad concepts can be retained much more easily than details. Master the generalities and the details will fall into place.
If you think something is important, you will retain it more easily. An attitude that says, “I will retain this,” will help you remember. So, convincing yourself that what you are studying is something you must retain and recall increases your chance of adding it to your long-term memory bank.
As I mentioned in the last chapter, let yourself react to the data you are reading. Associating new information with what you already know will make it easier to recall.
If you’ve followed these suggestions and are still having trouble retaining what you read, try these other ideas. They are a bit more time consuming, but undoubtedly will help you.
Do you own the book you’re reading? Do you not care about preserving it for posterity? Then use its margins for notes. Go beyond mere highlighting to assign some ranking to the facts conveyed by the text.
I used to use a little shorthand method to help me remember written materials. I’d draw vertical lines close to the text to assign levels of importance. One vertical line meant that the material should be reviewed, two indicated that the facts were very important, and asterisks would signify “learn or fail” material. I’d insert question marks for material that I wanted one of my more intelligent friends or the teacher to explain to me further. I’d use circles to indicate the information I was dead sure would show up on the next test.
Interestingly, I found that the very act of assigning relative weights of importance to the text and keeping a lookout for test material helped me remember because it heightened my attention. (For a more detailed method of taking notes, see Chapter 6.)
Earlier in this chapter, I urged you to quiz yourself on written material to ascertain how well you’d retained it. If this doesn’t work, try asking the questions before you read the material.
For instance, even though I have been an avid reader throughout much of my academic life, I had some trouble with the reading comprehension sections of standardized tests the first couple of times I attempted them. Why? I think I had a tendency to rush through these sections.
Then someone suggested to me that I read the questions before I read the passage. Presto! Great scores in reading comp (765 points on my verbal SAT for all of you doubters!).
While you won’t always have such a ready-made list of questions, there are other sources—the summaries at the beginnings of chapters, the synopses in tables of contents. Pay attention to these.
For instance, if an author states in an introductory paragraph, “Containing the Unsatisfactory Result of Oliver’s Adventure; and a Conversation of Some Importance between Harry Maylie and Rose,” as Charles Dickens does in Oliver Twist, you may ask yourself:
What was Oliver’s unsatisfactory adventure?
What could the result of it have been?
What could Harry, Maylie, and Rose be talking about that’s so important?
Believe it or not, this technique will train your mind to hone in on those important details when they arise in the story. It would also be a good idea to ask yourself these questions immediately after you finish the chapter. It will help you ascertain whether you “got” the important points of the chapter and help you retain the information longer.
Approach any text with the intent of understanding it rather than memorizing it. Understanding is a key part of memorization. Don’t stop the flow of information during your reading (other than to underline and take notes). Go back and memorize later.
Our minds crave order. Optical illusions work because the mind is bent on imposing order on every piece of information coming in from the senses. As you read, think of ways to organize the material to help your mind absorb it.
I always liked diagrams with single words and short phrases connected with arrows to show cause-and-effect relationships. Or I would highlight in texts the reasons things occurred with a special mark. (I used a triangle.)
It’s impossible for anyone to remember what he read at 3 a.m. or while waiting to go on the biggest date of his life. Set aside quiet time when you’re at your best. Are you a morning person? Then wake up early to do your reading. Do you get going at 6 p.m.? Then get your reading done before you head out for an evening of fun.
Don’t forget to use your dictionary to look up terms you don’t understand. (Or put the information in the next chapter to use. Then you won’t need a dictionary!)
Each time you attempt to read something that you must recall, use this six-step process to assure you’ll remember:
Evaluate the material. Define your purpose for reading. Identify your interest level and get a sense of how difficult the material is.
Choose appropriate reading techniques for the purpose of your reading. If you are reading to grasp the main idea, then that is exactly what you will recall.
Identify the important facts and remember what you need to. Let your purpose for reading dictate what you remember, and identify associations that connect the details to recall.
Take notes. Use your own words to give a synopsis of the main ideas. Use an outline, diagram, or concept tree to show relationships or patterns. Your notes serve as an important backup to your memory. Writing down key points will further reinforce your ability to remember.
Review. Quiz yourself on those things you must remember. Develop some system by which you review notes at least three times before you are required to recall. The first review should be shortly after you have read the material, the second should come a few days later, and the final review should take place just before you are expected to recall. This process will help you avoid cram sessions.
Implement. Find opportunities to use the knowledge you have gained. Study groups and class discussions are invaluable opportunities to put what you have learned to good use. Participate in group discussions—they’ll greatly increase what you recall.
If you find after all this work that you need still more help with reading, comprehension, and recall, I recommend Improve Your Reading, one of the other volumes in my How to Study Program.