5 Studying Tips – Reading Strategies
When you are doing your readings, you should practice the SQ3R method.
SQ3R stands for:
- Survey
- Question
- Read
- Recite
- Review
Survey
BEFORE you start reading: “SURVEY” the book or chapter to get a quick overview. Pay particular attention to the opening and closing paragraphs, titles, sub-headings, charts/graphs/tables, and changes in formatting (things that are in italics, in bold, or underlined). The goal here is not to actually read the text but to get an overview of the basic structure to help point you in the direction of material that may be important.
Question
WHILE you are surveying: Ask yourself some preliminary “QUESTIONS” to help you identify what your learning needs are:
- Ask yourself what you already know
- For subheadings or terms that you are unfamiliar with, see if you can turn each one into a potential questions.
Read
READ the chapter using your questions as a guide.
Recite
When you are done with the reading, go back to your list of questions and try to “RECITE” the answers in your own words without looking at the text.
Review
When you are done, “REVIEW” your answers against the textbook to see how well you did. Correct any mistakes that you made in your notes.
