INCREASING TEXTBOOK READING COMPREHENSION BY USING SQ3R (how to study)

Pass usmle

INTRODUCTION

Textbooks are often read in the same way pleasure are read–begin with the first page of the chapter and read to the end of the chapter, without stopping. While this method is fine for novels and mysteries, it is not likely to result in the level of understanding and retention needed for most textbooks. Using SQ3R provides a different method of reading textbooks that will most likely enhance understanding and retention of material. It’s not a quicker way to read a chapter in a textbook but it is likely to reduce the amount of one will need to spend studying the material immediately prior to the . This is so because more is spent actually understanding the chapter when it is read initially. Study then becomes deepening your understanding of the material.

This will explain the steps of the SQ3R process and help you decide when to use this method.

OVERVIEW OF SQ3R
As the acronym SQ3R suggests, the process has five steps. They are:
Survey
Question
Read
Recite

The next few pages of this will explain what is involved in completing each of these five steps and will help you make your reading process more active.

SURVEY

This helps you gather the necessary to focus on the chapter and formulate for yourself as you read the chapter. It’s not necessary to have to your at this of the process. The will come later in the process. This should take no more than 5 – 10 minutes but is very important.
Read the title This helps your brain begin to focus on the topic of the chapter.
Read the introduction and/or summary This orients you to this chapter fits the author’s purposes. It also provides you with an overview of the author’s statement of the most important points.
Read each boldface heading and subheading This helps you create a framework for the chapter in your mind before you begin to read. This framework provides a structure for the thoughts and details to come.
any graphics Charts, maps, diagrams, pictures, and other visual aids are there to make a point. Publishers will not include these items in the unless they are deemed to significantly add to the text.
any reading aids in the chapter This includes italics, chapter objectives, definitions and at the end of the chapter. These aids are there to help you sort, comprehend and remember. Use them to your advantage.

QUESTION

Now that you have surveyed the entire chapter to build a framework for understanding the chapter, it’s to begin the reading process. This and the next two, read and recite, are repeated over and over as you read the chapter.
Turn boldface headings into one or more and write down your on the left third of a piece of paper. As you read this section, you will be looking for the answer to your . For example, if you are reading a to help you improve your and the heading is “use a regular area,” the you might ask are “why should I have a regular area” and “where should my regular area be located?”
Why do I need to take to do this ? When your mind is actively searching for to , it becomes engaged in the learning process. This will help you remember and understand the .

READ

Reading the section fills in the around the mental structures you have been building by surveying the chapter and developing about the section.
Read one section as a As you read the section, look for the to your and jot them down, in your own words, on the right two-thirds of your piece of paper.
Add more , if necessary A single is probably adequate for a section that is only a few paragraphs; however, for longer sections, you may find that you need to add a or two.
Don’t get bogged down with the details Well-written textbooks often provide examples to further explain the main ideas. As you read the section, try to separate the details from the main ideas. Use the details to help you understand the main ideas but don’t expect yourself to memorize every detail provided in the chapter.

RECITE

Reciting material as you go retrains your mind to concentrate and learn as it reads.
When do you recite? At the end of each section of the chapter.
How do you recite? Look at the (s) you wrote down before you read the section. Cover your with a piece of paper and see if you can answer the from memory.
What if you can’t recall the to your questons? Reread the section or the part of the section that has to do with that .

When you can answer your (s) about this section, go back to two, “.” Develop and write down your (s) for this section, read the section and then recite again. Proceed through the chapter repeating these three steps.

REVIEW

The review helps you refine our mental organization of the material in the chapter and begin to build memory. We learn through repetition. This provides another opportunity for repetition of the material and therefore will enhance our recall of the .
How do you review? Once you’ve finished reading the entire chapter using the survey, , read and recite steps, go back over all your . Cover the to the you’ve developed and written down and see if you can still recite them.
What if some of the have been forgotten? Reread that section of the chapter to refresh your memory, recite the answer after you’ve written it down and then continue your review process

SQ3R REVIEW
Now that you’ve learned about the five steps of the SQ3R process, see if you answer these :

What are the five steps of the SQ3R process?
What do you need to do to complete each of the five steps of the process?
If you have successfully answered these two , you are ready to continue with this . If not, you may wish to go back to the beginning and review one or more steps in the process again. This is exactly what you should do in the review for reading a chapter in a textbook.

WHEN TO USE SQ3R
No technique is useful 100% of the . Now that you’ve learned another strategy, it is important to decide when to use it. Different strategies work best in different situations.

SQ3R is useful with many textbooks but for which ones is it less likely to be useful? SQ3R is probably less useful with textbooks that focus on helping you solve problems. For instance, it may not be useful to employ SQ3R with math textbooks. In this , the main emphasis of reading the chapter is on helping you solve problems. Focusing your energy on solving mathematical problems using the in the chapter is probably a better use of your . Two other types of textbooks for which SQ3R may be less useful is beginning language texts or texts for English class. The focus of beginning language texts is often vocabulary, verb tense and sentence construction. Books for English class may be novels and the purpose of reading may be focused more on the “big picture” than on the content of a particular section or chapter.

Now that you know when NOT to use SQ3R, when should you use it? SQ3R is an excellent technique to use with textbooks that provide a lot of and require you to learn the material in depth. Textbooks in many disciplines suc
h as biology, psychology, and sociology fall into this category.

Does it matter the professor uses the textbook in class? If your professor is reviewing a lot of material from the textbook for his/her class lectures, it is probably well worth your to read the chapters using the SQ3R method. If your professor uses the textbook as a supplement or reference to class lectures, you will need to balance the amount of that would be taken to read the chapters using the SQ3R method versus spending your solving problems, reviewing notes or doing other class homework assignments.

ACTION PLAN
Now that you’ve learned about SQ3R, survey, , read, recite and review, the next is to incorporate this into your strategies. You may want to begin by selecting one class for which you will use SQ3R to read every chapter prior to your next . Here are some additional strategies you may want to implement along with reading the chapter using this method:
Plan ahead and start early. SQ3R takes and is not a strategy that can be employed or used effectively the night before a .
Plan to read each chapter before it’s discussed in class. Doing this will make the class lecture a review. It is also likely to help you to understand the material that is presented in class at a deeper level.
Identify in the chapter you don’t understand and to talk with the professor after class or during his/her office hours if you still don’t understand the material after it’s covered in class.


Related Tags : Pass usmle


Related posts:

-HOW TO READ A DIFFICULT BOOK (how to study)
-where in delhi apart from kaplan coaching will i get study material for USMLE?
-CONCENTRATION- SOME BASIC GUIDELINES (how to study)
-What are the textbooks used for USMLE preparation tests?
-How to create a study plan for the USMLE – part 3

Tags:

blog comments powered by Disqus