Effective Study
2 Explanations of SQ3R
Survey, Question, Read, Recite and ReviewThe SQ3R Method 1
Studying works better when it means something to you, when it relates to your life. There are a number of ways to do this and I recommend you try as many as you can. One fact which we all know from our own experience and psychological research has documented is that we remember things better when they are connected to emotions. This includes that funny sort of emotion "curiosity" and the nice experience of having it satisfied. So, one way to have things stick more is to find things that you're curious about.
Less intuitive, perhaps, but again documented, and believable once you think about it, is the fact that we remember things better when they are interconnected. To take an example, which of the following lists of 5 words would be easier for you to remember?
1: dog always smoke question just
or
2: cars are hazardous inside citiesFor most of us, the second is easier, because it means something*, it is a list of things that are interconnected. Making such connections is called elaboration in cognitive psychology and the more elaborate your schema for something, the better able you are to remember it: Chess experts have better memories for positions of pieces in a chess game than do novices, but not if the pieces are randomly placed on the board. You can use these facts about human minds in your own studying by actively making connections between ideas. Any connections seem to help, but the ultimate connection seems to be to things you care about in your life where you bring in the emotion as well.
SQ3R (Robinson, 1970) is a method for active elaboration of material that you read, say in a textbook. It consists of 5 steps. I'll talk in terms of a chapter from the text, but this can be adapted to almost anything.
1. Survey (1 minute): Before beginning reading look through the whole chapter. See what the headings are -- the major ones and the subheadings; hierarchical structures seem to be particularly easy for our brains to latch onto -- check for introductory and summary paragraphs, references, etc. Resist reading at this point, but see if you can identify 3 to 6 major ideas in the chapter.
2. Question (usually less than 30 seconds): Ask yourself what this chapter is about: What is the question that this chapter is trying to answer? Or -- along the curiosity lines -- What question do I have that this chapter might help answer? Repeat this process with each subsection of the chapter, as well, turning each heading into a question.
3. Read (slower for some of us than others!): Read one section at a time looking for the answer to the question proposed by the heading! This is active reading and requires concentration so find yourself a place and time where you can concentrate.
4. Recite/write (about a minute): Say to yourself (I do this out loud so I have to study where I don't embarrass myself) or write down (I sometimes do this in the margins of the book itself ) a key phrase that sums up the major point of the section and answers the question. It is important to use your own words, not just copy a phrase from the book. Research shows that we remember our own (active) connections better than ones given to us (passive), indeed that our own hierarchies are generally better than the best prefab hierarchies.
5. Review (less than 5 minutes): After repeating steps 2-4 for each section you have a list of key phrases that provides a sort of outline for the chapter. Test yourself by covering up the key phrases and seeing if you can recall them. Do this right after you finish reading the chapter. If you can't recall one of your major points, that's a section you need to reread.This method works. It works for me and it has worked for many students in the past.
* - In fact, one good way to remember the first list is to make it mean something, say by adding words: My dog always has a smoke when the question arises of just what life means -- note here too that the humorous image adds an emotion making the sentence even easier to remember, although remembering which words were actually on the list may be a problem.
SQ3R Example #2
YOU REMEMBER MORE WHEN YOU ARE ACTIVELY INVOLVED AND UNDERSTAND THE CONTENT. The SQ3R method is designed to keep you involved and increase understanding. As an overview, there are three primary things to keep in mind about study:
1. Divide any study time you have between reading and reciting. At least half of your time should be spent in reciting what you have learned.
2. A systematic plan of study gives the best return on your time investment. Rather than grabbing chunks of time here and there for studying, plan some time for study and for review.
3. This system is simpler than it looks, so give it a chance. Don't let yourself skip any steps. Previous students have discovered that by using effective study techniques they have improved their grades and still had more free time than ever before.
STEP 1 - SURVEY
Before you begin reading, take just a few minutes for a preliminary survey of the Chapter or section of your assignment. The goal of this step is simply to get an overall picture of the nature of the material and how it is presented (i.e., the organization of the chapter). If you are not accustomed to doing this, you will be amazed at how clear many materials become, even before you start reading. Some authors make this step easy by providing Chapter Outlines, Descriptive Headings, Key Sentences, or Chapter Summaries. If so, read through these as your first step. The Outlines, Headings and Sentences will show you how the material is organized and the Summaries will tell you what the author considers to be most important in the Chapter. If you understand this first, it will be much easier to go back and fill in the details.
Even if your authors don't make it easy - don't skip this step. Make your own survey by reading the Table of Contents, or if necessary, simply quickly scanning the entire chapter to get a rough idea of what it is all about.
STEP 2 - QUESTION
After completing your Survey, formulate questions about the material. Again, some authors provide questions either at the beginning or at the end of each Chapter. If so, read them and be prepared to answer them after reading the material.If questions are not provided, make up your own. If the topic is "Learning," some of your questions might be: "What is learning?" "How do we learn?" "What processes are involved in learning?" "Are there different rates of learning?" "How about forgetting?" etc. As you grow more skilled in the art of questioning, you may find more and more of your questions appearing in examinations!
STEP 3 - READ
Now and only now are you ready to begin reading your assignment. As you read, try to answer the questions that you formulated in the previous step. Answering the questions gives your reading purpose and direction and increases your attention and concentration. There is now a reason for reading this passage and the material makes more sense!
STEP 4 - RECITE
This step means exactly what it says. After reading a section, actually recite or restate the important ideas from it -- preferably aloud. If you are in a public place and don't want to be seen talking to yourself, then put down the book and silently do your recitation, word by word. If you can't put your new-found knowledge into your own words, you don't really understand it! DON'T ALLOW YOURSELF TO CHEAT ON THIS STEP. If you can't restate the important points, go back and re-read that section until you can.
At first, you may want to do this for each paragraph - then as you get better at it, use a sub-topic section, then a whole section, eventually maybe a whole chapter, but don't stop until you can put the material into your own words. Research has demonstrated that for most effective learning, at least one-half of your study time should be spent on Questioning and Reciting. These steps require your active participation. You can't be daydreaming while you are reciting what you have learned!
STEP 5 - REVIEW
This is not just glancing over the material again, but a later repeat of the Question and Recite steps. Come back to the chapter the next day - or next week and see how much of it you can restate in your own words. How much do you really remember? Now is the time to fill in the weak spots. If you spend one hour today studying, by next month you will be fortunate to retain 15-20% of the material. BUT, if you spend 30 minutes today, then review for 15 minutes tomorrow, 10 minutes next week and 5 minutes next month, you may retain 80-90%