For many students that first transition into college, many of us would agree that the level of difficulty of the courses that are offered in college are noticeably more challenging compared to the classes that were offered in high school. For one, college professors generally tend to expect more out of their students, only touching on some topics in the class lecture while expecting that the students will learn the necessary material for the exams. Additionally, many college courses do not offer "homework points" or extra credit to students to improve their grades, with class quizzes and exams instead accounting for a large portion of the student's overall grade. Besides these factors however, one thing that definitely stands out about college courses compared to high school classes is the speed in which the course progresses. Because a college course usually only lasts one school semester, the speed at which information is delivered to the students is substantially faster than an equivalent course that is offered in high school. As a consequence of this, student performance may decrease due to the inability to adapt to this pace of learning in college and due to ineffective learning strategies that a student has held on for much of their academic lives. Personally, I definitely felt the pressure that my college courses exerted during my first semester in college. As my semester continued, I started to realize that my original methods of absorbing information for my classes were both very time consuming and demanded much of my energy. As I contemplated on a way to try and fix my strategy of learning, one of the strategies that I have found to be extremely beneficial to me is the SQ3R method of reading comprehension.
In essence, the SQ3R method of reading was introduced by Francis Robinson, an American education philosopher that attempted to improve the study techniques of students. This method aims to help students engage with the reading, which has been shown to be effective to help students learn information. The SQ3R method is named after its five steps, which are described below.
1. Survey:
Before reading, survey through the reading for any apparent features, such as headings or subheadings, figures, graphs, and summaries or conclusions. Performing this step helps you prepare for the information that will be presented.
2. Question:
Using the headings and subheadings as guides, generate some questions that you expect of the upcoming reading. Asking questions such as "What is this chapter about?" and "What do I already know about this topic?" allows to reading to be more interactive, helping to consolidate the information that will be learned.
3. Read:
Read the text as well as any figures and graphs that may be in the text. As this process is happening, look for answers to the questions that were raised in the previous method. This step promotes active reading, which helps you reinforce the information that you are learning.
Recite:
In your own words, orally recite the information that is presented after each section. Underline or highlight the important information in the reading and take notes on each section. Additionally, incorporate as many of the 5 senses into this process as this helps you to remember what was read.
Review:
Once the reading is finished, orally restate the main information that was presented in the text. This step is also an ongoing process, requiring you to frequently review the information from your notes in order to effectively solidify this information.