Reading Something Over and Over Is an Effective Way to Memorize It.

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In order to remember what you read, you need to become a critical, active reader. Become a disquisitional reader by knowing your purpose for reading the material, creating mental pictures of important concepts and ideas, and past asking yourself questions as you read the fabric. Finally, store the data in your long-term memory bank by discussing the textile with others, rewording the textile in your own words, and by re-reading important concepts and ideas.

1. 1

   Know what goal y'all hope to achieve by reading the textile. Ask yourself, "Why am I reading this?" or "What am I supposed to acquire from reading this?" By understanding your purpose for reading the material, yous volition exist able to stay on task and focus on the more relevant parts of the text.^[1]

   • For example, if y'all go along in mind that you are reading the material for an exam, this will help you focus on important dates, events, and people.

2. two

   Become familiar with the topic. Get to know the topic by doing a quick Internet search. The more you understand and know nearly a particular topic, the more probable you will be able to make associations and remember the data better.^[2]

   • For case, if you volition be reading about Islam, type in "Islam" in your search engine. So, click on an commodity, for example a Wikipedia commodity, and familiarize yourself with the bones tenets of Islam.

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3. 3

   Skim the material to choice out the main points. Before reading the material, accept note of headings, pictures, tables, blurbs, charts, and opening paragraphs. Focus on the important information that fulfills your purpose for reading the material.^[3]

   • Skimming the textile primes your memory, orients your thinking so you can focus on important data, and helps you lot formulate a bigger picture of the content, which makes it easier to call up important information.^[4]

4. 4

   Read in curt segments. Reading when you cannot focus is a waste of time. Therefore, to maximize your focus, read in short segments. For example, read only a department, or read for only 10 to 15 minutes at a fourth dimension. After you read the section, get over what yous just read in your heed.^[5]

   • Increment your reading endurance past steadily increasing the amount of time you read each twenty-four hours or week. For example, if you read in short segments of 10 to 15 minutes ane week, read for twenty to 25-infinitesimal segments the side by side week.

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1. 1

   Take notes. As you read, write down relevant information. The tactile deed of writing volition help you think the information better. For example, if you lot are reading nigh Islam, write downward the 5 tenets of Islam.^[6]

   • You can besides underline concepts, or write down ideas that come up to your mind as you read.
   • This is a form of agile reading, which helps you appoint with the material instead of just taking it in passively. Agile reading will help you absorb and remember the material improve.^[7]

2. 2

   Highlight important concepts. Attempt to only highlight important and relevant information. For instance, highlight just a few key words on a page. Earlier you lot highlight something, ask yourself, "Does this information fulfill my purpose for reading the textile?" If the answer is no, then it is best to not highlight it.^[viii]

3. 3

   Link the material to something you lot know. Associate new data with information you already know. By associating new information with prior knowledge, your brain will shop the new information in your long-term memory bank.^[ix]

   • For example, if Thomas Jefferson was built-in in the same calendar month as your mom, past linking his altogether to the altogether of someone you know, you volition exist able to remember the date better.
   • It's difficult to understand difficult concepts if you don't have a good understanding of the underlying fundamentals. If you're having trouble understanding what you're reading most, information technology might assistance to go back to the basics.^[10]

4. 4

   Think in pictures. Creating mental pictures for the content you lot read volition assistance you remember the content meliorate than just reading the content without any mental images. Make mental pictures of important events, concepts, or people. This is an especially helpful strategy for visual learners.^[11]

   • For example, remember an of import date, such as when a boxing began, by imagining the battle in your head with the appointment in big letters.
   • Y'all could also endeavor drawing out the boxing scene and writing the date of when it began and concluded underneath it.

5. 5

   Read out loud. If you are an auditory learner, attempt reading of import material out loud. The act of speaking and hearing the material volition enable yous to remember the textile better. Particularly, read the important data you lot accept underlined, every bit well as answers to questions out loud.^[12]

   • You can likewise use word association to call up important facts. For example, create rhymes or songs to assistance you call up important data.^[13]

6. half-dozen

   Ask yourself questions about the material. While reading the material, ask yourself, "How does this textile fit into what I already know and do not know?" "Why did the author mention this?" "Practise I sympathise this concept or word?" "Where is the prove for this statement?" "What is the main idea of this paragraph?" or, "Exercise I concur with the author'due south conclusions?"^[xiv]

   • Past asking and answering these questions, you volition be able to retrieve relevant information much better.

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1. i

   Reword what you lot read in your own words. Subsequently you finish reading a section, write downward what you read in your own words. This volition assist you lot assess which information you lot remember and which data you cannot remember. Get back and re-read the information that you could not remember, or had problem putting in your ain words.^[15]

   • The goal isn't to recreate whole passages in your own words. Only write downward a quick summary or outline of the main points. Try to stick to a few bullet points or curt paragraphs.

2. 2

   Discuss the fabric with someone. After you read something, hash out the new data with a friend, family member, or classmate. The act of discussing the content will create new associations in your retentiveness. It will besides assistance you come across which information you empathize and can remember, and which information you do not understand and cannot recall.^[16]

   • Go dorsum and re-read the information you had trouble relating and remembering. Then, talk over the information with a friend or family fellow member again.

3. 3

   Re-read the cloth. Repetition is primal to remembering any kind of information. After y'all read something, go back over the important concepts and ideas that y'all highlighted or underlined. Also, re-read the paragraph in which the concepts and ideas are embedded.^[17]

   • Later on 1 or 2 days, go back over the content. Re-read the important concepts and ideas, and quiz yourself.

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Add New Question

• Question

  What if I'm having trouble agreement what I'm reading?

  

  Josh Jones is the CEO and Founder of Exam Prep Unlimited, a GMAT prep tutoring service. Josh congenital the world'south beginning and only score guarantee plan for private GMAT tutoring. He has presented at the QS Earth MBA Bout and designed math curricula for Chicago Public Schools. He has over 15 years of private tutoring and classroom pedagogy experience and a BA in Math from the University of Chicago.

  

  CEO, Exam Prep Unlimited

  Expert Answer

  You may need to brush up on your fundamentals. You tin't outset edifice a skyscraper at the 5th floor—y'all take to kickoff at the ground floor and build up from there.

• Question

  If I starting time reading tardily for an examination, what advice tin can you requite me to catch up?

  

  Focus on the master ideas, things you recollect will probable be on the test, and material you don't know as well. Skim everything else.

• Question

  How much time should I take for a break while studying?

  

  Five to 15 minutes per hour is a decent fourth dimension.

• Question

  Why do I read something merely forget it when I am in the exam hall?

  

  Exam anxiety i.due east the fear of "I haven't prepared", "I might go blank when the paper comes", "I know naught" or only when you start to hyperventilate by seeing whats on the test, that's when panic starts to engulf you and you lot start forgetting stuff. Ironically, this panic attack is not termed as "I recall zippo" simply in fact it is called examination anxiety that leads to brain closure on temporary basis. To overcome information technology read through the unabridged paper and attempt the questions y'all know the answers of or might know because some of the information is e'er stored upward in your subconsciousness through which you are capable of remembering at least some role of what you read!

• Question

  I am not able to recall what I read and I get dislocated! What can I do?

  

  Perchance y'all are reading likewise much information at a time. Slow downward and read for shorter segments, for instance ten to 15 minutes. Try to visualize or put into words what you only read. So, move on to the next section.

• Question

  Why exercise I feel sleepy when I want to read books?

  

  You could be tired and sitting still causes your trunk to feel more than sleepy. Endeavour sitting in an uncomfortable place or position with good lighting, read out loud, or eat a light snack. Drink h2o or coffee to energize yourself.

• Question

  Can I answer a question in an exam in my own words?

  

  Aye. That'due south what you should always endeavour to do. You would be plagiarizing otherwise.

• Question

  How can I summate various bug faster?

  

  The faster you read, the faster the information gets pushed from your eyes to your brain, and can become cramped, and sometimes pushed to unreachable places. Try reading slower, giving your eyes and brain time to sort the data, so you can remember it faster when y'all demand it.

• Question

  How can I remember things?

  

  By reading slowly for 10-fifteen minutes and recapture what you have read. Take notes while reading and make your ain sentences.

• Question

  What most my reading speed as visual learner?

  

  Start past reading in short segments, for instance 10 to fifteen minutes. Afterward you lot read, endeavour to make sense of and visualize what you only read. And then, progress your reading endurance past reading in longer segments, similar 20 to 25 minutes.

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Article Summary X

To call back what you read, offset by skimming the material beforehand to assist you grasp the bigger motion picture and purpose of the content. Next, read a section of the text for x to xv minutes. Then, write downwardly what you read in your own words to help you assess what data y'all remember. If there'south whatsoever information you had trouble putting into your own words, go back and re-read that part of the department. Additionally, try discussing the material with a friend to help y'all memorize and empathise the material. For more tips, like how to call back in pictures to help you remember what yous read, whorl down!

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