Introduction to Health and Safety at Work

19.6 
Reading for study
It is very rarely necessary to read a whole book for study 
purposes. Use the index and be selective. Since most 
students will be working while they are studying, they 
will need techniques to help them make the most effect-
ive use of their time.
Skim reading is a great time-saver. First of all, fl ip 
through the book to see what it contains, looking at the 
contents, summaries, introduction, tables, diagrams and 
so on. It should be possible to identify areas that are 
necessary to the syllabus. These can be marked with 
removable adhesive strips or ‘post-it’ notes.
Secondly, quickly read through the identifi ed parts 
of the book. Two ways of doing this are:
(a) run a fi nger slowly down the centre of a page, 
watching it as it moves. The eye will pick up relevant 
words and phrases as the fi nger moves down
(b) read in phrases, rather than word by word, which 
will increase the reading speed.
Both these methods need practise but they save a lot of 
time and effort, and it is better to read through a piece 
two or three times, quickly, than to read it once slowly. 
However, if there is a really diffi cult piece of informa-
tion that is absolutely essential to understand, reading it 
aloud, slowly, will help.
➤
Finally, at the end of each section or chapter, make 
a few brief notes giving the essential points.
It is well worth learning to speed read if a course 
involves a large amount of reading. Tony Buzan’s series 
‘The Mind Set’ explains the technique in simple terms.
19.7 
Organizing for revision
As the exam approaches, all the information from the 
course needs to be organized in preparation for revi-
sion. This should, ideally, have been an ongoing process 
throughout the course, but if not there will be extra work 
to be undertaken at this point. Information from lectures, 
reading, practical experience and assignments needs to 
be organized into a form that makes it readily access-
ible to the memory. In addition there will be the student’s 
existing knowledge that is relevant to the syllabus. It is 
worth spending some time considering how this store of 
information relates to and can be used to expand and 
back up the new information from the course. December 

---