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ACTION DIGEST
1.
The maximum speed for subvocal linear reading is about 800–900
words per minute.
2.
Subvocal linear reading can best be used for poetry, dense textbook
material, double-checking, jokes, and dialogue.
3.
These are the basics of all efficient reading:
a. Be sure you can see the page.
b. Select a quiet, comfortable environment.
c. Break in your book.
d. Become an active page-turner.
e. For the best subvocal linear reading, use the underlining hand
motion.
f. Don’t regress as you read.
3
Mapping Out Your Academic Flight Plan
The fastest, most efficient reading or studying begins with a specific
purpose. Conversely, trying to read or study without a goal in mind will
make learning more difficult.
If you try to take in information at random, without any objectives to
guide you, several things will happen: You’ll become disorganized; you’ll
probably become confused; and you’ll most likely retain little or any of
the material—or you’ll spend inordinate amounts of time memorizing
disconnected bits and pieces of information that you barely understand.
Yet when a purpose is present, this bleak picture changes dramatically
for the better. Suddenly, the door swings open to the possibility of
supersonic
reading and learning.
Why are goals and objectives so important for fast and efficient
learning?
Establishing a goal at the very beginning of a learning session will
enhance your ability to recall key points and concepts. Also, if you make
the goals personal and interesting for yourself, you’ll tend to become
more emotionally involved in the subject matter—and your ability to
remember what you study will increase dramatically.
How does this work?
Memory experts have found that having a definite set of goals or
questions about study materials gives the student a hook on which to
hang new information. This beginning reference point helps launch the
all-important, memory-promoting process of developing associations and
links between different facts and concepts. It’s much easier to remember
a series of related things than a list of unrelated items.
Furthermore, adding an emotional element (such as humor or deep
concern) can enhance the student’s ability to recall material later.
Suppose you’ve been assigned some materials on ozone-related threats
to the environment. If you’ve been reading the newspapers, you may
know that there are at least two different kinds of problems with ozone:
one from ozone-polluted air at ground level, and another from damage
to the ozone layer in the upper atmosphere.
Now, instead of just starting to read your materials on ozone-related
problems without any particular viewpoint, pose a few specific
questions: “What are the sources of air pollution by ozone? What, if
anything, can we do about this problem? Does it pose any major danger
to humanity in the short term, or do we have some time to solve it? Am I
in any danger?”
Then, as you move into the other challenge presented by ozone—i.e.,
the “rip” in the upper atmosphere—you might ask another series of
detailed and personal questions: “How long has the problem existed?
What’s caused it? Am I doing anything to aggravate this threat? What
function does the ozone layer serve? What’s the danger to animal and
plant life on earth? What diseases may members of my family face?
What can I do to help solve this problem?”
Asking these questions will establish links and associations between
different facts and concepts. As a result, the information you read will be
more firmly impressed on your memory.
Also, having a goal will increase the speed at which you can go
through new material. By formulating a specific objective for reading at
the outset of a study session, you’ll be more motivated and focused, and
you’ll tend to search avidly through the text, trying to find the
information that fulfills your objective.
Although the best students often use some form of this goal-oriented,
question-asking approach, most average students skip this step. The
average person, for instance, might begin a text assignment on the
history of the Civil War battle of Gettysburg by starting aimlessly from
the first paragraph without having any well-formed purpose in mind. Or
if they do have a goal, it’s most likely very general: for example, “I want
to learn about this battle.”
A trained, “supersonic” reader, in contrast, will initially pose specific
questions with a definite learning goal in mind: Who were the generals
who led the Union and Confederate troops? How many military
engagements occurred—and how devastating were they? What was the
turning point of the battle? What was the significance of the battle in
view of the Civil War as a whole?
If you think about it, you’ll realize that no special knowledge is
required to formulate such queries. You can come up with the questions
and goals you need simply by drawing on your general store of
information, or by glancing over the jacket copy, cover or introduction
of the book. Then, as you read, you’ll be inspired to ask other, more
detailed questions.
Unfortunately, though, few students have any specific objectives in
mind when they begin to read academic materials. Or at best, any goals
they do have tend to be hopelessly vague or general. When asked what
they’re trying to accomplish in their reading, they answer: “to learn
what I need to know for the test,” or “to find out what this author has to
say.”
The best students, however, set much more specific objectives. With
fiction, for instance, they may ask before they begin to read, “Who is the
main character? What is he or she trying to do? When are the events
taking place? Where are they occurring? How are the characters trying
to achieve their ambitions or aspirations?”
Then, as they read, they’ll seek answers to their preliminary questions.
In addition, they’ll begin to formulate additional questions, which ask
for more and more detailed information. For example: “Now that I know
the main characters are Tom and Gail, what is the relationship between
them? Do they like each other? Hate each other? Do they have similar
goals? If so, how are they working together to accomplish them? If their
goals are in conflict, how does the resulting clash between the characters
further the plot?”
Setting a purpose for reading by asking preliminary questions “revs
up” the thinking process and helps increase reading speed and recall
ability.
But something else is required to assist the mind to recall important
information—and that is superior note-taking skills.
First of all, the best students are fast at note-taking. They can sail
along in their reading with a pencil in hand, jotting down central facts
and ideas with hardly a break in stride.
Second, the notes they take are clear, comprehensive and well-
organized enough to be used weeks or months later as an aid to recalling
information essential for a test.
What promotes insightful questions and accurate note-taking? It all
begins with the kind of study space you establish.
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