Comprehension Level 3:
With a slower, more careful preview
(approximately four seconds per page),
the reader grasps meaningful
patterns, main ideas and key themes. Comprehension now moves up to
the 40–60 percent range.
Comprehension Level 4:
At a reading pace slightly faster than the level
at which the student feels most comfortable, he becomes even more
adept at recognizing meaningful patterns, main ideas and themes. Also,
he begins to grasp supporting details in the assignment. Comprehension
at this level should bring scores of 60–80 percent.
Comprehension Level 5:
Finally, reading at a fast but comfortable pace,
the student takes in all the material needed to do well on a test or to
satisfy other academic objectives. Comprehension should be 80 percent
or higher.
Furthermore, combining
reading with rereading, postviewing and
reviewing helps the student tap his highest academic abilities.
To see how this layered approach to reading and study can work in
practice, let me introduce you to Jennifer, a fourteen-year-old who had
been assigned a 120-page history book by her teacher.
How Jennifer Learned to Use Layered Reading
Jennifer listened closely and worked hard in a class she had been taking
on the Evelyn Wood approach to study. But like many students we
encounter, at first she lacked confidence in applying the techniques to
her daily schoolwork.
To put it bluntly, she feared that the new methods she was learning
wouldn’t
really work, even though she had proved an adept reading
student who could consistently average more than 1,200 words per
minute.
To her, it was one thing to be reading at a much faster pace, with high
comprehension, in the special course we were teaching. It was quite
another to try to make the transition
with these techniques to an
ordinary classroom. Jennifer worried that in practice, in the real world
of junior high schools tests and grades, she would fall flat on her face—
and fail to measure up academically.
Then, the academic pressure began to increase. She was assigned a
120-page history text on top of other heavy homework assignments, and
her teacher said the class could expect a quiz on the book on Monday.
That meant she now had two quizzes and a paper deadline for the
beginning of the week.
Jennifer realized that if she continued with the slow, pre-Wood way
she normally
used to read and study, she would be hopelessly
overloaded. Yet because she was a serious student and preferred to play
it safe in her effort to maintain a high grade-point average, she believed
she had only one option. “I’ll just have to skip the football game this
weekend and cancel some other activities,” she sighed. “Otherwise, I’ll
never finish all my classwork.”
Jennifer’s
Wood instructor, learning of her dilemma, suggested that
now might be the ideal time to take the plunge. “Why not take a chance
and see if the high-speed approach to learning is really usable for you?”
he suggested. “What have you got to lose? Today’s Tuesday. Try going
through this new book and your other assignments before your Friday
game and your other weekend activities.
If you make it, you’re the
winner—you’ll have the weekend free. If you don’t make it through your
work, then you can skip the activities.”
This proposal seemed reasonable to Jennifer, and that very evening
she
tackled the history book, using the Evelyn Wood approach to
learning.
Each page of the book contained about 400 words, and 120 pages had
been assigned. That meant Jennifer had to read approximately 48,000
words.
Using the basic Evelyn Wood method of layered or multiple-exposure
reading, she first
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