exploding or confirming myths and legends like the cutting down of the
cherry tree.
In this short period, she obtained a good sense of the overall thrust or
big picture of the book. Not only that,
she came up with a host of
questions about Washington she wanted answered—so she was well on
her way to setting solid goals for her study.
Now, it was time for a closer look at the text—a
preview.
Jennifer
knew that with a nonfiction textbook, it was usually best to preview,
read and postview one chapter at a time. Also, a set of outlines or recall
patterns should be built up chapter by chapter.
But
in this case, because the book was relatively short and well-
written, with an integrated narrative movement, she decided to preview
the whole thing at once. Moving along at a rate of about four seconds
per page, she began to identify large sections,
boldface headings and
major concepts.
This preview process took Jennifer about eight minutes, and she also
devoted two minutes to drawing up a basic recall pattern, which
contained the main headings in the book. The total time she had put in
so far on the book was only fifteen minutes—and she was already well
on her way toward learning what she needed for that Monday quiz.
Next, Jennifer began to
read.
At a pace averaging sixteen seconds per
page, she read every word in the book and also filled in her notes with
many details that she hadn’t picked up during the overview and preview.
Unlike an untrained reader, she had the gestalt of the book in mind. In
addition, she had a definite sense of where the author was taking her
and a host of questions she wanted him to answer.
The background she had gained from the
first two exposures to the
book—or the first two layers of contact—now enabled her to move along
easily at sixteen seconds per page and to finish the book in thirty-two
minutes. How fast was she moving? She had read the text at her
accustomed reading rate of 1,500 words per minute.
During her reading, she placed check marks lightly in the text to note
key facts and concepts she wanted to include in her notes. Upon
finishing the first reading, she decided to reread the book at a faster pace
of about 3,000 words per minute and to focus on the checked passages.
This rereading required sixteen minutes, and revising and adding to her
recall pattern took about four.
Now, Jennifer was ready for the
postview
phase of study. With her
recall
patterns at hand, she went back through the book at a rate of
about four seconds a page. During this eight-minute exercise, she
checked to see how the various sections
of the book related to one
another. Also, she added a few additional points and details to fill out
her notes.
When Jennifer finally sat back and surveyed her completed work on
the book, even she was amazed at what she had accomplished.
In the first place, she saw that the total time she had devoted to this
seemingly formidable history assignment was only one hour and fifteen
minutes! Yet she had gone through the book five times (including two
complete readings); generated many thoughts; answered scores of
questions; and compiled an extremely useful set of notes for her test.
In reflecting on how
much time this assignment
might
have taken,
Jennifer recalled two approaches to study she had used in the past.
She might simply have plowed through this book at her usual subvocal
linear reading rate of only about 400 words per minute. And that would
have included no overview, no preview, and no note-taking. Then, she
would have taken some extra time to go through the text again and
make copious notes.
She knew from experience that no matter how she tried it, recording
the notes after the reading would have been excruciating. She would
have been required to reread the material at a slow subvocal linear rate
(in her case, probably about 200 words per minute) as she jotted down
the important facts and concepts.
Alternatively, she sometimes elected to
jot some notes down during
her first reading, but that approach also presented a host of problems.
For one thing, she usually tried to develop a written outline without any
idea of where the book was heading. Also, she was frequently in the
dark about whether the facts and concepts she was recording had any
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