The text book is used by teachers to

  1. Preteach: reading a chapter ahead can “prime the pump” for learning to happen the next day
  2. Reinforce: review and consolidate information taught that day in class
  3. Review: prepare for testing

But let’s be honest — textbooks aren’t known for their exciting content!  There must be a way to read a textbook to get the information you need. A tried and true method is the S4R technique: Survey, Read, wRite, Recall and Review.  Here are the steps:

a.)  Survey

  • while reading your test and notes, skim chapter headings.  Look at titles, subtitles, graphs and illustrations.
  • read the review questions.  Make up some of your own.

b.) Read

  • skim unnecessary details and focus on the definitions, bold or italicised words

c.)  wRite

  • divide your study notes into two columns
  • in the main column, write the important ideas
  • in the smaller column, reduce the ideas to key phrases

d.)  Recall

  • cover the main ideas column.  Use your key phrases to recall the information
  • try doing this out loud, so that the information goes in along another channel

e.) Review

  • read over your study notes frequently