Reading Techniques

If you have difficulty reading and understanding a particular subject, the following techniques will help you.

To understand any subject, you need:

• An alert and lively mind.Our human body needs training to keep fit so likewise our minds need to be trained . Before you embark on studying any subject you need continual mental exercises to improve your memory. You can sign up on Lumosity.com.A variety of daily exercises are needed to keep your mind in good form before reading and it needs constant stretching to keep it agile just as the muscles do.
• Concentration. You must learn to maximise your efforts and minimise diversions. Concentration is much the same as persistence. Studying and understanding a subject requires a day-by-day effort over a long period. Few people can concentrate for more than minutes at a time. Some cannot do it at all because they lack the necessary training in mental discipline.Proper concentration will help your study to be effective. Choose the right place for your study. Remove all distractions and keep away from windows, radio or television, or anything that moves or makes sounds. Studying after midnight is also ideal because movements will be minimal.
• Make sure you have your reading and writing materials at hand. As you read, highlight the important ideas and make short notes.
• Identify your best length of study session. Studying for long hours will lead to fatigue and hinder your concentration. Work to increase the session length little by little once you have discovered it.
• Write down specific targets for your studying. Set yourself deadlines. For instance, you might determine to master a certain book by the end of next month by thoroughly studying one chapter each day.

Study usually necessitates a great deal of reading.The biggest fault is reading too much. It is better to read a little and learn it properly. Wide reading that does not lead to useful knowledge is study time wasted.

• Always study the subjects gradually.When you read a part go back to it and try to express it in your own words on paper. Reading everything at a go will dissipate your energy. Read the little you can and get to know them thoroughly. REPETITION IS THE BEST FORM OF EMPHASIS- read over and over. Every re-reading of a good book will teach you something new and it will give you a fresh angle on some point.
• Try to write down in extremely condensed note form all you can remember. Then check those notes against your textbook. It is easiest to remember the first thing learnt, the next easiest being the last. Try learning the most important points first.
• Best of all write your own summary of the book and systematically reduce each paragraph to a single sentence. As you read keep in mind that usually the meat of any paragraph is found in the first few sentences.
• The next step is to discuss the facts you have read with your fellow peers by communicating your own opinions.Using this method is effective because when you give out knowledge you take in new ones. Students in the university use this method to educate each other.You will gain deeper insight on the subject you are studying because reading without understanding achieves nothing.

To study effectively on your own you must be orderly and systematic no matter what distractions or unexpected difficulties may arise. Perseverance is essential and learning is an active process. Seek out instructors who encourage you to do plenty of work and also, motivate yourself to do the same if you are not a student. Note that all the information in the world is not going to do you any good if you do not put it into ACTION. Try as much as possible not to let your mind flip inconsequentially from one thing to another when you are studying. Pavlov on his deathbed was asked to give one last bit of advice to his students on how to succeed. His answer was ‘passion and gradualness.'