Learning: Reading Textbooks Using SQR3

Learning

Dr. Murtaza Hameer is a medical doctor turned teacher. He pursued his medical degree in India and did the United States medical licensing exams in the USA. He also has a postgraduate diploma in education from the University of Dar es Salaam. He is the author of the book, “Learning How To Learn: Doing well in school, college and beyond”. He is passionate about education and teaching with interests also in philosophy, science, theology and spirituality.

W

hen I was a student I struggled to read textbooks. This was even more so in medical school, where the student learns much of their information from textbooks. If you can’t read textbooks in medical school, you’re in trouble.

Many a student find it difficult to read and learn from textbooks simply because they do not know that there is a method and an art to reading them efficiently. If you think reading a textbook is akin to reading a novel or a newspaper, you most likely don’t know how to read a textbook, yet.

The method I’d like to share with you now, once practiced, will allow you to read any textbook efficiently and learn from it. This method is the SQR3 method which stands for Survey, Question, Read, Recite and Review. Let’s go over each of these briefly.

Survey – before reading any textbook, take a few minutes to survey the chapter of the topic you want to read. Flip through the pages, note the layout of the headings and subheadings,  observe any figures, tables, and charts that may be there. Familiarise yourself with the territory of the chapter and get a feel of it.

Question – next, take a few minutes to jot down in your notebook what it is that you already know about the subject that you have surveyed from the chapter and also what do you expect to learn from the chapter. The aim of this step is to turn on the engine of your brain and put your mind in a state of active learning.

Read – the third step in reading a textbook involves reading the information with understanding. This step takes a little more time, anywhere from 10 minutes to even half an hour depending on the size and depth of the chapter and its contents. Understanding what you’re reading is key here and you know you have understood something when you can explain it in your words. 

Here is also a good time to extract what you’re reading by making your own notes in your notebook, either via linear note taking or mind mapping which is even more better in my opinion. 

Recite – this step follows the Read stage and is basically recapitulating to yourself, in your own words, what you have read and understood. It follows naturally from the previous step.

Review – the last step involves going over what you have read from the textbook again, in a quick manner, to ensure you have understood what you have read and recapitulated. 

That’s it. Survey, Question, Read, Recite, Review. Sing it if you have to and put it into practice. The SQR3 method is a very efficient way of reading all kinds of textbooks, from the most illustrious and colorful to the most plain of texts. There is no textbook you can’t read and learn from using this method. Don’t take my word for it. Try it out for yourself. 

 

 

 

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