COMBATTING THE FORGETTING CURVE: COURSE READING - Steve Vogel Learning Strategist

Memorize the textbook overnight? Of course not. Yet if you’ve been putting off tackling the text because, well, because, you may find yourself in the position of having too much text and too little time. This week I’m presenting a structured approach that chunks getting the course reading done with less pain and more gain. If your approach is to sit down and plow through until you are done, you are going to spend more effort with more stress and remember less than if you approach your course reading with a goal and a strategy.

Purpose

The goal is to integrate the information in the text with course requirements, to understand and retain the information so that you can recall and express it in papers, exams, and discussions.

Integrating the text with other course material

Think of the syllabus as the theatre program, the lectures as the play, and the text as the full novel. You will have a thumbnail context by reviewing the syllabus and will be able to identify relevant highlights and points that are important to the instructor by reviewing your lecture notes and looking for how the same topics are expanded in the text.

Checklist for reading strategically

Before you start reading for retention, scan the contents. Mark the chapters you noted from your review of the syllabus and your instructor’s lectures.
Similarly, preview the headings in the chapter you are about to read. Pause and reflect on what questions the headings suggest to you. Then chunk the chapter into its component sections.
Schedule when you are going to read each chapter or section.
For each section, before you start reading, skim the section and reflect on what the instructor has covered on the topic.
Read the section without using a highlighter.
If you don’t understand what you are reading, make a pencil note in the margin. Sometimes clarification comes as you read further. Sometimes bringing up tough sections with a study buddy or study group is helpful.
When you finish a section or a topic within the section, stop and jot down keywords, key points, or quick sketches in the margin.
Make the material relevant to you–ask yourself how this fits in with your past experience, interests, and perhaps with other courses.
If you are going to use highlighter, highlight the key point for each paragraph after you have read the section. Highlighter should be a cue for you to recall what the paragraphs are about to aid you in recalling the detail. Once you start highlighting everything, the highlighter is no longer a memory aid.
Take a break. As in all study, you want to optimize how much you are gaining from time on task. You will know your ideal length of time to focus. That will vary depending on the complexity of the material, and how interested you are in it. The Pomodoro timer is useful here: Read for twenty minutes (or thirty, or thirty-five), then break for five or ten.
When you’re back from your short break, scan your highlighter and margin notes, then go on to reading the next section.
When you have read your reading for the scheduled session, take a reward/reinforcer break, read through your notes, and briefly preview the next session’s work.

Wash, rinse, repeat until you have completed the course reading.

Note: if you have been keeping up with the readings before class, the same strategy works. If you’ve got behind on your reading, this still works.

Retaining what you have read: Battling the forgetting curve

Research shows that with no effort at retention, within a week you will forget up to 90 percent of material that you have complete understanding of at the time you first hear or read it. Reading strategically means you already have a sound grounding for retaining the text.

You combat the forgetting curve by reviewing strategically:

The day after your first reading, before you go on to the next section or chapter, go over the previous day’s reading.
Use the cues of your side notes on keywords and highlighter to recall concepts and detail. Add extra thoughts and insights.

Then go on to strategically reading the day’s scheduled text.

A few days later or on the weekend, you review the week’s reading. This time you need to change it up to keep interactive with the text–because interactivity promotes recall.

Use those wide margins to generate test questions. They can be multiple choice, detail, or short answer questions.
Share questions with your study buddy or study group–answering the questions someone else has come up with is a test of both understanding and retention. And it nails the material that much more firmly into your long-term memory.

Aids beyond the basic text

Many texts now have chapter previews, sidebars, highlight sections, and discussion questions. Use them–variety fights topic fatigue. If there are workbooks or online supplements, buy and schedule as much as fits your dollar and time budgets. The different perspectives help both understanding and retention.

Use audio text if that works for you. You likely read faster than you listen, but you can listen while commuting. (Pay attention to the road if you’re driving, of course.) The retention techniques of making meaning, interacting with the material, and scheduled review still need to be observed to battle the forgetting curve.

Looking ahead

There is a lot of similarity between learning from lectures and learning from texts and reading, particularly when it comes to retaining what you have heard and read.

I hope these techniques help you catch up as we start the March crunch. Gaining control of your text this month means that study for finals will be routine and straightforward, with reviewing the term text and lecture a matter of polish rather than the first time over since you encountered them.

Contact me for further tips, and pulling it all together these last five weeks: [email protected]

The information in this blog cannot take the place of support from your own mental health professional or community health resources. Reach out to them. And IF YOU ARE IN CRISIS PLEASE DIAL 911.