- Before you start reading, know what your purpose is for reading the book, do some research on the topic, and skim the material to pick out main points.
- While you read, take good notes, make associations between the material and your prior knowledge, and visualize important concepts.
- After you read, reinforce your memory of the information by summarizing it in your own words, discussing it with others, and rereading the material if necessary.
Preparing to Read & Remember
Know what goal you hope to achieve by reading the material. Ask yourself, “Why am I reading this?” or “What am I supposed to learn from reading this?” By understanding your purpose for reading the material, you’ll be able to focus on the more relevant parts of the text. This will help you pick out and retain important information, rather than trying to hold onto all the minute details. Say, for example, that you’re reading a textbook to prepare for an upcoming exam. Knowing this will help you focus on important dates, events, and people, rather than trying to memorize small details that probably won’t show up on the assessment. On the other hand, if you’re reading a novel for your enjoyment, you’ll likely want to focus on remembering plot points, characters, and major themes, so that you can experience the full meaning of the text.
Do some research before you jump into reading. Do a quick internet search to get to know the topic and gain some context before you read. When you understand important background information beforehand, you’ll be better able to pick out key concepts, make important associations, and commit the material to memory. For example, if you’re reading a novel for an English class, research the author’s background, as well as the historical, political, and cultural situation at the time the book was written. Or, if you’re reading about Islam for history class, look up “Islam” in your search engine and familiarize yourself with the basic tenets and key historical figures of the religion.
Skim the material to pick out the main points. Before fully reading the material, take note of headings, pictures, tables, blurbs, charts, and opening paragraphs. Look over the table of contents, read the description of the book on the back cover, and check out the bibliography. Skimming this material primes your memory, orients your thinking, and helps you formulate a bigger picture of what the book’s content will be. It also helps you know what information to look out for and make note of as you read.
Read in short segments to increase your focus. If you’ve lost your focus but you’re still trying to read, you’re likely not retaining much information. Therefore, to read effectively, try reading in shorter, more manageable segments. For example, try reading only one section or chapter at a time, or set a timer for a 30-minute reading session. After you finish reading the section (or your timer goes off), stop and go over what you just read in your mind. If you want, you can also increase your reading endurance by steadily increasing the amount of time you read each day. For example, if you start out reading in short segments of 15 minutes one week, try increasing the time to 25-minute segments the next week.
Eliminate distractions while you read. Once you’ve decided on the length of your reading session, fully commit yourself to reading the material, and don’t try to multitask. Put your phone on silent, turn off the T.V., and direct your full attention to the act of reading. This will help you fully immerse yourself in the material, which leads to better retention and understanding.
Take breaks if you’re feeling too bored or distracted. If you start to notice that you just can’t stop your mind from wandering while you’re reading, it’s probably best to stop and do something else for a bit. Your brain needs breaks in order to fully remember things. In fact, research shows that taking breaks refreshes your brain, improves your energy levels, and helps you focus! To experience these benefits, make sure you’re taking a purposeful break, rather than zoning out or scrolling through social media. Take a walk outside or stretch to boost your energy with some physical activity. You could also take a power nap or meditate to get some rest or calm anxiety. You can also use your break time to do another productive task—like tidying up around your house, taking a shower, or cooking yourself a meal.
Remembering Material as You Read
Take notes and jot down relevant information as you read. This is an important aspect of active reading, which involves engaging and interacting with the material, instead of just taking it in passively. Research shows that this helps you fully absorb and retain the information. Annotate the book itself by writing your notes in the margins, or write the information down in a separate notebook. For example, if you’re reading about the 5 tenets of Islam, write them down to solidify the information in your memory. You can also write down new ideas and observations that come to your mind as you read. The tactile act of writing will help you remember the material better, and you’ll also be able to re-read your notes later for a quick refresher.
Highlight or underline important concepts. This helps you pick out the most relevant concepts on a page, so that you can commit them to memory. It also makes sure you know where to look for key information if you need to review later. Remember, your goal is to pick out key concepts and direct your attention to the most relevant material, so try to highlight only important information. Before you highlight something, ask yourself, “Does this information fulfill my purpose for reading the material?”
Form impressions about what you're reading. Instead of just passively taking in the information as you read, form impressions and develop opinions about the material. How does it make you feel? Does the information make you excited, curious, or critical? Does it remind you of other things you’ve read, or occurrences that have happened in your own life? Thinking about the text in this way embeds it more deeply in your mind, which helps you remember key information more.
Associate the material you’re reading to things in your life. As you read, try to connect the material to information you’ve already learned or things in your personal life. For example, if Thomas Jefferson was born in the same month as your mom, linking his birthday to your mom’s will help you remember the date better and store it in your long-term memory bank. Or, if you're reading a novel that has grief as a major theme, try to think back to a time in your life when you experienced grief. Does the author capture the feeling well? Do you relate to the way the characters are feeling? Making these associations will help you remember the contents of the book better because you’re relating to the story on a personal level.
Visualize what you’re reading. When you’re reading an important passage, pause and visualize the material in your mind. For example, if you’re reading about how the heart pumps blood through the body in a science textbook, take a moment to imagine what this looks like. Creating a vivid mental image of important concepts helps to solidify this information in your memory. It’s also an especially helpful strategy for visual learners. If you’re trying to remember an important date of a battle in your history textbook, try imagining what the battle looked like in your head, with the date in big letters floating above everything. Or, if you’re reading a pivotal scene in a novel for English class, visualize the scene in your mind’s eye. You can even imagine yourself as a background character observing the action to fully immerse yourself in the image!
Read the material out loud. If you are an auditory learner, try reading important material out loud. The act of speaking and hearing the information will help you remember it better. If you don’t have enough time to read the full text out loud, try reading the important information you’ve underlined or highlighted to reinforce these concepts in your memory. You can also use word association to remember important facts. For example, create rhymes, songs, or acronyms to help you remember key information. A common example of this is the sentence “My Very Excellent Mom Just Served Us Noodles,” which helps students remember the order of the planets (Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune).
Ask yourself questions about what you're reading. While reading the material, ask yourself thoughtful questions, such as “How does this material fit into what I already know and do not know?” or “Do I agree with the author's conclusions?” Asking and answering these types of questions forces you to engage with the material on a deeper level, which helps you absorb and retain it better. Other questions to ask include “Why did the author mention this?” “Do I understand this concept or word?” “Where is the evidence for this statement?” and “What is the main idea of this paragraph?”
Go back and review fundamental information if you need to. If you notice that you’re feeling completely lost as you read about a topic, go back and review the basics. It's hard to understand difficult concepts if you don't have a good understanding of the underlying fundamentals. Josh Jones, CEO of Test Prep Unlimited, explains that this would be “kind of like trying to build a skyscraper starting at the fifth floor. You have to start at the first floor, then build up from there. For example, if you’re reading a complicated chapter in a science or math textbook, but you didn’t fully retain the information from the previous chapters, it’s probably a good idea to go back and review that material. The new information is likely building upon the concepts you’ve previously learned, so you won’t be able to fully understand and memorize it unless you go back and review.
Reinforcing Your Memory After You Read
Summarize what you read in your own words. After you finish reading a section, write down what you read in your own words. Don’t look back at the text as you write—simply try to summarize from your own memory. This will help you assess what information you’ve retained successfully, and what information you might need to go back and review. Remember, the goal isn’t to recreate whole passages verbatim. Just jot down a quick summary of the main points. Go back and re-read the sections that you had trouble remembering or putting in your own words.
Reflect on what you’ve read. Knowing what happened in a book is only one piece of the puzzle! It’s also important to know what you think about the material. After you’ve finished reading, take some time to reflect and write down your thoughts. Making note of the new thoughts, ideas, or questions the book brought up for you will help lock it into your memory. Don’t worry about making your writing polished at this stage—just spend a few minutes writing freely about what you’ve read.
Discuss the material with someone. After you read something, discuss the new information with a friend, family member, or classmate. The act of discussing the content will create new associations in your memory, which helps you retain the information better. It will also help you determine which parts of the material you understand, and which parts you might need to go over again. If you had trouble remembering or relating any of the information, go back and reread that section. When you’ve finished, discuss the material with a friend or family member again to lock it in your memory.
Reread the material. Repetition is key to remembering any kind of information. After you read something, go back over the important concepts and ideas that you highlighted or underlined. If you need a more complete refresher, reread the entire paragraph or section in which the concepts are embedded. After a few days, quiz yourself to see if you’ve successfully retained the information. If you have trouble remembering anything, go back over your notes and reread important passages.
How to Read More & Read Faster
Reading more and reading faster go hand-in-hand. Learning to read faster helps you increase the amount of books you read. And, incidentally, reading more increases your reading speed. This is because you recognize words faster when you’ve encountered them before, and reading more makes you familiar with more words. Here are some tips to increase both your reading speed and the amount of you read: Read as much as you can. The more you read, the faster you’ll naturally become. Just like playing a sport or an instrument, practice makes perfect! Don’t mouth the words as you read. Your brain can read words much faster than your mouth can speak them, so this only slows you down. Don’t be afraid to give up on a book. You’re more likely to read quickly if you're enjoying yourself. It’s okay to quit reading a book if it isn’t capturing your attention, so that you can move on to a new one! Make a public reading goal. This helps you stay committed, and it gives your loved ones the opportunity to encourage you. Post about your reading goal on social media, or use a website or app that tracks your reading.
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