Study Methods
"SQ3R" is Not a Secret Code
On the wall of the Palo Alto High School Main Library are bold signs: SQ3R.
Are there any students who don't know what that means?
Or parents? (It can work just as well for them.)
SQ3R is a mnemonic device (memory helper) for an old study method that has been used in education since the mid-1940s. Each letter stands for the first letter of a word (there are three "R" words). Here is the translation:
- Survey (or scan) the material (homework or job-related work), looking for the most important points and the basic flow of the content -- or just the headings.
- Question -- Write down several questions as if you were a teacher preparing a test for someone else.
- Read the material, looking for the answers to the questions you wrote down. (Don't underline.)
- Recite -- Write down the answers.
- Review -- Check the answers against the material.
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