The Only Skill that Matters: The Proven Methodology to Read Faster, Remember More, and Become a SuperLearner

by Jonathan A. Levi

Survey Question Read Recall Review SQ3R is different from the way you likely read today because it breaks the process of “reading” down into a handful of distinct steps. In doing so, it primes your brain for the knowledge it’s about to receive in a few different and ingenious ways. During the Survey step, we quickly skim or scan the content before we read it to prepare our minds for new information. If you’re a trained SuperLearner, this is also where you’ll begin creating visual mnemonics to be filled in with more detail later. Next is the Question phase, which happens simultaneously alongside the Survey phase. In this phase, we ask ourselves questions to improve our motivation, such as “For what reason am I reading this?” “What’s in it for me?” or “What do I expect to see here?” Doing this helps create curiosity, which in turn generates motivation and enthusiasm for reading. More on that in a bit. Next, we Read, either by speed-reading or in the normal fashion. When reading, you reap the benefit of the previous S and Q steps, so you do not reread or dwell on irrelevant details. With reading done, we Recall. We attempt to remember what we’ve read, and along the way, we create and improve detailed, visual mnemonics. This happens after reading each paragraph, page, or chapter, depending on the density of the material. This is our way to ensure that we actually recall the content we’re reading. Finally, we Review. We analyze the content from multiple perspectives. We assess ...