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SQ3R Method
Text books are often read in the same way the other books are read; begin
with the first page of the chapter and read to the end of the chapter, without stopping.
This method is fine for novels or other pleasure books, which does not need much
understanding and retention as needed for most textbooks. Many books have been
written on special skills useful in reading book. Some have emphasized increased
speed reading; others, techniques for getting the most stimulation from and author’s
ideas. Students, however, want a skill that will be particularly effective when reading
school textbooks.1
SQ3R can serve as a substitute for a directed reading activity when students
are working on the independent reading level. It can also serve as an alternative
wide situation to achieve certain purposes. SQ3R is a useful technique for fully
subject, into which we can fit facts correctly. It helps us to set study goals. It also
prompts us to use the review techniques that will help to fix information in your
mind.
maximum amount of benefit form our reading time. It helps us to organize the
irrelevant data.
Using SQ3R provides a different method of reading textbooks that will most
1 Francis P. Robinson, Effective Study, (New York: Harper & Row Publishers, 1970), p. 31.
likely improve our understanding and retention of material. It is no a quicker way to
read chapter in a textbook but it is likely to reduce the amount of time that one will
need to spend studying material immediately before that test. This is so because more
especially helpful as a student directed activity for mature readers who are reading
expository material without the aid of a teacher’s guidance in the form of directed
reading activity. Parts of it can even be built into a directed reading activity, but it
provides for less guidance by the teacher than does the directed reading activity. That
is why it is best to use SQ3R when the student is working on his independent reading
level, whereas the directed reading activity is best when the student is working on his
The abbreviation SQ3R stands for the steps that the student follows in using
1. Survey
A survey of headings in a lesson should take only a minute. Some students are so
in the habit of reading once they start that, until they have learned how, they need
to make a conscious effort to look just at the headings and then to estimate what
the lesson is about. It is worthwhile to practice this skill. Take some reading
materials on topics with which you are familiar, e.g., newspapers, digest
article or a chapter and then make guesses as to what the material will actually
2. Question
2 Ibid, p. 32-33.
Now that you have surveyed the entire chapter to build a framework for
understanding the chapter, it’s time to begin the reading process. Turn the first
heading into a question. This will arouse our curiosity and thereby increase
to understand that section more quickly. The question also will make important
points stand our at the same time that explanatory details is recognized as such
turning a heading into a question can be done at the instant of reading the
3. Read
Reading the section fills the information around the mental structures you have
been building by surveying the chapter and developing questions about the
section. Read one section at time; as you read the section, look for the answers to
your questions and write them down, in your awn words. One question is
probably enough for a section that is only a few paragraphs; however, for longer
sections, we may find that w need to add a question or two. Do not focus on the
details very much; well-written textbooks often provide examples to further the
main ideas. As we read the section, try to separate the details from the main
ideas. Use the details to help us understand the main ideas but do not expect
4. Recite
Having read the first section. Look away from the book and try briefly to recite
the answer to our question. Use our won words and cite an example. If we can do
this, we know what is in the book; if we cannot, glance over the section again. An
excellent way to do this reciting from memory is to jot down brief cue phrases in
Now repeat steps 2, 3 and 4 with each successive headed section: that is, turn the
next heading into a question, read to answer that question, and recite the answer
by jotting down cue phrases in our outline. Read in this way until the entire
lesson is completed.
5. Review
This step helps us to build memory. We learn through repetition. This step
provides another opportunity for repetition of the material and therefore will
improve our recall of the information. Once we have finished reading the entire
chapter using the survey. Question, read and recite steps, go back over all our
questions. Cover the answers to the questions we have develop and written down
If some of the answers have been forgotten, reread that section of the chapter to
refresh our memory, recite the answer after we have written it down and then
This five steps of the SQ3R method – survey, question, read, recite and
review – when polished into a smooth and efficient method should result in faster
reading, picking out the important points, and fixing them in memory. The student
will find one other worth while outcome quiz questions will seem familiar because
the headings turned into questions are usually the points emphasized in quizzes. By
predicting actual quiz questions and looking up the answers beforehand the student
feels that he is effectively studying what is considered important in a course.