How can you use focus to increase your reading comprehension and retention? No matter your age, throughout your life you will be learning. You may attend a university, you may enhance your knowledge via business workshops, lectures, books, e-courses, and whatever else shows up in our information society. So wouldn’t it be helpful to have good reading comprehension and retention to increase your ability to learn?
Retention of what you are learning can help your career, your parenting skills, your business, your relationships, your hobbies and so much more. So it makes sense to acquire reading comprehension and retention sooner rather than later. These skills are useful for all the great information you want to take in. Do you find your mind wandering when reading and then forgetting what you’ve read? I, by example, do, and this is why we came up with this. Five techniques to raise your comprehension and retention. We have selected the techniques that are expected to be relatively easy to use and hence could be adopted by many students.
01. Imagine that the author
In order to improve your level of comprehension when reading a book, imagine that the author has written it to tell you a story, inform you on a topic, tell you their opinion in a certain
manner, etc.
Exercise, if you are reading on a topic that’s new to you, make your comments on what you concluded from the paragraphs. Your comments don’t have to be on each paragraph you read. Just pretend you have to reply to what’s being said. Because this is a written discourse, attempt to use a pencil when reading. And when the writer so-called pauses in paragraphs or page breaks, write a few words of commentary on what you just read. Could be yes, no, or more detailed comments, your feelings, what you predict, what you want to know more about, and what you are curious about it.
02. Paragraph shrinking
After you read a paragraph or a reasonably sized coherent section, summarize the main point audibly. If you can’t, then reread.
As an exercise, choose a book that you like or the book you are currently reading and do this. Summarize the main point audibly. Let us know in the discussion section how easy it was for you to do this.
03. Prediction
More relevant to non-expository reading. When you finish a page, try to predict what will happen next. Keep the same book and continue reading. Pause and continue your exercises, predicting what will happen next.
04. Recall practice
After you finish reading, practice recalling the content by outlining what you just read. Include important details. Once you have exhausted your memory, go back and fill in the outline with things you have omitted. These strategies typically take time. Essentially, you are assisting your brain in associating reading action with memory. Recall practice has the most scientific evidence. If you practice recalling regularly and monitor the quantity and quality of recall, you will notice improvements. Also, book clubs or reading partners naturally help because recall practice typically occurs.
As an exercise, think about the last book you read and make a summary, underlining the most important ideas, book characters, what you like, and what you learned.
05. Improve your comprehension and retention using concentration
Look to identify the main point, evidence, and conclusion. The main point is not the summary, it’s simply what the author is trying to convince you is true. This will most closely resemble an opinion rather than background info or undeniable facts. It can be at the beginning, middle, or end, depending on the type of topic. The main point will take different forms. If the passage is about a problem, the main point is the solution. If it’s a mystery, cause and effect, the main point should be the explanation the author advocates. If it’s a person the author likes or dislikes, the main point is that the person is great or not great. Evidence will be reasons for opinion. If it’s about a study or an experiment, the main point is that the study or experiment is good or bad.
As an exercise, think of one of your projects, which relates to a topic you are interested in. Identify the main point that made it successful or that prevented the success. Conclude then what you did learn from the respective project.
All right, that was for this article. Concentration can help you improve your reading comprehension and retention. Again, we are here to help you. Thank you very much.