SQ3R Method: What It Is & How It Works

SQ3R is a reading comprehension and study technique that tackles the biggest boogeyman of all: forgetting.

Spending hours reading only to recall virtually nothing is an experience most of us have had at least once.

And it’s not an accident, we’re wired that way.

Forgetting curve researchers show that we can forget up to 98% of the material we study if we don’t study intentionally and don’t set aside time for practice. They’re also the ones to tell us that this is just the way our brains work – you either use it or lose it.

And that utilization is the key to solving the problem, and the essence of the SQ3R. This method is designed to make sure that reading is goal-oriented, active, and intentional. 

“To read without reflecting is like eating without digesting.”

– Edmund Burke

Here’s how it works:

What is the SQ3R Method? Survey, Question, Read, Recite Review

The SQ3R acronym stands for the 5 steps of the process: surveying, questioning, reading, reciting, and reviewing. Go through them and your book, textbook, or notes material will stick better to memory.

The method was first formally proposed in the 1940s by Francis P. Robinson in his book Effective Study, where he offers alternative methods for teachers to use in the classroom in order to boost student performance.

“Most readers feel that they understand the material as they read, the trouble comes later in trying to remember it “

Francis P Robinson

Since then, the method has gained popularity and is implemented in academic spaces, including in prestigious higher education programs, such as those of Harvard and Stanford. It’s particularly popular for foreign language learning.

Let’s take a closer look at each step so you can better understand how it actually works.

Survey

The first step is to survey, aka skim the text and hunt for valuable information without actually getting into the nitty-gritty. The goal is to basically guess in broader terms, what the material is about.

 You will do this by identifying certain cues in the material. These include the name of the chapters, the main headings, and the sub-headings.

You can also get some insights from the way in which arguments are being made.

If you’re reading a scientific or social sciences article, you will most likey find sentences that start with “Firstly”/ “Secondly”/ “Lastly”, “In conclusion” – these also highlight the way in which the information is structured and argued.

Skim through the whole chapter or section you want to study with these in mind. 

Also, look at any visual elements that grab your attention: bigger text, bolded text, graphs, charts, diagrams, etc.

By the end, you’ll have a good sense of what the topic is about.

Question

Based on the info you gathered in the previous step, formulate a few key questions you think will be answered in the material. Depending on the depth of the material and your pre-existing familiarity with the subject or parts of the subject, these questions can be basic or specific. By basic, I mean, something like “What is X notion”; “How does X interact with Y”, “Why is X notion important for Y topic”?. More specific questions would sound something like “In which type of setting is X useful?” “What do I need to get started with X?”; “Did the Y situation have an impact on the development of X?”

This step sets the stage for goal-oriented, intentional reading.

Read

Now it’s time to start the actual reading. Keeping in mind your S & Q step, start going through the material from start to finish. 

You will notice that having the questions and assumptions about the content of the text already in your mind will make it easier for you to map out and identify key information. It will feel like filling a puzzle.

At this stage, because you are engaging in active rather than passive reading i.e., you have the goal to understand and answer the questions you asked, your mind will be less likely to wander off, and you will memorize better because you know for a fact that you will actually use the information really soon.

Recite

At the end of each chapter of the section you’ve read, summarize it quickly in your own words. You can do this either orally, by speaking out loud, or by writing it down on paper. The goal is to make sense of the material and explain it in your own style. This also makes it more familiar and helps it interact with your own language patterns and speech behavior, making it easier to integrate within memory.

Review

Now, using the questions you asked at the second step, survey yourself. See how much of the information you can recall without going back into the source material. 

You can also, once again, outline key information that may be important but not present in your questions.

At the end of the review section, check your source material for gaps and mistakes, correct them, and highlight what you need to focus on most in the next section.

This stage is the most important for retrieval, and it’s one that you should repeat., Even if you do not go through all of the other steps when you revise, practicing recall frequently is important. If you do not, you risk forgetting most of the information, and all of the previous effort will be in vain.

Keep reading for a few more tips and tricks for reviewing and what other methods to combine SQ3R with to make it even more effective.

Is SQ3R Effective?

Yes, research proves the SQ3R method is effective.

In an early scientific journal,Tadlock D.F. explains that SQ3R works efficiently because it aligns with information processing theory.

Basically, we naturally seek to make sense of the world by processing and categorizing. Since it relies on proven mechanisms, the SQ3R method helps readers, including students of all levels understand and remember written text better.

Another study published in Teaching of Psychology found that students who use this method performed better on exams compared to those who did not.

A study at Palompon Institute of Technology found that grade 11 students who used the SQ3R method showed significantly greater improvement in reading comprehension compared to those who used the conventional reading strategy.

Why do we forget what we read?

Being passive when reading is the number one sin to point your fingers at. Because reading itself is easy and quite fast, you can quite easily fool yourself into believing that recognizing information i.e., understanding the words you’re reading, equals memorizing it. Take the book out of your space, and you’ll realize how false that is.

Besides that, another common problem is the fact that, if you’re not intentional, you may default to offloading mode. Because working memory is limited, if you’re tired, stressed, or have a lot on your mind, your mind might decide to preserve energy. Knowing the info is readily accessible in your textbook or notebook makes it seem inessential to remember, because you can always go back to it when you need to.

This is why setting intentional goals and asking questions is important. You set the stage from the beginning, and tell your mind that it has to retrieve information.

Tips to implement SQ3R for long-term learning 

As I already hinted above, the review part of the SQ3R process is crucial, and you should repeat the information more than once.

A smart and effective way to use the info you gather through SQ3R is to use it for spaced repetition. For example, you can take the questions you asked at step 2 and turn them into flashcards. Write the question on one side and the answer on the other.

This can be very handy and is easy to do because you already have all the info. I recommend you do them digitally through an app such as Anki so you can quickly access them on your phone and practice when you don’t have that much time.

To make it even more effective, you can create a spaced repetition plan. There are many ways to do spaced repetition, but a basic technique is to repeat the information first at 24-hour intervals, then skip one day, then every three days, and so on until you practice on a weekly basis. 

This strengthens long-term memory and ensures information sticks for a longer period of time.