Tips for Getting the Most Out of Your Reading Experience

We’ve all heard the age-old saying, “reading is fundamental”. However, if you don’t understand and retain the information that you read, you are truly doing yourself a disservice and are ultimately wasting time. Whether you are reading for school, work, or just for fun, you should use the following tips to get the most out of every reading experience.

Mood Matters

Believe it or not, mood plays a huge role in creating a positive reading experience. If you are in an unpleasant mood, you most likely will not enjoy reading. Try to read when you are in a pleasant mood, or simply are in the mood to read. Make sure you have gotten enough sleep before reading so that you are able to truly concentrate. Also, remove any distractions that could make it difficult for you to focus on what you are reading.

Personalize What You Read

Reading is all about visualization and the ability to turn the content into something memorable. Try to tie what you read to people, situations or information that will stand out in your memory. By personalizing what you read, you will be able to better visualize the content, which will ultimately make it easier for you to remember.

Understanding is Key

While you won’t always understand everything you read at first, it is important that you make an effort to clarify and decipher any information that is confusing to you. Whether you have to re-read, look up, or research specific text to make sense of it, be sure that you possess a clear understanding of what you have read before you move on.

Consider using highlighters and Post-its to write down and emphasize key points, quotes, definitions, and ideas that will help you remember and understand the text. By practicing active reading techniques, you will make reading a more rewarding experience. 

  

Pace Yourself

It is easy to become completely consumed by a good book. However, it’s important that you pace yourself. Break the content up into sections to make it more manageable, and easier to digest. Be sure that you have a bookmark handy so that you can keep track of your stopping points.

Listen to Your Book

Thanks to technology, we now have the option of listening to books. Through audio books, people who have trouble reading, have their hands full, or simply have a book that was made to be read aloud, can now listen to the audio transcript of many books. Listening to text can make the information easier to comprehend and remember. If you can’t find the audio files for a specific  book, consider reading it out loud to yourself to help make difficult sections more familiar and easier to comprehend.

Discuss Books with Other People  

Discussing a book can help you remember the content for a longer period of time. Find book clubs, study groups, online discussion boards, or friends who have read the same book, to make reading a more enjoyable experience.

This post was written on behalf of Skyo. For more information on how to get the most out of your reading experience visit www.skyo.com and discover great ways to find cheap textbooks.