Reading to learn is very different from reading for entertainment. Learn how to filter the important information and remember it.

You remember more of what you read if you become more actively involved in the reading. Do this by:

• Knowing what you want to learn: ask yourself before you read, ‘What do I want to learn from this?’
• Doing a quick survey: skim through the chapter you’re about to read to get an overall idea of what it’s about. Read the headings, sub-headings and anything in bold or italics. This will give you the main points.
• Reading more closely: go back now and read the chapter more closely.
• Asking questions: if you read with questions in mind then you will have to concentrate to find the answers.
• Highlighting: highlight important points as you find them. This keeps you active and involved.
• Summarising what you read: either write a summary or verbally recount it to make sure you know what you just read.
• Rereading difficult parts: go back over anything you didn’t get first time around.
• Adding what you read to what you already know: sum up how what you just read fits in with what you might have learned yesterday in this subject.

For more study tips, read Shortcuts to Success: Study and Exam Skills for Leaving Certificate by Irene Togher.