Project: Dabble

Want to remember more of what you read? These seven strategies will help you move from passive reading to active learning.

Have you ever finished a chapter or article only to realize you can barely remember what you just read? Research shows we forget most of what we read, hear, or see within hours.

This tendency to forget becomes a challenge when we start exploring a new hobby or interest, since we often rely on reading to build background knowledge and pick up skills. If we don’t remember what we’ve read, it’s harder to apply that knowledge later.

When I taught kindergarten and first graders, I showed them simple strategies to understand and remember what they read. Students learned to take a picture walk through illustrations, preview important vocabulary, and retell the main ideas and key details. As adults, we often set those strategies aside and fall back on less effective habits. Others were never taught these tools at all.

First graders, it turns out, can teach us a lot about reading. By becoming more strategic in the way you engage with text, you can retain more and apply what you learn more effectively in your work and daily life. These seven strategies will help you move from passive reading to active learning.

1. Establish Your Purpose

Whether you’re scanning the news, troubleshooting with a manual, or settling into a book, ask yourself first: What do I want to gain from this?

Perhaps you want to understand how a strong leader motivates a team. Or, you may want to figure out how to write a basic Python loop. Establishing a clear purpose improves focus, engagement, and comprehension. It also helps you decide what to pay attention to and what is less relevant to your goals.

These three questions will guide you in setting a clear purpose:

• Why am I reading this material?
• How soon will I need to use this information?
• What do I already know about this topic, and what else do I want to learn?

“Clarifying your purpose helps the mind tremendously,” writes Kam Knight, author of Speed Reading: Learn to Read a 200+ Page Book in 1 Hour. “Instead of deciding which of the hundred urges to follow, it has a clear directive. It knows what to tune out and where to turn its attention.”

It can also help to write down specific questions to guide your reading. For example, when I read The Harvard Medical School Guide to Tai Chi by Peter Wayne, my goal was to understand the health benefits of Tai Chi so I’d stay motivated to practice regularly. Previewing the chapter on cross-training, I jotted down these questions:

• What are the benefits of cross-training in general?
• Why is cross-training with Tai Chi useful?
• Which athletes have practiced Tai Chi?
• How can athletes apply Tai Chi concepts to their sport to improve performance?

These questions kept me focused on what mattered most for adding Tai Chi into my own fitness routine.

2. Chunk Your Reading Time

When I was studying for my master’s degree in Curriculum and Instruction, I often spent long stretches – sometimes 90 minutes or more – buried in dense textbooks on applied linguistics and child development. Inevitably, my mind wandered, and I’d have to spend even more time rereading passages 

Research shows our ability to concentrate has limits. Shorter sessions with breaks in between are far more effective than marathon study periods. Rick Ostrov, author of Power Reading, recommends 20- to 40-minute sessions followed by a 5- to 10-minute break, and then a quick 2–10 minute review before moving on.

In addition to pacing your study sessions, it helps to define a manageable section of text that you want to tackle. Tony Buzan, author of Brain Power, suggests using a large sheet of paper to mark the beginning and end of the pages you plan to study. For eBooks, you can achieve the same effect with digital bookmarks or highlights. Creating a clear boundary helps you stay focused and avoid procrastination.

3. Preview the Text

Previewing the text before you dive in is one of the most valuable steps for effective reading and comprehension. It orients your brain to the content and structure, and it helps you decide whether the resource supports your purpose and learning goals.

How to preview different texts:

• Articles and reports: Read the first and last paragraphs, scan bold or italicized words, and glance at quotes or illustrations.
• Books and manuals: Review the covers, table of contents, glossary, and index. Skim for bold/italic terms, diagrams, and tables.
• Textbooks: Check objectives and summaries, look at end-of-chapter questions, and preview key terms, charts, or illustrations.
• Novels or stories: For pleasure reading, you may want to skip previewing and let the plot unfold. If you’re reading a story or novel for a class or assignment, it’s helpful to preview. Explore the table of contents and skim the chapters to get an overview of the plot, setting, and main characters.

Previewing doesn’t have to take long. Knight recommends spending anywhere from a minute previewing an article to about five minutes for a book.

As you preview, also consider the type of writing. Is it academic or aimed at a general audience? Identify the parts most relevant to your goals and plan to spend more time there, while skimming or skipping sections that are less helpful.

4. Read Thoroughly

The next step is to read the section closely, focusing on full comprehension. Pause to look up unfamiliar words or check a map for places you don’t recognize.

Many readers rely on highlighting and underlining information they want to remember, but these methods often backfire. We tend to mark too much text and capture irrelevant details when we lack a complete understanding of the topic and main ideas. Instead, Ostrov suggests placing a dot or check mark in the margin to signal importance. Each time you reread the section, you can add another mark to the passages that still stand out. Over time, you’ll notice that those with only one mark seemed important at first but proved less essential once you had a fuller understanding.

During this stage, you may take notes as you go or wait until you finish reading. I prefer to wait until I have the big picture, which helps me focus my notes on the areas I’ve marked as most important. This approach saves time and prevents me from recording unnecessary details that don’t contribute to my study goals.

5. Check Your Understanding

Return to your original questions: Were you able to answer them? What gaps remain? As you review, identify anything that’s still unclear or that you overlooked during your deep read. Spend a few minutes scanning the text to clear up anything that’s still confusing or that you may have missed. Continue adding dots or checks next to points you want to capture in your notes.

Next, consider how this information connects to what you already know. The more links you can make to your prior knowledge, goals, or experiences, the more likely you are to remember it.

6. Recall What You’ve Read

Reading without using the information is like pouring water into a leaky bucket. To transfer material into long-term memory, you need to use it actively.

After you finish reading, put the text aside and summarize everything you can remember in your own words. This quickly reveals what you understand and where the gaps remain.

You can also quiz yourself or explain the material to someone else. Another powerful technique is to create a mind map: start with the main idea in the center of a page, then branch out with supporting concepts, examples, and connections. This visual structure helps you see how ideas fit together and strengthens recall.

Ostrov suggests devoting 25% to 50% of your study time to this kind of active use, since practice and retrieval are what truly make information stick.

7. Regularly Review

The real test of retention is whether you still remember the material days or weeks later. To keep knowledge fresh, schedule regular reviews. Glance over your notes 10 minutes to an hour after you finish reading. Review them again the next day, and then at gradually wider intervals, such as after a week and then a month. This spacing strengthens memory by signaling to your brain that the information is important.

During these reviews, focus on active recall rather than passive rereading. Challenge yourself to retrieve the concepts before checking your notes. Recite the information aloud or explain it to someone else. Teaching is one of the most effective ways to solidify what you’ve learned.

Being a Strategic Reader

Most of us finish a book or article only to forget much of what we just read. But by being a strategic reader, you can hold onto far more. These seven strategies ensure the time you spend reading truly pays off in your work, studies, and daily life.