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THE SQ3R AND OK4R READING FORMULAS

Let’s first look at the SQ3R or SQRRR formula of active reading. Here are the steps how to read properly:

• Survey – Skim the text, analyze the structure of the text (table of contents), look at graphs and grasp the general ideas of what the author considers important.
• Questions – Note all the different questions that are addressed in the study material, especially in titles, subtitles, and emphasized text.
• Read – Read the study material and keep the corresponding questions in mind, so you’ll be really focused on the material.
• Recite – Recall, recite and answer the questions with your own words. Quiz yourself and test yourself to see which parts of the material you’ve mastered and which not yet.
• Review – Review the material for the questions you struggled with. Recite everything once more. Timebox spaced repetitions for reviews.

And the OK4R acronym stands for the following reading process (quite similar to the one above):

• Overview – Get an overview of the semantic structure, go through the introduction, table of contents, headings, subheadings, summaries and diagrams. Get a general idea of what the study material is about.
• Key Ideas – Go through the key ideas of the study material. They are most often in the beginning of each paragraph or emphasized in any other way – like bolded text, bullet points, pictures and graphs. Outline the key ideas of the text.
• Read – Read the study material while keeping the key ideas in mind.
• Recall – Close the study material and try to recall as much as possible, especially the main points of the text. Write down all the key points that you remember.
• Reflect – Reflect on the new learned knowledge by thinking of practical examples, how the new knowledge is connected to what you already know, new creative applications etc.
• Review – Review the study material sometime in the nearby future to refresh your memory. Do spaced repetitions and study harder the parts you have forgotten.

TLR – THE LEARNING FORMULA

The learning formula (TLR) is a very general process of how you learn and acquire knowledge. It has three steps that start with learning something new, then actively processing the knowledge and finally applying it as soon as possible. The learning updates in your brain are done based on the following formula:

Learning = Download + Process + Apply (Knowledge chunks)

Downloading knowledge means getting new information about something – how things can be done in a better way, how something works or functions, how to operate a machine etc. You get a new piece of information that you didn’t have before or is different from your current knowledge.

Processing knowledge means reflecting on new information, connecting it to what you already know, analyzing and deciding what you’ll start doing and stop doing based on the new information, talking to other people and engaging in discussions, sleeping it over, and so on. If you have the big picture in mind, the semantic tree, you can more easily process knowledge and connect new chunks to the old ones.

Applying knowledge means putting it to use. It means starting to interact differently with your environment. Becoming a better version of yourself, in action. Practically, it means that you put a new skill you’ve acquired to use, you stop procrastinating, undertake a new adventure, make better decisions, deepen your relationships, and so on.

Here are a few examples of how you can “download” knowledge:

• Listening to lectures
• Reading
• Listening to audio books or podcasts
• Watching educational videos
• Watching demonstrations
• Observing

Here are a few examples of how you can “process” knowledge:

• Doing self-reflection
• Talking about a new piece of information with other people and your mentors
• Doing research
• Planning and doing scenario-based thinking or a cost-benefit analysis
• Group discussions
• Teaching others
• Doing a mind-map, summarizing, structuring etc.

And a few examples of how you can “apply” knowledge into practice:

• Having real-life experience
• Changing your behavior and how you do things
• Being in the search mode – trying, experimenting, gathering feedback from your environment
• Teaching others after getting real?life experience – for example, by starting to write a blog

The best way to learn new things is to combine different methods listed above and to go through the whole learning process. First you download knowledge in one way or another, then you process it, which means you think about it, internalize it, think of possible applications, add your own ideas and prepare a plan and, of course, then you apply it by doing something new or doing things differently in your life.

You really learn only when you’re doing something new or in a new way. In the rest of the blog post, we will talk especially about how to recall, process and apply new knowledge.THE SQ3R AND OK4R READING FORMULAS

Let’s first look at the SQ3R or SQRRR formula of active reading. Here are the steps how to read properly:

• Survey – Skim the text, analyze the structure of the text (table of contents), look at graphs and grasp the general ideas of what the author considers important.
• Questions – Note all the different questions that are addressed in the study material, especially in titles, subtitles, and emphasized text.
• Read – Read the study material and keep the corresponding questions in mind, so you’ll be really focused on the material.
• Recite – Recall, recite and answer the questions with your own words. Quiz yourself and test yourself to see which parts of the material you’ve mastered and which not yet.
• Review – Review the material for the questions you struggled with. Recite everything once more. Timebox spaced repetitions for reviews.

And the OK4R acronym stands for the following reading process (quite similar to the one above):

• Overview – Get an overview of the semantic structure, go through the introduction, table of contents, headings, subheadings, summaries and diagrams. Get a general idea of what the study material is about.
• Key Ideas – Go through the key ideas of the study material. They are most often in the beginning of each paragraph or emphasized in any other way – like bolded text, bullet points, pictures and graphs. Outline the key ideas of the text.
• Read – Read the study material while keeping the key ideas in mind.
• Recall – Close the study material and try to recall as much as possible, especially the main points of the text. Write down all the key points that you remember.
• Reflect – Reflect on the new learned knowledge by thinking of practical examples, how the new knowledge is connected to what you already know, new creative applications etc.
• Review – Review the study material sometime in the nearby future to refresh your memory. Do spaced repetitions and study harder the parts you have forgotten.

TLR – THE LEARNING FORMULA

The learning formula (TLR) is a very general process of how you learn and acquire knowledge. It has three steps that start with learning something new, then actively processing the knowledge and finally applying it as soon as possible. The learning updates in your brain are done based on the following formula:

Learning = Download + Process + Apply (Knowledge chunks)

Downloading knowledge means getting new information about something – how things can be done in a better way, how something works or functions, how to operate a machine etc. You get a new piece of information that you didn’t have before or is different from your current knowledge.

Processing knowledge means reflecting on new information, connecting it to what you already know, analyzing and deciding what you’ll start doing and stop doing based on the new information, talking to other people and engaging in discussions, sleeping it over, and so on. If you have the big picture in mind, the semantic tree, you can more easily process knowledge and connect new chunks to the old ones.

Applying knowledge means putting it to use. It means starting to interact differently with your environment. Becoming a better version of yourself, in action. Practically, it means that you put a new skill you’ve acquired to use, you stop procrastinating, undertake a new adventure, make better decisions, deepen your relationships, and so on.

Here are a few examples of how you can “download” knowledge:

• Listening to lectures
• Reading
• Listening to audio books or podcasts
• Watching educational videos
• Watching demonstrations
• Observing

Here are a few examples of how you can “process” knowledge:

• Doing self-reflection
• Talking about a new piece of information with other people and your mentors
• Doing research
• Planning and doing scenario-based thinking or a cost-benefit analysis
• Group discussions
• Teaching others
• Doing a mind-map, summarizing, structuring etc.

And a few examples of how you can “apply” knowledge into practice:

• Having real-life experience
• Changing your behavior and how you do things
• Being in the search mode – trying, experimenting, gathering feedback from your environment
• Teaching others after getting real?life experience – for example, by starting to write a blog

The best way to learn new things is to combine different methods listed above and to go through the whole learning process. First you download knowledge in one way or another, then you process it, which means you think about it, internalize it, think of possible applications, add your own ideas and prepare a plan and, of course, then you apply it by doing something new or doing things differently in your life.

You really learn only when you’re doing something new or in a new way. In the rest of the blog post, we will talk especially about how to recall, process and apply new knowledge.