How to Become a Better Reader: Breaking the Comprehension Barrier (2)

 

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This post is the second part of an ongoing discussion. If you are yet to read the first part and would like to do so in less than 5 minutes, please click here.

 

Link the Content or Information Presented to Prior Knowledge

Most times, materials appear difficult or are actually difficult to understand because we are unable to see things the way their authors did when they wrote them. We may not have the kind of prerequisite knowledge or experience that the authors have so, we will need to consciously find the relationship between what we already know and what they are trying to share with us. To interrelate the content of a difficult material to what you already know, consider the topics, main ideas, principles, examples, etc. in what you are reading and connect them to the ones you already know. Doing this might help you understand the material better or inspire you on how to bridge the gaps between what you know and what is being discussed. Also, if the author included the details of references or a list of additional study materials in the material, you may consider accessing those other materials to see if reading or skimming through them would aid your understanding of the actual material. However, that is only advisable if you have the time for it. Otherwise, you should focus on other (time-sparing) techniques.

 

Attempt to Summarise the Content of the Material

Sometimes, materials are difficult to understand because they are not written in familiar words or comfortable structures, volumes, etc. Consequently, creating a summary of the material while reading it and focusing on understanding that summary might help improve your understanding of the material. When you are given a material and it seems too difficult to understand, attempt to summarise the material in your own words without removing key concepts or distorting the obvious opinions of the author. Then try to read and understand the summary. Creating a summary should not take so much time if you time yourself properly and maintain discipline. But, if for any other reason you find the summarisation process too time consuming, you might want to focus on summarising just the difficult or most difficult parts.

 

Read More of the Kinds of Texts You Consider Difficult Regularly

If you are likely to keep encountering such material often in your current or future endeavour, it is important to put in extra effort and start familiarising yourself with similar materials regularly. In this case, you will need to up your game and apply the ideas I have already suggested above in addition to those you will think of by yourself and those you will get from other experienced readers. The truth is, no matter how difficult a material is, it is still possible to understand it. Once you can identify why it is difficult for you, you can find effective solutions to the cause of that difficulty and gain a good understanding of the material. So, challenge yourself by reading more of such materials.

 

Seek the Recommendations of Persons That Are Familiar with That Particular Material or Such Kinds of Materials

Finally, if you know or can find persons that have studied or used the material before, you should find out how they were able to understand it. Ask them relevant and clear questions and try out their suggestions. If the material was recommended by a superior, teacher or tutor, you could also seek their opinion on how to improve your comprehension of its content. Tell them the efforts you have already made on your own to improve your understanding and the outcome. They are most likely going to help you by supplying useful ideas that will aid your understanding or they might decide to recommend an alternative material that you can equally use to achieve the intended outcome. But when asking the person who recommended the material to you originally, let it be very clear that the help you need is how you can effectively understand the content of the material. Make sure you don’t suggest that you are trying to avoid “seemingly” difficult materials or dodge the challenge they may have intentionally presented to you.

 

The suggestions above are just ideas that I have personally applied before. However, after drafting this post, I decided to randomly check out what some international schools have to say about the subject of discussion and found a few similarities in our ideas. If you would like to read their thoughts on how to understand difficult materials, you can click here and here. Alternatively, if all you want to know is how to study smarter, not necessarily how to understand difficult materials, you might learn a few things from this school. Kindly note that sharing these links (for more ideas) does not mean that I am presently affiliated with any of the sources.

 

Cheers to you, on your journey to becoming a better reader!