Magical Memory Tour
The
Unending
Quest for a
Study
Formula
That Works
by PATRICIA WESTFALL
Thought, not memorization, is the
soul of learning. Every professor says
this. What teacher would claim not to
be teaching students to think?
But just try and pass a test by
thinking. Every student who has
forgotten the year Thomas Aquinas
died knows that thinking ability is not
what gets tested. Memorization—
dictaphone style—is the ability in
question. Thinking won’t derive the
seven phyla or reveal the eighth
wonder of the world. Only memori
zation counts in the crunch, and stu
dents who wish to survive had better
master the skill. But how?
“Perhaps the most basic thing that
can be said about human memory,
after a century of research, is that
unless detail is placed in a structural
pattern it is rapidly forgotten,” said
Jerome Bruner in Process of Educa
tion in 1960. Bruner’s concept, the
importance of structure, lies in one
form or another at the root of all how
to-study methods.
In the Beginning ...
Was SQ3R
The first and most famous of the
foolproof, try-it-you-can’t-fail study
formulas was Frank Robinson’s SQ3R
method published in 1946. The acro
nym stands for “Survey, Question,
Read, Recite, Review.” The method,
still taught today in a great many
college how-to-study courses, works
this way. First, survey the structure of
the chapter, reading paragraph head
ings and summaries; this helps your i
mind get a firm grasp of the whole
assignment before you read.
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Next, turn those paragraph head
ings into questions which must be
answered by the text. Then read (the
first R) to find those answers. Robin
son stresses that reading must be an
active process; you should be search
es for answers, not just passing your
;yes over the type.
Every so often (every other page, in
act) you should stop, close the book
and try to recite what you have just
ead. This is the step that is supposed
o fix the information in your mem
ary. Finally, after you have read and
recited the complete assignment, take
a few minutes to review what you’ve
just learned before calling it a night.
The Confession
Robinson’s sure-fire thoroughly
tested formula was preached pas
sionately by academic counselors
until the student population boom of
the 1960’s. That’s when new how-to
study formulas began to pop into
print at a rate second only to sex
manuals—and volumes ahead of diet
books. Most of these were variations
on SQ3R.