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I got a really good question about studying for the GED… If reading is hard for you, how do you study, when so much of studying is reading?!?! Well, there are some things that can help you read better and understand more.

Here’s the question that I got:

Maria, I am having so much trouble with understanding what I’m reading on the social study and science subject. I also get stuck on the Graphic trying to make sense of it. What can I do to improve my comprehension when studying?

Reading can be a hard job…and you have to read a lot on the GED test and to study for the test. So, you’ve got a good question. One really good study strategy is called SQ4R. That stands for:

Survey (look over what you’re going to read before you read)
Question (ask questions before you read)
Read
Respond (find answers to your questions while you read)
Review (look back at what you read)
Reflect (think about what you read)

Going through this process helps you think about what you’re reading and understand it better. I wrote an article on it in my blog that gives more information about it:
http://www.passged.com/student_blogs/maria/2007/11/12/sq4r-for-ged-reading/

Another thing that causes problems is vocabulary…if you don’t understand all the words, how can you know what it says!? I know, it takes time to build up vocabulary, but it’s important, too. And most things get done in small steps! Keeping track of words you don’t know, highlighting them, trying to understand them from context (what’s around them), and looking them up in the dictionary. Here’s a couple of articles I wrote about vocabulary that might help:
http://www.passged.com/student_blogs/maria/2008/01/22/ged-vocabulary-building/
http://www.passged.com/student_blogs/maria/2007/11/26/ged-vocabulary-understanding-words-on-the-ged-test/

Here’s another tip… take notes! The SQ4R system has you taking a lot of notes while you read, and it’s always a good idea. Whatever you’re reading, it will help you remember and understand if you:
–write down questions about what you’re reading
–mark parts that you don’t understand, and go back later to try to understand better
–underline important ideas

After you’re done reading something, or after you’ve studied for a while, something that helps a lot is summarizing. Summarizing means restating the important ideas you read in your own words. It helps you figure out what’s important and remember it. By putting something in your own words, you’ll remember better and understand more… Here’s a link to an article I wrote about it:
http://www.passged.com/student_blogs/maria/2007/11/05/ged-test-reading-for-meaning/

Also, there’s a reading strategy called KWL… that stands for “Know, Want to Know, Learned.” It’s sort of like SQ4R, because you think about what you’re going to read before you read it, then you pay attention while you’re reading, and then you think about it after you read it. In the first step, you ask what you already know about the topic you’re going to read about. If it’s about voting, ask what you know about voting? Thinking of things you know gives you background that helps you understand what you’re reading more.

The second step is when you make a list of things you want to know from what you’re going to read. What do you hope to learn? While you’re reading, you can write down the answers when you find them, or other new information that’s important. After you read, you can go over everything you wrote and think about what you learned.

I wrote some articles on this, too, explaining how it’s done and then giving an example:
http://www.passged.com/student_blogs/maria/2007/10/09/kewl-reading-for-the-ged/
http://www.passged.com/student_blogs/maria/2007/10/22/more-kewl-reading/

You also mentioned graphics. Do you mean, charts and graphs? That’s a good point! Reading charts and graphs, and even pictures, is an important part of the GED. Here are some links that can help you with reading charts and graphs:
http://www.42explore.com/graphs.htm
http://www.passged.com/leonards_mail/2007/10/22/interpreting-charts-and-graphs-on-the-ged/

I hope this helps! Good luck with your GED.
Maria

For more information about the GED test and GED test preparation, visit The GED Academy at http://www.passGED.com.

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