Words are vehicles of thought and are used by the author to convey pictures to the mind, but at first the mind's eye is unable to picture the thought as rapidly as the physical eye can read. The first essential to remembering what you are reading is to read slowly, hesitating occasionally, to be sure that a picture is being formed. The Dead Line Never read more than a single paragraph without stopping to test your understanding of what you have read. At the end of each paragraph there should be a dead line; in fact there is a dead line and he who reads carelessly and quickly beyond this line need not expect to remember. Put your finger between the pages, close the book, and review the thought of the paragraph. Now make a definite effort to visualize the picture in the author's mind. It is true that some passages make an easier mind's eye picture than others, but all will make one which can be used to help in formulating a definite understanding of the author's thought. You cannot visualize a thing which you do not understand. The aim of your study is to comprehend the author. To visualize the thought of the paragraph will test your understanding. Making of a definite picture will increase your knowledge of the essentials. Form the habit of visualizing what you read. Do not be handicapped by doubt. Make an effort to formulate the main facts of the paragraph into an expression of your own. If you are by yourself, where you can do so, state your thought audibly, not in the words of the author, but express the thought and the facts accurately in your own words. =No knowledge is yours until you can tell it to some one else.= Use this test and tell it to some one, or if no one is handy tell it to yourself, but do it audibly. This forces a definite expression which can only come from a definite understanding. Parents should question their children and encourage them in telling what they are reading and studying about. The audible expression demands definite knowledge. The Student's Review Sheet If the child is reading something which he will wish to review, as in studying a lesson, a good plan to follow is to have a pad of paper by the side of the book. After reading the paragraph write down upon the pad the expressions and thoughts which the paragraph conveys to you. This is an excellent plan in all cases where the audible expression is not practicable. After the lesson has been gone over in this manner, preserve the review sheets containing the synopsis of the paragraph. Then for review, before the examination, a quick reading of these written expressions of thoughts, which the chapter contains, will eliminate the necessity of a further reading of the entire text. Apply These Methods