🔎 What is Survey?
Surveying is a swift examination of the entire reading material before detail reading: through titles, headings, subheadings, summaries, bolded words, images, and charts one can get the structure and main ideas instantly.
⏱️ How Long to Spend?
Spend 2–10 minutes based on the length. The comprehension is not the goal yet but building a mental map to guide the focused reading later is the purpose.
📌 What to Look For
Look for the entitlement of the chapter, the headings of the section, the sentence telling the main idea of the paragraph, the summary, the keywords, the figures, the captions, and any study questions or bold/italicized terms.
❓ Why It Matters
Surveying the text helps your brain by activating prior knowledge and setting expectations, which results in better understanding and retention during the reading phase.
📝 Quick Actions
Outline briefly the headings, ask 3–5 questions that you want to be answered, and highlighting terms that you are not familiar with and will read to understand better.