trouble reading and understanding?

Question

So when i read i can never remember what i read about. Now i love to read and right no i am reading "Story of a Girl" by Sara Zarr, then i want to read "all amreician girl" by meg. cabbot, but i cant focous on what i read so i have to read it about 2-3 times to understand it. People think i am a slow reader, and i read slow to understand it... any tips?

So when i read i can never remember what i read about. Now i love to read and right no i am reading "Story of a Girl" by Sara Zarr, then i want to read "all amreician girl" by meg. cabbot, but i cant focous on what i read so i have to read it about 2-3 times to understand it. People think i am a slow reader, and i read slow to understand it... any tips? And i am 12 yrs old almost 13

Answer 1

I don't know why there is a pressure to read fast. You probably digest more reading slowly than most do while speed reading. Truth be told even English Teachers need to slowly read and go back a couple of times to understand things. All things get easier with practice. Don't worry about what others are saying and take your time. Reading is for the enjoyment not for the "I'm Done"

Answer 2

As you read one book (take your time with it), write down notes. Organize your notes, too, as you write them. For instance, make a heading: CHARACTERS. Then list all the characters as you first meet them. List them just once, but write things next to them: like important character - yes or no, a girl or a boy, how old is this person, where do they live. Add to it as you go along. That is one category.
Another category is action: list by chapter. What happens in the chapter? First this happened. Then this happened becasue of that or just after that or both?
Another character: location. Where is this taking place? Is it a town, is it a kind of place but not named, like a forest or on a body of water. Or is it just in a character's head - or the narrator's mind?
Write down 'favorite sentences' and 'favorite scenes' too.
Make an organization that works for you. When you look at it later, it should help you to reconstruct the story.
Why do this? Because it is an exercise. It's a little bit like what some authors do when they plan and write a story. Or when someone writes a play, they do something like that, too.
It's an exercise that, the more you do, the easier it becomes. Pretty soon, even without doing it, you will be mentally taking notes while you enjoy reading a book.
Not all books will stay with you. Some books are written in a way that is confusing to most people and even after reading a book, someone still might not understand it. Someone told me they have that experience with books by James Joyce (I've never been able to get past the first paragraph of a book by James Joyce and he's a great writer of the English language!)
Some books are so 'fluffy' that they are hardly worth remembering anyway and you forget them right away. I read a book by Candace Bushnell and it entertained me but I don't remember a single thing about anyone in the book. I read it twice too because I was trying to get interested in her writing after seeing 'Sex and the City' on TV. It's just fluff writing.
The way that I described taking notes is really helpful if you will be tested on a book for school but it helps to guide you while you are reading almost any book.

Answer 3

I am also slow in remembering details in what I have read. Most of the time I have to go back to previous chapters to be reminded who this character is or what brought on this reaction. And I also am slow in understanding some books especially the ones which are not really within my favorites but am required to read. And I learned a thing or two in my literature classes. First, set your mind and heart into what you are doing. Make sure that you WANT to read. If you need to but you don't want it, make yourself WANT to. Second, it is not quantity but quality. Don't worry about reading slow or reading the text 2-3 times to understand it. The point is you have to understand what you are reading and if it takes being slow to do that, then be it. Third, have a dictionary at hand so that when you encounter a difficult word, you can look it up immediately and then proceed. Fourth, post-its. Yes, they can help you in a lot of ways: a) you can write down the difficult word and the definition and post it on the page where the word is located; b) you can write down the name and description of the character and add more to it as you read along; c) you can write down the words or sentences worth remembering; d) you can write down your own thoughts and/or reactions, realizations to what happened in the text.
Don't worry too much. You are only 12 years old and you have a long way to go. I know you will be good because most 12 year-olds nowadays are so not into reading but into other stuff like online gaming. You will get the hang of reading as time goes by especially because you are starting young. Keep on reading.

Answer 4

Well, one thing is your age. When you get older it will become easier. If you have ADD or ADHD that may be the problem. You may need to go and be put on meds or have your meds increased. If you do not then I would suggest reading in a quiet room with no distractions such as tv or radios. I often suffer from the same thing and I have to read snuggled up in my bed with the lights off and just my book light on. if you try this and it still doesn't work then you might want to try getting post its and on every 5 or 6 pages, right a short summary of what happened. This will make you remember right after reading it and hopefully make it stick and if you foret later on you can always just go back and read the last two or three post its you worte. This is a really good idea if you forget what you have read the next time you puck up the book. I hope all goes well for you hunny!

Answer 5

Maybe you can use a ruler or something to cover up the lines below the one your reading, so you can concentrate on one line at a time..
I've done that..it slows your reading down a bit so you can concentrate on each word. And it helps your eyes not jump ahead to the next few lines.

Answer 6

one of my old english teacher's used to put a post-it note on the page where he met a new chracter and write the name of the character on the post-it note, so if it came up later, he could look it up and remember who they were exactly, i guess you could do that with main events too, so you remeber all that's going on........i hope that helps! (all american girl is a really good book, and the second one too. i suggest reading "bras and broomsticks" and then ther's a sequel "frogs and french kisses", and teh third one comes out in june and it's called "spells and sleeping bags" and those are written by sarah mlynowski

Answer 7

Many adults have learning disabilities and aren't really aware of it. Go to you family doctor and he can send you to a specialist and run tests to she if you have a problem. But, it will cost you in the hundreds to run these tests.