Reading for gist is a reading comprehension strategy that involves getting the overall meaning or core idea of a text by skimming it rapidly and ignoring the grammatical words. The gist is the main message that the writer means to get across. This strategy is also known as skimming and is a preparatory stage that defines whether a part of a text deserves our attention. It is particularly useful in giving learners an opportunity to prepare themselves for more detailed reading. The ability to read for gist is important for many learners of English, and it is a skill that can be developed.

The GIST strategy is a summarization procedure that helps students digest complex texts by requiring contextual word learning and generating interactions between schemata and texts. It is a reading comprehension practice that helps students identify and write brief main idea statements about sections of text. The GIST strategy involves stopping at predetermined points while reading and using a 3-step process to write the gist or main idea. The steps include identifying who or what the section is about, determining the most important information about the who or what, and writing a gist statement that combines the information from the first two steps. The GIST strategy is effective for building an inclusive classroom and allows all students to approach a complex text on equal footing because classmates help each other access difficult vocabulary and develop summarizing skills.

In summary, reading for gist is a reading comprehension strategy that involves getting the overall meaning or core idea of a text by skimming it rapidly and ignoring the grammatical words. The GIST strategy is a summarization procedure that helps students digest complex texts by requiring contextual word learning and generating interactions between schemata and texts. It is a reading comprehension practice that helps students identify and write brief main idea statements about sections of text.