This study investigated the effects of Directed Reading Thinking Activity (DRTA) and the Survey, Question, Read, Recite, Review (SQ3R) method on the reading comprehension of Grade 8 students at Santa Cruz Integrated National High School. It also assessed the students' familiarity with both strategies, determined the overall effect on their reading comprehension, and more importantly, analyzed any significant differences in reading comprehension using DRTA and SQ3R methods across literal, inferential, and critical thinking levels. The study utilized the descriptive method design of research. The focus of the study was the 60 Grade 8 students of Santa Cruz Integrated National High School. Two (2) sections responded to the research questions. The research utilized self-made survey questionnaires, reading materials and test questionnaires to assess the effect of DRTA and SQ3R on their reading comprehension. The results revealed that students perceived both strategies as beneficial. However, student preferred SQ3R due to its perceived ease of understanding and implementation. In addition, the students generally achieved good to very good levels of comprehension using both DRTA and SQ3R. Interestingly, DRTA has no statistically observed significant effect in reading comprehension across different texts or comprehension levels. However, there might be an isolated effect on critical comprehension. SQ3R, on the other hand, yielded a significant boost in students' ability to draw conclusions and make inferences beyond the surface level of the text. Based on the findings, the following conclusions drawn; the study revealed a preference for the SQ3R method compared to DRTA; encouragingly, students' reading comprehension remained within a good to very good range regardless of the method used. As anticipated, DRTA did not significantly affect overall reading comprehension across various texts or comprehension levels, justifying its limitation as a primary strategy. However, it may hold potential for developing critical thinking skills. The SQ3R method offered partial support for the hypothesis, demonstrating a significant effect but its influence on literal and critical comprehension remains inconclusive. In light of these findings, the study recommends that teachers experiment with both DRTA and SQ3R to determine which strategy is more effective for their students, considering the potential benefits for critical thinking with DRTA and inferential comprehension with SQ3R. Additionally, providing explicit instruction and sufficient practice time for students to learn and implement these strategies effectively is crucial. Finally, further research is needed to explore the inconclusive findings, particularly the potential advantage of DRTA for critical thinking and the varying effectiveness of SQ3R across different comprehension levels and text difficulties.