How to Learn Speed Reading
Whether you're hitting the textbooks in philosophy
class, reading long-winded emails from co-workers, or just reading the morning
newspaper, chances are at one time or another you've wished you could read a
little faster. Follow these instructions to train yourself in faster general
reading, extreme speed reading, or skimming. Keep in mind the last two will not
let you absorb as much information, but are still excellent tools to have.
Part
1 of 3: Learning to Read Faster
1. Understand the purpose of these tips.
These instructions are great for increasing your reading speed without losing too
much comprehension. They are the best way for anyone to begin increasing their
reading speed, including someone who wants to become an extreme speedreader.
• If you're trying to cram for a test faster or
browse magazines more quickly, take a look at the section on Skimming Text
Faster.
• If you want to learn to read books extremely
quickly and don't need to understand them fully, browse these tips first before
moving on to Further Speedreading Exercises.
2. Stop
imagining the spoken word. Even if you don't mouth the words silently
as you read them, chances are good you "subvocalize," or imagine the
words being spoken aloud. This is useful for difficult texts, but mostly
just slows you down needlessly.
• Stop yourself whenever you notice this happening.
Being conscious of the habit can be enough to minimize it.
• If you can't stop, try quietly chanting something
repetitive such as "1 2 3 4" or "A E I O U." Stop if the
chanting distracts you from reading.
• Groups of words are harder to vocalize, so
practice reading in blocks using the techniques below to help with this issue
as well.
• If you are physically moving your lips as you
read, hold a finger against them while reading to stop this habit.
3. Take in
groups of words. Instead of reading each word separately, train
yourself to understand a group of words at once. This requires less eye
movement, which in turn makes reading much faster.
• Hold the book or screen a little farther from your
eyes than you are used to as you read to take in more words at once.
• Soften your gaze and relax your face. If you are
too focused and tense, you won't be able to see the words farther from your
center of vision.
• Follow along with a pencil or other object as you
read, but hold it slightly above the text to make your eyes focus on a wider
area.
4. Train yourself not to read the same
passage twice. Most people frequently stop and skip back to words or
sentences they just read to try to make sure they understood the meaning. This
is usually unnecessary, but it can easily become a habit, and many times you
will not even notice you're doing it.
• Use an index card or pen to hide the words you've
already read, training your eyes not to move backward.
5. Find a
quiet, well lit environment. Even if you think you read better when you
have music playing or when you're in a crowded coffee house, you will
understand the text much better if you reduce distractions to a bare minimum.
Try to find a solitary, well lit place to read, and turn off the TV, radio, and
cell phone.
• If no solitary place is available, try using
earplugs to block out any distractions around you.
• Light is important even when reading on a computer
screen.
• Reading in bed makes many people sleepy. Try
sitting up at a desk, with your book tilted at a 45º angle away from you.
6. Read
when you're alert and engaged. Some people function well in the
morning, while others think better in the afternoon. Save important reading for
those times of day.
• Start a reading session by reading the important
material first, when your eyes and brain aren't tired out.
• Ask questions to yourself as you read the text or
the chapter headings, and search for answers as you read. This keeps you
focused and avoids daydreaming or other mental distractions.
7. Adjust
reading speed depending on the material. Even this one article probably
contains advice you've already heard as well as some that's completely new to
you. A good reader slows down to understand something complex and speeds up
through familiar sections.
• Don't be afraid to fall back on "bad
habits" to understand a text better. If you are reading a difficult book
and don't have a time limit, feel free to reread sections or read them aloud in
your head. In fact, you can use these tools to better effect now that you're
aware of them!
Part
2 of 3: Further Speedreading Exercises
1. Understand
types of reading. Speedreading is a set of techniques for blitzing
through a book or article. You don't skip any sections, but your comprehension
will suffer. Skimming involves only reading the most important sections in
order to gain a shallow understanding, and does not require a fast reading
rate. Finally, you should read every word carefully if you want a deep
understanding of a text.
• Speedreading software and apps often claim not to
affect your comprehension, but this is only true up to a certain reading speed:
possibly around 500 words per minute, although research results are divided on
the exact number.
2. Pick
fun, easy reading material to train with. Something enjoyable and easy
to comprehend will keep you focused and quick, which is great while you're
practicing.
• Don't practice on a book with many pictures and
diagrams among the text, since that interrupts your pace and makes it hard to
measure.
• A book that remains open when lying flat makes it
easier to perform some of these exercises.
3. Time
your reading speed regularly. Not only will timing help you to know
whether you're improving, trying to beat your best speed is great motivation.
• Count the number of words on a page, or count the
number in one line and multiply by the number of lines on the page to find this
number.
• Set a timer for ten minutes and see how much you
can read in that time while understanding the text.
• Multiply the number of pages you read by the
number of words per page and divide by the number of minutes spent reading to
get your words per minute orwpm, a common measurement of reading speed.
• Alternatively, you can search for an online
"speed reading test," although you will probably read at a different
pace from a screen than from a printed page.
4. Read
faster than you can understand. Many programs claim to increase your
reading speed by training your reflexes first, then practicing until your brain
can catch up. This can be effective, but be wary of exaggerated claims not
backed up by research.
• Run a pencil along a text at a rate of one second
per line. Say "one one thousand" in a calm voice as you move the
pencil and time it so you reach the end of a line at the same time you're done
with the phrase.
• Spend two minutes trying to read at the pace of
the pencil. Even if you can't understand anything, keep focused on the text and
keep your eyes moving for the entire two minutes.
• Rest for a minute, then go even faster. Spend
three minutes trying to read at the pace of a pen that moves across two lines
every time you say "one one thousand".
• Practice these exercises every day or few days.
Eventually you may be able to understand more of the text at this pace, and
even if you don't your regular reading speed may improve.
5. Reduce
the number of eye movements. Moving your eyes several times per line is
unnecessary. Here is an exercise you can practice to keep your eyes as still as
possible while reading:
• Take an index card and place it over a line of
text. You can use a magazine printed in narrower columns if the index card
doesn't cover the entire line.
• Make two Xs at the base of the index card,
dividing each line into three roughly equal sections.
• Read quickly as you move the index card down,
trying to only focus your eyes just below each X. Focus below the first X and
read the first half of the line, then move once to just below the second X and
read the second half of the line.
6. Narrow
the range of your eye movements. Pencil a light vertical line about two
words from the left margin, and another one about the same distance from the
right. Try to read quickly without moving your eyes further than those
lines.
• You can combine this with the "read faster
than you can understand" exercise described earlier. Move a pen only
between the two vertical lines as you try to read at a pace of 1 second a line
or 1/2 second a line. Continue for two or three minutes even if you understand
very little. Regular practice can improve your reading speed.
• Calmly saying "one one thousand" is a
good estimate of one second to get your pen rate correct. It doesn't need to be
exact.
7. Use
speed reading software. Free online programs such as Spreeder can train
your reading to high speeds by using electronic methods such as flashing a
sequence of words on your screen in the same spot. Similar programs are
available for your phone as well.
• Be wary of paying for software like this before
you've done your research.
• While you can read at extreme rates using this
kind of software, your comprehension will likely suffer.
Part
3 of 3: Skimming Text Faster
1. Know
when to skim. Skimming can be used to gain a shallow understanding of a
text. It can be used to scan a newspaper for interesting material, or to get
the important concepts out of a textbook in preparation for a test. It's not a
good replacement for thorough reading.
2. Read the
titles of sections. Begin by only reading the chapter titles and any
subheadings at the start of large sections. Read the headlines of each
newspaper article or the table of contents in a magazine.
• This should give you a good idea which sections
you need to or want to read more in depth and which sections you already know
about.
3. Read the
beginning and end of a section. Textbooks usually contain introductions
and summaries of each chapter. For other texts, just read the first and last
paragraph of a chapter or article.
• You can read quickly if you're familiar with the
subject, but don't try to speedread as fast as possible. You're saving time by
skipping most of the section, but you do need to understand what you're
reading.
4. For
unfamiliar sections, skim the text in between. If you still wish to
learn more, brush your eyes rapidly across the page rather than reading
normally. Now that you know the gist of the section, you can pick out key nouns
and verbs that give you a little extra information.
• When you see a complex or interesting key word,
stop and read that paragraph.
• Diagrams are another signal that a section may be
worth paying closer attention to.
5. If you
still need detail, read the start of each paragraph in that section.
The first one or two sentences of each paragraph will teach you a surprising amount
of information.
6. Move
through each section the same way. Read the beginning and end; skim the
middle; and read the first sentence of each paragraph if you need detail.
• You don't need to follow every step for every
section. You can always move on to a new section if you feel you are familiar
enough with the current topic.
(Source: http://www.wikihow.com/Learn-Speed-Reading)
