Idiot's Guide to Speed Reading

*speed reading increases the amount of information your brain receives in a limited amount of time. it also allows you to receive large amounts of information in a short period of time.*

so you want to learn how to speed read? its pretty easy, but unfortunately, in order to speed read, you have to actually read books in advance to get your mind stimulated.

anyways... on with the reading!!!


sorry for the internet pics. my digi-cam was not working, so i was forced to use these pictures. now lets go onwards!!!

Step 1 Speed Reading Overview

speed reading will:

• increase the number of words you read in each block
• reduce the length of time spent reading each block
• reduce the number of times your eyes skip back to a previous sentence

also, you will amaze your friends by reading so fast and will definitely help with english exams and other similar tests.

however...

before you read ANYTHING, you should be aware of what you are about to read. this will help for understanding the text better, rather than just lunging in and reading. if you have no idea on what you are going to read, start of slowly and pick up the pace from there.

in addition...

if you are taking a test and whatnot, read the questions first. this will allow you to skim the text and look for what you need, providing a general outline for your brain. doing this will enable you to save time while grasping the context at the same time.

Comments

[trebuchet03]

The biggest jump will come from learning not to internally vocalize what you read ;)

[servant74]

Yes, that helps greatly. ... Picking up speed keeps you from having time to vocalize, and not vocalizing allows you to pick up speed. ... Part of a hard habit to brake.

[servant74]

make that 'break'. Yea, I don't spell well either. Never have. One more hint, do this is sessions. Don't try to do it all at once. It won't work. I think folks need time to let new things 'sink in', the same goes for developing new habits and breaking old ones.

[bhunter736]

That was the biggest improvement in my reading. You and I must have learned a similar method.

[Sadam and Osama]

I'm a real slow reader. This'll help me a lot :) if i actually want to read...I guess i'll try it next year...when school starts

[servant74]

Try it on reading things you don't care about during the summer. That way you will have the technique down for when the crunch hits in the fall! If school has a suggested 'summer reading list' those might be good places to start. Or go to the gutenberg project web site and download some books online for free (old, out of copyright). Many clasics. But to start get something you might like to read, light reading, and just start on them. That way it will be pretty enjoyable. The library is a great and cheap source of books. The librarian will be impressed with you taking out 5 or 10 books at a time! ... But return them when done to keep the house un-cluttered and keep the library fines down ;)

[carbon]

I used to read much faster, but that's definitely dropped away in the past year. I'd kill to get that back. So, I guess I'll give this a try!

[servant74]

Practice is the best teacher. At least it has been for me.

[gena626]

SO U JUST READ??? FOR SIX WEEKS??? CAN U PLEASE EXPLANE WHAT U DO IN THAT CLASS.... I DONT GET IT... SET TIMER, READ, AND AT THE END OF THE 6 WKS U READ UP TO 20 OR MORE EVERY 2 MIN...??? PLEASE EXPLANE THIS IT SEEMS IMMPOSSIBLE... VERY IMMPERSSED...

[servant74]

we read junk novels. Things that no one realy cared about mainly. Pick scifi, drama, crawl in the grass romance, whatever. In the class we all had the same books. Started out by going to the first chapter, and we did a timed reading. 10 min or so and counted the words read. That got your initial reading speed. Mark where you stopped. Now go back and read the SAME section again for another period (10 min) and see how much further you get. Wash, rense, repeat. You will be amazed at how much further you get each time. Try to push yourself to go to a bit faster each time. Now go to a new section (or start from where you left off) and do it again. Your time on the 'fresh material' will go down, but not to where it was before. Part of the class was the comprehension side. There were 'tests' on what we read in the story. Kind of hard to do if you are doing this alone. Eventually they suggeted using your fingertip as a focus point. Draw it down the middle of the column of new sprint or a novel, and work at exercising your peripheral vision. Not moving your eyes to words and seeing phrases helps with speed greatly. At first it does not help, later it does. Practicing reading faster (speed reading is a diferent skill, like JFK did) is a learned skill. Some naturally read faster, but even slow readers, like me, can read at reasonable rates (If I would go back an practice what I know!) I read almost everything like a math text book. Where every and / the / or / or anything had great impact on the context of the subject matter. Most books are NOT written that way. Most are written to be read just like we speak and hear, smoothly, quickly, and to communicate feelings and interestes rather than detailed facts. I have learned to skim (a different technique) articles, magazines, and even books. There you read sections and pick out what is of interest to you. You WILL miss things skimming. But it has helped me.

[servant74]

This is similar to a technique I was taught at a local Jr. College in a summer reading course on 'Rapid Reeding'. It isn't the same a 'speed reading' but real high velocity reading is hard to do but most can do it with enough practice. Even 'rapid reading' like this gets better with practice. In the class I took (that helped me a LOT in college) they had us get cheap novels (all the same for everyone in the class to make it easier on the instructor) and we would start reading, using a timer for 2 minutes, we would mark where we got. At the end of each week, we used the same book, to see how far we got starting at the same point. I barely finished a couple of pages when I started, and got to 20 by the end of the class (6 weeks later). This also helped me get faster at reading everything, novels, magazines, math text, ... everything, and it raises comprehension too. Anyway, if you are having trouble reading slowly, try this, with practice it should work well. The more you practice, the better it should work!

[dunnos]

did you read every, like, friday or every day

[servant74]

It was a daily class. We read daily both in class and out. Comprehension and speed exams were taken at both the start and end of the class. My comprehnesion went from something like 98% to 95% but speed picked up immensely. Most reasonable readers went from 60% to 80% comprehension and their speed picked up substantially.

[homicidal.cereal.killer]

im glad this is helping/will help/has helped you