How to Read Faster: 5 Facts and 10 Tips You Should Know
The volume of available information especially in this age of computers is growing on a daily basis. To be competitive and stay updated, you need to absorb as much information as you can.This is the reason why you need to learn how to read faster. Here are facts and tips you should know about learning to read faster:
Note: These information are derived from online sources which specialize in the knowledge of speed reading.
5 Facts and 10 Tips you should know to read faster:
1. What is Speed Reading?2. Human Reading Rate
3. How to Speed Read
4. Most common methods of Speed Reading
5. Do you need to Speed Read all the time?
6. Tips on how to read faster besides Speed Reading
Final Words
The Details:
1. What is Speed Reading?
It is the process of rapidly identifying key phrases and/or sentences on a page which help to understand the totality of the words on a page, rather than solely identifying individual words.
This process makes inessential words disappear from your eyes and mind. The only words that are then left are the key words, phrases and sentences which explain the meaning of the words in a page.
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2. Human Reading Rate
According to reading experts, the human eye takes around 0.25 seconds to fixate on a word.
It then takes the human brain 0.1 seconds to move to the next word. This is also known as “Saccade”.
Usually, your brain can fixate and saccade 4 to 5 words at once. The brain then spends around half a second processing the meaning of these words.
The average person can read 200 to 300 words in a minute, averaging 250 words per minute (wpm). The ability to speed read could mean that you can double this rate.
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3. How to Speed Read
When we were young, most of our teachers taught us how to read by advising us to read our texts in our brain, also called as “sub-vocalization.” This way of reading becomes the de facto method for most people. Most speed reading techniques try to avoid this.
When you are speed reading, you “skim” lines or groups of words, as you can understand words quickly than you can say them.
A way to stop yourself from sub-vocalizing is to concentrate on groups of words rather than on single ones. You could do this by relaxing your eyes and expanding your gaze on the page which enables you to group entire words and instantly find their meaning.
Tip: You could read while listening to music that relaxes you. The music blocks your sub-vocalization which would let you focus on reading the blocks of words in front of you.
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4. Most common methods of Speed Reading
The purpose of speed reading is to force your brain to concentrate on the blocks of words in front of you. There are three most common methods:
1. Pointer Method:
Evelyn Nielsen Wood, a teacher from Utah in the 1950s was one of the pioneers of speed reading. She claimed that she could speed read 2,700 wpm.
Her technique is called the ”Pointer Method” which is also called ”Hand Pacing” or ”Meta-guiding”.
In this technique, you swept a finger along the line of words as you read. Holding a card under each line of words and drawing it down on the page as you read works just as well.
2. Tracker and Pacer Method:
This is similar to the Pointer method, but instead of using your finger or card, you hold a pen instead, with its cap still on, and underlining or tracking each line of word as you read it, keeping your eye above the tip of the pen.
By doing this, you increase the pace and focus at which you read each line of words. You can actually underline the words if you want to.
Your word reading and comprehension might be poor at first, but if you continue doing this, your reading speed is sure to increase.
Tip: An advantage of the Pointer and Tracker and Pacer methods is that they reduce your tendency to skip back and re-read the sentences you just read which is commonly known as “regression”.
3. The Scanning/Previewing Method:
With this technique or method, your eyes quickly point down the page, often down the center of the page to identify specific words and phrases as you go.
These can be key sentences which are often the first sentence of each paragraph, names, numbers, or trigger words and ideas that encapsulate the messages of the page. Expanding your eyes’ peripheral vision helps with this.
Your mind won’t process every word, rather, it would zero in on words that would help you get the basic idea of the words in the page. You could even build a map of the page in your mind to organize the information of the page you are reading.
Tip: You could try apps such as Spritz and Spreeder which trains you to process information more quickly using their rapid speed reading system.
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5. Do you need to Speed Read all the time?
Although speed reading is very helpful for consuming a lot of information in just a short time, it does have its disadvantages especially in the area of memorization.
Effective speed reading is a balance between pace and comprehension. Studies have shown that the faster you read, the less information you take in. This is particularly when it comes remembering details.
Speed reading is clearly not the answer for everything, like for example, if you’re reading a complex legal or technical document, even if you are given limited time only.
Also, it would be wise to pace yourself if the material you’re reading is new or unfamiliar, or if you have to teach it to someone else.
However, if you just want the key points of a document, using a speed reading technique can work. This may especially apply if you intend to go back and read again the document, but more slowly when you’re less busy.
A study has found that skimming a text initially can improve your comprehension of it the second time around.
As a rule, you need to read slowly if you want to memorize something, maybe at less than 100 wpm. A normal rate of learning is 100-200 wpm, and for comprehension it is 200-400 wpm.
Speed reading is normally done at a rate of around 400-700 wpm. Anything above 500-600 wpm means compromising your comprehension, although this varies from person to person.
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6. Tips on how to read faster besides Speed Reading
Besides learning the techniques of speed reading, there are other ways you could read faster:
6.1 Avoid distractions:
Create a condition where your eyes and ears are exposed to as few interruptions and distractions as possible.
There must be almost nothing around which would make your eyes wander off whatever you are reading.
Similarly, there must be no sound or noise that would conflict with the processing of your brain to what it is reading. This is the reason why libraries has the “no noise allowed” sign.
6.2 Experiment on which Speed Reading technique works for you:
Everyone is unique and not everyone learns the same way. Try all the speed reading techniques to see which one suits you best.
6.3 Cover the parts of the page you’ve already read:
This helps with ”Regression”, or the tendency to re-read words you’ve already read.
6.4 Know what you want from the text:
This is especially useful if you are using the skimming method. This programs your brain to be alert for relevant words, sentences or phrases you want to find.
You can slow down temporarily when you see these groups of words, mark them, and continue with your skimming.
6.5 Benchmark your progress:
Just like trying to learn a skill, you should learn to measure your progress.
Tip: ReadingSoft.com and many other similar free speed reading assessments online can help you with this.
6.6 Practice, practice, practice:
Again just like any skill you have to learn in life, you have to practice to get good at it. The more you train yourself to speed read, the more natural it will feel.
6.7 Set a goal:
Give yourself set goals in reading certain number of pages each day/week/month and so on. Stick to it. When you reach them, congratulate yourself and aim higher next round.
6.8 Improve your vocabulary:
If you come across an unfamiliar word while reading a text, your tendency is to pause reading and find its meaning. Not doing so could mean not understanding the remainder of the text.
This is why you need to improve your vocabulary, to stop yourself from being interrupted from reading.
6.9 Know when to slow down:
Reading text fast is good, however this skill would be useless if you don’t understand the text that you are reading. Do not sacrifice comprehension for speed as comprehension is more important than speed.
6.10 Read the first and last sentence of every paragraph:
Usually, the summary of the information in a paragraph is located either or both at the beginning and end of a paragraph that you don’t even need to read the entire paragraph to understand it.
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Final Words
Learning to speed read is important especially if you process a lot of information. Speed reading usually entails quickly understanding the meaning of a group of words without much regard for the individual words.
Just like any skill you need to learn, you should learn to track your progress and never fail to always practice. Setting reading goals is a big help in improving your reading skills.
Improving your vocabulary and creating ideal conditions for reading like being in a quiet room can greatly improve your reading skills.
Lastly, don’t compromise comprehension for speed when it comes to reading. The purpose of reading a text is to understand it and not to read it just for reading’s sake.
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