Expert Tips On Fast Reading

By Betty Fisher


Speed as you read enables you to cover more work within a short time. At the beginning, it appears difficult to understand the content, but with practice, everything becomes clear. Fast reading could mean skimming through, thorough coverage or scanning. Each has its uses in different scenarios to deliver the results expected. How do you achieve speed as you read?

Avoid verbalizing the words. This tendency is common with beginners especially children who need to hear the words they are reading. Drop the habit as early as possible. Muscle movement slows the reaction of your brains. Placing a finger on your lips will limit movement. You may also hum or chew to keep your lip muscles occupied and thus stop their movement.

Cover areas already read. Your eyes tend to revisit these areas. This is through short movements that are viewed to be harmless but greatly affect your speed. By concealing the areas you have read, you have a chance to concentrate. Remember that the mind will pull you back to the area covered if it did not understand or is trying to build connections. As such, returning could be a signal to slow down in order to understand better.

Eye movements are an important factor in determining speed. It is impossible to read while they are moving. They have to stop for you to read. As such, you should increase the amount of words read during each stop. Make the stops as short as possible without skipping some words. Skipping means that you will not understand what you read.

Identify the reason for reading. Some read to grasp the content while others want to pluck certain figures, phrases and words from the text. Academicians need to think through every word, phrase and sentence. Scanning will help to pluck the words or figures. Skimming will give you an idea of what the text is all about. For academic purposes, you need to comb through every word. Speeds will differ even though the text is similar.

Speed while reading is a skill. This means that practice will be required. Consider the need for speed. You may want to make a presentation faster, vocalize the text more articulately, or internalize the content. All intentions require practice. Use a timer to ensure that content is covered within a particular period of time. It will take time to master articulation, comprehension and speed.

Switch off all distractions to enable you gain speed. Identify a quiet place with no television, music, video games, messenger, ongoing conversations, etc. Concentration is affected when there is more than one activity calling for attention. The mind should also be calm and ready to handle only the task at hand. Concentration allows you to do more within a short time.

There are numerous apps that purport to assist in increasing speed. The most important aspect is to improve your reading and comprehension speed. Whatever method you use should sharpen your skills to enable you apply the speed in different situations. All attempts require practice in order to improve the results.




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