Why do people turn to speed reading? As a student or even
someone who reads a lot for their job, it can be a valuable tool
that not only improves the speed of your reading, but also your
comprehension and retention of the material you are reading.
Speed reading will give you more freedom to do other projects
and activities that you are working on. You can find courses
online or in books or even as a college or community education
course.
Children learn to read by first learning letters and sounds
and then words. The problem is that most people never get beyond
reading one word at a time. Speed reading will teach you to read
whole blocks of words at one time, so that you can increase your
speed and overall comprehension.
For those who enjoy reading for pleasure, you don’t really
need to worry about speed reading. Pleasure reading is a time to
take in every word and phrase without worrying about how fast
you are reading.
In a speed reading course online or in any other form here
are some basic principles you might learn: 1. As you are reading,
only 40 to 60 percent of the words that you will read are vital
to understanding. In speed reading you learn to filter out the
unnecessary words and phrases to get down to the “meat” of the
text.
2. Many people vocalize as they are reading. This means they
say the words either out loud or in their head as they read them.
When you are speed reading you learn to stop vocalizing so that
you can read faster.
3. As you read, you can improve your retention if you take
short notes in the margins and make longer notes at the front of
the book. Do not underline more than a few words here and there
or it will not be as meaningful.
4. While you are reading, do not let your eyes backtrack or
stay on words or phrases for longer than is necessary. This
slows down your reading and limits your retention.
5. You can gain a great deal of information and insight by
doing a quick overall look through the book or chapter to get a
basic idea of the content. Then read it through again using your
speed technique.
As you gain these skills and tools you will begin to be a
more confident reader.
