Speed reading helps you to read and understand texts more quickly. It is an essential skill in any environment where you have to learn bulky pieces of information fast.
The most important thing you need to know about speed reading is to identify what information you need from a document before you start reading. For example, if you only want an outline of the different computer programming languages, then you can skim the document very quickly and extract only the essential facts. On the other hand, if you need to understand the real detail of the document – how program X differs from program Y and Z – then you need to read it slowly enough to fully understand it.
You will get the greatest time saving from speed reading by learning to adjust your reading type depending on your purpose and need.
Technical Issues
Even when you know how to ignore irrelevant details, you can make other technical improvements to your reading style that can increase your reading speed.
As what we have mentioned earlier, most people tend to read the way young children do – either letter-by-letter or word-by-word. But the truth is, reading is about fixing the eyes on one block of words, then moving them again to the next block, and so on. Thus, you are reading blocks of words at a time, and not individual words one-by-one.
Skilled readers are able to read the most number of words in each block. They will dwell on each block for an instant, and will immediately move on. This technique reduces the amount of work that the reader’s eyes have to do. It also increases the volume of information that can be read in a certain period.
Poor readers, on the other hand, spend a lot of time reading small blocks of words. They will skip back often, resulting to decrease in reading speed. This irregular eye movement will make reading tiring. That is why poor readers tend to dislike reading, and may find it harder to concentrate and understand any reading material.
Speed reading aims to improve reading skills by:
Consciousness is necessary in trying to expand the number of words that you read at a time. Practice will help you read faster. You may also find that you can increase the number of words read by holding the text a little further from your eyes. The more words you can read in each block, the faster you will read!
The minimum length of time needed to read each block is probably ¼ of a second. By pushing yourself to reduce the time you take, you will get better at picking up information quickly.
To reduce the number of times your eyes goes back to a previous text, run a pointer along the line as you read. Your eyes should follow the tip of your pointer to smoothen the flow of your reading.