Introduction 6
Pre-Requisites of Speed Reading
Chapter 1: Before Speed Reading 8
Consider Your Purpose
Look for Specific Words
Become an Impatient Reader
Different Speeds for Different Materials
Practice Activity
The First Step in Speed Reading
Speed Reading Tips
Knowing How Deeply To Study the Material
Chapter 2: How People Read 14
Short Exercise
Pay Attention
Reducing Fixation Time for Speed Reading
Speed Reading Techniques
Relationship between Reading Rate and Comprehension
Reducing Skip Backs
Five Types of Reading
1. Skimming
2. Scanning
3. Light Reading
4. Word by Word Reading
5. Reading to Study
Chapter 3: Radically Increasing Your Reading Speed 23
Technical Issues
Self-Pacing Techniques in Speed Reading
The Hand Technique
The Finger Technique
The Card Technique
The Sweep Technique
Speed Reading Tips
What Causes Slow Reading?
Tips for Increasing Reading Rate
Chapter 4: Suggestions for Increasing Speed and Effectiveness 31
Major Causes of Slow Reading Speed
Where to Begin ... with Your Next Reading Assignment
Effective Reading Methods
Reading Daily News Method
Reading Newspapers Method
Close Reading Method
Exploratory Reading Method
Reading to Learn Method
Active Reading Method
Chapter 5: Human Mind and Vocalization 39
sub-vo-ca-li-za-tion
Subvocalization is a Necessity
Subvocalization: Good or Bad?
Eliminating Subvocalization to Increase Reading Speed
Do you Vocalize Words in Your Mind?
Eliminate the Habit of Pronouncing Words as you Speed Read
Stop Talking to Yourself When You Speed Read
Chunk Four Words
Use of a Pen or Finger
Chapter 6: Getting the Main Idea 46
Extracting Important Details
How “So What” Questions Help in Speed Reading
Be an Active Reader
Answer the Questions at the End of Each Chapter
Question while you are Surveying
Reading Critically
Recite After Each Section
Tips for Developing Good Eyesight
Speed Reading Calculating
Double Your Reading Speed
Conclusion 58
Pre-Requisites of Speed Reading
Alvin Tofler, author of Third Wave, contends that we are now in the information
age. It is said that power belongs to those who have the knowledge and
information. This we would like to dispute.
Being in the information age, so many data and inputs are available. Tons and
tons of materials are readily available with just one click of the mouse.
Numerous data are readily available to all people. Yet, how come not all of
these people who have access to mountains of materials are considered powerful?
It is our contention that those who are able to wade through tons of
information, comprehend, and make use of that knowledge for meaningful purposes
IN A SHORTER PERIOD OF TIME are the ones who hold the key to power. Speed is the
key.
This reality reinforced the need to update our skills in speed reading. The need
to accelerate our reading and learning abilities to the extreme resulted to this
book. This book offers techniques that you can make use to hasten the skill in
reading and comprehension. It presents scientific explanation on the causes of
slow reading. It explains how the practice of hearing your “inner voice”
actually saying the words you are reading can drastically slow you down.
Speed reading basically covers two areas: reading and comprehension. These go
hand in hand. It is useless to study speed reading if you have trouble in
absorbing information. You should already be an able reader before you try to
speed read. Speed reading will not help you if you have problems in
understanding the meaning of the words. To be able to enjoy the full benefits of
speed reading, you must have the necessary facilities in understanding
college-level materials.
Before starting on speed reading exercises, you must have the condition of your
eyes checked. You might want to adjust your reading glasses. Speed reading will
“exercise” your eyes, and would not unduly strain them and hamper your
improvement. Consult the eye doctor for possible advice on how to take care of
your eyes. They will provide advice on the best position while reading, proper
position of the lamp or light source, what to do when you experience eye strain,
etc.
Apart from these, the speed of learning speed reading (excuse the pun!) is
heavily dependent on four other factors. Ask yourself these important questions:
· Why do you want to improve your reading? The purpose determines the motivating
factors that will inspire you to go through and complete the whole program.
· How much do you want to improve? Do you want to increase it from 300 words per
minute to 800 wpm then to 1,000 wpm? You have to set a target to be able to
determine the extent of your growth.
· How much time do you have for the exercises? Practice make perfect. It is not
enough for you to know the skills, but you should devote time to practice and
upgrade your skills faster.
· How open are you to new techniques? This report requires you to have an open
mind to be able to see and recognize the usefulness of new and scientific
techniques in speed reading. This report incorporates new practices such as
reading a report from the computer.
It is said that speed readers are considered impatient readers. So, what are you
waiting for? Let the lessons begin …
How many times have you promised yourself to read more but just never found
enough time?
If only you could do it quickly and more efficiently.
Effective and efficient readers learn to use many styles of reading for
different purposes, which include skimming, scanning, and critical reading.
Before reading, you need to identify the purpose why you’ll be doing such
activity: Are you looking for background information on a topic you know a
little bit about already? Are you looking for specific details and facts that
you can marshal in support of an argument? Are you trying to see how an author
approaches his topic rhetorically?
It is crucial to know your purpose in reading as it helps focus your attention
on important aspects of the text. Before turning those pages, take a moment
first to reflect and clarify what your goal really is.
There are many ways to familiarize your self with the background of the text,
and gain a useful overview of its content and structure before actually
absorbing and digesting the text. Seek information about the context of the
reading, its purpose, and its general content. Look for an abstract or an
author’s or editor’s note that may precede the article itself. Read any
background information that is available to you about the author, the occasion
of the writing, its intended audience, and more useful information.
After viewing the title and noting general ideas that are accessible to you as a
reader, you can continue to browse pages and scan paragraphs in order to get the
gist of what material the text covers and how that material is arranged. As soon
as you finished looking over the text as a whole, read the introductory
paragraph or section, noticing that some authors will provide an overview of
their message as well as an explicit statement of their thesis or main point in
the opening portion of the text. Considering the background information, the
messages conveyed by the title, note or abstract, and the information from the
opening paragraph or section, you should be able to proceed with a good hunch of
the reading material’s direction.
In order to become aware of your reading situation, ask yourself questions like:
· What do I want (or need) to know and learn?
· In which context do I want (or need) this?
· Which texts could suit these needs?
· What made me choose this text?
· How deeply an understanding of the text do I need?
· How much time have I got?
· How do I want to proceed?
Consider Your Purpose
To help you determine a purpose, consider the following ideas:
· Are you looking for brief information, main ideas, complete comprehension, or
detailed analysis?
· How will this text help you?
· Is this the best material to meet your goals?
· What does background or summary information provided by the author or editor
predict the text will do?
· Does there seem to be a clear introduction and conclusion that can be useful?
Where?
· What claims does the author make at the beginnings and endings of sections?
· Are there key words that are repeated or put in bold or italics to help you
skim and scan?
· What kinds of development and detail do you notice? Does the text include
statistics, tables, and pictures or is it primarily prose? Are names of authors
or characters repeated frequently?
Look for Specific Words
· Scan a section for key words.
· Skim to the words that provide meaning and may be useful for you and your
purpose.
Become an Impatient Reader
Speed readers are considered impatient readers. They read with a purpose and
want to find answers immediately. They can’t wait to find out what the whole
text is all about that they usually make predictions and guess the answers.
Some readers say, "If I think ahead while I am reading, my predictions may be
wrong."
The truth is, predicting is useful because all your concentration is focused on
the reading and you are actually making senses of it. Speed readers predict what
the text is likely to tell them next, but they are not upset if a prediction is
wrong; they quickly adjust their expectations.
Different Speeds for Different Materials
You do not need to read every word to understand a text; however some texts will
require careful reading, so you need to know when to adjust your reading speed.
Skim a text, and then decide if a slower reading approach is necessary.
Practice Activity
In order to avoid reading every word, you must increase the rate your eyes move
across the page. As a practice activity, choose an easy material for to read.
Sweep your eyes faster across the page than you’ve ever done before. Do not
mouth the words; do not even mentally say them. Start with short practice
periods, e.g. 3 minutes, record your rate (how many words have you read in 3
minutes?), and then continue with longer periods or with texts that are more
complicated.
The First Steps in Speed Reading
In reading, your starting position and reading gesture is relevant: sit up
straight, with the book being held by your left hand, and with your right hand
doing the pacing.
Being already a good reader is a plus factor in attempting to speed read.
Otherwise, it may be quite difficult and may take some time. Speed reading
program will not work if you have problems comprehending and your vocabulary is
too little. In fact, rushing through things you can't understand is actually
useless. Yes, you may be able to read fast, but you just won’t understand what
you will be reading.
Speed Reading Tips
Read until the end! Do not get tired, discouraged, or bored; don’t just stop
reading when you want to. Don’t you know that ideas do become clearer the
further you go with the reading materials? After you finish reading, recall the
things that you have learned, return to the ideas that seem unclear, and reread
them in order to grasp their ideas. When you begin to read, you should:
· Be able to find the answers to the questions you’ve come up with
· Answer guide questions at each chapter (you may see these questions at the
beginning or at the end of the chapter)
· Take note of the important words and phrases – underlined, italicized, and
bold printed
· Read only one section at a time, and recite the summary of each section
afterwards
· Do not ignore captions under pictures, tables, graphs, etc.
· Carefully read and absorb difficult passages. On parts which are not clear,
don’t be afraid to stop and reread
Knowing How Deeply to Study the Material
Where you only need the shallowest knowledge of the subject, you can skim the
material. This is done by reading only chapter headings, introductions and
summaries.
If you need a moderate level of information on a subject, then you can scan the
text. Here you read the chapter introductions and summaries in detail, but may
speed-read the contents of the chapters – picking out and understanding key
words and important concepts. At this level of looking at the document, it is
worth paying attention to diagrams and graphs.
Only when you need detailed knowledge of a subject is it worth studying the
text. Studying is skimming the material first to get an overview, and afterwards
reading it in detail while seeing how the information presented connects to the
overall structure of the subject. An effective method of getting the deepest
level of understanding on a text is to use a formal method such as SQ3R
(discussed in a later chapter).
Do you read every article of every magazine, or every chapter of every book? If
so, you're probably spending a lot of time reading stuff you don't need.
Remember: You don't need to read all of what you DO read. Be choosy. Select the
chapters and articles that are important. Ignore the rest.
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