How to Read Faster with Speed Reading

(Video: How to Read Faster with Speed Reading)

Did you know that the majority of people have an average reading speed of 200 to 400 words per minute? This may seen like it’s good enough. However, certain situations will ask for more.

First of all, why would anybody ever want to read faster?

The simplest answer is to gain more knowledge with the least amount of time. In other words, a person would want to read faster to be more efficient. Consider though that efficiency does not merely equate to the quantity of words a person is able to read, but to the quality as well.

Now there is a common notion that when you read more words in a lesser amount of time, you usually end up comprehending less of what is read. It is the obvious downside of reading faster than what the average brain can process.

The ideal balance of these two factors – i.e. speed and comprehension – is to read faster than the average person but still be able to comprehend most of the information you read.

One of the ways to improve your reading speed is to practice speed reading.

Some people view speed reading as a skill which ultimately sacrifices reading comprehension for the sake of getting to the end of reading materials sooner.

Speed reading does not necessarily equate to that, but merely to train one’s eyes to move at a deliberate pace and to extend one’s brain capacity to store more information than what is average. And that’s pretty much it.

Speed reading refers to reading significantly faster than the average time a person takes to do so, and ideally, without hampering comprehension too much.

Speed Read or Not

To speed read, or not to speed read? That is the question.

First of, learn to identify when speed reading should be used. Some text you can breeze through and still understand it.

• Advertisements and news articles are examples of text which are pretty straight forward and require little to no comprehension, so you may choose to speed read the same.

While others require a more complex analysis to be appreciated.

• Letters, contracts and other legal documents on the other hand requires a more thorough understanding of the context, sometimes even demanding multiple readings of the same line.

You just have to assess when speed reading is more advantageous and when it is not.

For example, in a fast-paced professional world or basically any situation where you need to quickly make decisions based on what you can read or what information you can garner, speed reading would be ideal.

Also, speed reading can be useful in combing through manuscripts, in the warehousing industry, or in the legal field where you have to go through thousands of pages within a very limited period of time to find that precedent or loophole you can use.

Speed Reading Techniques

So how do we do it?

You should consider the following techniques that have been proven to help with speed reading, and information retention

There’s the practice of skimming, meta-guiding, peripheral vision, Rapid Serial Visual Presentation (RSV), and subvocalization shutoff.

Skimming

Although skimming is usually taught in class or picked up by yourself, this is something most people already do. But just in case you haven’t learned it yet or your English teacher forgot to discuss this with you, here’s how you do it.

Skimming is simply glancing through the text or article only to look or read the parts you need or are necessary to your objectives.

Skimming text might be the simplest form of speed reading but it is one which can easily be learned, practiced, and applied.

Meta-Guiding

This technique of meta-guiding involves the use of a pointer—usually a pen or your finger—to guide your eyes as you go through the words and phrases. This will greatly reduce eye movement as well, making you more efficient.

It also helps determine your speed in assessing just how fast and slow you are going, and whether you are wasting too much time on fixation points.

And this works for most people.

Peripheral Vision

Instead of reading word for word, you should take snapshots of the entire sentences. Those who aren’t trained in speed reading typically use central focus, which means that they usually end up reading word for word, instead of using horizontal peripheral vision.

Have you noticed how, when viewing your desktop or tablet screen, your eyes may be targeting a specific location, but you still kind of see the sides of the screen? That’s your peripheral vision working.

Train yourself to keep using it, and be more aware of it. When reading, for example, you do not need to wait for your eye to travel from the left side of the page, all the way to the right side. You can just view the entire passage.

To illustrate, consider the following sentence:

“Once upon a time, in a tiny house, in a tiny block, in a tiny neighborhood, in a tiny city, there lived a tiny old lady and her, regular-sized, beautiful daughter.”

If you train your peripheral vision, you do not have to go and spend time on all 32 words before realizing that some lady has a strange daughter.

Rapid Serial Visual Presentation

As of now, technology had come up with a way to practice your speed reading through applications that flashes you word per word so you can only focus at one word at a time.

This is called the Rapid Serial Visual Presentation or RSVP.

The principle behind this technique is that it will allow you to read as fast as you can because a lot of space between the text is eliminated.

Studies have also  shown that it is quite efficient as the incredible boost in reading rate is considerably larger than the reduction in comprehension.

Subvocalization Shutoff

Another advice from most experts and researchers is to kill and shut down your subvocalization while reading.

Subvocalization is the habit or practice of mouthing the words you read quietly (even hearing those words in your mind counts!)

Studies tell us that this also takes up some time in our process of reading. However, studies also tell us that if we want to speed read, we should just simply shut this off. Subvocalization while reading will more likely buffer your brain productivity because you also engage it to speech mechanism.

Instead of engaging your minds into two mechanisms—visual and speech—we should just focus on our visual mechanisms by keeping your mouth distracted. Chewing a gum or humming a tune is the most suggested way to achieve this!

Reality from Fiction

Speed reading is not like some superpower in movies where you see the character flips through a 1000-page book in a matter of seconds and completely understands everything…although you have to admit that would be freaking awesome.

The reality of speed reading is you must first learn the basics before you can speed it up, and you must practice it as often as possible. It requires discipline to practice every day, and dedication to mastery.

Most importantly, you must learn to identify the specific instances when you can speed read and when you must take your time and slowly read and digest the reading material.

Speed reading, like any other skill, must be developed over time – and you can start right now! Every day, try to set a goal for yourself. And every day, try to push yourself a little further.

If you like to discover more about speed reading and how to apply all these together practically in instantaneous matter, take a look at Instant Speed Reading.