Seven Tips to Read Faster
Seven Tips to Read Faster
You read every day while skimming a blog post, analyze the work file, or look through a book. Do you have a lot of reading to do? Do you consider reading a time consuming and mentally exhausting task? Do you want to read at a faster rate while maintaining reading comprehension?
1. Be Vigilant
To read at a faster rate with good comprehension needs your focus and attention. Be vigilant when your thoughts drift as you read, and minimize the external noise, interruptions, and distractions. If you notice that you are imaging about the night party rather than focusing on the text, attentively bring your mind back to the reading material. It is observed that many readers read a passage without any attention, then spend time in other activities and go back to re-read the passage to make sure they understand them. Tim Ferriss calls this habit "regression," which usually makes you slow down and make it difficult to get a big picture view of the passage. If you carefully and attentively approach a passage, you will be able to realize that you did not conceptualize this passage quickly, thus saves much time in the long run.
2. Don’t Read Each Word
Pay attention to your eyes to increase the reading speed. Usually, most people scan in a 1.5 inch larger block, depends on the font size and text type, which typically comprise three to five words each. Move your eyes in scanning the blocks, rather than reading each word individually. Take advantage of your peripheral vision effectively to speed up around the beginning and end of each line, focusing on the block of words rather than the first and last words.
It is suggested to point your finger/pen at each word block that will help you to move your eyes quickly over the text, and it will encourage you not to sub vocalize as you read. Sub vocalization is the silent pronunciation of each word in your head as you read, which usually slows you down and distracts you from the author's main point.
3. Avoid Reading Every Section
It is old advice that students should read every section of a textbook or article. If you are reading something which is not extremely important, you can skip the sections that are irrelevant to your purpose. Reading the relevant sections will make it possible to understand the main points of many texts, rather than reading the whole article or document.
4. Preview the Reading Content
Watching a movie's trailer builds an understanding of the context and central theme of the film. Similarly, previewing a text extract before reading makes an understanding of what you are to read. To adequately preview a text, scan it from the beginning to the end, pay specific attention to headings, subheadings, and bullet points. Brush up the introductory and concluding paragraphs, identify sentence transitions, and cross-examine the images or graphs to figure out how the author structured the text to get a big picture understanding of the extract.
5. Plan Your Way
If you strategically approach the text, then you will be able to understand the extract efficiently. First, specify your goals. What would you learn by reading the material? List down some questions you would be able to answer by the end. Then, try to determine the author's goal in test extract, based on your preview. The author's goal might be to describe the entire American History, while your goal is to know about women’s role in politics. If your goal is more scope limited than the author’s, plan your way to find and read the relevant sections only, to save your time and read faster efficiently.
6. Summarize What You Read
As you finish the extract, compile a summary to write down the key findings of what you read. Try to write the answer to questions you had before start reading the extract. Think and compile the information, and write what you learned will able you to conceptualize the information in your mind for extended periods with better recall later. If you prefer visual and verbal learning mediums, you can draw mind map summaries to explain it to someone else later on.
7. Practice to Read More
The old saying “Practice makes a man perfect” is pretty accurate. A reader should also do the same. The more you read, the more you will be better at it. The better you are at reading, the more you will increase your reading speed.
Practice to read more actively and then summarize the text extract. Use a timer to know how many words/pages you read in a specific time. With practice, you will be able to read faster and faster; check yourself continuously to attain the comprehension level you feel suitable.
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