Learn to Speed Read
What is it?
Most of us reach a reading level by early adulthood that defines the way in which we assimilate material for the rest of our lives. However, just as you would change the way you write or communicate to meet the needs of your audience, so should you adapt the way you read to best suit the style of the material you're digesting or to suit the information you want to obtain.
Many of us have ingrained habits that style the way in which we read, learning to adapt the way in which we read, to become faster and more efficient, most often involves un-learning these habits.
Reading Rates and Methods
So just as we might change the way we communicate, what are the different ways in which we read? There are essentially 4 different reading rates :
- Memorisation ( < 100 words per. minute ) - describes learning a passage word for word for later recall.
- Learning ( 100 - 200 words per. minute ) - describes reading for learning the important points of a passage, which may include some memorisation, but not word for word.
- Comprehension ( 200 - 400 words per. minute ) - this is daily reading for most people.
- Skimming ( 400 - 700 words per. minute ) - this is superficial reading for processing large quantities of information with comprehension rates as low as 50%.
Speed reading purists would strive to reach the rates achieved in "Skimming" of 400 - 700 words per. minute. However, it would be non-sensical to believe that this comes without a cost in comprehension. We propose that you should aim to achieve a rate that is best suited to you and is balanced somewhere between the comprehension and skimming reading rates (ie. around 300 - 500 words per. minute).
The World Championship Speed Reading Competition stresses reading comprehension as critical, and that the top contestants typically read around 1,000 to 2,000 words per minute with approximately 50% comprehension or above, the world champion is Anne Jones with 4,700 words per minute with 67% comprehension. Rates below 50% comprehension are really unusable for your purposes and this is why we stress you need to reach a healthy balance. The best way to achieve this is to time your speed using the clock on the assessment system with your account when answering the comprehension questions. You should then compare your time with your score to see if you need to speed up or slow down your rate.
If you'd like to test you're reading speed then you can do so as part of your UKCAT subscription package under the exam techniques section.
Changing Your Reading Habits
There are a number of common habits that shape the way in which we read that slow our reading down. To use a similar analogy as before, writing without using joined letters might slow your writing down. In schools we are all taught to learn to write joined-up for this reason. At first it may seem awkward and less intuitive but with time it becomes just as easy and a lot more efficient. This is the same with reading. Let's examine some of these habits in more detail...
Lighting
Practising these techniques comfortably often requires more lighting to provide you with the contrast you need to avoid strain on your eyes. You may find at first, you tire more quickly. To maximise your practice time, ensure you have good levels of lighting.
Subvocalization
Subvocalization is silent or internal speech. Those of us who subvocalize imagine the sound of each and every word as it is read. There are many different ways in which we might subvocalize as we read and indeed, this is a natural technique that may help our brains to access the meaning of words and to comprehend what we are reading. Even deaf people use this technique - in the sense that they will have associated the word with the mechanism for causing the sound such as a particular sign in sign language. Research has shown that it is impossible to permanently eliminate subvocalization, and indeed not necessary, but as already discussed we need to adapt the way in which we read to the situation.
As explained, you don't need to eliminate subvocalization. Try to drop the number of words you vocalize - start say with trying to vocalize alternate words. Then move on to reading in blocks (see next) as you can't say a block of words in your head. Subvocalization is natural and beneficial, but it slows you down and isn't necessary for every word.
Word-by-word Reading
When we first begin to read we will all read word by word and aloud. This is because we aren't able to understand the meaning of a word from its context. As we develop we gain the ability to understand a word without actually reading it. Different people do this to a greater or lesser extent. Try to understand whether you read by blocks or by word.
Try to "chunk" words together to read them together in blocks and practice dropping the number of words you subvocalize. Try to "zoom" out on the text and to read a bigger chunk at a time. We use our peripheral vision all the time, subconsciously, and you need to bring this into play.
Re-reading and Meta-Guiding
How many of us have become frustrated when we keep getting distracted and end up reading the same sentence over and over again. This can even happen in test situations when we panic or our minds start to wander. It is very difficult to force yourself to concentrate but you should give yourself the best chance possible. Practice when you are most likely not to be disturbed.
Moreover, recognise when this is happening and be mindful of the need to refocus. It stands to reason that those passages that are hardest to comprehend are more likely to need you to re-read. You may find it helpful to practice holding your finger or pen along the line to prevent this re-doubling. This technique is known in the technical community as "meta guiding" and was pioneered by Evelyn Wood. This invisible underlying or tracing of words with your finger has been shown to increase both your speed and comprehension. You may have even seen some people using this technique with a piece of paper or cardboard highlighting a given line of text at one time. Research has also shown that the lines you trace with your finger don't even have to be straight. They can be any invisible pattern or shape. Tracing out shapes across the page can help to bring in more of your peripheral vision and to facilitate reading entire blocks of text.
Poor Eye Movement
For an average page of text we might comfortably see around 4 or 5 words simultaneously but by bringing in more of your peripheral vision this can be increased. Try to practice drifting to the end of a line and then using your peripheral vision to read the words at the end and beginning of the line. This will improve the size of the block of words you read as well as reducing unnecessary movement of your eyes. If you adopt the meta-guiding technique you may find this feels harder to achieve as your eyes follow your finger or pointer - but try this at arms-length and don't trace the entire line, using your peripheral vision to switch between lines.
What Next?
Having taken on board some of the helpful techniques you need to practice and see what your reading style is. You should establish your reading speed, which you can do by signing up for one of our accounts. Then try to employ these techniques one at a time and see what effect it has on your speed and comprehension. Good luck!