Speed Reading Techniques: An average reader can read around 200 to 300 words per minute. Reading anything 2x faster than an average reader is not that tricky, trust me. What if I tell you that becoming a speed reader will be a short pull if you try out these techniques that we have narrowed down for you to read at a rapid speed?
I read most of the time. It may be books, journals, social media posts, or anything. I was an average reader at the beginning of my reading journey, and my reading speed has tremendously improved in the past years. It would be great to tell you some techniques that helped me elevate my reading speed.
There are no rulebooks for most of the fascinating ways the brain does things. Speed reading is one of them. There are no refined methods to achieve an appealing reading speed, but there are a few techniques in practice around the globe, from upgrading the number of words you read to trying to get rid of the voice inside your head.
This article has curated some techniques to make reading smoother, quicker, and more accessible. Let’s explore them.
7 Speed Reading Technicques
Usually, people read at the rate of 250 words per minute. Speed reading means reading at a rate faster than the average reading rate. But it is not all that. Speed reading also involves comprehending and recognizing information quicker than how you do.
Reading engages various senses of our body, like vision and hearing and at the same time involves the efforts of our brain to understand what we read. Speed reading Is a reading technique where all these processes and reception happen at a faster rate. If an ordinary person could finish a 50000 words novel within 3 to 4 hours, a speed reader could do that in an hour or less.
Much research and studies are still going on regarding speed reading. Their ideas and practice techniques are proven methods that help to speed up tasks. Here are a few.
1. Follow your finger
One of the most effective ways of improving your reading speed is to Follow your finger. You can point out each word on a page to improve your focus in reading which is proven to increase your reading rate. You can keep track of the words with the help of your finger or a pointer tool.
Occasionally, you can also try this by using a highlighter or pen in hand, which also aid in underlining or highlighting the essential words and contents in the book. When you use something to point out the words and try reading, you train your brain to follow your finger. This technique effectively improves focus and speed.
2. Skimming and Scanning
Skimming and scanning are essential steps of the speed reading technique. Our brain is naturally practiced to quickly grasp the things we are already familiar with. Skimming and scanning are ways of helping your brain make a connection with the content you are reading before you start reading.
When we skim, our brain gets to know the page’s overall content. When we start reading the page for real, our brains would already be familiarised with the content, and it would be easy for our brains to pay attention, follow and retain what we read.
Most importantly, when we are already familiar with the content, we read faster than usual.
3. Read a bunch of words at a time
In the initial stages, speed reading may look like reading a lot at once, a lot quicker without a constant pace or consistency. It will get better with practice. Reading each word faster will only help a little if you want to complete a novel in a week.
Speed reading begins with reading chunks of words. You need to be able to focus on a more significant number of words than usual. You need to be able to comprehend them together at once. When you start doing this, the rate at which you are reading will gradually increase.
4. Enhance your vocabulary
Completing a book in a week and not remembering or not being able to retain any of it is utterly useless. When we speed read, we might ignore the complex words or words we do not know the meaning of. This is not a healthy practice.
Improving your vocabulary will help with this. Sometimes, we would have to memorize the meaning of words, which is okay.
There are a lot of techniques to improve your vocabulary. Having a good vocabulary would save us a lot of time in searching for the meaning of unknown words and trying hard to comprehend them.
5. Minimize subvocalisation
If you want to become a speed reader, then your practice of subvocalizing every word must be eliminated or at least minimized.
Research and surveys are showing that proficient speed readers need to subvocalize. Subvocalisation destroys your reading speed. It is because when we subvocalize, we read at the rate we speak, and our speaking speed is always less than the speed at which we can read.
Subvocalizing may help some readers retain what they read better and for a long time. Minimizing subvocalisation can help us achieve this. In the beginning, when you start to speed read, you may find it difficult to remember what you read. But as you continue to do so, subvocalisation can be eliminated, and your brain can also be trained to speed read simultaneously.
6. Use an online tool
If you find it challenging to practice speed reading by yourself, various apps and software can help boost your reading speed. They have different reading methodologies to help you read at a faster pace.
There are also many speed reading tests available on the internet that can be utilized to check your actual reading speed and also to get practiced in speed reading.
7. Improvising your focus and attention
With proper focus, you can read something effectively. Concentrating on what you read is immensely important to remember what you have read.
When we speed read and cannot retain any information, it will not help in any way. We need focus and practice. As becoming a speed reader does not happen overnight. Essential practice is a must.
Do you need to speed read?
Speed reading is a good reading practice. Everyone can speed read with a bit of time and effort. This can be extremely helpful for people with piles of documents to read at the workplace.
Speed reading is just a method to speed up your reading process but something other than what is implied to be followed. When there are many reasons why speed reading is suggested, you can still read at your own pace if you do not wish to increase your reading speed.
Some people would give anything to find an hour at peace to read. Speed reading helps you read things quicker. With practice, you can read a page in a minute or two. Sometimes, it takes less time than that.
It is not a mandatory practice but something which everyone can do.
Conclusions | Speed Reading Techniques
These may only work for some. You can find a way to help you speed read. But for most of you, these techniques will definitely help.
Speed reading has a lot of benefits, including improving your memory and focus. When you become proficient in speed reading, you can notice that your attention and grasp power towards things has tremendously increased.
There are also a lot of other benefits of speed reading. It is nothing wrong with trying new ways, especially towards your passion. Happy reading!
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