Exactly how to learn speed reading may vary between courses or from one individual to another. Some people achieve wonderful speeds without being able to say how they manage them. However, the majority of us will need some kind of instruction to learn speed reading, even though it is determined to be a natural ability of the human brain. Once you have decided how to learn speed reading, a bit of practice will be needed to master the techniques.
Unfortunately, achieving high speeds is unlikely in 10 minutes! Therefore, determine a strong motivation that will keep you inspired to improve and willing to try new techniques when leaning how to speed read.
There are certain reasons why a person reads slowly. If one understands these reasons, the concepts of how to learn speed reading will become clear. Below is a list of some of the difficulties an individual may currently be experiencing.
o Physical eye defects
o Virtually no reading practice
o Sub-vocalization of the words read
o Reading of sentences more than one time
o Reading word-for-word
o Fear of not understanding the information
o Not being able to identify key words and information
An unknown eye condition may cause you to read slowly. If you are worried about the condition of your eyes, then it is best to have them checked by an eye specialist before starting any course in speed reading. One wouldn’t want to cause any further damage or achieve poor results due to this reason.
Being able to read is like riding a bicycle. You will never forget entirely how to read, only if you haven’t read anything lengthy for a long while, it may take time to re-accustom yourself with the process again. You cannot expect to suddenly speed read a novel if you haven’t read one in years! Try to incorporate a little reading into your schedule each day.
Most of us read aloud in our heads! This causes our reading speed to decrease because we can only read as fast as we can think. Unlearning this habit will enable the brain to process information at the high speeds it was designed to handle.
Often we re-read sentences or words, without realizing it, a couple of times. This drastically slows reading speed. Perhaps we do this because we are afraid that we didn’t read and understand it properly. An easy way to unlearn this habit would be to cover the writing that you have just read with a card or book.
How else is one supposed to read other than word-for-word? We only read in this way because this is the way we were taught to read. A speed reader will read larger groups of words or even paragraphs and whole pages simultaneously. To achieve this, our span of vision needs to be widened during reading. This process can involve various reading exercises and eye movement practices.
A person may deliberately read slowly to try and understand the information. In fact, one should actually increase their speed to improve comprehension. Very slow reading makes it impossible for us to find meaningful connections between the sentences and understand the concepts of the writing.
A speed reader will only focus on relevant and important information and words. He will deliberately skip over the useless words and ‘filler’ content of the writing. Key words are the important words of a sentence, and without them, the sentence would make no sense.
Another two quick tips to bear in mind is to start with material that has slightly larger fonts. Sometimes people have difficulties grasping speed reading concepts with small or normal size texts. Start speed reading with a book or an informational topic that you are familiar with. This will help you to initially focus on your technique rather than comprehension. Higher comprehension levels will come with practice.
Knowing a little about the tactics and how to learn speed reading will prepare you for the task ahead of completing a speed reading course. It is always useful to know more about what one is buying before the actual purchase. Remember that speed reading is possible for anyone, no matter what their current reading rate is.
The best way to practice speed reading is to time yourself while practicing reading actual passages to see if you can read more in less time. There is a, TheTenMinuteTutor, that counts your words per minute and can help you determine how quickly you are able to read. Practice with that, and follow these tips, and you can certainly learn to read much faster.