Dirty Rat asked:


Any students, attorneys, or others who are required to read large amounts of material have any advice to give on this subject? I’m looking to improve my speed reading but really don’t want to have to spend $100 or more on programs to improve it.

Any ideas?

Ronald

Francis Hesse asked:


In this present-day era in which information is available in great quantity and at a very rapid rate (thanks to the Internet), there is also a burning need to be able to take in information in the shortest possible time. There is as a result a great demand for people who have a superior trained speed reading eye as this is a quality that helps in increasing productivity and so, is highly valued.

 

If you are on the lookout for some means to develop the speed at which you read, there are a number of solutions that can help to train you  in developing a better speed reading eye. There are in fact, numerous choices when it concerns diversity of speed reading courses as well as software that will help you read faster, and so it becomes essential that you choose one that will work to develop your proficiency in the most effective manner.

 

Retention and comprehension are essential.

 

When you develop a proficient speed reading eye you will then be able to use your newly acquired skills in many diverse ways and thus enjoy a more fruitful life. According to experts, there are just a small number of techniques that need to be learned to develop a good and sharp speed reading eye which will help you to enjoy the benefits of rapid reading and also comprehending and retaining the material that you have read.

 

Improving your reading speed will be of little use to you if you fail to absorb what it is you are reading.Learning to read at breakneck speeds without comprehension is not very useful, you must be able to understand what you have read and retain the information as well.

 

Also, one can always train to have a razor-sharp speed reading eye if one simply practices regularly as this is perhaps the most important facet to gaining the necessary speed at reading. In fact, though you can also practice by using your hand, or use cards to improve your speed reading eye, there is nothing quite as effective as constant practice in developing the art of speed reading.

 

It also pays to get some speed reading techniques because present day technology is so advanced that you can make dramatic improvements in speed reading by making this technology work for you. By improving your speed reading eye, you will be able to read faster as well as read better and by constantly practicing to even achieve your ultimate goal which should be to read at about hundred words per minute.



Melvin

Ed Caldwell asked:


I just got an email from someone who writes, ” The reason I am writing is that a client of mine is doing a computer speed reading program called (name protected). He mentioned that while his speed has increased dramatically, his comprehension has gone down. Is this normal? “

The short answer is yes. However, it is not normal for all programs on effective speed reading. The writer touches on a very sore spot for me, a researcher, educator, and trainer on accelerated learning for 30 years. The problem is with the word “speed.” Unfortunately the general population is most often mis-guided on this topic because of that word “SPEED” and they forget the second word in the phrase “reading.” So when someone wants to learn the skills of reading more effectively combining speed and comprehension, they get sold on speed. Some programs promise to have read materials at 20,000 words per minute!

“Reading” can be defined as the mind’s response or interpretation of printed material. If your eyes go through material at 100-100,000 words per minute and you have no clue about the material, it’s not reading! Because so many programs in the marketplace focus almost exclusively, if not completely on the eye movements, comprehension takes a back seat, or doesn’t even get a place in the program. That was the problem with the person mentioned above.

This common approach and experience has led to an ever increasing pile of commentary on “speed reading” which has maligned the topic and the few practitioners who focus on both speed and comprehension together. Speed is ****. It sells. But comprehension requires your mind to be engaged. This requires attention and work. That’s not ****. Work is hard. But comprehension can become easier when you know how to do it. Unfortunately, most of the sellers of programs in the marketplace do not have a clue and take it for granted or blame the user’s ineptness.

As I continue to do competitive surveillance of the market, nearly everything from e-books to 16 minute audios promise what they can’t deliver. I recently bought one of the computerized speed programs. It contained less than 300 words dealing with comprehension.

For years I wouldn’t use the word “speed” in naming my programs for the reasons above. Most people think, “Read fast! Forget faster!” But I have seen so many people’s lives and careers change so much for the better after they gain the confidence from learning the skills properly to sit by the sidelines and keep the message quiet that there is a better way to learn.

Do yourself a favor if you’re researching and considering “speed reading.” Be sure to investigate the program’s emphasis on comprehension. Because comprehension is your mind’s response to the print, you need proper instruction and support.



Lucy

Abramo asked:


I’ve to take a LEED test and I feel I cannot retain what I am reading (lots of abstract memorization required) and I get easily distracted because I’ not so compelled by the structure of what I’m reading.
If I try to read a little quicker, I seem able to stay focused more instead.
I have never taken classes on speed-reading. Any quick advice-suggestion on how to do it?

Thank you very much

Diana

msq_y asked:


I read very slowly in order to understand and answer questions that are related to the text. Are there any books you may recommend or certain strategies I can follow to overcome this issue.( speed reading) specially in proficiency tests like IELTS/TOEFL.

Gina

Chris M asked:


I heard that speed reading is good for long term memory, not short term. Is this true? And…are there any tips on how to speed read?

Harry

Robert Kokoska asked:


If you’re interested in pursuing a speed reading program, you’re in good company. Because of the over abundance of information that we all have to deal with on a daily basis, speed reading is looking increasingly attractive to more and more people. In fact, if you can more than double your current reading speed without losing any comprehension, it could benefit you greatly in many ways. It’s no wonder that more and more students and professionals are looking for an effective speed reading program.

In order to take full advantage of a speed reading program, though, it helps to investigate the truth behind all of the claims. This is because some of the claims that speed reading courses make are absolutely incredible and border unbelievable, and might well be too good to be true. Consider the following: When we’re reading in order to learn something for comprehension, that is, most of us naturally read at speeds of around 200 – 400 words per minute (wpm), depending on our natural ability and the difficulty level of the text being read. Sometimes, of course, we naturally speed up as we read for longer periods or if we are re-reading certain text.

If someone is reading an article or book for pleasure, and it’s not totally important to read all of the words, we automatically slip into another type of reading – sometimes called ’skimming’ or ’scanning’. This is just what it sounds like – rather than reading every single word on the page, we skim the information, looking for what we want or what interests us and for certain bits of information. We allow our eyes to travel down the page, and stop on relevant information. This is known as ‘lazy’ reading, in a sense, but comprehension is still fairly good for most people – about 75%. The average speed for this type of reading is somewhat faster – it can range from anywhere between 400 to 700 wpm.

A speed reading program can teach most people to increase their reading speed significantly above and beyond their current speed of ’skimming’ text. The next thing that most people wonder about is how much speed can be increased – and this is where it can get really confusing! Some speed reading programs offer a moderate increase in speed – to about 1000 wpm. This seems reasonable and achievable by most; what these programs are doing is teaching you to skim more efficiently. They do this by using a pacer to keep your eyes moving across the page, or by teaching you to read using your peripheral vision which allows people to see a large chunck of text at a time and memorizing it all.

However, there are many other speed reading programs that exceed these claims quite dramatically – some even claim that they can teach you to read at the truly amazing speed of up to 10,000 wpm, or even more! Needless to say, experts are sceptical of these claims, though many proponents of speed reading swear that they are true.



Francis

Francis Hesse asked:


Remember the Saturday morning cartoon with Wily Coyote and the Roadrunner?

 

“Fast” brings back the figure of the Roadrunner zooming past the obstacles and traps laid out by Wily Coyote.

 

Speed may allow you to arrive at your intended destination; However, along the way, were you able to take note of the things that you may have missed while speeding along the fast lane? As in driving, flying down the road does not give you enough opportunity to see and enjoy the view. The same can be said about learning to speed read.

 

Much of what you learn can be acquired through reading. The simple activity of getting in a comfortable chair, sit back and start reading a favorite book opens a new world for you. Reading enables one to tap into all the great minds of past and present.

 

The more you read, the more knowledge you acquire. In the hopes of reading more, some attempt to learn how to read fast. It is believed that the faster you read, the more you cover.

 

Speed reading involves using specific techniques and concepts compared with the word-for-word method that we were taught in school. Improving reading speed enables you to cover more pages with the same rate as conventional reading. However, it is important to remember when learning how to speed read, or searching for speed reading instructions, is that you also learn comprehension and retention. Without comprehension and or retention, there is danger that you might miss the important details in the book.

 

There is a solution for this. Few people are aware of this seldom-talked about technique in speed reading. This is based on the principle that the mind thinks in pictures.

 

Learning is accelerated when you “see” the whole idea of the write-up or book. Seeing “live pictures” of ideas and thoughts of the writer makes reading experiential and unforgettable. When you see nothing while reading, you learn nothing. Speed reading becomes useless.

 

This technique is called visualization. Visualization is vital to quick learning. Visualization in reading is like constructing a jigsaw puzzle where pieces are put together to form the whole picture. The whole thing not only “appears,” but actually “comes alive” before you. All of this happen in the realm of the mind.

 

Just going through the motions of speed reading can give you an obscure picture of the subject matter. However, like a haze, this picture often quickly evaporates into thin air. Speed reading without visual pictures often informs but very seldom impresses.

 

Impressions last while information changes with time. Past information is easily forgotten in favor of new ones. Impressions change you, and these are stored permanently in the mind.

 

For learning to become effective, it requires brief pauses to be able to visualize and reflect. Effective learning is not about how fast you can finish reading a book. It is more on how you effectively comprehend the ideas brought forth by the writer.

 

Visual pictures provide lasting impressions. Go after ideas and how it will enrich people’s existence. Go for lasting impressions and insights that will mold you into better individuals.

 

 



Michelle

Robert Kokoska asked:


Speed reading programs vary greatly in terms of what techniques they teach, what they promise, and the actual outcome. This can be confusing if you have decided to explore speed reading for the first time, and had always thought (like many of us) that speed reading is just one single concept or technique that can be learnt. Actually, there are at least two major approaches to speed reading that differ in fundamental ways. Most speed reading programs are based on one of these two major approaches to speed reading, though there are also a lot of individual variations between the many programs.

Traditional speed reading programs are based on something that we all do naturally – instead of reading a passage in detail, there are times when we just scan it, letting our eyes travel down the page quickly. With simple scanning, most people can read up to 600 or 700 wpm (words per minute), as opposed to 200 – 400 wpm when we are reading carefully, for comprehension and study. The first speed reading programs just improve on scanning speed.

Many studies corroborate the fact that there is no need to read every single word in a passage of text in order to gain comprehension or an understanding of it – the mind naturally fills in the gaps of what we don’t actually read. And to put it simply, the more we ’skip’ while reading, the faster we can read. Though this varies among individuals, it is generally true that a certain amount of material can be skipped without losing very much comprehension. Of course, some experts disagree, saying that speed readers typically comprehend only 50% of what they are reading, as opposed to as much as 75% for regular reading.

Some other speed reading programs teach you how to speed up the rate of your ’scanning’ by leading your eyes across the page using the sweeping motion of a ‘pacer’ (which your eyes naturally follow) or by teaching you to use and increase your peripheral vision while reading. Despite what some experts say about the low comprehension, there is considerable documentation of the efficacy of these speed reading programs and some people have proven that they can comprehend just as much information as someone who read the exact same piece of text at normal reading speed.

Some of the newer speed reading programs work on a different principle. They argue that scanning the page in a linear manner, whether or not you read every word, is completely unnecessary; in fact, they claim that it even wastes time. Rather, they posit that the human mind is capable of mentally ‘photographing’ a complete page of words – taking in everything that is on it in its entirety, in a very short period of time. Some speed reading programs claim incredible success rates based on this principle, though it remains controversial. Mainstream scientists are sceptical about these claims, arguing that the programs just teach people to scan really quickly, and that the overall comprehension is poor.



Megan

Bill Urell asked:


The best way to feed the mind is by reading a book. Although watching television shows may provide the same information, it is sometimes difficult to grasp what is happening when the show will just continue from one frame to the next in a matter of seconds.

One of the things students will always be doing in school is reading. The teacher may instruct the class to read 2 or 3 chapters overnight with a quiz the following day and the only way to meet with the demand is to speed read.

Is speed-reading effective? This answer will probably depend on the capability of the student. After all, this is a skill that can be improved on and no inherited from ones parents.

Can anyone become a speed reader? The answer to this question is no. This could be caused by the persons upbringing but those who are a bit slow will surely miss a few important details. This is one of the reasons that people have developed audio books that may produce better results in the test scores.

An audio book is basically a recording of everything contained in a textbook. The student can listen in on the entire chapter before moving on to the next. This can be done while lying down in bed instead of sitting on a chair in the late hours of the night leaving the person puffy eyed by morning.

There are times that the individual may fall asleep while listening to the audio book. This is not that bad because studies show that the mind is able to absorb the information while recharging. This scenario may not happen all the time but at least nothing will be missed after pressing the rewind button and playing it again.

Many people think that the audio book can only be bought in the bookstore. This is not true because this can also be downloaded from the computer. There are websites that could give it for free while there are those who will charge on a monthly basis.

It is a fact that not every book or lesson in school may have an audio book. Those who have a hard time listening and jotting down notes at the same time will be able to do better in class by using a tape recorder instead.

One way of looking at it is like catching up on that favorite show on television that was missed during the regular screening. The person can listen in and then just write down the important details.

The audiobook in every respect is much better than speed reading. Although the person can scan through a portion that was missed, this can be done faster by simply pressing on the rewind button and then pressing play switch.

The only thing for the student to do now is find a quiet place to listen to the audiobook. This can be done at home, in the park or in the beach. All the attention must be focused on the sense of hearing especially because all the information will be coming from the machine that is playing it.

Audio books are not only useful for students. Adults can also benefit from this when there is not time to sit down and read a story from a favorite author.



Herman