This document provides tips for speed reading, including finding your base reading speed, eliminating subvocalization (the inner voice when reading), using a pointer to guide your eyes across the page, using peripheral vision to read more words at once, breaking the habit of backtracking to re-read words, learning to read only key words, eliminating unnecessary eye rests, and calculating your new, faster reading rate after practicing these techniques. The conclusion emphasizes adjusting reading speed based on text density, eliminating distractions, and maintaining interest and purpose to stay focused while reading.

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SPEED READING
SPEED READING
TIPS
simple speed reading tips to read
faster and remember more

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SPEED READING
About Speed Reading
Find your base reading speed.
Eliminate subvocalization.
Use a pointer.
Use your peripheral vision.
Break the Back-skip habit.
Learn to read KEY WORDS.
Eliminate Eye rests.
Calculate your new reading rate.
Conclusion
TABLE OF
CONTENTS

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About Speed
Reading

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SPEED READING
Many people read at an average rate of 250 words per minute. This means that an
average page in a book or document would take you 1-2 minutes to read.
ImageHowever, imagine if you could double your rate to 500 words per minute. You could
zip through all of this content in half the time. You could then spend the time saved on
other tasks, or take a few extra minutes to relax and de-stress. Also you can better
comprehend the overall structure of an argument. This leads to a "bigger picture"
understanding, which can greatly benefit your work and career.
If you're like most people, then you probably have one or more reading habits that slow
you down. Becoming a better reader means overcoming these bad habits, so that you can
clear the way for new, effective ways of reading.
Knowing the "how" of speed reading is only the first step. You have to practice it to get
good at it. Here are some tips that will help you break poor reading habits and master the
speed reading skills

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Find your base reading speed.

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SPEED READINGThis is the rate at which you currently read. In order to do this
you will need to count the number of words per line. Counting
the number of words in 5 lines and dividing this number by 5
will give you an average number of words per line. Do the same
thing by counting the number of text lines on 5 pages and
dividing by 5 to find the average number of lines per page.
Round to the nearest whole number. Multiply the average
number of lines per page by the number of words per line to get
your average number of words per page. Write these averages
down for future reference.
Now, choose a starting point and read at your normal speed for
exactly 1 minute. When the timer goes off, stop where you are,
and count the number of lines you read. Multiply it by your
average words per line to determine your base reading speed.

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Eliminate subvocalization.

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SPEED READINGThis is that little voice you hear in your head when you read. Most
people internally vocalize every word in their heads, even when they
aren’t reading out loud. If you do this, this means that you can only read
as fast as you can speak. Learning to eliminate subvocalization is the
most important strategy to reading fast, but also the most difficult to
master.
Practice looking at words and processing what they mean without
having to say the words. It’s kind of a weird concept and feels unnatural
at first, but your mind has seen almost every word thousands and
thousands of times. You don’t need to waste time vocalizing every word
to understand what you’re seeing. You just need to train your mind to
be able to process it quicker. One trick is to say “A-E-I-O-U” or count
“1-2-3-4” repeatedly while reading in order to prevent subvocalization.

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Use a pointer.

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ImageWhen you read without a pointer your eyes wander. You probably don’t realize it, but
they make small micro-movements that require a few milliseconds to readjust. Using a
pointer allows your eyes to maintain better focus on what you’re reading and enables you to
read faster.
To practice this technique, use a pointer to pace yourself to read 1 line per second (say
“one-one-thousand” in your head as you slide your pointer across each line—this also
eliminates subvocalization).
Do this for 2 minutes, focusing on the technique. Read every word as the tip of your pen (or
finger) slides across the page. Do not worry about comprehension. The goal of this exercise
is to train your eyes to move at the speed of the pointer. Comprehension will come later.
Repeat the technique, this time reading 1 line per ½ second (2 lines per “one-one-
thousand”). Do this for 3 minutes. You probably won’t comprehend anything. That is fine.
Right now just focus on maintaining the speed and technique. Do your best to read every
word and not just move your eyes across the page without purpose. Don’t lose
concentration until the timers up.

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Use your peripheral vision.

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SPEED READINGMost people not only read word-by-word, but they also read from the first
to last word of every line. But just as you can train your eyes to quickly
scan over words and process their meanings without saying them in your
head, you can also train your eyes to focus on the middle of the line and
let your peripheral vision take care of the rest. Doing this allows you to
read fewer words per line and significantly increase your reading speed.
To practice this technique, use your pointer to pace yourself at 1 line per
second, but skip the first and last word of each line. Do this for 1 minute.
Don’t worry about comprehension, but stay focused.
Repeat the technique, this time skipping the first and last two words of
each line. Do this for 2 minutes.
Repeat again, this time skipping the first and last three words of each line
and reading at a rate of 1 line per ½ second. Again, don’t worry about
comprehension. Focus on speed and technique. This is the last exercise, so
do it right.

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Break the Back-skip habit.Add heading

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Most of us read along a line of type like this one to get the
interpretation of the meaning, but as we read our eyes jump
back to dwell on a word we just passed. We do this without
knowing it. In fact, probably the only way to discover how
many times you back skip is to have someone watch you read
and count the eye-darts back. But, unless you have someone
you feel pretty comfortable staring you in the face while you
read. How to stop? First confess you do it. Then start
recognizing when you do it. Finally when tempted to
back-skip, treat the book like a movie that is, even if you
miss something in a movie, you don’t stop the video and
replay it. You just let it flow on through, hoping you’ll make it
up later.

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Learn to read KEY WORDS.

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40-60% of the words on a page are neither
critical nor important. Indeed, if someone took
white-out and hid them from your sight, you
could still figure out what the paragraph was
communicating. So, it stands to reason that if
you could figure out which are these KEY
WORDS you could scan past the other words
and let your mind fill in the blank. Train your
mind to find these key words and you’ll add
even more speed to your reading.

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Eliminate Eye rests.Add heading

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As your eyes read down this line they stop periodically
and “rest” on a word. Children’s eyes often rest on every
single word as they learn to read. Then as you grow your
eyes move smoothly down the line like a lawn mower,
then you stop a split second on a word, then start back
up again. Most reader never get over this habit, it slows
down your progress. Try to reduce your eye rests to 3-4
per line, maybe even less as you get better. Keep the eye
moving smoothly line after line, letting your mind drink in
the knowledge on the line.

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Calculate your new reading rate.

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Now that you have spent some time conditioning
your motor skills, it’s time to read for
comprehension. Once again, choose a starting point
and read for exactly 1 minute at your fastest
comprehension rate while implementing the
techniques you just practiced. You will notice that
you can read much faster than normal and still
retain what you’re reading. When the timers up,
count the number of lines and multiply it by the
average number of words per line to determine
your new wpm rate.

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ConclusionAdd heading

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ConclusionAdd heading

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Reading does not have a set pace. Reading at
600 wpm does not mean that you read at a
constant pace of 600 wpm, but that you read
at an average pace of 600 wpm. You may slow
down to read the more dense parts of a text
and speed up to skim over the “fluff.” With
practice, it will become easier to recognize
what is important and what is not, allowing
you to almost instinctively adjust your reading
speed depending on what part of the text you
are reading.

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SPEED READINGIf you want to speed read, you must eliminate
distractions. Focus on the task on hand. This should
always be the case, but speed reading especially
requires your complete focus. You may be able to read
with the TV on if you are subvocalizing, but without
subvocalization it can be very difficult to concentrate
on what you are reading.Speed reading depends on the
type of material you are reading. For more dense
material speed reading is out of the question. Or, if you
are reading a fiction novel, you may not want to
eliminate subvocalization in order to fully appreciate
the author’s writing style. But if you are ever reading
something for the sole purpose of understanding the
main idea, speed reading is the way to go.

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Above all, learning to be genuinely interested in
everything you read is the key to staying focused on
the material and reading faster. Try to always define a
specific purpose for reading something and read with
that purpose in mind.