Speed Reading
How to Absorb Information Quickly and Effectively
Gus is reaching information overload. He has to present a report on three big
market studies to his manager, tomorrow at noon. He's got a stack of information to
read through, and the clock is ticking.
It's not an option to ask for an extension to the deadline. But he needs to make sure
that he's "covered all the bases" otherwise he'll look careless. Panic is setting in.
Gus wants to sprint through the material and still retain enough information to
compile a good summary. He needs to be able to speed read.
In this article, we'll look at the skill of speed reading, and explore techniques that
you can use to read better and faster. We'll also consider the pros and cons of
speed reading – when it is appropriate to use, and the effects that it can have on
understanding.
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Click here to view a transcript of this video.
(How much do you read every day?
You might have dozens of emails to get through, project proposals to consider, or
trade publications to look at. Not to mention the magazines, books, newspapers,
and websites you read for your own enjoyment.
Many of us spend a good portion of our time reading something. But despite this,
we don't often think about improving our reading skills. Becoming a better reader
means we can take in information faster, and retain more of it.
The first step to reading more effectively is to break your poor reading habits. For
instance, many people focus on each word. But this can cause you to miss the
overall message.
Instead, try chunking words together. You can practice this by expanding the
number of words you read at a time. To do this, try to position the text a little
further away from your eyes. Then, instead of reading a single word at a time, read
four or five.
Another bad reading habit is sub-vocalization. This is when you “speak” each word
in your head as you read. This takes more time than is necessary, because your
brain can understand a word more quickly than you can say it. To address this,
practice stifling that voice in your head by reading larger chunks of words.
Regression is another bad habit. This is when you go back over words to make sure
you read them correctly. Skipping back like this causes you to lose the flow of what
you're reading, and takes up valuable time.
To overcome this, don't allow yourself to re-read material. Run a pointer, such as a
pen or your finger, along the line as you go. Your eyes will follow it, and will keep
moving along.
Many people find it difficult to concentrate when they read. But often they've got
the TV or the radio on, or they're looking at an email while they're on the phone. It's
important to keep distractions to a minimum. Speed reading needs to be done in a
quiet, focused environment.
Keep in mind that learning to read faster and more effectively takes time. So, it's
important to practice as much as possible.
Start with something easy, like an entertaining article or a favorite novel. Use a
pointer to increase your speed, and gradually move it across the page faster and
faster. Your eyes and your brain will want to keep up. This is an easy way to
increase your reading speed.
You can find out more about improving your reading skills in the article that
accompanies this video.)
What Is Speed Reading?
Speed reading is the process of rapidly recognizing and absorbing phrases or
sentences on a page all at once, rather than identifying individual words.
The amount of information that we process seems to be growing by the day,
whether it's emails, reports and websites at work, or social media, books and
magazines at home. We likely feel pressure to get through this information more
quickly, so that we can "stay in the loop" and make informed decisions.
Most people read at an average rate of 250 words per minute (wpm), though some
are naturally quicker than others. But, the ability to speed read could mean that you
double this rate.
We'll now explore some of the skills that you can use to accelerate your reading.
How to Speed Read
All speed reading techniques have one thing in common: you avoid pronouncing
and "hearing" each word in your head as you read it, a process known as as "sub-
vocalization." Instead, you "skim" lines or groups of words, as you can understand
words more quickly than you can say them.
One way to stop yourself from sub-vocalizing is to focus on blocks of words rather
than on individual ones. Do this by relaxing your face and "softening" or expanding
your gaze on the page, so that you stop seeing words as single, distinct units. As
you practice this, your eyes will skip faster across the page.
Then, when you approach the end of a line, allow your peripheral vision to take your
eye to the final set of words. This will help to stop pauses in your reading (often at
full points), meaning that you scan across and down to the next line more quickly.
Now let's look at three methods to boost your reading speed:
1. The Pointer Method
Utah school teacher Evelyn Nielsen Wood was one of the pioneers of speed reading.
In the 1950s, she claimed that she could read at up to 2,700 wpm if she swept a
finger along the line as she read.
This became known as the Pointer method, and is also sometimes called "hand
pacing" or "meta guiding." Holding a card under each line and drawing it down the
page as you read works just as well.
2. The Tracker-and-Pacer Method
This is a variant of the Pointer method where you hold a pen, with its cap still on,
and underline or track each line as you read it, keeping your eye above the tip of
the pen. This will help to increase the pace at which you take in each line, and
improve your focus on the words. Whether you actually underline the words is your
choice.
Try to spend no more than one second on each line and then increase your speed
with each subsequent page. You will probably find that you retain very little
information at first, but, as you train your brain and you become more comfortable
with the technique, your comprehension should improve.
Note:
An advantage of the Pointer and Tracker-and-Pacer methods is that they should
reduce your need to skip back and re-read sentences – a hindrance to speed
reading that is known as "regression."
3. The Scanning (or Previewing) Method
"Scanning" involves moving your eyes quickly down the page – often down the
center – and identifying specific words and phrases as you go. These can be key
sentences (often the first sentence of each paragraph), names, numbers, or trigger
words and ideas. Learning to expand your peripheral vision can help with this.
You won't read every word, but your eye will land on what is important to allow you
to grasp the basic idea. It may be helpful to use a mind map® to organize the
information you take in.
Tip:
Apps such as Spritz and Spreeder (Mind Tools Club members can see our
review here), use techniques like "Rapid Serial Visual Presentation" to train you to
process information more quickly.
When to Speed Read
These techniques can all help you to read more quickly, but are they appropriate for
what you're trying to achieve?
Effective speed reading is a balance between pace and
comprehension. Studies have found that the faster you read, the less information
you take in, particularly when it comes to remembering detail.
So, speed reading is clearly not the answer if you're reading a complex legal or
technical document, even if you are pushed for time. Similarly, it would be sensible
to slow down if the material you're reading is new or unfamiliar, or if you have to
teach it to someone else.
When you need to understand only the basic arguments or conclusions being
presented, though, using a speed reading technique can work.
This may especially be the case if you intend to go back and re-read something
more slowly when you're less busy. In fact, one study has suggested that
skimming a text can improve your comprehension second time around.
Generally speaking, if you want to memorize something, you'll need to read slowly,
at less than 100 wpm. A normal rate for learning is 100-200 wpm, and for
comprehension it is 200-400 wpm.
Speed reading is normally done at a rate of around 400-700 wpm. Anything above
500-600 wpm means sacrificing comprehension, although this varies from person to
person.
How to Improve Your Speed Reading
Knowing the "how" and "when" of speed reading is only the first step to success.
Here are some more tips to help you:
Avoid distractions. Create an environment where there are as few
interruptions and distractions as possible, to allow you to focus fully on the
words in front of you.
Go easy. Read an uncomplicated novel or a simple online article to get a feel for
which technique is going to work best for you. Gauge how much you've
remembered or understood, and set a timer to see how much faster you are now
reading.
Cover words that you've already read. This helps you to stop your eyes
flitting back to earlier words and slowing down your reading.
Know what you want from the text. This can be useful if you are using the
skimming method, as it primes you to pay attention when you see relevant
words, sentences or phrases. You can then slow down at these points, or circle
them for emphasis, but otherwise move across the page quickly.
Benchmark your progress. This way you can tell whether your practice is
paying off. There are many free speed reading assessments online, such as
at ReadingSoft.com.
Practice, practice, practice. You have to practice speed reading to get good
at it. The more you train yourself, the more natural it will feel.
Tip:
Speed is not the only way to improve your reading. See our articles on Reading
Strategies and Review Strategies to help you to understand and remember
what you're reading. Get the basics right, with our articles, Information
Gathering and SQ3R (Survey, Question, Read, Recall, Review), and learn how to
take more effective notes with The Cornell System .
Key Points
There are different techniques that you can use to improve your reading speed. All
of them involve skimming a page rather than "sub-vocalizing" each word as you
were likely taught at school.
Excellent speed reading involves practice and retraining yourself, as well as
learning to focus more on what is in front of you and avoiding distractions.
But it is important to strike the right balance between speed and comprehension:
sometimes speed reading is not appropriate or helpful.
Annotate
