How to Read Faster and More Effectively
When reading for pleasure, slowly savoring every word or phrase allows you to appreciate the writer's craft. But, sometimes, reading is just about the efficient absorption of information. That's when speed reading techniques can be most helpful, allowing you to quickly pluck the most vital facts and instructions from a body of text while bypassing the rhetoric that would otherwise slow your reading down.
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Instructions
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Find a quiet, distraction-free environment in which to read. Calm yourself. If your mind is over-active or if you're excited or have been upset by a previous conversation or activity, it will be more difficult to concentrate on your reading. What's more, if you're in the right state of mind to read and are open to taking the time to understand the material in your hands, your brain won't spend as much time fighting the text.
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Look over the document, seeking out bold, italicized, highlighted or bulleted headers, vocabulary and key points. This will help you to get the "gist" of the text without having to read each and every word on the page.
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Scan the document, looking for groups of words or phrases instead of reading each word alone. Pretend that these blocks of text are images you can comprehend with a single glance. This will allow you to move through the document more quickly.
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Look at the words on the page without sounding them out in your head (subvocalizing). When you read silently to yourself, pay attention to your subvocalizations and, when you begin to sound words out, quiet that voice.
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Slide a pointer, like your fingertip or a pen, beneath each line of text as you read. This will offer you momentum as you read, as well as help to keep you from backtracking. Rereading is one way to waste time while looking over text. Allow yourself to keep moving forward with your pointer at an easy pace. Rapid reading isn't always about how fast you can absorb text, but with what efficiency you can read and understand your documents. The object is to read smoothly, without interruption, in a controlled manner.
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Pause and take time to mull over particularly interesting passages. This might seem counter-intuitive in your attempts to read faster, but this will help you to remember important information and will cut down on your need to reread later.
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Practice. Reading quickly and effectively requires you to retrain how you take in the written word. These new strategies will only get easier if you apply them to your reading again and again.
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Tips & Warnings
Try increasing the distance between the document and your face by an inch or two. This allows you to see the "big picture" of the page and read word blocks with more ease.
References
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