21620024 speed reading increase reading speed without losing comprehension

8/14/2019 21620024 Speed Reading Increase Reading Speed Without Losing Comprehension

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Speed Reading

Increase Reading Speed Without Losing Comprehension

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Content

INTRODUCTION ........................................................................................................................................... 3

WHY IS IT SO HARD TO READ QUICKLY? ............................................................................................... 6

YOU CAN IMPROVE YOUR SKILLS .................. .................. .................. ................... .................. .............. 15

WHEN CHILDREN LEARN TO READ ....................................................................................................... 18

METHODS AND TECHNIQUES FOR ADULTS ........................................................................................ 20

METHODS FOR CHILDREN ...................................................................................................................... 36

FAST AND EASY TIPS! ............................................................................................................................. 41

WHAT YOU CAN EXPECT ........................................................................................................................ 43

PRACTICE MAKES PERFECT .................................................................................................................. 45

SUMMARY .................................................................................................................................................. 53







Introduction

I don’t have to tell you that this is the age of information! And, with all of that availableinformation, most of us are buried beneath ‘information overload’.

There are magazines, books, online articles and much more to consume and, if youmust read to pursue an education or to keep up with trends are work; you are in a realbind!

There is hardly enough time in the day to finish important tasks, much less to stayabreast of what is happening in the world, and in business.

You may be interested to learn the results of a recent study on information managementand reading skills.

The findings in this study indicate that, if you want to remain current, and stay aware ofthe latest information in news, medicine and business, you have to read a million words per week .

The problem lies not just in the mountain of information you have to consume eachweek, but also in the fact that if you are an average reader, you only read about 200words per minute.

Under these circumstances, keeping up with the information glut is nearlyhopeless!

Even if you read just for pleasure, you may find it hard to complete all the books andmagazine articles you WANT to read.

If you are like me, you buy books in the bookstore with a real intent to read every one ofthem.

Then you stack them next to your bed or desk, until the pile grows so high that thebooks slide off into another pile.

All the while, you are still reading that first book you bought two years ago.

You’d like to read faster, but when you try, you find that you don’t enjoy it as much. Orperhaps you have found a way to read faster but, in the process, you lose a lot ofinformation.

Your comprehension goes down and within ten minutes after you finish a chapter, youcan’t remember what you’ve read.







Or worse, you have to re-read sentences, paragraphs and pages because you just don’trecall what you’ve read!

Does this sound like you?

If so, you are not alone!Your parents and grandparents may have found it difficult to read quickly and to retainwhat they read, but you face a growing problem today if you are a slow reader.

The fact is, that we have a lot more information to process today than our parents andgrandparents EVER did.

Newspapers are bigger, there are more business, educational and recreationalmagazines and more business periodicals.

Consider the fact that one new book is published for every minute, of every hour, ofevery day. There are thousands of business journals and periodicals published everyyear.

The average executive is paid over thirty thousand dollars to read and digest thisinformation, so that they can use it during the course of a business day to makedecisions and advise employees.

Today, more than half of the reading material assigned to a college student is not read,because the volume of reading is too great for the average student to keep pace.

And, because new information is available every day, the average college graduate willfind most of what they have learned is obsolete within a decade.

Furthermore, many high school students will not even make it to college because theirreading and comprehensive skills lag behind what is required to pass SATs and toaccommodate the reading assignments of the average college course.

But even if you limit your reading to what is critical or mandatory, you will be challengedto cover all the material in the time you have available.

For the casual reader, or the reader that reads simply for pleasure, the problem may notbe so pressing, but as I mentioned before, it can still be frustrating to have so much atyour fingertips and be unable to get through the books and magazines you like to readin a timely fashion.

Books of every sort line the shelves of your office and pubic library – from self-help andmanagement books to financial investment, historical and fictional reading. And youhave to make choices.







Did you know that over the course of a full year, the average person reads LESS THANone book?

And it is estimated that over 90% of the books purchased are never read beyond thefirst chapter.

For those who DO finish a book, the path is tortuous. It takes days or weeks to finish abook and, after the task is completed, the reader will typically only retain ten to fifteenpercent of what she has read.

I have friends who subscribe to weekly and monthly publications and stack them ontheir kitchen counter until, in frustration, they send them out to recycling.

By the time they get to read the one at the bottom of the pile, the news is no longerrelevant!

And, I haven’t even touched on the complications of the internet and how difficult mostpeople find it to read and retain information from a computer screen!

Now that you know that many others share your problem, let me give you a littlebackground.

I think it is important for you to understand how you read now, and how you might beable to change your approach to reading, so that you can get the most out of your time.

By the time you finish learning and practicing these techniques, you will find that youcan fly through those books, magazines, newspapers and periodicals that are piling upin your home, classroom or office.







Why Is It SO Hard to Read Quickly?

If you have seen the movie the ‘Rain Man’, you may have some idea of the reading

speed and skills of the man on whom this movie was based.Kim Peek is the only known person who can read two side-by-side pages at one time,one with each eye. He retains nearly 100% of what he has read.

Though there is no definitive answer as to why Kim can perform amazing task, butdoctors suspect that it may be because the right and left hemispheres of his brain arenot connected.

Even this explanation does not seem to explain his amazing ability, since others bornwithout hemisphere connection are not able to do the same thing.

Perhaps equally amazing is Kim’s ability to recall most of the over 7,500 books he has

read in the past.While you may never rival Kim’s ability, you can significantly increase your readingspeed and comprehension without disconnecting the nerves between your right and left-brain hemispheres!

In fact, there are plenty of reports about people with extraordinary reading skills.

Economist, John Stuart Mill, could not turn a page as he could read a page.

For every day that Theodore Roosevelt held presidential office, he read at least twobooks!

And the author, H. L. Mencken could read 250 pages in one hour.

These are stories of celebrated people – the only ones we tend to hear about. But thereare many more examples of role model readers!

So, if Kim Peek and others were born with this ability, why do the rest of us find it sodifficult to read quickly and to retain what we have read and learned?

If you think you are incapable of learning to read more quickly and efficiently, you areprobably mistaken.

Unless you have sustained significant brain damage, or you were born with ordeveloped a disorder that impairs your language or reading skills, you CAN learn toread at a faster pace, and improve your comprehension.

The problem is not organic!

If you don’t believe me, consider what your brain can accomplish when you are driving acar.







Think about all the factors and tasks your brain must process in order for you tonavigate the roads, drive safely, and pay attention to what is going on inside andoutside your car.

Here are just a few:

Operate controls like windshield wipers, right and left directional, headlights, CDplayers, and doors and windows

Read road signs and navigate across lanes and exits to find your way to whereyou are going

Avoid other cars and pedestrians

Obey traffic signals, stop signs, speed limit signs and other visual cues

Talk to other passengers in the car, and maybe even discipline childrenTalk on a cell phone – hands free, of course!

Read directions from a piece of paper or a map

Keep track of your speed to be sure you aren’t going over the speed limit

Read gauges to be sure you don’t run out of gas and that your car isn’t low on oil

Honk your horn when someone cuts you off!

You do this every day when you drive to work, or school or to the store.

And your brain is capable of managing multiple tasks so that you don’t have to stop thecar to turn on your turn signal or windshield wipers.

You can even gauge the road conditions and slow down if the road gets slippery – andall without flinching!

But, what happens when you lose your focus – and we’ve all done it!

Think about the time you nearly hit the car in front of you when you took your focus offthe road to change a radio station or to turn and discipline your child in the back seat.

Driving, like reading, requires focus. That is why there are so many more accidentsamong people using cell phones while they drive.

There are parts of your brain that manage different activities, and language and readingskills require a different kind of focus.







That’s why you can so easily get into an accident when you are talking on the phoneand focusing on what you are hearing or saying.

So, you must try to avoid distraction and focus on the task when you are reading.

In that way, your brain can ‘experience’ the information you read, rather than just‘reading the words on the page’.

Because reading requires information processing and retention, your other senses willlend a hand.

You will hear words and imagine the winter scene with the snow falling softly.

So, if you are paying attention and FOCUSED on the task, you are bound to improveyour reading skills.

There are a number of things that affect reading speed and retention. Many of themrelate to focus and concentration.

Consider these issues:

Distraction and impaired concentration – Either you are trying to read in anoisy or chaotic environment, or you find it difficult to concentrate long enough toread and retain the information on the page

Poor mechanical skills, and incomplete eye movement – As silly as it

sounds, you may be positioning the book or the piece you are trying to read, inthe wrong way.

If so, it is harder for your eye to perceive the words and for your brain to processthe words and to make the connections it needs to make to retain theinformation.

It is possible that you may also be scanning the sentences without moving youreyes completely across the page.

In other words, your eyes remain in the center of the line and you never see theleft and right margins.

Tendency to re-read or to slow down – You may go back over material two orthree times or consciously slow your reading because you did not pay attentionthe first time.

Or perhaps you are afraid you will lose information if you go too quickly.

Word-by-Word reading and perception – Perhaps you look at each wordseparately and, until you recognize the word consciously, you do not move on tolook at the next word.







Internal verbalization of all words – You may ‘read’ every word to yourselfsilently, verbalizing the words in your head so you can ‘virtually’ hear the sound.

Delayed reaction to information and material – This delay often comes frominattention, reading ahead or distraction.

By the time you react to the information and move on to the next paragraph, yourbrain has been on hold while it ‘multitasks’ and does other things.

Delayed reaction can also come from the sheer fact that you are out of practice.

If you don’t read enough, your brain has to readjust to seeing and processing thewritten word and it takes awhile to get back into the habit.

Desire to remember every word – This is loosely related to the tendency to re-read or slow down.

In this case, rather than being afraid you will forget what you’ve read in context, itis a habit that which requires us to consciously read and REMEMER every word.

It is as if the reading experience is one of memorization, rather than one in whichthe reader understands the context and information at a perceptual, emotionaland analytical level.

These are just some of the reasons you may find it difficult to read and retaininformation.

You may have noticed that many of the reasons for slow reading are due to poorattention, concentration and technique. If you can break these bad habits and focus onthe task at hand, you will improve, not only the speed at which you read, but theretention as well!

You may also have noticed that many of the reasons for slow reading and poorcomprehension, as listed above, relate to how you ‘see’ and perceive the words.

Reading is a visual activity.

If you are not preoccupied with remembering every word, or seeing and spending timeon every word, your brain is better able to take in groups of words and process them formeaning. Consider the primary reasons for poor reading, and you’ll realize that adynamic, and focused approach to reading is the most successful.

Perhaps the most famous expert on ‘speed reading’ is a woman named Evelyn Woods .Ms. Woods created packaged programs to improve reading speed and comprehension.

She often talked about ‘dynamic comprehension’ and said that reading, for her, wasoften like watching a movie. The techniques she used to improve her reading speedand comprehension resulted in her seeing, feeling, hearing and smelling the sights,sounds and environment described in the book she was reading.







Because she was able to free her mind from the drudgery of reading word-by-word, andthe limited perception that comes with the more traditional reading methods taught inschool, she was free to ‘experience’ the books she read.

When someone discovers the joy of reading at a more natural pace, with full

comprehension, they often say that they can finally read ‘as fast as they can think’.I want to close this section with a reading test, to give you some idea of how fast youread and whether your skills are average or above average. Before you start this test,you’ll need a timer or other device, and you will have to decide whether you want toread this test from a computer screen or print a hard copy.

Studies show that, when a reader is looking at a computer screen, as opposed to abook, magazine or other hard copy text, their reading speed can decrease by as muchas 25%.

If you want to get a better idea of your general reading speed and comprehension, youmay wish to print a copy of the next section that is located in the next page, and use theprinted material to take the test. When you are ready to take the test, set your timer forone minute and proceed.

Don’t cheat! When one minute is up, STOP reading , and mark your place on thepage.

Are you ready? Here we go…







Now, take a look at the copy below.

This copy notes the number of cumulative words at the end of each line you read, so itwill be easier for you to calculate your total. Find the last word you read on this page,and total the number of words you finished in one minute.

I used to think that reading was a necessary evil! But I have since learned otherwise.When I first learned to read, I had to read aloud so the teacher would know I understoodthe words and could pronounce them correctly. Unfortunately, I still say the words inin my head, although I have been reading for years now. I think this slows me down.

If you think that reading is easy, perhaps you don’t have problems concentratinglike I do. Whenever I sit down to read a book or a newspaper, I get distracted bythe television, or by surrounding conversations. Finally, I give up and stop. I rarelyfinish a book, or even a magazine article. It is very frustrating. When I was forced toread a lot in college, I did get it done, but I always forgot most of what I read. That waseven worse than not being able to finish at all.

I often think there is something wrong with me, but my friends say that they have thesame problem. So I suppose I am just average. I would like to learn to read faster, andabove all, be able to retain more information. But, I’m not sure how to go about it.

When I see a book in the store, and it looks interesting, I always buy it and put it on theshelf next to my bed. I even have a book light for reading at night so that I won’tdisturb anyone while I am reading. But, I never use the light, because I rarely openthe cover of the book. If I do, I may read a chapter or two and then I get frustratedand stop.

I consider myself of above average intelligence and I know that I am interested inthe books I buy. So, why can’t I seem to get through a book without letting it gatherdust on my bookshelf? Last year I managed to read a murder mystery called “Wherethe Larks Sing Free”, and I was really proud of myself for finishing it. I even joined abook club to talk about this book, because I really liked it. But, the sad truth is thatI could barely remember much of what had happened in the book and when themy friend Russell told me about his favorite part of the book, I didn’t remember thatpart at all. It was as if I hadn’t read the book, but I had!

All in all, I had just about decided to give up. But, there is a book I really want to readand I am determined to find a way to improve my reading skills and my ability toremember what I read. The book is 1870 pages long, and I can’t even finish a 500page book, so I don’t have a lot of hope of finishing this one unless I can improve myskills. Let me tell you what the book is about. It is about a girl who is adopted andshe sets out to find her biological parents. She has a hard time of it, but eventuallyshe finds her mother. But, her mother won’t give her the identity of her father. That’sall I know because the friend that loaned me this book, wouldn’t tell me whether shefinds her father or not.

My favorite kinds of books are murder mysteries, but I like anything that has a littlesuspense in the story, and this book seems really interesting to me. It is called“Where Can She Be?”, and my friend Jeannie says it is really good. She saidshe couldn’t put it down and she stayed up past midnight to finish the story.What do you think I can do to improve my reading skills, so that I can read this book?

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How did you do on speed?

Write the number of words you read in one minute on a piece of paper.

Next, we will focus on comprehension.

On a blank piece of paper, write everything you remember about the article you justread.

Now, answer these questions if you can.

If you didn’t read far enough into the article to answer all the questions, just answerthose you CAN answer.

1. How did the person in the article say they learned to read?

2. What frustrates this person the most about trying to read?3. What does this person think is worse than not being able to finish a book?

4. What did the person buy in anticipation of reading at night?

5. What was the name of the book the person tried – and failed - to complete?

6. What was the name of the person’s friend at the book club?

7. How long is the book that the person wants to read now?

8. What is this book about?

9. What is the name of the book?

10. What is the name of the person’s friend – the one that recommended thisbook?

Now, read the article again - all the way through this time - without limiting yourself ontime. See how much you forgot the first time you answered the questions above.

Were you able to answer at least half of the questions about the sections you completedwhen you read it the first time through?







You CAN Improve Your Skills

If you research the available speed reading courses and materials, you’ll see that thereare a number of ways you can improve your reading.

My goal is to give you some easy-to-learn techniques you can start to use immediately.

The methods I am going to show you do not require lengthy classes, or expensivesoftware, though you will have to commit to practicing daily in order to get the bestbenefit and to break old habits.

Some involve software programs and exercises, some are based on ‘guides’ or toolsyou can use to help your eye follow the flow of words on the page.

Other techniques are based on re-training your eye and your brain so that you can takein more words in one bite.

The problem with choosing any one technique is that everyone learns in a slightlydifferent way and while all the techniques are effective as a general method, you mayfind that you prefer one more than another.

I thought it might be best to give you some options, and let you choose one or moretechniques that you find the best for your style and learning preferences .

As I said at the beginning of this book, unless you have a disorder or handicap thatprevents development of language and reading skills, there is no reason you can’timprove your skills.

If you have Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder or Dyslexia, you can still learn tospeed read.

When you read quickly and allow your brain to process and comprehend information ata more natural rate, you bypass the ADHD and Dyslexic triggers that reside in the left-brain.

So, don’t be discouraged.

You CAN keep pace with the reading you want to do, or MUST do for your career oreducation.

All you need to improve your skills – besides this book – is a desire to learn andimprove, and the discipline to practice what you learn.







As strange as it may seem, studies show that those that read more slowly, also have agreater loss of comprehension.

You would think that if you slowed down, you be bound to absorb more of theinformation.

But it doesn’t work that way!

I should point out that you must improve your reading habits and techniques at thesame time as you increase your speed, or you will not retain any more information.

In other words, changing your habits and techniques must go hand-in-hand withincreased speed or you will not see much improvement.

Before you begin a reading efficiency and improvement program, be sure to you’re youreyes checked. If you need glasses or contacts, be sure you have the right prescription.

Never undertake a dedicated learning program of any kind if you are not getting anappropriate amount of sleep. Sleep-deprived brains do not absorb much information.

While you may be able to double the speed at which you read, I would ask you why youwant to achieve this goal.

If your goal is to read more quickly and to retain more information, you don’t need to setan artificial goal for speed.

The point is not to become the fastest reader of all time. The point is the read as

quickly as you can and still retain the information you want to learn.In fact, in the beginning, you may lose speed , because you are learning new techniquesand it may take your brain some time to adjust to these new habits.

It is wise to take your time and learn the techniques well. Allow yourself to build andsolidify the new habits and you will be much happier with the results.

Whether you want to improve your reading skills to read for pleasure, for school or forwork, I think you will be pleased with the results, if you are patient and take the time todo it the right way!

And remember, you don’t have to aim for 1000 words per minute.

If you reduce your reading time by just a few seconds per page, you will notice a bigdifference in the length of time it takes you to finish a book.

And the best part is that, if you do it the right way, you will absorb more of theinformation in the book and get more enjoyment out of the reading experience.







At this point in the book, it may have occurred to you that, if so many people have aproblem with reading speed and comprehension, we must have a problem in the waywe are teaching our children to read.

And, your assumption would be correct!







When Children Learn to Read

The way you learned to read as a child has a definite impact on your reading skills asyou grow older.

Consider the following factors:

Most children learn to word-by-word, and many are tested by reading a singleword, or a few words, aloud to a teacher.

This learning technique reinforces the idea that one must hear the word in herhead, and consciously speak it, in order to understand.

As we grow older, we adjust to reading books and magazines and some of usmake the leap relatively well.

We learn to read in sentences or phrases, rather than word-by-word. But, noteveryone adjusts!

Some of us remain stuck in the word-by-word mire and for those unhappy souls,reading is not fun.

Compounding the method by which children learn to read, is the competitionreading now faces from other, more active, stimulating activities like videogames.

Compared to this constant stimulation, reading may seem tame, especially if achild’s imagination is not sparked by the words on the page.

It isn’t that books are not interesting, it is that a child is not taught to read in away that allows his brain the freedom that Evelyn Woods described.

The stress of learning and reading a word in front of an entire class wassomething none of us wanted to repeat, because we were afraid to make amistake.

We were afraid our classmates might laugh at us or that we would be wrong andthe teacher would be displeased. So, it is understandable that many of us havea psychological barrier to reading.

We learn to read before our language and verbal skills are completely developed,and you can see why most of us struggled to embrace reading as a pleasurableactivity.







Because our brains were still developing as we learned this new skill, the habitswere engrained in our minds at a very impressionable time and they aretherefore harder to shake.

In studies, where children learned to read in a more experiential and dynamic way, the

results were impressive.While it may take a bit longer for the child to absorb the methods, the visual connectionto language certainly seems to put these children a step ahead of their peers.

Think about our goal to read and absorb information more efficiently and quickly, andthen consider the U.S. Department of Education studies on American third gradestudents.

Consider these findings:

When the average third grade student is assigned to read 100 words on a printedpage, he or she stops over one hundred and seventy times before they completethe assignment.

When college students are assigned 100 words, the average student will stopover seventy times before completing the assignment.

When you think about the number of years a student has to practice his or her readingskills, the reported progress from third grade to college level does not seem all thatimpressive, does it?







Methods and Techniques for Adults

Now, let’s look at a few techniques you can use to improve your reading speed andcomprehension.

Remember, the goal of this book is to give you some readily accessible techniques toimprove your reading speed and comprehension without your having to read a 400page book, take a class or download expensive software.

You may decide you would like to go on with your education later.

But, if you use nothing more than the techniques I have provided here, you will find oneor more methods you can use to significantly improve your speed and retention.

You may find it desirable to combine methods or you may choose to pick just one andstick with it. Whatever works for you is fine. We all learn differently. Do what worksbest for you!

Using ‘Guides’ and Tools

Your teacher may have told you not to use your hands or your fingers to help you read,but many speed reading courses teach the use of ‘guides’ as an effective way to keepyour eye focused on the text you are reading.

Because you will have a tendency to move your hand or the guide faster, and your eyewill follow the guide, you are likely to increase your speed and your efficiency.

The reason that ‘guides’ work, is that your eye is following the guide on the page as itmoves along next to, or below, the text you are reading.

Essentially, the guide is keeping your eyes and your brain focused on the words on thepage.

Using a guide will also keep you moving forward, and prevent regression and re-reading.

To try these techniques, find a magazine or a book to use for the exercise, and dive in.

Use the same magazine or book for all the exercises, so you can more easily compareyour results using equal amounts of text.

Each time you try a different technique, select a different page in the book orpublication.







Using Your Hand as a Guide - There are two ways you can use your hand as a guide.

Right Hand - Place your right hand, with the ‘back’ of your pinkie finger and theheel of your hand at the edge of the text where you will start reading.

Now move your hand toward the right, sliding it toward the right margin of the textas you read.

Focus your eye on the text next to your hand, and keep reading.

When you are ready to move to the next line, slide your hand down slightly, untilthe tip of your right pinkie finger is even with the line you are going to read.

With your hand in the same position – the heel and pinkie at the edge of thestarting text – begin reading the next line.

Left Hand - This method is preferred by many right-handed people, because theycan place their right hand on the top corner of the page and use it to turn to thenext page when they are ready.

To use your left hand as a guide, you will follow the same basic principlesdefined above.

However, instead of using the heel of your hand and your pinkie finger as aguide, you will position your INDEX finger next to the starting text and move yourleft hand from right to left, just as you did in the example above.

When you are ready to drop down to the next line, slide your left hand down untilthe tip of our INDEX finger is positioned in the left margin of the page, next to thetext you want to read.

And, keep reading!

Using the sample text you selected, you can practice this move now. Try it withboth hands and see which method feels more natural for you.

If you are left-handed, you may prefer using your left hand as the guide. But thatis not always true, so be sure to try both techniques and decide for yourself.

On your first practice run, you may wish to just practice the hand movement andnot worry about reading the text.







Once you get familiar with the technique, you can practice reading a page andsee how you do.

The Cupped Hand - Place your dominant hand on the page you wish to read,and ‘cup’ the hand so that it looks like you are trapping a golf ball under your

palm.With only the tips of your fingers on the page, align your fingertips directly underthe line you wish to read and lightly drag your fingertips across the page from leftto right as you are reading.

Your eyes will follow the movement of your hands and keep you focused on thewords.

The Bounce – To use this technique, you simply cup your hand, as in theexercise above. Instead of resting your hand on the page and ‘scanning’ across

the text, you will place your hand above the text and ‘bounce’ it twice on eachline.

Mentally divide the line on the page into two segments. Bounce your fingerslightly on the first half of the line and read the words that appear on that line andsegment.

Then move your hand to the right and bounce the fingers of your hand lightly onthe second half of the line. Read the words that appear on that line in the secondsegment.

This technique takes a little practice, but it is great for encouraging your brain toprocess ‘groups’ of words and/or phrases or sentences, as opposed to singlewords.

Once you learn the rhythm and technique, you may find you like it the best of allof the ‘guide’ options.

When you practice this for the first time, don’t worry about reading the words onthe page.

Just practice the hand bounce and get comfortable with the concept of splittingeach line into two segments.

The Single Finger Guide – You may have used this method as a child.

You can try this technique, but it isn’t quite as effective as using all yourfingertips, or the side of your hand.







The tip of the index finger is not as wide as your entire hand, so your focus maytend to jump onto other lines on the page.

You will also find that, because your brain does not perceive as much motion – because your index finger is much narrower than your hand – you are much

more likely to become distracted.The Diagonal Scan – I don’t recommend this technique for technical, legal orcomplex reading material.

But, if you are reading for speed and just want to get the general idea of anarticle, this method may be one you’ll want to learn.

Cup your hand, as you did in the Cupped Hand method, and slide your fingersdiagonally across three to four lines of text on a page, from left to right, top tobottom.

Follow your hand over the text with your eyes, so you ‘see’ the words. You don’thave to read them word-for-word – just focus on primary words, concepts andideas you see in the three or four lines of the page.

Now in the same, continuous motion, bring your fingers to rest on the next set ofthree or four lines and perform a diagonal scan on those as well.

Continue down the page, scanning three of four lines for key ideas and thoughts,but not ‘reading’ word-for-word.

Try this technique on a page of the text you have selected. Set your timer andsee how long it takes to complete a page.

Using this technique, you will finish a page very quickly. But how muchinformation did you get?

Write down what you remember and then read the page the old-fashioned way.See what you missed.

How many of the concepts and ideas were you able to capture, using thediagonal scan technique? Did you miss a lot?

Remember, you would only use this technique to quickly scan an article forprimary information.

If you really want to get into the detail, don’t use the diagonal scan!







As with all speed-reading and comprehension tests, you should set a timer to track thelength of time it takes you to read the page.

When you are finished, note the time and write down everything you can rememberabout what you read.

Practice the technique on a daily basis, using different pages in the same book ormagazine, and track your time and comprehension to see if it improves.

If this method isn’t for you, don’t be discouraged!

Take a look at the rest of the other techniques, and see which one works best for you.

Using Cards or Paper – Here is another choice.

This ‘guide’ method involves the use of a 3 x 5 index card, or any other sturdy

card or folded piece of paper.However, this technique may not be quite what you think. You are not going touse the card or paper UNDER the line you are reading.

Rather you are going to use it to cover the text you have already read.

This technique will force you to keep moving down the page and to resist goingback to retrace your steps and re-read text.

It will also keep your eye focused on the first line of print you can see below the

fold of paper or the blank card.For obvious reasons, you want to choose a blank card or paper to use as a guide.

If there are images or print on the card or paper, you will be distracted from thetext on which you want to focus.

Drag the page lightly down the page, reading each line or phrase as you go. Usethe paper or card to cover the text you have completed.

You will find it easier to focus on the text you want to read and your retention willimprove, as well.

Try a page of text, using this guide technique now. Set your timer and read to thebottom of the page.

Then note your completion time and try to remember as much as you can about whatyou’ve read. See how it compares to the hand techniques you tried.







Using a Tool – Many people LOVE using this reading tool as a guide.

And since you can make your own, it is easy to replace the tool if you lose it or ifit gets worn from use.

To make the tool, you’ll need two things:

A pen with a pocket clip on the side. Whether you are using the fancygold pen your company gave you, or a plastic pen you bought in a twelve-pack in the corner store, all you need is a pocket clip and you are ready tobuild the tool!

A drink straw or a wide coffee or cocktail stick. Some people even use

pipe cleaners!Push the end of the straw over the end of the pen pocket clip, OR push itunderneath the clip until it fits snugly in place. If you are using a pipe cleaner,you can loop the pipe cleaner around the pocket clip, or tuck it underneath until itstays in place.

Now, bend the straw or pipe cleaner until it is angled slightly to one side.

To use the tool for reading, you simply hold the barrel of the pen in yourdominant hand and place the end of the straw or pipe cleaner on the page.

As you read, follow the tool or the end of the ‘pointer’ with your eyes, to keepyour brain and your vision focused on the words on the page.

This method takes a bit of practice, but once you get comfortable, you will pick upspeed.

Set your timer and try this now. Don’t try to read the words on the page, the first timethrough. Just get comfortable holding and using the tool.

Try this for a few days before you discount it. Many people find it very useful.

Other Tools – Here are some other ideas for tools

You can use a ruler or a plain bookmark to guide your eyes. A short ruler, likethe one found in a children’s pencil box, is the best, because a full size ruler is anunwieldy size to use with a book.







Again, you want to place these tools ABOVE the line you are reading, rather thanbelow.

This may seem counter-intuitive, but it is meant to keep you from regressingduring your reading session. Turn the ruler or bookmark sideways and place it

directly above the line you wish to read.Move the tool down the page as quickly as you can, forcing your eyes and yourbrain to process the words and phrases at a faster rate of speed.

You will get used to the technique and the speed as you practice and you’ll findyour comprehension improving as well.

These guides and tools may seem too simple in concept and practice, but studies haveshown that they allow your eyes to move faster and improve your reading ‘flow’ and

comprehension.Not only does the motion of the tool give you something on which to focus your eyes,but it also increases the width and span of your focus so you are more likely to readgroups of words and phrases.

Used properly, these guides and tools will also prevent regression and, if you don’t goback to re-read text, you will read faster and, believe it or not, retain more information.

Remember to practice often

And, don’t give up on these options until you have given each a fair try. Use each ofthem for a few days and the compare the results.

Reading with Purpose – This technique is especially good for improving retention andcomprehension.

Though you will also find that your speed will improve after you have used this methodfor awhile.

There are no tricks or tools to learn here. Just a mindset that you must use when you

approach your reading.Having said that, it still takes practice to master this. You have to break old habits andpracticing this technique means you will have to maintain focus on your PURPOSE atall times.







Once you master the method, you will find that it comes naturally!

This technique uses the following guidelines: Decide what you want to get out of the piece and what you expect

Form questions about the topic in your mind and look within the text for theanswers.

As you read, think about what the author is telling you at that point and changeyour questions or add to them as required.

Read with a ‘conscious mind’, always analyzing the text to determine what is

important, and do not linger on text that does not fulfill your purpose in readingthe book or article.

Think about how you would use the information you learn by reading. If you werewriting an article about this topic, what pieces of information in the book ormagazine would you include in the article?

Ask yourself what the author is trying to tell you. If there is no real purpose to thetext, other than to take up space, then you aren’t reading the core information.

Move on until you find text that answers your questions or provides newknowledge or information on the topic.

Scan the book or article before you read it and try to figure out how the authorhas structured the information.

Did she give you a summary explanation and then dive into the details?

Perhaps, she organized the book into main categories and gave the details withineach category after she introduced a particular topic?

If you flip through the pages of the white paper, book, or magazine article, youcan quickly see how the author has organized the work and that will help you tofocus on the parts that are important to you.

If you are reading with a purpose and an agenda, you are less likely to get stuck onreading individual words or to go back and re-read passages. You are a person with amission.







You have certain information you want to get out of the book or article and THAT is yourfocus.

When you use this technique, you will find that you are less likely to become distracted.

And, it is less likely that you will verbalize words in your head, or fall into any of theother traps that slow you down and reduce your comprehension.

Some people find it helpful to approach this technique by imagining this scenario:

You have to make a presentation on a subject you know nothing about. You get all theinformation you can and start to do your research but you have very little time.

The ONLY way to approach this, if you are going to meet the deadline, is to sit downand think about the key points you want to make and then go after that information inthe books you have gathered.

What do you want to learn from this book?How do you plan to present the information to others?What are the key facts that you need to know?

You see how it works? You have just outlined a mission for yourself – and now it iseasier to ‘read with a purpose’.

Classic Techniques – We talked about Evelyn Woods, the mother of speed reading,and her passion for improving, not just the speed at which her students read, but thesheer enjoyment with which they read.

Evelyn told the story of how she first became intrigued with speed reading. She wasstudying for her Masters Degree at the time, and she submitted a term paper, 80 pagesin length.

Her Professor, Dr. Lees read her paper and gave her a grade in less than ten minutes.He had no formal training in speed reading – there was no program in existence at thetime. Yet he read over 2500 words per minute.

Evelyn was intrigued by his ability and she decided to look for others who hadextraordinary reading skills. Over two years, she was able to find fifty people.

None of these people seemed to have any common background or characteristics yetthey could all read at amazing speed and retain what they read.The measured speed of the fifty people ranged from 1500 words per minute to 6000words per minute!

Incredible!







Though there was no apparent commonality among these people, Ms. Woods did findthat the way they read and recognized information was very different from the averagereader.

They ALL read more than one word at a time, and they all read in concepts, rather thanlaboring over each word or repeating a line.

When they scanned a page with their eyes, the eye movement was smooth and fast.

They read with purpose, looking for important information as they read and the adjustedtheir speed if the information was technical or complex.

Ms. Woods set out to recreate this method and establish a structured reading programfor others to use. This program is used internationally to teach better speed andcomprehension, and it has been in use since the 1950s, with good results.

In fact, most of the concepts you have read thus far, are based on the work done by Ms.Woods.

Let’s review the principles here, so that you can focus on the basics.

As with all the methods presented here and in packaged speed reading programs,practice is key.

If you don’t practice, you won’t break old habits and form new ones. Think abouttraining for an athletic event.

If you want to get stronger, run faster, lose weight and gain muscle mass, you have totrain. You have to practice.

You must do the same thing to acquire new reading skills.

Regression – Break yourself of the habit of going back over text to re-read it.

This will be hard in the beginning because you will feel as if you may havemissed something. But, you will get used to it.

Establish a comfortable speed and flow and maintain it. If you miss a word ortwo it is not likely you will miss words that are critical.

It is more likely that the words you feel you did not ‘get’ the first time through areconnecting words, and these are not critical to meaning or intent.

What you may not realize is that when you go back or regress to read somethingagain, your brain actually gets confused. What happens is something like this:

You read: “The man looked up at the moon and sighed”

But, then you think you may have missed something.







So you go back to read the sentence again.

Except you really DON’T read the entire sentence. This time your brainlooks for the meaning.

So what you read the second time is something like this: “…looked up at the moon and sighed”

Now your brain has to put this together with the rest of the sentence,because it instinctively knows it is missing something.

So it processes the information again from memory this time and comesup with the original sentence: “The man looked up at the moon and sighed”

As you can imagine, this all takes some time to sort out, and in the

meantime, you have lost reading speed. But, in the bargain, you DON’Tget better understanding.

If you had simply continued on from the end of the sentence, the first time youread it, your brain would have processed the correct information and caught up toyou as you read.

Breaking Bad Physical Habits Sometimes, people develop bad habits and theseimpede their ability to focus on reading.

Physical habits and tics that develop over time to ‘keep the rest of your body

busy’ while you are reading, will distract you.Do you tap or chew on a pencil while you read? Twirl your hair? Chew yournails? Tap your foot or shake your let?

If so, stop it.

It will take time to break the habit, but every time you notice yourself doing it, youshould consciously stop it. Just focus on reading.

Quiet your mind and your mind and prepare to receive the information on the

page.If you are one of those people who moves their lips while reading, it will take yousome time to break the habit, but it is worth the effort.

If you ‘mouth’ the words as you read them, your brain has two things to do – seethe words and process them and then turn them into verbal cues – you arebound to lose speed.







This is also true for those who actually say or mumble the words as they read.

The additional problem here is that your brain is processing what it ‘hears’ nowas well, and the spoken word just adds one more thing for your overtaxed mindto juggle.

Fixation – We talked about fixation before.

Remember that a fixation is when you focus on one word and then have to shiftyour eye and your focus to another word to continue reading.

Every time your eye stops on a word, there is a pause before the eye moves onto the next word.

If you fixate word-by-word, you are stopping on every word before you move on.

Good readers keep their eyes moving and take in sentences, concepts andphrases instead of focusing on each word separately.

To break yourself of this habit, you will need to read ‘consciously’ and withdetermination.

Keep your eyes moving and resist the temptation to focus on each word.

It will take time and in the process, you will probably read more slowly for awhile,but once you break the old habit, you will pick up speed and improve very quicklyfrom there.

While you may think that you will lose information if you read too quickly, studieshave actually shown that faster readers retain MORE information than slowreaders.

That startling fact is true simply because your brain processes information atlightening speed, and when you are plodding along word-by-word, your braingets bored and starts thinking about something else. In other words, it getsdistracted.

Think about a conversation with a friend. What if the friend is taking forever to

come to the point or going off on tangents and diverting from the main theme ofthe discussion?

Don’t you start to daydream or think about other things? And haven’t you caughtyourself wondering what your friend just said?

You stopped listening because you couldn’t wait for your friend to catch up.







Your brain does the same thing when you dawdle on every word in a book.

Environmental Habits – If you don’t create the right environment in which to read, youwill not absorb the information.

You will get distracted, and uncomfortable and you will lose your focus.When you read:

Sit up straightHold the book at a comfortable distance from your eyesUse adequate lighting so you don’t have to strain to see the wordsAvoid listening to a radio, television or conversationDon’t read when you are tired

Increase your Eye Span – If you are focusing on only one word, your brain has gotten

lazy.When you start to read, your eyes and your brain will immediately narrow yourframe of reference to the word on the page, because that is what they are usedto doing.

Force yourself to look at a wider expanse of page, when you read. See thesentence, thought or phrase a whole, and focus on that.

Forget the individual word. Consciously use your peripheral vision, as you readto see just how far you can see to the right and to the left.

Remember, these are practice exercises, so don’t get frustrated if you can’t do itat first.

Just keep practicing.

Chunking and Using Concepts - Once you master the wider eye span and stop focusingon individual words, you can move on to chunking and concepts.

As you read each sentence, phrase or paragraph, break it up into groups thatexpress a concept.

For example, look at the following sequence as a full paragraph:

“Everyone has a holiday horror story to tell. Most families are dysfunctional,though we all think ours is the only problem family on the block.”

Now, read the same paragraph in ‘chunks’ or ‘concepts’:







…Everyone has a holiday horror story to tell…

…most families are dysfunctional…

…though we all think ours is the only problem family on the block…

Here is another, longer example. This time, you do the chunking:

“Remember that you are an important part of your own health care, and don’tforget to tell your doctor about any changes in your health during the timebetween visits. It is important to tell him about changes in sleep patterns,appetite and stress. Your doctor can’t read your mind, and he can’t anticipate allof your questions, so speak up.”

As you practice reading concepts and chunking large pieces of text into smallerbite-sized thoughts, you will notice significant improvement in your reading speed

and comprehension.Keep Your Eyes Moving – Don’t linger at the end of a line or sentence, or at the end ofa page.

If you slow down, your brain will be tempted to go back over the material.

A good way to avoid regression is the forcefully move your eyes from the end ofa line to the next line and consciously keep going.

After awhile, this will become a habit and you won’t have to think about it so

much, but in the beginning it may seem a little radical.If you want to use a tool, pointer or guide to support you in the beginning, feelfree to do so. Anything to keep your eyes moving.

Trust Your Brain – You would be amazed at the speed at which your brain canrecognize and process a word.

Just because you feel you didn’t ‘see’ the word, doesn’t mean your brain did notpick it up.

As an adult with an average vocabulary, you possess a brain that can usecontextual information to process the written word.

Let’s say for example that you quickly skim the following sentence:

“It was John’s perception that Susan was angry with him. The fabric was notwhat she wanted, and she was disappointed”







When your brain processes this information, it can place the words in context andit knows that the correct words for this sentence are:

‘perception’ not ‘perspective’ or ‘prescription’‘fabric’ not ‘factor’ or ‘fabulous’‘disappointed’ not ‘discouraged’ or ‘dismissed’

Know When to Adjust Your Speed – Remember that you are reading for speed ANDcomprehension.

I mentioned that you will want to slow down when reading complex or technicalinformation.

It is a no-win situation if you try to read JUST for speed, and finish the article

really fast but have no idea what it said!The other time to adjust speed is when you are reading from a computer screen.Studies show that you lose about 25% of your speed when reading in this way.

Don’t fight it. Just adjust.

If you must read something very quickly, and you are staring at a computerscreen, you may want to consider printing the article and reading the hard copy.That way, you can pick up your speed and finish faster.

You might find it helpful to look at the type of reading you are doing and adjust yourreading style accordingly.

For example, if you are planning to write a report or make a presentation on a topic, youmight approach reading in this way:

Take the time to read the forward and any notes at the front of the book, toget an idea what the author wanted to accomplish, and what they intend totell you.

Spend more time on the first chapter to establish an understanding of howthe author writes, how much meat there is in the text and how much

superfluous information this author is inclined to include.Once you get the style down, your reading will go much faster.

Since you have to write a report on this book, you’ll want to read in smallerbites, so that you don’t get tired or distracted.







Approaching each reading session with a rested eye and mind will helpyou remember the information you need to write the report.

Try to schedule your reading session for the same time every day so thatyou anticipate the need for focus.

Take notes after every chapter or underline text – if you can – in the bookso you can quickly compile information later.

Some find it helpful to buy different colors of post-it notes or colored paperand color code the bookmarks within the text.

If you are on a page that has information about a character’s background,for example, you might color code that with a blue bookmark.

When you are finished reading the book and ready to tackle your report,

you can simply look for all the blue bookmarks and find the characterbackground information more easily.







Methods for Children

If you are looking for speed reading methods for children, consider this.

It is difficult to implement any speed reading techniques in children under eight years ofage, because in most cases, they are still learning the more traditional methods inschool and any attempt to disrupt this may wreak havoc with your child’s teacher.

To successfully teach your child to speed read, the child should be between eight andtwelve years old.

Be sure your child can commit at least fifteen minutes a day to practice the new techniques.

Go the library and get books that are appropriate for the child’s age, preferably booksthe child has not read before.

Choose an appropriate ‘reward’ system. The type of reward is up to you. It might beyour child’s favorite snack, an afternoon at the movies, a trip to the toy store or a playdate with a friend.

I would suggest keeping it simple and inexpensive.

A box of cookies or candy that can be distributed as appropriate might be more practicalthan something expensive or time consuming.

You will also need a timer or a watch with a second hand, to track speed readingsessions.

If you can convince a group of neighborhood parents to participate, so much the better.

A group of four to eight children is a great size and the kids will be more likely topractice, if they are all participating in the same activity.

The younger the child, the shorter the working sessions should be.

For children of either or nine years of age, keep the sessions around thirty to forty-five

minutes.

If the child or group of children begins to get restless and inattentive, stop the sessionand schedule it for another time.

For children ten to twelve, you can schedule an hour of work and practice.







1. In the first session, explain to the children what you want to accomplish and besure that they understand that reading will be more fun and rewarding if they usethe new techniques.

Have them focus on a dog or a plant in your house or look out the window and

find an item to focus on, and then point out how we normally ‘see’ things.We don’t look at the individual pieces of the item. For example, if we are lookingat the house next door, we are seeing the entire house, not the curtain in thefront window.

Tell the child that you want them to read in the same way, not by looking at aword on a page, but by looking at a sentence or phrase and seeing the wholeconcept.

Ask the child to look at a page in a book for five to ten seconds.

Tell them not to try to read the page right now, but just to ‘see’ the words with awider lens, to get a broader view of the words on the page, instead of focusing onone or two words.

At the end of this timed exercise, ask them to choose another spot on a differentpage and do the same thing – this time for ten to twenty seconds.

2. Next, ask them to spend thirty to sixty seconds looking at ten pages of text. But,this time, ask them to ‘see’ the words with a wider perspective AND try to scanthem for meaning at the same time.

At the end of the timed session, ask them to report what they remember. Youwill be surprised at how much they pick up, even though they aren’t readingword-for-word.

Make sure you create a ‘fun’ environment for the child or children so they don’tfeel as if they are being tested.

Encourage them by telling them it is OK not to remember much on the first fewtries.

When the child does remember something, be sure to praise the newly acquiredskill.

You may want to offer the reward at this point to keep the children motivated.Even if they only remember one small thing, that is enough to warrant a prize.

Don’t dwell on the ‘report’ section for more than two to four minutes. Just havethem quickly tell you what they remember.







As the child scans the pages using their new technique of ‘seeing’ with a widerlens, you will signal them with a sound after every five seconds of scanning.Try to use a sound that is not startling or intrusive. A tap with your knuckle or apen on the edge of the table is fine.

Just don’t distract them from their scanning exercise.

At the end of the two minutes, ask the child to briefly tell you what theyremembered about what they read and point out any changes you notice in howmuch they remember or the type of information they remembered during thisexercise.

In other words, did the signaling of smaller chunks of time and informationchange the way they read or how much they saw and remembered?

Repeat this exercise several times before you move on. After several practice sessions using the ‘wide lens’ scanning technique and thevisualization exercise, you can move on to the next challenge.

6. Now it is time to raise the bar. Tell your child or children that you will give them aspecial reward if they can finish a short book – twenty to fifty pages in lengthdepending on the child’s age.

Give them five minutes to read as much of the book as possible.

Stop them at five minutes and ask them to tell you what they remember.

And be sure to give them the reward you promised them.

You can expand this exercise in the next session and challenge them to read TWObooks of the same length.

As with any speed reading program or learning program, practice is very important.

Schedule sessions with your child often and be sure to practice each of the exercisesI’ve given you so that they become more comfortable with the techniques.

Exercise to increase and widen the ‘seeing’ lens.Exercise using imagination and visualization.Exercise to ‘chunk’ information by signaling in ‘five second’ incrementsExercise to read a book in five minutes







Continue scheduled practice sessions for one to two months until the child has graspedand solidified the concepts in her mind.

After that, they can use the new techniques every day to improve their reading speedand comprehension.







Fast and Easy Tips!

Perhaps you are reading this book because you don’t have the time or patience for alengthy or expensive speed reading program.

You’ve read all the techniques and methods I’ve given you so far, but you are lookingfor some really quick tips you can use to improve your reading.

Here are a few tips and tricks for you to try!

Learn a new word every day. The better your vocabulary, the faster yourbrain can recognize and process a word.

If you move your lips when you read, hold your hand or your fingers overyour mouth until you break the habit.

Read at least fifteen minutes a day – a magazine article, a cereal box, abook, an article at work or at school.

The more you read, the better your brain can handle the visual and mentalprocesses required to process the written word.

Set a goal or purpose before you start to read. Pick one to five things youwant to find out or accomplish and focus on those.

Skim through the article or book and do not READ until you see keywords

or concepts that relate to your objectives.

Practice reading faster, every day, for at least five minutes. Try to read atleast twice as fast as your comfortable pace.

As you get comfortable with that pace, increase your speed again untilTHAT speed becomes comfortable.

Over a period of weeks, you will find yourself reading faster and you willNOT lose comprehension.

When you first begin to practice speed reading use material andinformation with which you are familiar. This familiarity will allow you tofocus more on your reading techniques and to work on breaking badhabits.

As you become more comfortable with the process, you can graduate tounfamiliar material.







As you read, try to predict what is going to happen next or what the authorwill next tell you about the topic. This will keep you focused on thesubject.

Before you start to read, look at the table of contents. Try to figure out

what each section is about, and how the author has organized thematerial.

In this way, you will find out how the book is structured, what the authorwill cover, and in what sequence.

Focus on the first and last sentences in a paragraph. In many cases,these sentences will give you information about what is coming and/orsummarize what was just covered.

This is a great way to understand the concept without getting bogged

down in word-by-word reading.







What You Can Expect

If you are serious about speed-reading and about improving your comprehension, you

must practice .

We’ll talk a little more about that in a minute.

Assuming you are willing to make the commitment to practice and to stick with theprocess until you solidify the new techniques in your mind, you will do well.

While results do vary from person to person, and a structured, longer-term program maygive you better results, you will find that the simple techniques presented here willsignificantly improve your speed and comprehension with time and practice.

On average, it will take you a month of practice to see the final results. And, you muststick with it.

If you find yourself reverting to old habits when you read, go back and review theexercises and techniques again for a refresher.

Then establish a routine of practice for another month or two until the new habits are inplace.

You probably won’t have to go through this cycle more than twice before you lose the old habits are gone!

You will be pleased to know that many people see improvement right away.As soon as they grasp and begin to practice the techniques, reading speed andcomprehension improves significantly.

If you are one of these lucky people, don’t stop practicing. Just because you improvedright away, it doesn’t mean you can’t improve even more!

And, even though you saw immediate improvement, you still need to reinforce thetechniques by practicing them, or you will fall back on hold habits sooner or later.

So keep practicing!

If you DON’T improve right away, don’t get discouraged. You WILL get better with time and practice.

Let’s look again at the rates for poor to excellent readers, and I’ll give you some idea ofwhat you can expect when you undertake a speed reading program.

Here are the rankings for reading and comprehension speeds, from poor to excellent.







Look at where you started, and where you can finish if you are committed to theprocess:

Beginning Skill Words Per Min Comprehension Improvement (1 month)Slower than Average 100-110 50-60% 35-40%

Average 200-240 60-75% 25-30%Better than Average 300-400 80% 20-25%Excellent 500-1000 85% 10-15%

Before we finish, let’s talk a little more about practice, because it is SO important toimproving your speed and comprehension.







Practice Makes Perfect

As I said, you must practice if you are going to grasp and retain the techniques I’vepresented. You can use the exercises presented in this book or be creative and inventexercises for yourself.

In the beginning, practice 15-30 minutes a day, if you an adult. If you are teaching achild to speed read, be sure they practice at least 15 minutes a day.

Remember that, at first, you are likely to read more slowly when you are NOTpracticing, because you will probably revert to old habits.

The more you practice, the more you will bring the new techniques into your every dayreading habits.

If you practice at least 15 minutes a day for one or two months, the new habits will feelnatural and you won’t even think about them any more.

After that, if you want to improve your speed and get to the next level, you can continueto practice and hone your skills. As your brain gets better at the process, you will seemore improvement.

Here are a few more exercises you can use to practice your reading. If you are likemost people, you will find that variety will keep you interested.

So be sure to mix up the type and length of exercises you do to maintain your focus onimprovement and your enthusiasm for the process.

We’ll try go for a reading exercise now.







Try these exercises:

1. Read this paragraph

“When you read for speed and comprehension, you may be surprised at howfast you can go and how much you can remember when you are finished. Ifyou are reading word-for-word, you get bogged down and you may even stopand go back to be sure you understood the last passage. This is not a goodway to read, but it is, unfortunately, the way most of us were taught.”

2. Now read the paragraph this way and note whether it is more difficult or easier to read

“When you read for speed and comprehension you

may be surprised at how fast you can go andhow much you can remember when you are

finished. If you are reading word-for-word you get

bogged down and you may even stop and go back to

be sure you understood the last passage. This

is not a good way to read but it

is unfortunately the way most of us were

taught.”

If you are used to reading word-by-word, you probably found this a tortuousexercise. If you were scanning for concepts and flying over the words, youprobably did fine.

3. Try the same paragraph this way and see how you do

“When read speed comprehension, surprised fast go can remember whenfinished. I reading word-for-word, bogged down even stop go back be sureunderstood last passage. not a good way read, unfortunately, way most weretaught.”

How did you do? Did you get the concepts and understand the intent? All wedid was to take out the connective words.

Words like ‘and’ ‘the’ and ‘it’ give the sentence some flow, but they do notimpact the concepts.







I certainly don’t expect authors to stop using these words in text!

However, if you can learn to read in a way that scans phrases and sentences,and look for the important words like ‘remember’ and ‘understood’, you aremuch more likely to pick up speed without losing comprehension.

4. Next try the paragraph again. This time, we’ll delete the vowels. See if you can read it now

“Whn y rd fr spd nd cmprhnsn, y my b srprsd t hw fst y cn g nd hw mch y cnrmmbr whn y re fnshd. f y r rdng wrd-fr-wrd, y gt bgged dwn nd y my vn stpnd g bck t b sr y ndrstd th lst pssg. Ths s nt gd wy t rd, bt t s, nfrtntly, th wymst f s wr tght.”

This was probably a tough one, wasn’t it? You may not have gotten all thewords, as you scanned the paragraph, but I’ll bet you got more than you thoughtyou would.

When people learn shorthand or other symbolic note-taking methods, they learnto recognize a word by a symbol or abbreviation.

And they can read an entire paragraph back, quite nicely, by using thistechnique.

The purpose of this particular exercise is to show you how your brain can actuallyunderstand even when the complete word is not presented on paper.

If you are scanning, the page, you probably understood the word ‘cmprhnsn’(comprehension) pretty easily.

You may have had more trouble with ‘nfrtntly’ (unfortunately).However, you have to ask yourself if the word ‘unfortunately’ was critical to theconcept presented in the sentence. If not, then you really didn’t lose all thatmuch.

Did you get ‘fnshd’ (finished?) Good.

You see how it works?

Again, I am not suggesting that publishers will ever present a written work in thatway. I am simply giving you exercises to train and test your brain.

Like an athlete in training, you must exercise and train your brain if it is to achieve peakperformance.

Remember, your brain is capable of processing information at amazing speed.

Most of us don’t make optimum use of that capacity.







Don’t worry about losing information. That is what stops most of us from reading atpeak levels.

Think of it this way. Most written material is at least 50% filler.

The really critical thoughts, words and concepts are couched in sentences and phrases

intended to fill in the blanks with connective words and additional explanation.If you could remove that 50% or 60% filler, you would logically be able to read faster.

While there is no tool or utility designed to take out the unnecessary words, you can useyour brain to filter what you read!

You just have to train it to recognize and bypass the junk!

Here is another exercise you can use to practice your new reading techniques:

5. Find a magazine or a newspaper and open it to a random page.

Look at how the columns are structured and notice that the publisher has alreadymade the reader’s job easier.

In order to give the reader an easy way to find and process the informationcontained in each article, the blocks and columns of information presented areseparated by blank margins, and the information is logically organized for quickscanning and retention.

By using a magazine or newspaper article for practice, you can make it easier onyour eyes and your brain to learn the new techniques.

Follow the columns straight down, using a guide or your hand to focus your eyeand move it quickly down the page.

Place your guide in the middle of the column and move it straight down – don’tfollow each line.

Go as quickly as you can through the article, moving your hand in a smoothmotion and following it with your eyes.

How much of the information did you absorb? What can you remember aboutthe concepts and topics in the article?

Practice this technique every time you pick up a magazine or a newspaper. Youwill get better at it.

Remember that the width of a magazine or newspaper column is narrower thanthat presented in a standard book, so it is very easy to grab the information withyour eye in ‘bite sized’ sentences without actually reading left to right.







Resist the temptation to read each sentence in a standard fashion.

Just follow your guide down the page scanning each sentence with a wider ‘lens’,and you will be amazed at how much information you grasp and retain.

6. Here’s one last exercise before we finish. Read this one and then take the mini-quiz at the end to see how much you remember of what you’ve read.

Remember to scan (read) the paragraph as quickly as possible.

“Reading visual activity meant give critical

information you taught differently brain

see understand more might

think Because learned certain

technique doesn’t mean can’tchange improve speed

comprehension Focus ideas concepts

rather individual words See great

improvement”

Finished? Good!

Now take the mini-quiz and see how much you understood and how much youremember about the concepts presented in this brief paragraph

1. What kind of activity is reading?

a. Mental

b. Visual

c. Focused

2. What kind of information should you get from reading?a. Critical

b. Interesting

c. Complete







3. What does your brain understand when you are speed reading?

a. How to Read

b. More Information than you Might Think

c. Less than if you Read Slowly and Methodically

4. What must you focus on when you read?

a. Speed

b. Understanding Each Word

c. Ideas and Concepts

5. What does the closing sentence of the paragraph say you will achieve ifyou read the right way?a. Impressive Benefits

b. Great Improvement

c. Speed and Retention

How did you do?

My guess is that you got most of the answers right!

If not, keep practicing.Use this, and the other exercises I’ve given you for practice, and invent some of yourown, to keep you interested in the process.

Be creative!

Last, but not least, I am a firm believer in writing things down. If you put it in writing, youreinforce your commitment and you can track your plan every day.

Here is a format you can use to plan and track your reading improvement program.

This will get you started.

You can use a form as simple as this, or you can include more detail.

In your form, note the date, and the number of minutes you spent reading during yourpractice session.







Answer the questions about what you worked on, and whether you were successful inaddressing this issue during your practice session.

By thinking about each of these issues every time you practice and noting yourprogress, you will keep the pitfalls uppermost in your mind.

And the next time you practice, you are more likely to remember what NOT to do!

Add as many items to your list as you may need, and be sure to include the pitfalls that are most personal to you .

Try to break your practice time up into ‘segments’. During each segment, read a passage or selection of text, and time yourself.

Then you can note the number of pages you read during that segment and the time ittook you to complete that segment.

I have included a number of these pitfalls here, to get you started, but there may beothers you find difficult to conquer.

In the next page is the format that you can print out for your own use.







Date of Practice Session: Total Min Spent Practicing:

Segment 1: # of Pages How Long Did it Take?




Yes No

Used a Guide

Had Problems with Vocalization or Verbalization

Had Problems with Regression or Re-Reading

Focused on Concept and Content Rather than Each Word

Avoided Distractions

Read with Purpose

Successfully Widened my Scope of Vision to ‘See’ More Words

Timed Session

Improved Time Compared to Last Practice

Improved Recall and Comprehension Compared to Last Practice







Summary

At last, we have come to the end of the instruction period, and it is time now for you toput these techniques into practice.

Try all of the methods and exercises I’ve given you here until you find one or more thatwork for you.

Then use those methods for at least one month – preferably for two or three months – until you feel you have mastered them.

Over this period, you will see improvement in your speed and in your retention.

If you find yourself falling back into old habits, start again and practice the techniquesuntil they feel natural and you can use them without thinking too much about them.

Don’t be discouraged.

If you are teaching your child, or children, how to speed read, be sure to use thetechniques that work best for them.

Don’t try to teach them adult methods. Remember, that they have not been reading thewrong way for as long as you have.

They will learn more naturally and easily with techniques designed for children.

After you review the techniques and exercises and select the ones that work best foryou, and/or your child, the only thing you have to do is to practice.

If you practice, you WILL improve.

But, you must make the commitment.

Reading may have been a bore and a chore in the past, but it doesn’t have to be thatway!

When Evelyn Woods first discovered the joy of reading quickly and with meaning, sheentered an incredible world of imagination and ideas.

Up until now, you may have felt you could not keep up with the reading you had to dofor school, or job or even for pleasure.

You may have purchased and abandoned many books.

You may even have felt you would be lost in an endless cycle of reading and forgettingevery book or magazine you buy.






I hope, by now, you know that there is another way!

You CAN learn to read more quickly and more efficiently. And you WILL enjoy readingmore.

All you have to do is take the first step!

21620024 speed reading increase reading speed without losing comprehension

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