speed reading > articles
80% -20% rate
What does 80% comprehension mean? That you understand 80% of the words you read?
80% of the concepts? 80% of the sentences? That you could repeat back 80% of the
words?
Get 80% of the information in 20% of the time by simply reading the title, subtitle,
bold type, last paragraph and first paragraph--spend only 30-45 seconds. Then reflect
on the relevance of the information for you. If it is important to read more, go
to the next step. Otherwise, find another article.
Take 1-2 minutes to skim through the article to find the core idea. Know what
is being expressed. Do you need more details? If not, find another article.
Read lightly and flexibly. Know what you need. Slow down to fulfill your purpose,
answering questions that are most important to you. Since very few words carry the
meaning, speed up to pass redundant or useless information.
Habitually returning to what is already read, that usually decreases the speed
of reading, no longer happens. Reading each word individually becomes unnecessary
because skillful fast readers do not individualize the text when reading at high
speeds. You become accustomed to grasping a whole word or a group of words at one
glance. In this way you activate your peripheral vision facilities. You study how
to read without haste, because the program responds to the speed you have chosen
and does not react to your haste.
Do you need Speed reading skills?
I tried Evelyn Wood speed reading years ago: total waste of time. I sent away for the
Speed reading self teaching system (which uses your computer to
train you to grab large chunks and see larger amounts in your peripheral vision)
about two years ago and found it instantly rewarding. I'd say my speed doubled,
more or less, by the second lesson, ridiculous as that sounds. There is a
one-minute refresher that you leave permanently on your computer to use before
reading a book if you haven't run the program in a while, which is very
effective.
I think the whole method (and most speed reading) is most effective for those of
us who "sub-vocalized" (read each word to ourselves, as if we were reading
aloud).
Speed reading techniques
What is speed reading.
Speed reading tips
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