I took an elective (one semester) a very long time ago in college that was designed to improve study abilities. The reason I took it was that it had a speed reading component. I read about 400 words per minute when I started, with 90% comprehension. When it was over, I would consistently hit 550 words per minute with 98% comprehension, and have maintained that since. It was easy, and while I didn't reach the fantastical speeds one reads about, what I obtained wasn't too shabby.
What made you improve by so much ?? Seriously, a lot of us will benefit by your passing on such wisdom. At least the BBS would increase its efficiency
Geez... it's been over 40 years. The technique involves scanning lines of a page. You cover the page with something and move it down at a steady pace. It's timed, the number of words on the page are known (when the time is up, you count the number of words read), and you are tested on how much you understand (it is material you haven't read before). Once you are rolling with that pace, you increase it, rinse and repeat. There may have been a little more to it... I think you are supposed to key in on what seems to be the most important part of what you're reading, the groups of words that stand out as the meat of the subject matter, not the "ifs, ands, or buts," if you will. That's what I remember. There are probably more advanced techniques today. I don't know. I was a pretty fast reader already and only increased my speed from 400 to 550. What was more improved was the comprehension. That was from one semester.
MmmHmmm. And now we know why you had an owl... <object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/bgmkUltuvX8&hl=en&fs=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/bgmkUltuvX8&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>
i watched a few videos on youtube today and it seems that the key concepts are that: 1) we read each word one by one 2) we usually go back and reread a few lines as we're reading 3) we subvocalize as we're reading - meaning you sound it out in your head so basically the point is that eliminating these three things increases your speed as these are the biggest barriers. seems to make sense but am wondering if anyone had any success.
I can read about 750 words per minute. I learned the process by reading a PDF instructional guide on how to speed read. The concept that made sense to me was to read in a cris-cross manner from top left to bottom right and then from top right to bottom left. That being said, I don't use speed reading when I read books of leisure. While speed reading, I often find myself not enjoying what I am reading since each word often has an enrichment/joy in my mind.
thanks guys. i've always had a very mild case of dyslexia. so while normal readers can scan words sometimes i have to decode them. i've become pretty fast at decoding, enough to get me at an average adult speed, but i've always wanted to be a fast reader.
interesting, i hadn't seen that recommended yet. yea, it's definitely not recommended for pleasure reading. it's more a tool to extract as much information from a book as efficiently as possible.
