How to Practice Speed Reading

Do you find yourself bored while reading your philosophy textbook or the morning newspaper? You can practice speed reading to get through these tasks much quicker. While speed reading may reduce your comprehension of the text, with enough practice, you'll overcome this challenge.

Do not subvocalize. When reading, most people tend to 'subvocalize' or move their throat as if they are silently speaking the words. This can help with memory but is a major obstacle to increasing reading speed. Here are some ways to break this habit:

• Chew gum or hum while reading. Since you need to use muscles for these actions, you’ll avoid subvocalization.
• If your lips move when reading, try holding them still with your finger.

Cover the text you've just read. When reading, your eyes often glance back at the words ahead. These quick glances rarely help you understand the material. You should use a bookmark to cover the text you've already read, but don’t let this habit become excessive.

• Reading “backwards” happens when you don't understand a certain part. If your eyes go back to reread a few words or lines, it's a sign that you need to slow down your reading speed.

Understand your eye movements. While reading, your eyes move in a jerky manner, pausing at certain words while skipping others. You can only read when your eyes stop. If you learn to stop less frequently on each line, you’ll read much faster. However, research has shown limits to how much someone can read at a time when reading English text:

• You can read eight letters to the right of where your eyes stop, but only four letters to the left, meaning you can only read about two or three words at a time.
• You see letters 9-15 spaces to the right but can't read them clearly.
• Most readers can’t guess the content of the lines around their current position. Training yourself to skip lines while still understanding them is quite difficult.

Train your eyes to stop less frequently. Your brain usually decides where your eyes will stop based on the length and familiarity of the words that follow. Instead, you can increase your reading speed by teaching your eyes to stop at specific points on the page. Try this exercise:

• Place a bookmark at the top of a line of text.
• Mark an X on the bookmark above the first word.
• Mark another X on the same line. Place it three words away if you want to fully understand the text, five words for simpler texts, or seven words if you're just scanning to grasp the main idea.
• Add more Xs at the same intervals until the line is filled.
• Read quickly as you move the bookmark down, focusing your eyes on the words below each X.

Set a goal to read faster than your comprehension speed. Many speed reading programs first train your reflexes, then continue practicing until your brain can keep up with the reflex. This has not been thoroughly researched. It may help you finish texts faster, but your comprehension could be very limited or non-existent. Try this method if you want to achieve extreme reading speed, and you might improve comprehension after a few days of practice. Here’s how to practice:

• Move a pencil along the text. Time yourself by saying “one one one thousand” slowly, and finish when the pencil reaches the end of the line.
• Spend two minutes practicing reading at the pencil’s speed. Even if you don’t understand anything, continue focusing on the text and practicing eye movement for two minutes.
• You can take a one-minute break, then try moving your eyes even faster. Spend three minutes reading with the pencil moving down two lines per “one one one thousand.”

Try using RSVP software. If you don’t reach your goal with the above tips, try using RSVP, or Rapid Serial Visual Presentation (a method of quickly displaying text on a screen to help you read faster). In this method, a mobile app or computer software will display one word at a time. You can choose to read at any speed you want. However, if you set the speed too high, you won’t be able to retain most of the words. This method can be useful if you want to quickly read a news article, but it's not suitable for reading academic texts or for entertainment purposes.

Know when to skim. Skimming is useful when you want to quickly get an overview of a text. You might skim through a newspaper to find interesting information or review important concepts in a textbook to prepare for an exam. However, skimming isn't always the best approach; there are times when detailed reading is necessary.

Read the titles and headings of each section. Begin by reading the titles of chapters and subsections at the start of major sections. Read the headline of each article or the table of contents of a magazine.

Read the introduction and conclusion of each section. Textbooks often provide an introduction and summary at the beginning of each chapter. For other types of texts, focus on the first and last paragraphs of each chapter or article.

• It's okay to read quickly if the topic is familiar, but don't aim to read at the fastest pace possible. You can save time by skimming most of the material, but make sure you understand what you’re reading.

Circle important words from beginning to end of the text. If you want to speed up your reading even more, skim through the page quickly instead of reading normally. Once you understand the main idea of a section, highlight key words that contain important information. Stop and circle the following words:

• Repeated words
• Main ideas – often found in titles or headings
• Proper nouns
• Italicized, bold, or underlined words
• Words you don't understand

Study images and charts. You can absorb a lot of information from images and charts without needing to read much. Spend one or two minutes ensuring you fully understand each chart.

Read the first sentence of each paragraph if the content feels unclear. If you're unsure about the topic of the text, read the opening sentence of each paragraph. These first sentences will give you the main ideas.

Study with annotations. Go back and quickly review the words you’ve circled. Can you “read” these words and get a general idea of the text's content? If any words are still unclear, try reading a few surrounding sentences to refresh your memory. Circle any additional words that seem important.

Measure your reading speed. Track your progress by measuring your reading speed daily or each time you practice. Trying to beat your personal best can be a great motivator to push yourself further. Here's how you can measure reading speed in words per minute (wpm):

• Count the words on one page, or count the words per line and multiply by the number of lines on the page.
• Set a timer for ten minutes and see how many words you can read in that time.
• Multiply the number of pages you read by the number of words on each page. Divide that result by ten to get the number of words you read in one minute.
• You can take an online “speed reading test,” but remember that your reading speed might differ between digital text and printed material.

Set goals. Your reading speed can improve if you practice one or more exercises daily. Many people can double their reading speed within a few weeks. Set a goal to motivate yourself to practice regularly:

• 200 – 250 words per minute is the average reading speed for people aged 12 and above.
• 300 words per minute is the average speed for a university student.
• At 450 words per minute, you're reading as fast as a college student skimming text for key points. In theory, you can read at this speed while understanding most of the text.
• At 600 – 700 words per minute, you're reading at the pace of a university student skimming for keywords. Most people can train to read at this speed and still grasp around 75% of the content compared to regular reading.
• At 1,000 words per minute or more, you're reading so quickly that you could compete in speed reading competitions. This requires advanced techniques that allow you to skim through most of the text, though most people won’t retain much of the content at this speed.

• Take breaks every 30 to 60 minutes of continuous reading. This will help maintain focus and reduce eye strain.
• Read in a quiet space with adequate lighting. Use earplugs if necessary.
• Focusing on reading techniques can make it harder to understand the text at first. Ensure you don't read too fast and that you comprehend what you've just read.
• If you can’t improve your reading speed, check your eyesight.
• Read important texts when you're alert and relaxed. Some people perform better in the morning, while others are more focused in the afternoon.
• If the text is too far away, you might not be able to read quickly. Most people automatically adjust to the distance where they can read fastest.
• “Zig-zag” eye exercises that involve moving the eyes from left to right and vice versa may not be effective. Most people who have practiced these exercises still move their eyes line by line from left to right.

• There's always a trade-off; you might read faster but you'll understand or remember less of the text.
• Be cautious of expensive speed reading products. Most of these offer similar advice and exercises, or methods that have not been proven effective by research.

• Reading materials
• Earplugs (if you're in a noisy environment)
• Timer
• Index cards