How can I improve reading speed and comprehension?

Question

How can I improve my reading ability? I want to increase my reading speed and comprehension.

Do you have experience in increasing your reading. What did work for you? Which approaches failed?

Answer 1

Something I have been taught while studying English and then preparing for tests/exams like IELTS which may be of help here.

• (this applies to reading which requires level of attention/thinking for comprehension above the average newspaper in terms of content and length)
• Do not try to comprehend the whole piece in one reading pass (i.e. read once, understand all and know all details): be prepared to read multiple times (but in different ways - see below)
• Begin with scanning the piece by quickly going through it, looking for headings, figures and emphasized parts to grasp the general idea of what the piece is about.
• Next, skim-read by reading quickly through the text but without focusing on every word. Almost read every other line and not every line. At this point you may want to have a pencil/highlighter handy to mark the bits that appear to be of 1) importance, 2) that you struggle to comprehend at this stage. You can point greater attention to these in the next step.
• Now read "properly" and carefully. At this point you will find that you are reading a lot quicker while paying full attention to detail comparing to if you were reading carefully without the first two steps. Slow down in areas which ou highlighted in the previous step to make sure you understand them now. Again, highlight the key ideas now that you understand the whole piece so you can easily refer to them after reading.

From the first look this process may appear to be longer and more convoluted comparing to just jumping right in guns blazing and trying to grasp everything the first time you read the piece. It is not so especially once you get used to this method and get better and scanning and skimming.

This works great with non-fictional, and especially technical or academic reading. From personal experience I can tell you that using these techniques I can read academic journal articles substantially quicker than my fellow post graduate and research university students who read in the "usual" way. This greatly helps when you have limited amount of time to read as well.

Answer 2

I'm sure others will post fancier responses here, but I really think this one is pretty simple.

Read more.

I have always been a voracious reader and read quite fast (at least material that doesn't require too much thought to digest -- the slower stuff takes longer because you actually have to think about it). The other people I know who read a lot read faster, and the ones who read less read slower.

In other words, it's one of those practice-makes-perfect sort of deals. Reading more will help your writing, too.

Answer 3

I learned speed reading techniques at a very young age (honestly believe that children should be taught to speed read in elementary school, but I digress), and I think it's helped me considerably, since I can cover a huge amount of material very quickly, and retain a high percentage of it.

http://www.evelynwood.com.au is one widely recommended speedreading course, with the book "Remember everything you read" being based on this method. These's also a few free courses online but I don't have personal experience with them - I learned from this book and a college speedreading textbook that I forget the name of.

Regardless of which course you use, the three biggest tips I know are:

• Break the habit of vocalization. Voicing out the words inherently limits the speed at which you can read - while that's necessary for a child when first learning to read, and ok to do when reading for pleasure, it's also a crutch, and most people never get the chance to realize it's not necessary. My understanding at least is that this is easier said than done - you may need to trick yourself by singing, humming, or engaging in conversation while you read.

• Scan the pages in a sweeping motion You are trying to take on entire sentences, paragraphs, and even pages at once, not a letter or word at a time. This is easier to build up than breaking the habit of voicing out what you read. Over time, you'll both build speed, and build comprehension.

• Be aware that some things in a speed reading course are only there to build up your speed and aren't good habits otherwise. As an example, many courses will advise you not to reread or review as you read. This is a good thing when you are trying to build your speeds up because it stops you from second guessing yourself, but a bad thing when trying to apply speed reading in practice when comprehension is critical. You need to adapt the techniques to your own needs after you learn them, rather than treat them as gospel.

Answer 4

As well as reading whenever possible (ie over breakfast, at lunchtime, instead of watching the TV), and reading everything (books, newspapers, technical papers etc) I would suggest using something like Rocket Reader

I haven't used it myself but a couple of my friends who were slow readers used it to improve to a reasonable speed level)

Answer 5

Short term benefits can come from applying some of the recommendations in "how to read a book", which focuses on going through the material repeatedly, from high level to low level. You can also ask specific questions raised by the first impressions.

If you are willing to invest more time, you can have a look at speed reading techniques combined with mind maps. Tony Buzan has written on these topics.

[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/How_to_Read_a_Book

Answer 6

I've never really got into speed reading, or any learn to read fast guides, so I can't really comment on that part.

But at least from my experience, if you are reading technical or any skill oriented book, having some knowledge in the area will improve your reading speed drastically.

I've been programming for about 10 years now, and every time I read a new book, I can read it A LOT faster than my friends who aren't as experienced in the field, because I don't have to spend that much time thinking about the content.

Answer 7

It depends on what you are reading. If it is lighter matter, you can look at speedreading techniques/software (search on google). It helps your eyes jump words so you have are physically reading faster.

For technical reading, the limit tends to be comprehension speed. In which case, outlining, skimming and going back can help you retain more. Not so much faster, but you get more out of it. Of course, skimming is faster. Just less useful.

Answer 8

My mother tongue is not English. So i 'learned' to read English fast.

There is one book which guides you all the way how to increase your reading speed.

http://www.amazon.com/Read-Better-Faster-Norman-Lewis/dp/0690015283

Since my speed was not that great in the beginning i was able to increase my reading speed at least twice. You'll find all the good points mentioned in the answers (and those which will be mentioned in subsequent posts) in that book. It works.

Answer 9

Speed is inverse to comprehension - at first.

I tested highest in my class for reading comprehension in 8th grade, yet I read at a snail's pace. Later on, in college, I learned how to speed-read; this technique takes advantage of consistent types of fonts, but it is mainly useful for fonts with serifs and in narrow columns.

The idea behind speed-reading is that words are a vocal medium when we're young. Speech has to take time. Sight goes nearly the speed of light, so it takes a lot less time. When you see a picture, you immediately understand what it means (a lot of the time). Just take the ability to recognize pictures a step further and apply it to whole words (or paragraphs).

Comprehension is different. It's something you only gain by reasoning about the text for a while. While you're reading, take a few minutes out when the text sparks an idea; let your mind go on a tangent. Then return to the text with your (much more personal) understanding and feel the plot move on. Your understanding of fictional text (though perhaps not your appreciation) will transfer fairly well to non-fictional text.

The understanding of specific words is not quite the same as reading comprehension.

Answer 10

If you are looking for online resources, check out http://www.spreeder.com/

This site allows you to paste in a section of text that you want to read and then it displays the words from that text at a fast pace that you can customize as you get faster. Their default text explains how the process works.

Hope this helps!