Learning Skills
How do I improve my reading speed?
Most students feel that they read too slowly. They probably do. Knowing your purpose and using skimming and scanning techniques will help. However, if you want to improve your reading speed, try the following simple strategies.
- Take a page from your textbook or an article you have to read.
- Find a clock or a watch that shows seconds and put it next to you.
- Read a page from your book or article at your normal speed, and time yourself. Note down the time it took you to read a reasonably long page (around 500 words is a good length).
- After you have read the passage, stop and summarise the main ideas. 2-3 are enough at this point.
- Now go to the next page and tell yourself you will read a text of similar length in 2 minutes or less. To do this:
- don't vocalise; that means don't say the words aloud.
- don't subvocalise; that means if you put your finger on your throat, you should not feel any vibrations.
- don't use a pen, finger, or ruler to point at the words you are reading- no hands!!
- don't worry about words you don't understand - keep reading!
- don't worry about not 'getting' everything - keep reading!
- When you have finished reading, note your time and write it down.
- Summarise the most important main ideas (2-3 are fine at this point).
- If you can do this, excellent; if you can't, slow down a bit, but still try to read as fast as possible.
- Repeat this exercise as often as possible. You will find your reading speed and comprehension will improve steadily.
- Don't expect miracles the first time; but do expect to do better each time you do the exercise!