We know the fact that reading is the key to success. Reading opens up people’s minds to different ideas, different outlooks, different literary points, etc. Every successful person reads at least 20 books per year.
How much time do they take in reading? Not much. When the person reads regularly, their reading speed increases eventually with the practice. But what if we can do a fast reading using some techniques and a little exercise every day.
WHAT’S IN IT
8 POWERFUL TECHNIQUES OF FAST READING
1. Determine Your Baseline.
Try to get an idea about the number of common words a page contains. Suppose that we have ten words in a sentence, and one page contains an average of 30 sentences. 30×10= 300 words per page.
Now find your average reading speed. Put a timer of 1 min and start reading usually and read for comprehension. After reading for 1 minute, count the common words you read, to understand your current words-per-minute (wpm) rate.
2.Tracker and Pacer Technique.
This technique can minimize regression, back-skipping, fixing durations. You already know what a tracker is. A tracker can be an object which simply tracks any location or anything.
Similarly, in reading too, the tracker is all about the practice of eyes in fast reading and maintaining focus and accuracy.
When you were little, you remember how your teachers taught you to read every word to maintain your focus on each term by your index finger. Similarly, To practice this technique, we can use any pen or your index finger. So, it is the same thing.
You have to take a pen and start underlining each line, keeping your eyes focused on the tip of the pen. In the same vein, This will work as a pacer too, as it helps in maintaining consistent speed at a particular time.
Meanwhile, underlining each sentence and focus on each sentence for not more than a second or two. DON’T CARE ABOUT THE COMPREHENSION FOR NOW.
Repeat the technique while increasing the tracker’s speed and take 1⁄2 second per line for 2 minutes, for instance. And repeat the process to 1/3 second per line for 2 minutes. This practice will increase your speed adaptations in your body.
3. Read Selectively
According to various studies, it is found that every student is taught to read each word thoroughly. Not every word holds importance in a line. Try skipping the less important terms to improve your speed.
To do a fast reading, just glance through those words and skip them, and so it will take less time to complete one sentence subsequently.
There are some sections too which don’t hold mere importance in an article. Skip those sections. It will help you to digest only the main points and will take less time to read.
4. Try Practicing Peripheral Vision
Peripheral vision is a technique in which focusing on one point while having the view of side words too happens.
For this practice, take a worksheet and write some words in the centre of the page vertically, from top to bottom. Now try reading these words without the horizontal movement of the eye.
Now try this by writing two words in each line at the centre and vertically downwards. In this practice, focus on the centre of two words And try reading both words at a time without having horizontal eye movement.
Continue practising this by increasing the number of words in a line. Therefore in this way, you will eventually learn to read ten words at a time. It will help you improve fast reading.
5. Use a Timer
While practicing, test yourself, and record your reading time. As a result, this will help you keep your record of practice and improve your speed reading. Try setting a timer to complete your tasks. Keep doing this and try to beat your previous word count.
6. Read More and More
You know the saying ‘practice makes perfect is pretty accurate. Every professional was once a beginner, for instance. They practice daily, and this makes them better at doing things. Whether they are painters, authors, dancers, musicians, etc., the reader should be practisingafterwards
The more you read, the better you will become. The better you will become, the more you’ll be good at fast reading.
7. Work on Your Vocabulary
While reading, there may be many difficult words you’ll come across. What will you do? Skip it? Or you will find it means first? Whatever you’ll choose, it will slow your time significantly. On the other side, you may not understand what the line is telling if you don’t know this particular but essential word.
For any reader, vocabulary is critical to understand what the sentence wants to tell. Try to learn 5-10 words a day. It will enhance your fast reading. The more words you know, the more will be your speed reading.
8. Focus and Stop Daydreaming.
For effective reading, you need to be focused every time you read. You can’t just read and daydream altogether.
You will never understand the concepts or the meaning of the article if you are not focused. Increase your concentration by trying to read using your finger as a pointer. It is the most crucial step for fast reading.
8 STRATEGIES OF EFFECTIVE READING
Reading without understanding is useless. If you won’t remember and absorb the useful information, it’s not worth it.
Let us know some tips on how to absorb more and more information through reading.
When you practice it, it will eventually become your habit and will help you increase your productivity and comprehension.
1.Preview the Text
You ever notice, before releasing a movie, the directors release a trailer to the audience. It helps the audience to take the idea of what this movie will be about. It helps them understand the concept of the film.
Similarly, previewing a text before reading works. It helps you understand what the concept is all about, enhancing your understanding capacity.
For previewing a text, scan it from starting to end, read it’s headings, subheadings, anything written in bold or highlighted font, bullet points, etc.
It will help you picture the concept of the text. Examine all the images, graphs to understand the idea the author wants to give here.
2. Plan
Before starting to read any text, strategically approach the book with perfect planning. It will help you in digesting the material quickly. Write down some questions about the article so that you can evaluate yourself after reading the text. Determine the author’s goal or message he wants to convey through the document or article. This will take time initially, but with practice, it will become your daily habit.
3. Be Focused
Read something effectively, and our mind needs to be focused on the context. Try to minimize the external noises, distractions, and choose a peaceful environment for your reading.
4. Use Highlighters
Try highlighting the essential points. This will help you save time the next time you want to read that text. You can only read those crucial points repeatedly to gain more information and absorb these points quickly.
5. Note the Main Points.
The highlighted points can be jotted down in a notebook or diary. This will help you make essential notes and remember what you have read. This step initially takes time, but with practice, eventually, it will be considered in your reading time.
6. Summarizing.
After you have done reading, try to write a summary of the text you read. This will help you know how much you understood from the book. Therefore, this step is a crucial step to learn and digest what you read the whole time.
On the other hand, by these techniques, you will become productive. As a result, these methods help to synthesize the information, solidify the material you read, and recall your content afterward.
However, You can also try brain mapping the full information if you are a visual learner or even tell someone about what you read. It will help enhance your learning effectively.
CONCLUSION
These are the ways through which you can enhance your fast reading and absorb more and more information effectively. These effective strategies help a lot.
Everything needs practice. During the reading, you need to practice various techniques such as peripheral vision technique, fast browsing, tracker and pacer technique, selective reading, etc. You should be better at vocabulary too.
But Absorbing the information requires time and practice. With practice, you will subsequently learn to read quickly and note the information all together in a lesser period.
More importantly, Try using a timer for everything to make notes about what you read, try highlighting and asking questions about the text, further summarize the text in your way and memorize it all by recalling these notes repeatedly.
Also you can read our blog on How to manage time wisely – the best way to use dead time wisely