Monday, August 24, 2009

Beginners Guide To Speed Reading

By Darrel Lennings

Most people, particularly college students can read about 300 words a minute. Now a speed reader on the other hand, can read 1,000 words a minute or more. This can be a very effective skill to acquire especially for a college student that has a handful of courses they are trying to complete.

The properly trained speed reader can pick up a lengthy document or a thick stack of papers and use their skill to get at the meat of the subject by skimming for the most important details and information. Without developing the ability to speed read, this time-saving technique is merely flipping through pages fast.

When it comes to speed reading, the object is to understand what you are reading at an excelled rate. This is the main concern when it comes to becoming a successful speed reader.

It takes lots of practice, but don't be intimidated by the idea of a challenge. Think of it as the next, natural step to your reading development. Once you've mastered it, its a skill that will stick with you for the rest of your life.

Before you knew ow to read you had to learn the alphabet, the you started with letter by letter reading sounding out each letter to pronounce the word. Eventually you got better and you just knew what the word was by looking at it. The same thing applies when it comes to speed reading.

You will be putting in lots of practice analyzing common words and common sentence structure. The more you focus on this the more your brain gets used to seeing these things. That is the difference between reading from left to right, or looking at a large block of text and understanding it.

By practicing the techniques that are involved in speed reading, you will be pushing your comprehension and understanding of text like you never thought you could. The time it takes for someone to master speed reading will vary, getting rid of bad habits that will slow you down, like pronouncing words and moving your lips while you read will speed up the process.

If you are one of those people that like to move your lips as you read, then you just slowing down the number of words you are able to read a minute. The brain is much faster than the mouth, and you should be able to take in 3 times more words than you can speak.

Having the skill to speed read can make a significant difference in your life, especially if reading is a strong component of your work. Implementing some simple techniques can get you reading faster and more efficiently in no time at all.

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