How to Read Faster

Estinated Time: 30 minutes

Reading fast is the ability to read both quickly and accurately. This requires you to quickly process the words on the page without sacrificing accuracy or comprehension. Reading fast is an important skill that can be useful in a number of situations. For example, it can help you save time when you are reading lengthy texts or have a lot of material to cover.

Think back to your reading speed from the reading self-assessmnet in section 1.3. Imagine if you were able to increase your reading speed by 50%. If you currently read a 200 wpm, and increased your speed by 50% to 300 wpm, you would reduce the time you needed to read a 200 page book from 8 hours to around 5.5 hours! This would mean spending 2.5 fewer hours to accomplish the same task!

However, increasing reading speed by that much, without sacrificing reading comprehension, is no easy feat. In this section we will learn more about what limits our ability to read faster, and the techniques that we can utilize to do so effectively.

📺 Watch this video on the science of speed reading.

📺 Watch this video for some tips on how to read faster.

Here are some final tips to help you learn to read faster:

  • Develop your reading comprehension skills: In order to read quickly, you need to be able to understand the material you are reading. This means practicing your reading comprehension skills and learning how to identify the main ideas, key details, and relationships between ideas in a text.

  • Use skimming and scanning: Skimming is a technique that involves quickly reading the main points of a text, while scanning is a technique that involves quickly looking for specific information in a text. These techniques can help you read quickly without sacrificing accuracy or comprehension.

  • Increase your familiarity with the material: The more familiar you are with the material you are reading, the easier it will be to read quickly. Try to read widely and expose yourself to a variety of texts, so that you are more familiar with the language and content of what you are reading.

  • Practice regularly: As with any skill, the more you practice reading fast, the better you will become. Set aside time to practice reading quickly, and try to gradually increase your speed over time.

  • Take a step back: Remember two important points. 1) There is a limit to how fast you will be able to read, so give yourself a break and don't try to read at 500 wpm. 2) Always keep the purpose of your reading in mind. Sometimes slowing down your reading speed will be a more effective way to achieve your goal.

Reading Practice!

📖 Read this, then submit a 100-word summary of the reading in the padlet below. Remember to use the strategies that you have been introduced over the last two sections to read better and faster.