Speedreading - gaining knowledge faster than ever before!

"Not all readers are leaders, but all leaders read" - Harry S. Truman

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Try to avoid subvocalisation

Subvocalisation - pronouncing the text you read with your inner voice - is the most common mistake when reading. There is nothing wrong about it, not if you want to read in normal pace. But when it comes to speedreading, this slows you down due to the fact that the speaking rate can hardly exceed 200 words per minute.

There are several techniques that can help you break this habit:

  • Count to ten when you read.
  • Hum during reading
  • Listen to music - preferably baroque
  • Chew a gum
  • More of them combined
  • Use a visual pacer

    Human eyes are programmed to follow a movement, not to create it. So when you use a visual pacer, e.g. finger, pen, pencil, chopstick, ... you are creating a movement which is easier for you eyes to follow. That means you can read faster. What is more, it helps you concentrate on what you are reading, so your eyes do not wander confusedly along the page. It also prevents regression - rereading what you just read.

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    Decrease the number of fixations per line

    When you fixate your eyes on every other word in the line, your read slowly. The reason is simple: every fixation lasts on average 220 ms and when you fixate your eyes too often, you waste time.

    Try to divide the page (or line) into three parts and try to fixate your eyes just once at every of the three parts - presumably on the middle word - and let your spacial vision do the work for you. Counting to three from the beginning of the line to the end may help you with that. It will be difficult in the beginning but it is worth the strain.

    Practice makes perfect

    Following exercise will help you get used to reading very (for you now maybe unimaginably) fast.

    Grab a pen (or anything similar) and use it to track at a pace at consistent speed of one line per second. Yes, I am serious. Begin 2-3 words from the first word of each line and end 2-3 words from the last one. Let your spatial vision help you. Read at last one full page like this.

    Then do the same at speet of 1/2 second per line - not less! - and repeat it for 3 minutes (do not daydream while doing this, concentrate on the text). Probably you will comprehend nothing, but that is to be expected. Try to read the words above the pen as you move it, but you do not need to understand what you read. Maintain speed and technique - you are conditioning your perceptual reflexes.

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    Keep in mind that when used for studying it is better to speedread one text 3 times rather than three different texts, in the time that would normally take you to read one.





    Viviána Hamariková ©2021