These days we are bombarded with so much reading material everyday that sometimes it becomes difficult to cope up with time. Whether we are at work or students, we often have to race against time in order to complete our assignments or tasks.
Speed reading is a vital skill in today’s world and most importantly it is an inexpensive method of learning. This particular learning method can increase your reading speed by as much as 300 percent.
On the other hand, nowadays you can also find numerous speed reading software on the market. Though such software is helpful, the only problem is that they carry a price tag. Hence, as a student it might be difficult for you to pay a hefty amount in order to acquire a software.
Nevertheless, there is no need to worry as today I am going to tell you about ways in which you can practice the art of speed reading without having to buy software.
The Benefits
Despite the fact that there are a lot of benefits of speed reading, the first and the foremost advantage of this learning method is that it saves time. You will be able to retain the same amount of information that you would have retained by reading slowly. Therefore, this can be very beneficial for those people who have to read manifold documents at their work place every day.
On the contrary, students who can speed read have a competitive advantage over their peers. Studies have revealed that a person who possesses this skill can learn any other language much faster than a person who doesn’t have this skill. Recent studies about fast reading have also revealed that this particular reading technique improves memory.
Speed reading challenges the human brain to perform better and faster. As you learn to speed read, your brain will be trained to absorb information much quicker than it is used to. Hence, this will improve your memory and the functionality of your brain will also enhance. There are many other benefits of quick reading which include improved problem solving skills, improved self confidence, better focus etc.
Practice Speed Reading with these Steps
Get rid of distractions: You need to get rid of distractions if you want to become good at reading. Cell phone, TV, internet, radio etc can distract you easily while reading and cause hindrance in your reading speed. Even if you are good at reading, you can become a pro by getting rid of these distractions.
Read in blocks: Instead of reading the document word-by-word, you should try to divide the text into reading blocks and then read block-by-block. In simple words, a block is basically a unit of words that you can read easily read in one go.
Avoid skip backs: Most people have a habit of skipping back to a sentence or paragraph that they just read in order to make sure that they completely understood the meaning. This thing is so common that most of us do it without even noticing.
Hence, in order to avoid skip backs you can either use a pointer to underline the text while reading it or cover it with a blank paper as you move forward. Avoiding skip backs will increase your reading speed significantly.
Subvocalization: Sub-vocalization is basically the habit of murmuring each word in the mind once you have read it. This is a habit that we develop since childhood and can be challenging to break. Sub-vocalization can reduce your reading speed considerably hence you need to eradicate this habit.
Time yourself: You can improve your reading speed by timing yourself. By timing yourself you will not only try to improve your reading speed but you will also stay motivated to perform better. Moreover, it will also be easier to keep track of your performance.
Summary
Speed reading is all about practice. The more you practice this learning method the better you will become at it. There are manifold speed reading techniques that can help you in improving your reading speed. However, the most important thing is that you should learn to identify the most important points in the reading material and develop a wider eye span.