Speed Reading

Blazer

I am about to be a freshman in college and I am looking to increase my reading speed so I can spend less time studying and more time doing other stuff. Currently i read at about 330 words per minute, which i guess is a little above average. I was looking at a bunch of programs to help improve reading speed and was wondering if any of you guys had used some before. If you do have experience or knowledge about this i would greatly appreciate any help in what to do or which program to use to increase my reading speed.
 
I've never used any of those programs mainly because I don't need to. I read freakishly fast naturally. You just need to read a lot and "practice".
 
Don't try to speed read. You miss good information especially when you try to study. Personally, throughout high school, I could only read like 200 words per minute, but I always kept my perfect gpa etc etc etc. College is no different in the sense of trying to rush. You have much fewer classes so don't sweat it.
 
You can read at 1000 words per second for all it matters, but if you can't remember any of it what was the point?
B
 
You have so much time in college its kinda unbelievable. Just study like 1-3 hours a night and that should give you like 3-4 personal hours. Cutting corners really doesn't payoff. Just read at a rate you normally would and you'll be fine. I don't think I knew anyone who had trouble finishing freshman assignments as long as they put in the time to do them.
 
I don't read as fast as some of my friends, and I tend to remember more information than them, hence getting better grades.
Speed readers miss lots of information.
Read at a speed that's comfortable with you.
 
Speed reading isn't all it's cracked up to be. You can make yourself read faster up to a certain point; apparently most people sound out words in their head when they are reading (I never did this...), and if you can get past that your reading speed goes up a lot. But past the little things like that, a lot of reading fast is automatically skipping over sections that seem unimportant for some reason. Good way to see if you do this automatically: read a Robert Jordan book (I love the guy, but still...).

That can bite you in the ass if you aren't careful or practiced.
 
I am a skeptic. My grandfather claims to be a speed reader. He says that he just flips through the pages (1 second per page) and then goes back to read the table of contents and he just knows everything in the book.

I really can't believe this though. He won't go into any more detail than that and treats it like some sort of forbidden magic that is too secret to reveal. I wouldn't say it to his face, but I think he is full of bullshit.

Like many others on this thread, I would suggest you try to read at a pace that allows you to retain the information, or you might as well not study at all.
 
Your grandfather is full of shit. At best that's what I do taken to the absolute extreme. At worst he's a straight-up liar.
 
I use to be able to speed read back in high school. From novels to exams, I'd be skimming over text in no time.

However, I have slowed down somewhat here in college, as I did notice I was beginning to skip details that would appear on exams!
 
Surgo said:
Your grandfather is full of shit. At best that's what I do taken to the absolute extreme. At worst he's a straight-up liar.
Click to expand...

I don't know; my friend's father can do that [and prove it].

I can do something similar; if I flick through something I find interesting [and I read at 1300 words per minute] I can recall the thread of it with some paragraphs word for word.
 
I'm generally too busy reading to worry about how fast I happen to be doing it. My speed is directly related to how interested I am in what I'm reading.
 
akuchi said:
I can do something similar; if I flick through something I find interesting [and I read at 1300 words per minute I can recall the thread of it with some paragraphs word for word.
Click to expand...

1300 words per minute = 21,67 words per second. In a normal book that would be 2-3 lines per second. We had a reading-test in our class, and the average person in my class read something like 200-300 words per minute. So if you really can read 1300 words per minute and remember everything, that's quite impressive...
 
I believe it was something like 80% comprehension.. had some stupid test done by some stupid ed psych when my high school paid for a diagnosis of ADHD [basically, they couldn't figure that I was just lazy and instead thought I must have some serious learning difficulty, because I wasn't doing my homework]. Reading is the only thing I do really well!
 
I tried reading without sounding out words, it just doesnt work for me. I kinda dont know how to read words without sounding them in my mind. I dunno if you know what I mean, but I tried it a lot of times and just cant work out how to go about doing it.

Have a nice day.
 
Hipmonlee said:
I tried reading without sounding out words, it just doesnt work for me. I kinda dont know how to read words without sounding them in my mind. I dunno if you know what I mean, but I tried it a lot of times and just cant work out how to go about doing it.

Have a nice day.
Click to expand...

I know what you're saying. I also find that when I read I "speak" the words in my head. I think the main thing is to concentrate when you're reading, ratjher then just letting the words wash over your head.
 
Just study as you're supposed to. Dedicate three hours or so, and then do everything else you want to do. If you read 1300 words per minute and understand the whole text then fine. Otherwise, read at your own rythm and adjust the rest of your life around it.
 
Honestly, If the other stuff you want to do is related to pokemon, Or anything else for that matter, It can wait. You should read at an easy pace, And only do the stuff you want to, When you're done. It's no use studying if you can't understand, In that case... Don't study.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top