Wednesday, February 8, 2012

Try These Speed Reading Techniques

No kidding at all - speed reading is something that you perhaps never thought you would be actively looking for more information on.

There are relatively few, in our minds, who will take the time to actively seek out solid info about anything. No need to question too much or feel alarmed about inexplicable desires to discover what is behind something that catches your eye.

Regardless of the motives or need for learning more, the conditions compel us to start looking for answers.

Bear in mind when you are reading about this that there is also important related information as we mentioned, above.

Reading rapidly is of more value than ever before. Through computers and electronic communication, we have essentially lessened the need for pen, paper and printed materials from our lives. The ability to read fast and well is not really an outmoded notion. The average person gets to spend more of his life reading these days, thanks to the Internet, than at any time in the past. How much more productive will your days be, if you could invest the same amount of time reading and pick up three times as much information? There are all kinds of speed reading programs out there, but almost all of them make use of at least one of the two most common speed reading styles.

Skimming is the process of scanning through text and finding the useful information. Many individuals will do this without thinking, particularly when surfing around the Web. When you're skimming, you are more prone to misunderstandings and to missing out on details that may turn out to be crucial. As you are learning how to skim, your mind gets better at quickly dismissing less important information and focusing on crucial information.

Chunking calls for reading in blocks of copy rather than words. Classic sequential styles of reading are carried out one word at a time in the order they appear on the page. Each word in the sentence must be read in order to catch the meaning of every sentence. For most people, the mind over time gets better and better at recognizing common phrases so that it does not have to read the words of the phrase in order to recognize the phrase's meaning. Chunking is merely taking the brain to a higher level so that it can do this with more uncommon phrasing.

A number of reading specialists have come up with their own methods of learning speed reading. They are generally taught through book or a computer program. While almost all of these use variations of skimming or chunking, the educational method may provide something unique. You'll generally learn speed reading faster using one of these programs than attempting to develop your own program. If you decide to obtain a speed reading guide, beware of fantastic claims. Nearly all individuals can achieve reading speeds of slightly below 10 words per second with practice. If a software program is guaranteeing you something a lot more than 1,000 words per minute, realize that these reading speeds are hype based on unique individuals. In addition, look for one which heavily concentrates on comprehension. You don't need to study to master how to turn pages or scroll before you understand copy.

If you choose self-learning, it could be harder but not impossible. It is possible to work on refining your skimming technique and improving the skill of chunking text. Practice is the key to speed reading success for the vast majority of individuals. You have to practice to improve your rate of recognition and improve your reading flow. For example, a few speed reading software tutorials have you attempt to read text as it is moving across the screen at a high speed. You might be able to copy this at home with movements of your mouse or by using a timer to turn your pages.

The bottom line for you is that you must stick to practice for you to be a speed reader. Give yourself a moment daily to refine your speed reading and you will definitely get faster after a while.

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