Improve Your Reading Speed

Image by pedrosimoes7 via Flickr

I do a lot of reading.  I read books, magazines, articles on the Internet, etc.  I am always looking for ways to improve my reading speed.  I was doing research on how to improve your reading speed since I read a lot.  I wanted to share these tips with you in case you read a lot of articles (i.e. articles from Triond writers a little plug to Triond) or a lot of books.  I think improving your reading speed will help you get through long books, articles, etc.  It can also help your study skills if you’re a student who has to read a lot of passages.

These are the things that I learned about how to improve your reading speed:

• A person with good reading skills can read 250 –350 words per minute.  You can increase this to double that amount while maintaining good comprehension.
• The first thing you should do is figure out how fast you read.  Pick a passage of text (from a book or a magazine).  Start your timer/stopwatch and read the text normally.  Try to comprehend what you read. When you finish reading, stop the time.  Next count the words that you read.  Divide the number of words by the number of seconds it took you to read it.  If it took you 60 seconds to read the passage, then you would divide the words by 50 seconds.  Multiply your rate by 60.  The rate would be the answer you get when you divide the words by seconds.  This is the formula (Words/Seconds = Rate).  Here’s an example: If you read 300 words in 60 seconds, your rate would be 5 words per second.  Then multiply 5 times 60 and this is how fast you read.  The answer would be 300 words per minute.
• To improve your reading speed, you must learn to scan groups of words.  Try to ignore unnecessary words such as the articles (the, a, and an), “to”, “of”, etc.  Basically, you should cut out the two-letter words that don’t add anything to the text.  It’s easy for me to overlook these words because they are little.
• Don’t read text out loud.  You shouldn’t even move your lips while reading because you are slowing yourself down.  Also, you should avoid reading the words in your head.  This one is extremely hard for me.  I read in my head all of the time.  Reading in your head or aloud will cause you to read the way you talk.  Unless you are a speed talker, this will slow you down.  Since most people speak slower than they read, you will not improve your reading speed.
• Use your index finger or a pencil to run along the bottom o the line you’re reading.  It will improve your reading speed.  I just started this tip and it makes it easier to comprehend what I am reading.  It keeps me focused on the line I am reading.
• Don’t keep reading the same text.  Reading text over and over again makes you take longer to get through it.  You also may not comprehend what you read any better by reading it over again.  It is best to work on paying closer attention the first time around.  This is where using your index finger or a pencil to read will help you.

Improving your reading speed will take time.  You have to practice to speed your reading.  You can try to practice by reading Triond, (there’s that plug again), magazines, or newspapers because they are short.  When you feel that you have improved your reading speed, practice with books.  You should note that for these tips to be effective, you have to be a good reader.  These tips may not work if you’re a poor reader.  It is also important to add that you shouldn’t speed through important material.  You should read anything that requires your signature, legal documents, contracts, etc. very carefully.  In a future article, I will give you different ways to read faster.  They will be different tips that you can use to help improve your speed.