How do I read faster?

Question

Speed reading can be fun, but you want to try to be quick, while doing your best to comprehend what your reading, and remembering what you read.

Answer 1

Hi, great question! It depends on the scenario and interpretation of "comprehend".

The first scenario is common to college students and professionals. Often, you'll need to read long papers and texts (>20 pages or so) and be able to "comprehend" the thesis, main points, and follow the general argument without knowing every little detail. Here, you'll want to skim. This is a skill that will take time to get comfortable with (and I highly suggest you do some research on your own as there's way too much to put in one response), but the gist of it is skipping parts that you don't need to read, reading the beginning of paragraph, and only diving into the rest if you don't understand. Your goal is to grab the essence of each section, allowing you to grasp the essence of the whole work and, for all practical purposes, "comprehending" the work (meaning that if someone asked you what the piece was about, you'd be able to provide a summary of the arguments). Make sure to carefully read the very beginning and very end of the piece, though.

The second scenario is for when you really care about the details, often for a shorter passage. This is the case for high schoolers and standardized tests in general. In these cases, speed reading is what you'll want to do, and it's exactly what it sounds like. It's slower than skimming, but sometimes you need to get all the details. The single most effective way to get better at this is to just read. I'd avoid doing things like reading aloud or following along with a finger; this will only slow you down as the goal is to scan the lines with your mind, taking in chunks of words at the same time. This is possible because often, whole word groups convey a singular idea, which only takes a second to conceptualize (whereas reading every word individually takes far longer). For example, when we see the words "to whom it may concern," we kind of take in the whole phrase all at once, and our mind instantly recognizes it as the idea of "whoever". Ultimately, however, the only way to get better at this is practice. You'd be surprised at the difference in reading speed from just reading for just 30 minutes a day for just a few weeks.

In addition to just reading, I recommend checking out the website spreeder.com. It's a great tool for practicing speed reading and getting used to reading fast and/or in chunks.

Hope this helps!