Speed reading

[WinkOsmosis]

I am a slow reader. I use to read very fast, but somehow my speed as deteriorated to 1/2 to 1/4 its former level.
I took this test and read 309wpm. Average is 200.
I took it again, reading words in groups like I used to do (I think) and got 709wpm. I'm not sure how much I actually retained though.

Anyone want to teach me how to read faster? This is really not good. I read 83 pages of LOTR last night in over 2 hours . I used to read 1 page per minute, but that was after the deterioration began! I think the slowdown is caused by chatting on AIM and IRC, where small blurbs of text are read.

 

[PlatinumGold]

well,

i scored 1476 wpm and i got 82% on their little test. props to me.

 

[WinkOsmosis]

Originally posted by: PlatinumGold
well,

i scored 1476 wpm and i got 82% on their little test. props to me.

When you read, do you hear the words in your head?

 

[PlatinumGold]

jellomancer

i took speed reading as part of my class curriculum back in 7th grade. idea is to NOT verbalize and just look at the words. basically what happens is just recall. problem is unless you verbalize (or me anyway cause i'm a verbal learner and not a visual one) you won't remember it for very long.

on the other hand, i have become very proficient at skimming and getting a good idea of what the author is trying to say.

 

"i scored 1476 wpm and i got 82% on their little test. props to me."

Waaaaaaaaah! Teach me your secret. I took my time to read the photoreading book and Evelyn's 7-day speed reading claim, but I never picked it up. I gave up.

Please teach me. I'll do the world for you if you teach me . . . of course excluding special. . . . :Q LOL! I'm messing with you. But for real, I would like to know if there's really any magic or it's a matter of practice? I also tried that silly program called RocketReader (comething like that) but it's hard to make sense of their program. I mean navigating the software. Thanks in advance for your input!

 

[WinkOsmosis]

Originally posted by: PlatinumGold
jellomancer

i took speed reading as part of my class curriculum back in 7th grade. idea is to NOT verbalize and just look at the words. basically what happens is just recall. problem is unless you verbalize (or me anyway cause i'm a verbal learner and not a visual one) you won't remember it for very long.

on the other hand, i have become very proficient at skimming and getting a good idea of what the author is trying to say.

Yeah I know verbalizing is bad. That's why I was asking. I don't think I used to do that, but now I do for some reason, and that is what I think has slowed me down drastically.

 

[PlatinumGold]

Yeah I know verbalizing is bad. That's why I was asking. I don't think I used to do that, but now I do for some reason, and that is what I think has slowed me down drastically.

Problem is, the more you try NOT to verbalize the harder it gets NOT to.

the best thing is to try and change EVERYTHING.

don't look at each word individually, anymore than you look at each letter individually when you see a word.

ok, take for example the above sentence.

look at one phrase at a time. Don't look at each word individually, anymore than you look at each letter individually when you see a word.


so you start by defining about 4 points along a line of text. practice moving you eye from point1 to point2 to point3 to point4.

then you reduce it to 3 points, then 2 points finally,

you should be able to look at one line at a time. weird huh, but i think the theory is sound. to be honest i'm way out of practice on reading. at my max during the course i was reading about 8000 wpm at an 85% accuracy rate.

i should start practicing again to. actually i just ordered the Hobbit and the LOTR trilogy from amazon.com. as soon as i get it, mb i'll start practicing again.

 

[Novgrod]

I used to read everything really quickly until I realized that i wasn't retaining enough, so I went into college reading an average page in 40-60 seconds and now it's nearly double (depending on the material). I don't miss it because I feel like I'm reading much better. I'd doubt that there's a way to read much more quickly without losing quite a bit, but I could be wrong.

edit: 350 wpm, 100% comprehension

 

Aaaaaah! I guess there's really no magic to it. As usual, you have to skim through and learn to read without subvocalising. Unfortunately I wasn't privileged to be taught to read this way from early age. It's so hard to rid myself of the subvocalisation.

I guess it's all about practice. I also have this difficult time just skimming materials. Maybe that's why I have a great memory? Ironically, I'm very visual and can recollect materials I studied by visualising what I read during a test. I recall word spellings by visualising too before I resort to spelling by pronunciation. Weird. I know I have the visual skill. I guess I was hoping for a magic. But knowing there isn't a magic and I can visualise things, I'll try to apply my visualisation to reading. I guess patience is truly a virtue. Yaaay! I'm determined to beat you supersonic readers in a few months.

 

[PlatinumGold]

luvly

think about it tho. why can't you train yourself to look at phrases they way you do words??

another way to think of it is typing. when you type do you verbalize each letter you type?? i don't most of the time, only for words i'm not familiar with, right??

speed reading is the same principle.

 

[KK]

Damn I got 267 with a 73% test score. I suck at reading, I used to read books, I believe I was averaging about 20-25 pages an hour. Used to piss me off, now I just look at the pictures.

KK

 

[Vadatajs]

Originally posted by: PlatinumGold
luvly

think about it tho. why can't you train yourself to look at phrases they way you do words??

another way to think of it is typing. when you type do you verbalize each letter you type?? i don't most of the time, only for words i'm not familiar with, right??

speed reading is the same principle.

that makes perfect sense. I wish I had heard of this sooner. It wouldn't have taken me so long to read infinite jest.

btw, I was 352 wpm with 89% accuracy. At least I'm a good reader.

 

"think about it tho. why can't you train yourself to look at phrases they way you do words??"

I actually thought of it that way, Platinum Gold! I realised months ago that that was the secret to actually reading really fast. I said to myself: I remember how I started learning to read. I remember how I would pick up words one by one. And then my teacher said I needed to learn to read smoothly (i.e., with smooth transition), so I wouldn't sound like a beginner. Within days I practised and didn't read by joining words one by one anymore.

So theoretically, I do know that's part of what makes reading much faster. It's just practising that becomes so difficult and ridding oneself of a habit one has formed for a long time as an adult. It would have been better before I adapted to this traditional way of reading. I guess I have to be patient. The way those speed reading businesses make it sound, you would think you would pick it up so quickly. But the truth is practise makes better (well, perfect, they say). There's no magic. I know this truth, but I must learn to practise this truth.

Thanks for your input, Platinum Gold. Your testimony gives me the motivation to start practising again.

 

[Darein]

I got 852 wpm with a 69% comprehension, but I missed one question by accident. I get along with my normal reading, much slower just fine. I normally try to have 100% understanding, which to me is more important than reading fast.

 

[QueHuong]

Bought a speed reading book a while ago - never got around to it. But just marking this thread as reference.

 

[Steve819]

Eh. 1365wpm and 85% accuracy.

I have always been a fast reader - it is probably because of reading closed captioning from such a young age.

Steve

 

[lowtech1]

The more you read the faster it get.

It also depend on the subject as well.

I read novel on an average of 30+ pages per hour, but computer books tend to be 5-15 pages per hour.

 

[lowtech1]

Speed-reading is learning how to pick out the verbs, adjectives, and nouns. Then glue them together when you need to recall them, it will take some practice but greatly helps if you need to do a lot or reading.

One of my prof back at school can read at extreme speed (a thick text book in a day) and can recall 75% of what he has read. He taught his technique to my class, but I could never do any thing near that speed & retain 50% of the information.

 

[Ryan]

197 wpm - 100% on the quiz Slow but effective

 

[notfred]

I only did 239wpm, but I had 100% comprehension.

 

[datalink7]

300wpm

100% comprehension.

But I wasn't speed reading, which I can do. I was reading every word.

 

[PsychoAndy]

I wanna see how some of you would do on an AP language or literature multiple choice section :-D

Edit: 724, 73%. You don't really need to read the thing to figure out those questions.

 

[FelixDeCat]

175, 60

It was boring so I started thinking about music and struggled to finish. Typical.

 

[quirky]

260 100%

bleh, its all about how much info u retain anyway

 

[Storm]

400 wpm didnt feel like taking the test I thought it was really really boring...

I dont know about anyone else but for me it depends on the subject Im reading. For example I read the Thousand Orcs by RA Salvatore in 6-7 hours and it was 345 pages long so thats basically between 49-57.7 pages per hours. If you then consider The Hobbit or Lord of the Rings which has double the words per page I would prolly average 25 pph.

I guess for me its a mental thing, I have to convince myself its not boring. Maybe I'll try some of those tips you speed demons suggested.