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The rate of consumption of information is increasing, and the ability to read quickly becomes a necessary skill. Peter Kamp, author of Speed Reading. How to memorize more by reading 8 times faster ”, which was recently published by the publishing house“ Mann, Ivanov and Ferber ”, explains how to look at the text correctly, turn pages faster and remember what you read better. The Theories and Practices publishes several excerpts.
How your eyes work when you read
Before you can read with your hand, you must understand why you read slowly. And the first thing you should know is how your eyes work while reading. They continuously make small, sharp movements. In order to see something, it is necessary to stop them and fix them on the object for a short moment in order to obtain a visual impression. It's like taking photographs.
Peter Kamp, “Speed Reading. How to memorize b ...
We've all been taught to read by words, which implies a speed of about 240 words per minute, since it takes your eyes a quarter of a second to focus on an object. A simple calculation shows that we read about four words per second, which is 240 per minute.
Going back significantly slows down the reading speed. It is very likely that you read less than 240 words per minute. We usually make a lot of digressions, going back and re-running some points, which happens 10-11 times for every 100 words of text. This means that the average reading speed is around 215 words per minute.
There are two types of going back: conscious and unconscious. Sometimes it may seem to you that you did not quite understand the text, so you decide to go back and re-read it. This is a conscious return, there is nothing particularly bad about it. This may not be the most effective method for improving reading comprehension, but it is definitely one of the options. The unconscious return is due to the fact that when you learned to read, you developed bad habits. It occurs when the eyes unconsciously wander through the text and come back. Understanding how to break this habit is the first step to mastering speed reading.
Exercise 1
Materials: any simple book; a device for controlling time (for example, a wrist watch or a clock in a computer).
Goal: Learn to read faster by breaking the habit of going backwards.
Open the book anywhere you want to start and read with your hand as much as you can in 3 minutes. Mark 1 where you left off.
Go back to the beginning and read the same, take 3 minutes again. Try to speed up and move beyond the set number 1. If you succeed, make a new mark - 2.
Go back to the beginning and read the text again in 3 minutes, doing it a little faster. You are already familiar with this passage, so you should be able to increase the speed. After 3 minutes have elapsed, mark 3 if you have made further progress than before.
Reread the passage again, trying to read as much of the text as possible in 3 minutes. Make a new mark 4 if you were able to go even further.
Finally, read a new passage from the book (start at # 4 if you like) for 3 minutes. Remember to use your hand at all times. When you finish reading, make a new mark 5.
Calculate the reading speed of the last passage of text between marks 4 and 5. To do this, follow these steps:
a) find the average number of words per line;
b) count the total number of lines read;
c) multiply a) by b) to find the total number of words read;
d) divide c) by 3 to get the number of words per minute.
After calculating your reading speed, write it down in the progress report.
How to use your hand to read
To use your hand to increase your reading speed, first extend your index finger. Then, run your fingertip along each line of the text you read below the word line. When your finger reaches the end of the line, lift it about an inch, quickly move to the next line, and start the process over. While this may seem a little awkward at first, you will quickly get used to it. And almost as soon as you start using your hand while reading, your speed will begin to increase. This is due to the fact that in this way you exclude an unconscious return. In fact, this alone helps to increase the speed by an average of 10-20%. But it takes practice to achieve this.
Exercise 2
Materials: any book.
Purpose: to learn how to make the first studied hand movement smoothly and automatically.
Practice making a hand movement (“underlining” with your index finger) for a few minutes on the conventional, meaningless text at the end of this exercise.
With your index finger extended, move your hand under each line for one second. Finishing the "reading" of each line, say aloud: "One".
Lift your finger at the end of each line and quickly move it to the next, counting out loud each time.
When you have finished “reading” this passage, start over and continue this way until your movements are smooth and automatic, without jerking. You don't have to think about what you are doing, just look at these meaningless words.
Training on a meaningless passage of conditional text
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Three Stages of Mentally Pronouncing Words
Mental utterance of words goes through several stages in its development. Young readers usually do lip-sync at first without making any audible sounds. It's easy to control. If you have such a habit, then until you get rid of it, either grip a pencil in your teeth when you read, or learn to make a hissing whistling sound, similar to the sound of a boiling kettle. This usually takes no more than a few days.
At the next stage, the readers no longer move their lips, but their larynx (in men - the Adam's apple), moves in the same way as during a conversation. You can also break this habit with self-control, and it's really not a big deal. The last stage is the mental pronunciation of words to oneself, without any accompanying physiological manifestations. Regardless of whether you are aware of this or not, most likely you are doing it.
Exercise # 3
Materials: any simple book of your choice; time control device.
Goal: learn to see more than one word at a time.
Read new material for 3 minutes using your hand. Mark where you left off. Calculate your reading speed if desired.
Read the same passage again in 3 minutes. If you finish before the time runs out, go back to the beginning and start over reading the passage.
Practice reading the same passage in 2 minutes. You must definitely get to the mark you made. You may not be able to read every word at this stage, but that doesn't matter. Just slide your finger over the text fast enough to go through the text before 2 minutes have elapsed and let your eyes follow your hand.
Practice reading the same passage in 1 minute. Remember to reach the end of the passage within the allotted time.
Read a new passage in 3 minutes, starting at the end of the text you used to practice. Mark where you left off and calculate the speed as follows:
a) find the average number of words in one line;
b) count the total number of lines read;
c) multiply a) by b) to get the number of words read per minute (since you read for 1 minute, there is no need to divide the result
c) for the number of minutes).
After calculating your reading speed, write it down in the progress report.
Icons:
1) Vicons Design,
2) Cengiz SARI,
3) Takao Umehara - from the Noun Project.
How your eyes work when you read
Before you can read with your hand, you must understand why you read slowly. And the first thing you should know is how your eyes work while reading. They continuously make small, sharp movements. In order to see something, it is necessary to stop them and fix them on the object for a short moment in order to obtain a visual impression. It's like taking photographs.
Peter Kamp, “Speed Reading. How to memorize b ...
We've all been taught to read by words, which implies a speed of about 240 words per minute, since it takes your eyes a quarter of a second to focus on an object. A simple calculation shows that we read about four words per second, which is 240 per minute.
Going back significantly slows down the reading speed. It is very likely that you read less than 240 words per minute. We usually make a lot of digressions, going back and re-running some points, which happens 10-11 times for every 100 words of text. This means that the average reading speed is around 215 words per minute.
There are two types of going back: conscious and unconscious. Sometimes it may seem to you that you did not quite understand the text, so you decide to go back and re-read it. This is a conscious return, there is nothing particularly bad about it. This may not be the most effective method for improving reading comprehension, but it is definitely one of the options. The unconscious return is due to the fact that when you learned to read, you developed bad habits. It occurs when the eyes unconsciously wander through the text and come back. Understanding how to break this habit is the first step to mastering speed reading.
Exercise 1
Materials: any simple book; a device for controlling time (for example, a wrist watch or a clock in a computer).
Goal: Learn to read faster by breaking the habit of going backwards.
Open the book anywhere you want to start and read with your hand as much as you can in 3 minutes. Mark 1 where you left off.
Go back to the beginning and read the same, take 3 minutes again. Try to speed up and move beyond the set number 1. If you succeed, make a new mark - 2.
Go back to the beginning and read the text again in 3 minutes, doing it a little faster. You are already familiar with this passage, so you should be able to increase the speed. After 3 minutes have elapsed, mark 3 if you have made further progress than before.
Reread the passage again, trying to read as much of the text as possible in 3 minutes. Make a new mark 4 if you were able to go even further.
Finally, read a new passage from the book (start at # 4 if you like) for 3 minutes. Remember to use your hand at all times. When you finish reading, make a new mark 5.
Calculate the reading speed of the last passage of text between marks 4 and 5. To do this, follow these steps:
a) find the average number of words per line;
b) count the total number of lines read;
c) multiply a) by b) to find the total number of words read;
d) divide c) by 3 to get the number of words per minute.
After calculating your reading speed, write it down in the progress report.
How to use your hand to read
To use your hand to increase your reading speed, first extend your index finger. Then, run your fingertip along each line of the text you read below the word line. When your finger reaches the end of the line, lift it about an inch, quickly move to the next line, and start the process over. While this may seem a little awkward at first, you will quickly get used to it. And almost as soon as you start using your hand while reading, your speed will begin to increase. This is due to the fact that in this way you exclude an unconscious return. In fact, this alone helps to increase the speed by an average of 10-20%. But it takes practice to achieve this.
Exercise 2
Materials: any book.
Purpose: to learn how to make the first studied hand movement smoothly and automatically.
Practice making a hand movement (“underlining” with your index finger) for a few minutes on the conventional, meaningless text at the end of this exercise.
With your index finger extended, move your hand under each line for one second. Finishing the "reading" of each line, say aloud: "One".
Lift your finger at the end of each line and quickly move it to the next, counting out loud each time.
When you have finished “reading” this passage, start over and continue this way until your movements are smooth and automatic, without jerking. You don't have to think about what you are doing, just look at these meaningless words.
Training on a meaningless passage of conditional text
XXXXXX XXX XXXXX XXXX XXXXX XXX XXXX XXX XXXXXX BB BBBB VVVVVV BBB BBBB BBB VVVVVV BBBB VVVVVV BBB XXXXXX XXX XXXXX XXXX XXXXX XXX XXXX XXX XXXXXX BB BBBB VVVVVV BBB BBBB BBB VVVVVV BBBB VVVVVV BBB XXXXXX XXX XXXXX XXXX XXXXX XXX XXXX XXX XXXXXX BB BBBB VVVVVV BBBB BBB BBB BBB VVVVVV BBBB VVVVVV XXXXXX XXXXXX XXXX XXXXX XXX XXX XXX XXXX XXXXX BB VVVVVV BBBB BBBB BBB BBB BBB VVVVVV BBBB VVVVVV XXXXXX XXXXXX XXXX XXXXX XXX XXX XXX XXXX XXXXX BB VVVVVV BBBB BBBB BBB BBB BBB VVVVVV BBBB VVVVVV
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Three Stages of Mentally Pronouncing Words
Mental utterance of words goes through several stages in its development. Young readers usually do lip-sync at first without making any audible sounds. It's easy to control. If you have such a habit, then until you get rid of it, either grip a pencil in your teeth when you read, or learn to make a hissing whistling sound, similar to the sound of a boiling kettle. This usually takes no more than a few days.
At the next stage, the readers no longer move their lips, but their larynx (in men - the Adam's apple), moves in the same way as during a conversation. You can also break this habit with self-control, and it's really not a big deal. The last stage is the mental pronunciation of words to oneself, without any accompanying physiological manifestations. Regardless of whether you are aware of this or not, most likely you are doing it.
Exercise # 3
Materials: any simple book of your choice; time control device.
Goal: learn to see more than one word at a time.
Read new material for 3 minutes using your hand. Mark where you left off. Calculate your reading speed if desired.
Read the same passage again in 3 minutes. If you finish before the time runs out, go back to the beginning and start over reading the passage.
Practice reading the same passage in 2 minutes. You must definitely get to the mark you made. You may not be able to read every word at this stage, but that doesn't matter. Just slide your finger over the text fast enough to go through the text before 2 minutes have elapsed and let your eyes follow your hand.
Practice reading the same passage in 1 minute. Remember to reach the end of the passage within the allotted time.
Read a new passage in 3 minutes, starting at the end of the text you used to practice. Mark where you left off and calculate the speed as follows:
a) find the average number of words in one line;
b) count the total number of lines read;
c) multiply a) by b) to get the number of words read per minute (since you read for 1 minute, there is no need to divide the result
c) for the number of minutes).
After calculating your reading speed, write it down in the progress report.
Icons:
1) Vicons Design,
2) Cengiz SARI,
3) Takao Umehara - from the Noun Project.
