Students are often taught to read each section of an article or textbook,

but this is unnecessary and should fall into the category of ‘myths.’

Unless what you are reading is incredibly complex, leave out the sections that are not relevant. By choosing parts relevant and less relevant, it becomes easier to digest the critical information from the text without having to read the whole thing.

6. Summarize

Once you have finished reading the text, don’t make the mistake of thinking that your task is completed. Instead, write down a summary of what you remember; it only has to be a few sentences. Then take a look at the questions you were wanting to answer by reading the text and determine if you learned what you needed to answer those questions. If you spend a bit of time after the lecture to contemplate what you have read, the information will be stored more efficiently in your brain. This will also make it much easier to recall it at a later date.

For those who learn visually, instead of writing a summary, draw it. A mind map is a great way to summarize and helps visual learners immensely. Alternatively, if you are a verbal learner, find someone to talk to and tell them what you have learned from the text. By repeating it, you are helping it to solidify as a memory.

Practice and Timing

To perfect any new skill, you need to practice, not just occasionally but regularly, and faster reading is no different. You need to put some time aside for practicing as often as you can. Once you are starting to get the hang of it, try using a timer to see how many pages or words you can achieve in a minute. This will give you a reading speed, which you

can improve on as you practice more. Make sure you can comprehend what you are reading at the same time; otherwise, you are not learning.

Timing your speed each day will help you improve as you can see your rate gets faster and faster, which inspires you to continue to practice.

To calculate your words per minute:

Count how many words are on the page.

Alternatively, count how many words are in one line then multiply it by the number of lines on the page.

Set the alarm or time for ten minutes and see how much you can read through before the time is up.

Next, multiply how many pages you were able to read by the numbers of words that are on the page.

Divide that number by ten to work out your words per minute reading speed.

It’s a good idea to set goals for yourself to achieve, as this will encourage practice. Within a matter of weeks, most people can double their words per minute. Don’t despair if you’re not quite there, though, for some. It can take a little more time. To help with your goal setting, here are the expected speeds:

Expected speed age twelve to older - 200-250 words per minute.

The average student at college - 300 words per minute.

A college student that is skimming text - 450 words per minute.

College student scanning for words - 600-700 words per

minute.

Champion speed reader - 1,000 + words per minute.

Comprehending Comprehension

We all know that to comprehend means to understand, but have you ever thought of what skills are needed to have good comprehension?

We do so many things without even thinking about what they are, so it’s a good idea to have a look at comprehension and how it relates to our goals.

To comprehend, there needs to be an ability to process what is being read, understand what it means, and integrate that with information the reader has previously known. He/she must know what words mean, how to use context to understand the meaning of the words, the ability to follow how the material is written, and be able to determine the contents of a written passage. They also need to be able to identify the main content, answer questions relating to the content, and determine the mood and tone of the writing. It all sounds complicated, but you are doing this every day! Even while you are reading this book!

There are two comprehension levels in reading, which are low-level (shallow) and high-level (deep) processing of the information. Low-level processing involves recognizing the structure and the process of the sentences and words. High-level uses semantic processing, which involved encoding what the word means and relating it to other similar expressions.

To study comprehension levels, researchers used neuroimaging techniques, including functional magnetic resonance imaging. The

study was to compare brain activity during sentence-level comprehension and narrative-level comprehension. It was discovered that there was less activity during the sentence-level comprehension.

When narrative levels were tested, there was increased activation in the temporal part of the brain.

Vocabulary

Vocabulary and comprehension go hand and hand. Being able to pronounce a word is essential, but knowing what the word means has a significant effect, mostly while skimming.

Comprehension Strategies

Research reports have identified that very proficient readers use a selection of strategies with different types of reading material to aid with comprehension. These strategies can be used by readers who aren’t as experienced, so their comprehension improves. Here are the strategies:

Making Inferences: Also known as ‘reading between the lines,’ it is the linking parts of the text that are not directly linked so that a sensible conclusion can be deduced. The person reading the material is speculating on what might be written in the text.

Planning and Monitoring: this involves the mental awareness of the reader and their comprehension, and by previewing the material, they can identify a goal for their reading. They use context and other strategies and ask themselves what they want to get out of the book.

Question Asking: With this strategy, the reader formulates an opinion

of the way the author has written the text, the relationships with the characters, and what motivates them in the story. By asking themselves questions, they can gain a better understanding of what the text is about.

Importance Determining: The reader can pinpoint what the essential aspects are within the text, and can summarize how relevant each one is.

Synthesizing: This strategy involves gathering multiple ideas from different sources and marrying them together to conclude to figure out how it all fits together.

Making Connections: The reader identifies a personal connection to the text, whether it is an experience they have had or texts they have read before, to gain a more robust understanding of the context.

Sensory Processing

When reading and comprehending, it involves more than just the eyes and the brain. Using different senses can often create a better memory that can be recalled more efficiently.

Vision

The most used sense of them all when it comes to reading, what we see can evoke the most efficient recall ability than with the other senses.

Visual senses not only involve written words, but pictures, graphs, and maps. Many people can recall more from looking at a picture than what they have read. However, when the stress is on the logic and not the details of the image, the value of recall decreases.

Audio

Although auditory information can be useful, it typically is not as effective when it comes to recalling the info as the visual senses.

Touch