How to improve your reading speed
Reading is a really important part in human beings' daily life. We read newspapers, books, emails and so on. We spend much time on reading, especially students in school. However, reading is also a time-consuming thing. It is researched that, many people read at an average rate of 250 words per minute. This means that an average page in a book or document would take you 1-2 minutes to read. However, imagine if you could double your rate to 500 words per minute. You could zip through all of this content in half the time. You can use the same time to read more, or save time to do something else. So, how can we do to improve our reading speed?
First of all, you should know that to improve your reading speed is to break your poor reading habits. If you are like most people, then you probably have one or more reading habits that slow you down. Becoming a better reader means overcoming these bad habits, so that you can clear the way for new, effective ways of reading. Below, we cover some of the most common bad reading habits, and discuss what you can do to overcome them.
Firstly, you may pronounce each word in your head as you read it. Most people do this to some extent or another. This takes much more time than is necessary, because you can understand a word more quickly than you can say it. When you sit down to read, tell yourself that you will not pronounce each word in your head. You need to practice this until this bad habit is erased. Reading blocks of words also helps, as it is harder to vocalize a block of words.
Secondly, you may read word by word. Not only is it slow to read word by word, but when you concentrate on separate words, you often miss the overall concept of what is being said. Practice expanding the number of words that you read at a time. You may also find that you can increase the number of words you read in a single fixation by holding the text a little further from your eyes. The more words you can read in each block, the faster you'll read!
Thirdly, you may have a poor concentration when you are reading. If you have ever tried to read while the TV is on, you will know how hard it is to concentrate on one word. Reading has to be done in an environment where external distractions are kept to a minimum. To improve your concentration as you read, stop multitasking while reading, and remove any distractions. You have to pay attention to \distractions\forces your brain to attend to what you're reading, and that's why people often say that they can read and watch TV at the same time. To become an efficient reader, you need to avoid this.
Of course, reading speed improving is not a short-time term. What is the most important is to practice. Remember that, practice makes perfect.
