Learning to read quickly - exercises for developing and consolidating speed reading skills. Exercises to increase reading speed - for children and adults

More and more business people are coming to understand the importance of mastering speed reading skills. Training centers offer group or individual training courses. However, you can learn speed reading on your own at home. How to do this correctly?

Don’t say words out loud or replay them in your head

It turns out that you also need to be able to read to yourself correctly. Subvocalization is reading in which the words being read seem to be heard in the head. This method slows down reading speed and reduces text comprehension. How to get rid of this habit? It is enough to interrupt yourself with some other action, for example, chewing gum while reading.

Unlearn returns

Many people's reading process involves returning to what they have read. For example, after a paragraph is read, instead of moving further along the page with the text, stupor occurs. The brain consciously tries to analyze words and sentences. This habit is ineffective. It slows down your reading speed. You can only get rid of it through practice.

Advice

Text tracking

Remember school literature lessons, when you had to use a pencil to trace the lines while reading what was written. This method is considered one of the most effective for developing speed reading skills. Remember to concentrate on important words so that your brain has time to record the information.

Skimming - skipping unnecessary things

Important!!!

A great way to quickly familiarize yourself with books is skimming.

It is suitable when detailed reading is not the goal. It is indispensable when searching for the necessary information, when you need to isolate something specific from a large volume. One of the methods:

• Study the introduction or preface. Then look at the table of contents. The goal is to understand whether the book contains the information you need. If it does, then in what part is it contained?
• Review the conclusion or last chapter.
• Read two paragraphs: the first and the last.

With the help of scrimming, in a few minutes you can figure out whether the book will be useful for you, or whether it’s worth continuing your search further.

Speed ​​reading method. How to read a book in 15 minutes

Conclusion:

There is a huge amount of interesting information in the world - the experiences of the wisest people, life stories and flights of imagination. It wouldn't take a lifetime to read most of it. With the help of speed reading, the number of books studied will increase significantly.

The basic human need is to acquire new knowledge and improve. For this reason, people study foreign languages, master musical instruments and engage in all kinds of sports. Regardless of which direction a person chooses, he needs to obtain new information. The speed of learning of children and adults directly depends on the speed of reading and comprehension of what they read.

Not everyone's reading speed is up to par. There is nothing wrong with this, you just need to learn how to do it.

Before mastering speed reading, you need to understand what speed reading is? Normal comprehension speed is considered to be 160–250 words per minute. With this reading, a person can cope with one page of printed text in 2 minutes.

The reading speed record is 3000 words in one minute. Achieving such a result is not so easy, but anyone can develop a reading speed of 500–600 words per minute.

As for children, their reading speed is lower. In 3rd grade, a student must read at least 120 words per minute. Speed ​​reading and memory development will allow you to quickly absorb new material. This makes it easier for children to learn.

Reading quickly allows people to focus on sentences and phrases that have more meaning. Thus, words that do not affect the understanding of the essence will be skipped.

When and how to start learning speed reading?

The classic speed reading technique is to completely suppress internal pronunciation. Primary school students learn new information better if they read at the same speed as human speech. For this reason, teaching new reading techniques to children under 12 years of age is not recommended.

Despite age restrictions, you can resort to some techniques that make memorizing new material faster. Mistakes made by parents should be taken into account when teaching children:

• When a child learns the names of beech letters and not the sounds, he cannot read the word. For example, instead of the word “MOM”, the student reads “MEAAMEAA”. Thus, the reading speed becomes 3–5 times lower;
• New information will be quickly memorized if the student reads syllables. Parents don't pay attention to this. Children at home do not read syllables, but list letters. For example, the word mom is like “M A M A.” You need to read the sound.
• Parents, studying at home, force the child to read the text completely, but do not let him go anywhere. This is fundamentally wrong. It is better to read less, but more often.

Mastering speed reading techniques at home

A school of speed reading and intelligence development would quickly help a person cope with the task. Modern man is so busy that it is difficult for him to find time to attend courses. Therefore, many people want to purchase a manual and study at home.

Studying at home has a number of advantages:

• Memorization of learned material is faster. This is due to the fact that a person studies at those hours during which nothing interferes with him and no one distracts him;
• Currently, it is not difficult to find methods to increase reading speed, so there will be no problems with purchasing specialized books;
• At home there are no factors that can distract the assimilation of new material;
• The Speed ​​Reading School offers classes for several hours a week. Self-study will allow you to study as much as you need.

After reading books on speed reading that Vasilyeva wrote, a person is able to remember more information in a short period of time. Memorizing information is the key to successful studies for children, and career growth for adults.

Acquiring the necessary skills

In order to absorb large amounts of information, it is necessary to teach children to get rid of some unnecessary things. The same applies to an adult. First of all, memorizing the material excludes the following things:

• Speed ​​reading is hampered by subvocalization - the habit of mentally pronouncing the material read to oneself. To get rid of this habit, while reading, you need to “tap” a pencil on the table at a certain beat. You can also mentally recite poetry or text;
• Poor peripheral vision. It is difficult for a person to take in a sufficient piece of text with his gaze. In this case, it is recommended to resort to vertical reading. It is recommended to look at the center of the line, so that it is visible in its entirety, then move to the next line;
• Another inhibitory factor is the return movement of the eyes to the already read text. Sometimes memorizing material is complicated by inattention or difficulty in perception. A person has to return to read sentences up to 10 times. To prevent this from happening, it is recommended to cover what has already been read with cardboard or a notebook.

Consolidating success

As for adults, reading techniques will allow them to succeed in learning languages ​​and much more. The results will not keep you waiting. To consolidate your success, it is recommended to do the exercises every day.

Hello, dear readers! I’m glad that you came to my blog again - it means my posts are useful to you. Did you know that our brain does not work at 100%? Some say 10%, and others say 35%. But the fact is that the capabilities of the human mind are very great - and this is true. The problem is that they need to be developed by working on yourself in different areas. The topic of our conversation today is how to master speed reading techniques and not lose the quality of information perception.

What is speed reading?

In short, this is the ability to read faster than usual, perceiving and remembering basic information. Oddly enough, anyone can learn this; the talent of genius is not needed here, but only perseverance and the desire to learn something new and useful.

The technique of speed reading is very easy to master using various methods and training. But first, let’s find out why it’s useful to own it.

Pros of the skill:

• You need this technique if you read a lot of non-fiction literature - and you need to master the information quickly and accurately.
• You will have time to read twice or even three more books in a year than usual.
• Your vocabulary will increase.
• You will gain the ability to concentrate on something specific and highlight the main thing.
• Learning something will be faster and more effective.

Fast reading is not given to everyone: some master the technique 100%, but others do not. But in any case, by devoting time to studying, you will increase the speed of text comprehension significantly and this will be useful to you in your studies and work. The main thing is to set a goal for yourself and know exactly what you need.

Mastering occurs using some methods developed by scientists and founders of technology back in the 20s of the last century.

Speed ​​Reading Technique Methods

There are courses and programs for speed reading, but with the help of special techniques you can study at home.

There are 5 methods:

1. Restraining the mental pronunciation of the text.
2. "Sighting."
3. Keywords.
4. The word is like a picture.
5. Vertical reading.

Let's take a closer look at them.

1. Restraint of mental pronunciation of the text

Have you noticed that when reading in our heads, we seem to pronounce all the words out loud? This is our voice, and it sounds so beautiful, with the right pauses and intonation, even better than we read out loud. This is called articulation. This is precisely what slows down the reading process, because speaking the text takes time, which is so priceless.

How to get rid of this habit? Just while reading a book, tap a familiar melody with your fingers or count in your head to 100. Does it work?

2. "Sighting"

This is a more difficult exercise, but very effective. The essence of high-speed text comprehension is to highlight the most important thing. The reader should be able to see the main and the unfamiliar in the text in a couple of seconds, without wasting time on unnecessary information. Don't think this is a phenomenal ability.

First practice on the following subjects:

1. Select an item. For example, a picture on the wall.
2. Look at it carefully for a few seconds, try to remember all the details.
3. Next, close your eyes and reproduce what you saw in your head. The image will be incomplete.
4. Next, open your eyes and look at the picture again. Pay attention to details that were forgotten the first time.
5. Close your eyes again and see that the picture has become more complete. Do the same 7-8 times.

The exercise should be done 4 times. This way you improve your ability to perceive and visualize information.

3. Keywords

This method is very useful when preparing for a couple, seminar or meeting. In such situations, you need to quickly and clearly highlight the main information and remember it.

To do this, decide on a topic and select keywords related to it. That is, highlight only those words and sentences that you need. Such fluent reading reduces time and allows you to remember only what you need.

4. Word like picture

Another method that speeds up reading. You definitely can't do without it. Here you will have to connect your visual memory. If it is poorly developed, you definitely need to train it.

To do this you will need preparation:

1. On separate sheets of paper or on the computer, write long words (at least 6 letters), a couple of words per sheet.
2. Look at them periodically. The main thing is not to try to spell it. See it as one whole.
3. Try to repeat this word out loud.

Repeat the exercise several times a day. This technique is used even in the lower grades of some schools.

5. Vertical reading

The goal of the method is to teach you to perceive not only the whole word at once, but also the whole page. This is probably aerobatics, but you can do it too.

Prepare special tables with numbers from 1 to 16 in random order. You need to look at the middle of the table and try to perceive the numbers around.

This is where peripheral vision comes into play. By the way, it is better developed in women than in men. Over time, the number of numbers needs to be increased. Have someone check on you.

We looked at the basic speed reading techniques, thanks to which you can master the technique yourself.

Of course, you need to practice regularly, for some time. It’s good when your girlfriend or friend studies with you. This motivates you to reach your goal together, and also gives you the feeling that you are not alone and creates a feeling of support.

Interesting exercises for developing technique

In addition to the methods, there are many useful exercises that will help you master the technique and learn to read faster.

“Maybe letters are not needed”

This exercise not only helps you learn to read quickly, but also develops memory and visual perception. Ask someone to help or find ready-made words on the Internet.

Everything is done simply:

1. Cross out a few letters from the words. For example, after one.
2. Read the word without these letters.

To make it more fun, compete with someone who can read the most correctly.

"Mixed"

This exercise is also related to individual words, only its essence is slightly different.

It is necessary to mix up the letters in all words: all except the first and last. The fact is that thanks to visual memory and vocabulary, the brain automatically reads words correctly. But if you complicate them, it will be a good memory workout.

“Why do we need all the words?”

Something like highlighting individual words on a topic. The idea is to read the text, skipping every second word.

This makes it possible to concentrate on the entire text in general, rather than on a specific word. This is how intuition and visual memory develop.

"Retelling"

It is important to understand that the point of the speed reading technique is not to quickly skim through the text, but to extract useful information from it.

This is why everything you read needs to be retold to someone. This is very helpful for creative people or those who communicate a lot with people, teach or hold meetings.

"Don't come back"

Many people have this problem, especially when reading:

• fiction,
• in a home environment,
• when someone is chatting next to you and you can’t concentrate 100%.

Then we return to the sentence or phrase we have already read. This slows down the process. Moreover, people do this unconsciously, but automatically.

"Like at school"

Remember how in childhood we read fairy tales and moved our fingers? So this is very useful! This technique allows you to concentrate better if you need to read a text word for word.

"Extra"

Let's remember school again! It happens when you read a boring paragraph on history and skip whole chunks. So, mom won’t scold you for this anymore.

This is very useful if you realize that you don't need certain pieces of text. Just skip, but don't overdo it. The brain relaxes and doesn’t want to perceive anything later.

"Aurally"

Have you noticed that audio is perceived differently than printed information? The fact is that the sound range acts on a different part of the brain.

This allows you to learn to perceive the text as a whole, without paying attention to the letters. Besides, it saves time. After all, during this time you can cook a meal and go to work. The main thing is not to stop and listen.

Well

If what is written in the article is not enough for you, then you can take a full course. Here is the most advanced site on skills development.

Summary

There are no boundaries for perfection. And if you have already learned how to manage your time, then include in your schedule the development of speed reading techniques.

Even if you are not going to break world records for the number of books read, learning this skill will allow you to develop:

• memory;
• reading speed and speaking technique;
• visual memory;
• peripheral vision;
• ability to concentrate;
• the ability to highlight the main thing.

That's all for me. Read, develop, subscribe to my blog. All the best and see you soon!

Whether you're reading a textbook in a philosophy seminar or reading the morning newspaper, reading can feel tedious. Learn speed reading techniques to complete this task much faster. Speed ​​reading will worsen your understanding of the material, but with proper practice you can partially overcome this defect.

Steps

Part 1

Stop saying words to yourself. Almost every reader mentally pronounces the text (subvocalization) or is distracted by repeating the word. This helps the reader remember the terms, but also slows down the reading speed. Here are some ways to minimize this habit:

Cover the words you have already read. When reading, your eyes often return to the words you've already read. Basically, these are short-term movements that do not improve understanding in any way. Use a bookmark to cover words after reading them, breaking yourself of this habit.

• These "backslides" also occur when you fail to understand the material. If your eyes jump back a few words or lines, it's a sign that you need to slow down.

1. Let's move on to eye movement. As you read, your eyes move in jerks, stopping on some words and skipping others. Reading only happens when your eyes stop. If you reduce the number of movements per line of text, you will learn to read much faster. But be careful—studies have been done that reveal the limit to what a reader can see at one time:

   • You can read eight letters to the right of your eye position, but only four to the left. This is about two or three words at a time.
   • You notice letters 9-15 spaces to the right, but are unable to read them.
   • Ordinary readers cannot read the words on other lines. Learning to skip lines and still understand the material is extremely difficult.

2. Reduce the amount of movement your eyes make. Typically, your brain decides where to move your eyes based on how long or familiar the next word is. You'll be able to read faster if you train your eyes to go to specific places on the page instead. Try the following exercise:

   • Take a bookmark and place it above a line of text.
   • Draw an "X" on the bookmark above the first word.
   • Draw another X on the same line. Place it three words further for good understanding, five words for simple texts and seven words to review key points.
   • Continue drawing X's at the same spacing until you reach the end of the line.
   • Try to read the line as quickly as possible, lowering the bookmark down and concentrating only on the text under each “X”.

3. Read faster than you can understand the text. Many programs are built on the principle of increasing reading speed using reflexes, so that the brain gradually learns to adapt to the new pace. This method has not been thoroughly studied. Your speed of moving through the text will undoubtedly increase, but you will understand little or nothing. Try this method if you're looking to achieve maximum reading speed, and hope that a few days of practice will help you understand the material better. Here's how to do it:

   • Follow the text with a pencil. Come up with a phrase that will take you exactly one line of text to pronounce at a calm pace.
   • Try reading for two minutes at the speed of a pencil. Even if you don't understand anything, concentrate on the text and keep your eyes open for a full two minutes.
   • Rest for a minute and then speed up. Now try reading for three minutes, but now the pencil should cross two lines while you pronounce the phrase.

4. Use speed reading programs. If the above methods do not help you achieve your goal, try rapid sequential visual presentation. In this technique, a phone app or computer program displays text one word at a time. This allows you to choose any reading speed. But don't increase the speed too high, otherwise you won't be able to remember most of the words. This method is useful for quickly browsing the news, but not while studying or reading for pleasure.

   Part 2

   Quickly view text

   1. Know when a quick review is warranted. This reading method can be used for general familiarization with the text without deep understanding. You can quickly scan the newspaper to find an interesting article or identify key points while skimming your textbook before a test. A quick glance does not replace a full reading.

      Read titles and section headings. Read only the chapter titles and any subheadings at the beginning of large sections. Read the titles of all news articles or contents in the magazine.

      Read the beginning and end of the section. All paragraphs in textbooks usually contain an introduction and conclusions. For other types of text, read the first and last paragraph of the chapter or article.

      • Read faster if you are familiar with the topic, but don't try to beat yourself. You will save yourself time by scrolling through unnecessary text, but it is still important to understand the meaning of what you read.

   2. Circle the important words in the text. If you want to learn more, then instead of just reading, quickly skim through the text with your eyes. Now that you've got the hang of the section, you'll be able to highlight key words and highlight important areas. Stop and highlight the following words:

The fast reading technique means easy comprehension of what you read, more free time, broadening your horizons, developing your intellect, improving your memory and many other pleasant effects. Even if you don’t like to read, once you have mastered the technique, you are unlikely to be indifferent to the eternal source of knowledge, because you can read one or even several books a day.

Why improve your reading speed?

In the age of Internet technology, a huge flow of information flows together, both necessary and uninteresting, pleasant and poisonous to the minds. To be able to quickly find important information in a huge stream, filter out false information and not be vulnerable to smart and cunning people, you need to read. After all, reading, like reading, improves mental activity, increases intelligence, broadens horizons, trains memory and develops imagination.

Now imagine that during quick reading, all this happens in three or even five times faster. What knowledge will you have in six months? And what knowledge can you pass on to your children?

In physical terms, by increasing the speed of reading, a person strains his eye muscles less, forgets about headaches and does not get tired of work, since high concentration allows him to quickly solve work issues.

Famous people and their records

The technique of fast reading appeared a long time ago; many famous people owned and actively used it:

• Vladimir Ilyich Lenin read 2500 words per minute. Many people were amazed by such speed; some did not believe that it was possible. But despite his speed, he always understood and remembered what he read.
• Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin had his own huge library. His daily quota was at least 500 pages.
• Maxim Gorky had his own speed reading technique. He read texts in magazines, “drawing” a zigzag with his eyes: 1 text - 1 zigzag. Its speed reached 4000 words per minute.
• Alexander Sergeevich Pushkin had an exceptional memory. And he used the speed reading technique, which he learned from the notes of the monk Raymond Lull.
• Napoleon Bonaparte read at a speed of 2000 words per minute.
• The writer Honore de Balzac read with great speed. And he wrote a work about his abilities, but with a fictional character: “The absorption of thoughts in the process of reading reached him with a phenomenal ability. His gaze covered 7-8 lines at once, and his mind comprehended the meaning at a speed corresponding to the speed of his eye. Often just one word allowed him to grasp the meaning of an entire phrase.”
• Evgenia Alekseenko, she read 416250 words per minute, it’s even hard to believe, but it’s a fact.

Fast Reading Techniques

There are a huge number of methods for teaching speed reading techniques, but it is worth highlighting the most effective and frequently used among fans of this method of perceiving information.

Regression is the main enemy of speed

First of all, you should get rid of habit of returning with your eyes back to the text already read - regression. With slow reading, there are more returns. What does this have to do with? Habit, complex text, lack of attention.

Our parents and teachers always told us, if you don’t understand, read it again. But it turns out that this is the first and most annoying reason for slow reading; with regression, speed decreases by half, and understanding of meaning decreases by three times. We need to get rid of this habit. This will help integral reading algorithm.

Many people read books randomly, read at the end, open the middle, they don’t have any algorithm, so the meaning is lost. This way, the information received does not stay in the head for long; the next day the person will not even remember the title of the book.

For better assimilation, a figurative representation is necessary. You can come up with your own scheme or take an existing one. The diagram consists of blocks and looks like this:

1. Title (books, articles).
2. Author.
3. Source and its data (year, no.).
4. Main content, topic, factual data.
5. Features of the material presented that seem controversial, criticism.
6. The novelty of the material presented.

You need to remember this diagram. And mentally, from the information you read, highlight the main thing and break it down into appropriate blocks. An integrated algorithm helps suppress bad habits - regression.

When using this scheme, the dynamics of mental processes will not leave time for recurrent eye movements. Remember, it is important to read the text to the end without backtracking. Only after reading it completely, if necessary, can you read it again, which is unlikely to be necessary using this scheme.

How to Achieve Reading Comprehension

Another important factor is understanding the essence. There are three methods:

• highlighting semantic reference points;
• anticipation;
• reception.

Identification of semantic reference points implies dividing the text into parts and highlighting the main idea, which contributes to better assimilation of information. Any association that arises can be a support. It is necessary to reduce the content to short, concise sentences that highlight the main idea of ​​​​the work.

Anticipation- a semantic guess. That is, the reader guesses a phrase from a few words, and understands the meaning of entire paragraphs from a few phrases. With this speed reading technique, the reader relies on the meaning of the entire text, rather than individual words. This method of understanding is developed through the accumulation of a dictionary of text cliches and semantic stereotypes. Then the processing of what you read reaches automaticity.

Reception is a mental return to what has been read. It is mental reflection on what you read, not to be confused with regression. This method helps to understand the deep meaning of the material or work.

Methods to combat articulation

Articulation during reading slows down the speed very much, so it needs to be suppressed. Reading speed depends on how speech processes work, that is, how quickly you can process and assimilate text.

There are three types of reading:

• with speaking out loud or whispering (slow);
• with talking to yourself (more quickly, but still not effective);
• silently, but the main internal dialogue is suppressed and only key and meaningful phrases pop up in the head.

For example, psychologist E. Meiman suppressed articulation with the help of counting. While reading, he counted “One, two, three” and this greatly helped him in increasing his speed.

Researchers have developed three methods suppression of articulation:

1. Mechanical delay information (or forced) - clamping the tongue between the teeth while reading. But this method has a disadvantage: it inhibits only the peripheral speech-motor system, leaving the central (brain) system to work. Therefore, this method is not very effective.
2. Speaking foreign text out loud when reading to yourself. This method is better than the previous one, but still not ideal. Since a lot of attention and energy is spent on pronunciation of other words, they could improve the quality of information perception.
3. Central speech interference method, or the method of arrhythmic tapping was developed by N. I. Zhinkin. When reading to yourself, you must use your hand, beating out a special rhythm with your fingers. One of them is push-pull tapping with four percussion elements in the first beat and two in the second, with an increase in the beat in the first stage of each beat.

The peculiarity of this technique is that there is no effect on the speech organs, but at the same time, from tapping the hand, a zone of inductive inhibition appears in the brain, which makes it impossible to pronounce readable words.

Memory and attention training

Attention- this is a person’s concentration on the task he is doing at the moment. Without attention, understanding of work decreases by 90%. Only on the condition that the concentration on a certain lesson is maximum, then the work, studying the material, or any lesson will not be in vain. And therefore, when interested in speed reading techniques, it is very important to develop concentration skills.

Scientists give good advice: to develop concentration, read words and sentences backwards. You can recite the alphabet in reverse.

Memory. How often, after reading a work, a week later it is impossible to remember either the author or the title, not to mention the content. For better memorization, after reading it completely, you need to retell the content in your own words, and for better assimilation, translate the material into the language of your own thoughts. The task is to find the meaningful and semantic part of the text.

Where to start self-study

The fast reading technique does not require any material costs. You don’t have to go shopping, choose unknown materials, be surprised at prices and waste your valuable time. All you need is your desire and perseverance, this is the key to successfully achieving your goal.

You will also need books, many books. There is no need to run and buy bookstores, every person has at least a few good books in their home, start with them, and then turn to your friends, they will definitely find something interesting for you. In the end, this is the 21st century, interactive technologies and e-books will adequately replace paper publications.

1. One of the popular and very effective books by O. A. Kuznetsov and L. N. Khromov is “Fast Reading Technique.” The techniques are described in a very accessible and interesting way. At the end of the book there are lessons where all the stages are explained in accessible language.
2. S. N. Ustinova “Development of oral and written speech skills.” Good book, lots of interesting techniques and tips.
3. Mortier Adler "How to read books." He writes not only about speed reading techniques, but also about reading in general. Gives interesting recommendations, this book is worth reading.
4. There are also new programs that allow you to increase your reading speed, for example, Spritz.
5. Online speed reading trainers from Sergei Mikhailov: Flasch – speed reading training.

If you don't want to study on your own, sign up for online courses. Take a free trial lesson at the Eshko school right now.

Feel free to be smart. This will improve your self-esteem and quality of life. Love reading, it will give you great benefits and make you happier. Reading can be considered one of the best ways to maintain a sound mind and interest in life.