I Was Wrong About Speed Reading: Here are the Facts

There seems to be some mild evidence here in favor of speed reading. Another study showed some speed reading experts reading around the 600 word per minute level, roughly twice as fast as a normal reader. Speed reading may possibly make you a faster reader, but it's not clear the speed reading techniques are the cause.

The most dangerous is the idea that subvocalization should be avoided to read faster. Subvocalization is the little inner voice you have when reading that speaks the words aloud. If you turn your attention to it, however, you can still hear yourself making the sounds of the words in your head. It's simply not possible to comprehend what you are reading and avoid using that inner voice. This means moving your finger or a pen to underline the text as you read it.

1. Skim Before You Read

One study found that skimming a text before going on to reading it, improved comprehension in the majority of cases.

2. Improve Your Fluency to Improve Your Speed

If you read more of a certain type of text, you’ll learn those words faster and read better.

3. Know What You Want Before You Read It

Thinking about this before you start reading allows you to prime yourself to pay attention when you see words and sentences that are related.

4. Deeper Processing Tasks to Improve Retention

Taking paraphrased, sparse notes or rewriting factual information you want to remember.