The speed with which you read ultimately depends of the purpose of your reading. Genres such as literature and poetry require slow, meditative reading and so the art of speed reading is not always appropriate in these cases. If youre a student however and need to read though the notes youve made earlier in the day then it makes sense to scan as you read i.e. speed read. As you can probably tell, speed reading will only be effective if you use it appropriately. In this article, I'll show you a speed reading technique that you'll be able to use right now, right here, and if you do it well, you'll see an almost immediate increase in your reading speed, but first things first... The theory!

It is common knowledge that most people actually read too slowly, being under the illusion that if they read at a faster pace they will lose understanding. In fact, people tend to lose concentration as they read because their eyes cant read as they move; the eyes have to continually start and stop with each word or phrase. By increasing the pace at which you read, you automatically force yourself to take in and comprehend more words with each glance. Simply put, this helps to avoid distractions while gathering momentum so that you achieve better comprehension on the words on the page.

Now, on to the technique.

The art of speed reading effectively takes practice. Firstly you need to help your eyes to recognise the words on the page by using a guide. Most people use a pencil, ruler or their finger as a guide and quickly, but steadily, move it across the page. Choose a steady pace that pushes you just a bit but which is still comfortable for youyou can try it now with the lines of this article. Make sure the pace you choose forces you to concentrate but is still manageable. Its the constancy of speed, rather than the increased speed itself, that saves you time, simply because it eliminates the natural hesitations you automatically make when reading.

If you come to a passage or sentence that you dont understand, keep going. It normally makes sense with hindsight but if it doesnt you can always go back and re-read it again later, should you feel the need. If you practice this technique everyday then you will quickly improve your speed reading. Once you notice an increase in your speed you can do what accomplished speed-readers do and cover the preceding line of text with a blank piece of paper. You should aim to push the paper down at a steady rate to cover the lines as you read them. Dont put the paper below the line youre reading as it can slow down the rate at which you read without you noticing.

It shouldnt take long to get into a routine so that speed reading happens naturally and you dont even think about the process. As the old proverb says practice makes perfect and the more you use the technique the better, and faster, youll become. Try not to become so fast that you miss the meaning of the words though otherwise you may find yourself reading everything twice and taking more time than you need to on the simplest of tasks.