That means for every 10 minutes you spend reading, you will have read 100 more words than anyone else. Imagine what that will do for you in the long run… Every single little improvement to your reading ability can make a big difference!

It’s very easy, very simple, and it only takes a minute to learn. So let’s get at it!

You should always try to scan the material before you start reading it. Skimming will prime your mind for the stuff that’s about to be found in the text. In other words, you’re trying to find keywords.

If you can find the keywords that will be used, then you’ve already begun the process of comprehension. Comprehending that first 4% of the material before you even begin reading gets you in a pretty good position, don’t you think?

That’s it for today. Just use that one easy-to-use technique, and you will effortlessly raise your reading rate by 10 or more WPM.

Check back next week for another tip in the series. For now, though, try to practice today’s lesson!

That means every minute you spend reading, you’ll read 10 more words than you normally would. Just consider how much time that will save you over a longer period of time… Every single little improvement to your reading ability will help out a lot.

This is hands-down one of the easiest speed reading techniques you could ever use, and it only takes a second to teach. So here we go…

You should always skim through your material just after reading it. Skimming will seal in your mind what you just encountered in the text. In other words, you’re trying to find the keywords for a second time.

If you find out what keywords were most important to the author, then you’re going the extra mile in the process of comprehension. Comprehending even just 2% more of the material after reading it gets you in a pretty good position!

There you go. Just use that one easy-to-use technique, and you’ll automatically raise your reading speed by 10 or moreWPM.

I’ll see you next time for the next trick. Right now, though, try to practice scanning after reading.

Using this tip, every 10 minutes you spend reading, you’ll get 100 words ahead of everyone else. Think about what that will do for you after a longer while of use! Each little bit makes a big difference.

This is a pretty simple trick, so you’ll learn it in no time. So here’s how it works…

It’s a good idea to try to scan the material before you begin to read it. Skimming will prepare your mind for the stuff that’s about to be encountered in the text. Basically, you’re looking to find keywords.

If you can know what keywords will be used in the material, then you’ve already begun the process of comprehension. Understanding even just 4% of the material before you even begin reading is a pretty amazing thing, don’t you think?

Well, there it is! Just use that one simple trick, and you will easily increase your reading ability by approximately 10 WPM.

I’ll see you later with another tip. But for now, though, you should try to practice your scanning.

I’m going to prove to you just how useful it is in the long run, and hopefully you’ll be smart enough to take action on the information right away.

So here are the facts: if your reading speed was 200WPM (a full 50WPM below the average reading speed), and if you read for 15 minutes every day 350 days a year (taking 15 days off for whatever reason), by the end of the year you will have read FIFTEEN BOOKS.

That means that every minute you spend reading equals a whole book finished by the end of a year. If you read 20 minutes a day, you’ll read 20 books. If you read 30 minutes a day, you’ll read 30 books.

And don’t forget, that’s at the meager reading speed of 200WPM. The average reading speed is 250WPM, and the fact that you’re reading this probably means that your reading speed is faster than that.

So think about it: how many books did you read last year? More than 15? If so, great. For most people, that’s not the answer. But either way, you should be ADDING these 15 minutes onto your current reading schedule. You should always be reading more and more.

P.S.: If you haven’t gotten the Speed Reading Manual yet, I recommend you get it soon. As time goes on, I’m going to be getting into more and more advanced techniques, and you might not know what I’m talking about unless you read the Manual first.

The Speed Reading Manual is here: http://www.speedreadingisreal.com/speed-reading-manual/

Whenever you’re learning something new, it’s important to first gauge what level you’re at. This is true in memory training, in musical training, in weight training, and in many other areas as well. Right now, you might think you’re a slow reader, but you won’t know just how slow you are until you take the test.

You should always find out where you are before you decide where you want to go.

So, it’s of course important to test your reading speed before you start your journey of improvement. This serves not only as a measuring tool, but as encouragement!

If you know your regular speed is 200 words per minute, think of how great it’s going to feel when you read 600 words per minute. Think of how right now, you’re used to your reading speed. You’ve adapted to it. Your lifestyle has shaped itself around your reading speed.

Once you start improving, you’ll find that you can read more and more stuff. You’ll start reading twice as much as usual. It’s going to feel great. You may even end up with hours and hours of free time in your day. You’ll be wondering “How did I stay so stressed out for so long? …and why did I put up with it?”

A reading speed test is very simple to design. If you want to set it up on your own, here’s what to do:

NECESSARY THINGS:

• Text you’ve never seen (1 or 2 pages)
• Working stopwatch
• Relaxed self

PREPARATION:

1. Get comfortable in your seat, holding the text on your lap. Don’t look at it yet!
2. Make sure the stopwatch is at 0.0

THE TEST:

Ready, set, go! Start the stopwatch and begin reading.

But it’s not really a race. You should read at your regular speed. Read like you always do. If you don’t read at a comfortable pace, you won’t pass the comprehension test anyway!

When you’re done reading, check how much time it took you. Then, count how many words there were in the text. (This is why it’s not good to read more than 2 pages…)

Reading speed is measured in words per minute (WPM). To get your WPM speed, divide the amount of words you read by the amount of time you spent.

If you spent 3 and a half minutes reading 2 pages, it might look like this:

886 words / 3.5 minutes = 253 words per minute

Once you do that, you have your WPM speed. But don’t get too excited yet, because you still need to do a comprehension test.

Hand the text over to someone you know (and trust!), and get them to quiz you on the content of the article. Or, you can just try explaining it out loud. If you can’t do this well, your comprehension level isn’t high enough. That means that the test over-stated your actual reading speed.

If you pass the test, then congratulations! You now have a measurement of your reading speed. That’s a big step towards improving your reading skills.

After all, if you don’t know how fast you’re reading right now, how do you know how much you can expect to improve? It could very well be that you’re in the position where you could quadruple your reading speed, instead of just doubling or tripling.

Wouldn’t it be nice to know that kind of thing before you start? Then, after some training, you can test yourself again, and see how much you’ve improved.

Now, I realize this can be a little difficult (or at least time consuming) to set up for yourself. Nobody likes counting words, anyway! And, I can even hear many of you saying “But Stephen! I don’t have a stopwatch!”

That’s why there’s a Reading Speed Test on this website. The words are counted, the stopwatch can be started and stopped with buttons on the page, and the article is about speed reading, too!

Just press the Start button when you start reading, and press the Stop button when you’re done, and it will calculate your words per minute speed automatically. And, there’s a Comprehension Test already made too, so that you can make sure you understood the article.

And, also worth noting, there is some analysis of possible reasons for your current reading speed (depending on the WPM from the test), which is useful for pinpointing areas for improvement.

Do the Reading Speed Test now!

What’s really happening is this: when you read faster, information comes into your head faster. When more information is coming at you, it’s less likely you will become bored. The more interested you are, the more you will absorb. Thus, reading faster makes you comprehend more.

So the question is this: how can you speed read? How does speed reading work?

Speed reading has to do with eliminating sub-vocalisation. Sub-vocalisation is also known as “silent speech”. It can be defined as internal speech, which takes place during reading. Sub-vocalisation allows the reader to “hear” the words as they are being read. Removing this process allows for much faster reading.

Moving away from sub-vocalisation, makes room for a more visual approach to reading. When you read without sub-vocalising, you are no longer held by the 250 words-per-minute barrier set up by sub-vocalisation.

It is more efficient to perceive the words solely as visual information. The goal of speed reading is to control your use of auditory associations while taking in words.

Then you can start reading words not as a series of sounds, but as images. You already know most of the

words you will encounter while reading. It isn’t necessary to hear the words as well as see them; just by looking at the word, you can know what it means.

The concept is very simple, but the method is hard to master. Try reading the Speed Reading Manual, or the Speed Reading Newsletter. Both of those resources are available through this website. Check them out now!