If you use this tip, every 10 minutes you spend reading will get you 100 words ahead of anyone you’re competing with. Just think how much time that can save you in the long run… No matter how small, every little improvement is a big deal for speed readers.

This is hands-down one of the easiest speed reading techniques you could ever use, so you’ll have no problem implementing it. Here’s how it works!

Try practicing your speed reading on books that you’ve already read. It helps a lot if you can anticipate what’s going to happen in the text. Find a few books that you really like, and time yourself reading the book front to back. Set records and beat them!

When you lower the “comprehension demands” down to a very low level, you can concentrate more on reading quickly and efficiently (using some of the other tips you found on this site). In other words, re-reading old books makes it easier to speed read. As you get better and better at speed reading, you’ll be able to gradually increase the “load” on your comprehension, all the way up until you’re reading University-level textbooks at top speed!

There you go. Use that one simple trick, and you will easily strengthen your reading rate by 10 WPM.

Be sure to check here next week with technique. Before then, though, try to implement this trick: re-read your old books when practicing your speed reading skills.

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.

• Reading all material at the same speed.

A lot of people try to read all material at the same speed. This is a bad habit. Quite simply, some stuff is harder to read than other stuff. Your reading speed should relate directly with the difficulty of the text you’re reading. Most people know that they should slow down for difficult text, but VERY FEW will speed up for easy text.

Try this out: the next time you find something that’s very easy to read, start out reading at your normal speed, but accelerate until you reach your REAL reading speed for the text. You’ll find that you’re able to read text quite a bit faster if it’s easy.

• Reading when tired.
  

It is common for people, especially students, to read their books late at night. This time of day is actually the LEAST effective for reading. Trying to read in bed is even worse.

As a rule, being productive with your reading requires you to be in a productive state of mind. If you’re thinking just as much about sleeping as you are about the text, your comprehension will suffer. So read with an ACTIVE mind — when you’ve got lots of energy, and you’re feeling motivated.

• Trying to comprehend 100% right away.

Another bad habit is to just jump right into the text — starting from ZERO comprehension and aiming straight
for 100% comprehension. Doing this will almost surely result in failure. What you really need to do is work your way up to 100%, using a gradual process.

The process doesn’t have to be that complicated — it can be as simple as just scanning the material once or twice before reading, to get a general idea of what’s going on in the text. For textbooks, it might mean skimming through the pages just reading the headers and titles. Once you get that LITTLE BIT of comprehension to start with, that first 10%, then the other 90% will be MUCH easier to understand. Don’t go for the full 100% right away — work up to it gradually.

These tips will definitely help you to improve your reading ability. Just avoid these bad habits, and your reading speed and comprehension will advance significantly. For more information on how to increase your reading speed, and how to finally start speed reading, check out the Speed Reading Newsletter. It’s free to join, and you’ll discover secrets that most people will never know about speed reading.

Reading speed can be easily influenced – both positively and negatively. This article will show you a quick and easy way to positively influence your reading speed. It’s not only easy to do, it’s extremely powerful if you use it right.

Before you read something, preview it first. Go over the whole thing, and identify some keywords. Read a little bit of the beginning, and then read a little bit of the end. And only then, read the thing for real.

Just do that, and your reading speed will jump by at least 50 words per minute. Guaranteed. It’s really as simple as that.

You don’t have to spend very much time previewing – just a few seconds will be enough. All you have to do is find out generally what the author is going to talk about. In anything that’s reasonably well-written, there will be a clear introduction, and a clear conclusion. These usually summarize the important material from the article.

Exploit the summaries!

The reason this works so well is that it trains your eyes and primes your brain for the information that’s about to be taken in. When you do that, the reading process becomes much easier to handle.

That’s it! Try it out on the next thing you read, and you’ll be pleasantly surprised with the results.

Speed reading is a complex skill. There are many things that can contribute to your reading speed, and also many things that can contribute to your reading comprehension.

And so, achieving the highest possible speed AND comprehension is a pretty complex task.

Luckily, these days it’s pretty well understood how to speed read, and it can be learned without much difficulty.

One good way to approach learning speed reading is dividing it up into multiple elements. When you classify the big issue into multiple little issues, you can tackle it more easily.

For example, one essential part of “learning how to speed read” is employing intense focus and concentration. These two are extremely important for the successful execution of the skill.

If there is anything that CAN distract you from your reading, then it WILL. Distractions always end up reducing your reading speed as well as damaging your comprehension.

Even worse than that, though, is that those distractions can infiltrate your mind and make your brain branch out onto several unrelated topics. Everyone experiences this at some point: while “reading,” you catch yourself thinking about something else, and then you skip back to a part in the text you remember reading.

Obviously, this is a huge problem for anyone who wants to learn speed reading.

So consider this: when you sit down with a book or a newspaper or whatever, you’ve obviously got a reason for doing so. Whether you’re trying to learn how to do something new, or you’re absorbing some news or something, you’ve got a good reason for reading.

It doesn’t really matter what the reason is, specifically, as long as you have it clearly defined in your mind, this is going to work…

Place that reason firmly in your mind. This will prime your brain and motivate you to read. And while reading, try to think of nothing other than the content of the text. You have to be totally focused on what you read, otherwise your comprehension level will not nearly be as high as it could be.

This is a crucial maxim of fast reading.

So if you’re unable to focus properly on what you’re reading, just take a break! Try some other activity. Go do a crossword puzzle or something. If you focus on the distraction consciously, and then return to the text, you’ll find a renewed interest in the material.

So take a nice break every once in a while – it will prepare your mind to focus again on the text.

Also, try resting at the end of each chapter. Then, you get a chance to really think about what you read, and maybe you’ll want to take some notes, to make sure you remember the stuff.

Taking notes is actually another Key to speed reading. I don’t want to cover it in detail here, but note-taking can drastically improve comprehension – even if you never look at the notes again.

After a couple minutes of thinking and/or note-taking, you will be even more inclined to continue reading than you would have been if you had kept reading all the way through.

Reading straight through a book does have the “benefit of the flow”, but some rest-time between segments will drastically ameliorate your comprehension level. After all, the author in all likelihood didn’t write the entire text in one session! A lot of time and thought goes into writing books. You should your books much in the same way the writers would treat them: they take serious thought, dedication, and focus.

If you want to learn more keys to speed reading, check out our free Speed Reading Newsletter. It covers not only how to speed read, but also how to improve your memory, and how to maximize comprehension. It’s an easy (and free!) way to get started on the right foot. What more could you want? Sign up here.