Speed Reading

Speed reading is an underappreciated skill among students, business professionals and people who read for pleasure. Speed reading is not just about the ability to quickly skim a page. Truly skilled speed-readers can read almost anything quickly, pick out the important parts, commit the highlights to their memory and body of knowledge and keep going. For speed reading to be effective, you must be have solid reading comprehensive skills.which means that you can read and understand what you are reading.its immediate and broader applications and context.

To start with a solid foundation upon which to build speed reading skills, first concentrate on reading comprehension. Then move onto speed reading techniques. Speed reading is a convenient skill for everyone. Students need it to make it through courses with large amounts of reading. Business professionals can benefit from the ability to read and digest data quickly. People who enjoy reading for pleasure can read more books. Anyone with a houseful of books can appreciate this benefit!

Reviewed Sites

The Literacy Web at the University of Connecticut: http://www.literacy.uconn.edu/compre.htm

This specific link is to the reading comprehensive section of The Literacy Web. Fundamental reading skills are important. For speed reading, the ability to synthesize, integrate and comprehend what you read is equally as important. The Literacy Web offers several resources for improving reading comprehension at a broad range of speeds.

Speed Reading Software Reviews: speed-reading-software-review.toptenreviews.com

Top Ten Reviews is a site that reviews and compares almost anything a consumer can purchase. The site does offer the ability to purchase products reviewed, but their online policies state that all reviews are completed before the sales components are added.

RocketReader: http://www.rocketreader.com

This is a bit of shameless self-promotion, but reading is what we do best. Our software is produced to help learners of all ages and levels learn to read better, faster and have more fun while reading. We have been independently reviewed and ranked as one of the top speed-reading learning resources available. We continue refining and improving our products to provide more help to our consumers. Our website offers nifty resource including free reading tests to see how you can benefit from an extra boost from RocketReader software.

Reading Program Locator: readingprograms.org/locator

This no-frills site helps residents of the U.S. find reading and speed reading programs near them. Visit the website and type in your zip code. A directory of organizations hosting reading programs nearby will pop up.

Surviving Graduate School: http://gradschool.about.com/od/readingtipsandstrategies/Reading_Tips_and_Strategies.htm

Graduate students must read and read and read. There is no option to not read, but there is never enough time, it seems, to read and understand everything. About.com has a great resource about speed reading while in graduate school. Learning to read quickly and retain knowledge is essential for graduate school success.

Tips for Success

1. Find a program that works for you and commit to it - whether online or in the classroom. The only way to get better is to practice.
2. Find ways to incorporate speed reading into your everyday life. The more applications you find for a skill, the more interested you will be to learn it, and the better you will become.
3. Speed reading is not about skimming. A good speed-reader can quickly read and locate important information within a text, incorporate it into his body of knowledge and move on. If your reading comprehension skills are lacking for a regular pace of reading, work on those skills first.
4. Learn to efficiently take notes while reading. Good note taking does not mean re-writing the entire text. Good notes will allow you to skim over important topics again without needing to re-read the entire text. Note taking can also help you incorporate new knowledge into your existing knowledge base faster.
5. Speed read things you must. Slowly read when you can. Great literature should be savored like wonderful chocolate or wine. Speed reading helps you get somewhere. Reading helps you grow and explore.