Youth Incorporated Magazine

Are you a book enthusiast? Is reading your favourite hobby?

If you said yes, then welcome to the tribe. As much as we love adding books to our ‘to-read’ list, we also struggle to tick off the books from the same and one the main reasons behind doing that is – not able to read fast.

If you are one of those readers, who loves to read but struggle to read fast, here are some interesting tricks listed down only for you!

1.Say No No to Subvocalizing

Sub vocalization is a habit of verbalizing the words in your mind as you read them. One tends to develop the habit of reading in mind after being continuously told to read loudly (in schools, public gatherings, etc.). This way, one ends up giving more time to read the words that are usually required. An average person reads almost 300 words in a minute and with sub vocalization, the count goes down to 200-250 words per minute. Some of the fun ways to stop the habit of subvocalizing include pressing your tongue to the roof of your mouth, relaxing your brain by listening to classical songs and diverting your mind by chewing a piece of gum.

2. Use Pacer

How many times have you found yourself deviating from a word or sentence while reading? This usually happens when you are reading information that is aligned in a way that makes it difficult for your eyes to find the next immediate sentence. This might seem insignificant to think of, but it does affect one’s speed when reading. To avoid this sudden break, you can make use of Pacer or tools that help in training eyes to keep moving. Some tools include your finger, a pen or a cursor.

3. Skim and Scan

To increase your reading speed, make sure to befriend the techniques of Skimming and Scanning. The techniques include looking at a text or chapter quickly in order to have a general idea of the content and also looking at the content to find noteworthy information. To simply say, it is about summarising the information as per one’s own understanding. Some ways to apply this technique is by reading diagonally (reading the first few words of the first line followed by last words of the second line), skipping on examples and looking for catchy or highlighted phrases. You can make most of this technique while reading a non-fiction material.

4. Re-reading should not be an option

As much as we would like to absorb the maximum possible information at one go, it is difficult not to re-read. An average person tends to re-read after every few sentences due to fear of losing out on the important information. It is when the use of a credit card or envelopes comes into the picture. You can make use of these to glide over the information or hide the words as you are progressing through the information. This stops you from going back to previous sentences and pushes you to absorb the information simultaneously.

5. Be curious, read more

To work on your reading habits, you have to first fall in love with the idea of reading. To read is to be curious. Push yourself to ask questions like, “What am I looking for?” or “What will I learn from this?” Asking the right questions will eventually lead to more attentive reading. Importantly, do not be lazy while making a ‘to-read’ list. It is essential to read more books in order to identify your own reading habits and to practice different reading tricks.

Reading is fun but have you experienced fast reading? Well, it is a skill that anybody can develop at any point in life. And with the above-mentioned tricks, you can take your first step towards enhancing your reading skills and eventually your knowledge grasping capacity.

Good luck!