Quick reading strategies

Speed Reading - Learning Effectively With MindTools.com

In this article, we'll look at the skill of speed reading, and explore techniques that you can use to read better and faster.

We'll also consider the pros and cons of speed reading – when it is appropriate to use, and the effects that it can have on understanding.

What Is Speed Reading?

Speed reading is the process of rapidly recognizing and absorbing phrases or sentences on a page all at once, rather than identifying individual words.

The amount of information that we process seems to be growing by the day, whether it's emails, reports and websites at work, or social media, books and magazines at home. We likely feel pressure to get through this information more quickly, so that we can "stay in the loop" and make informed decisions.

Click here to view a transcript of this video.

Most people read at an average rate of 250 words per minute (wpm), though some are naturally quicker than others. But, the ability to speed read could mean that you double this rate.

We'll now explore some of the skills that you can use to accelerate your reading.

How to Speed Read

All speed reading techniques have one thing in common: you avoid pronouncing and "hearing" each word in your head as you read it, a process known as as "sub-vocalization." Instead, you "skim" lines or groups of words, as you can understand words more quickly than you can say them.

One way to stop yourself from sub-vocalizing is to focus on blocks of words rather than on individual ones. Do this by relaxing your face and "softening" or expanding your gaze on the page, so that you stop seeing words as single, distinct units. As you practice this, your eyes will skip faster across the page.

Then, when you approach the end of a line, allow your peripheral vision to take your eye to the final set of words. This will help to stop pauses in your reading (often at full points), meaning that you scan across and down to the next line more quickly.

Now let's look at three methods to boost your reading speed:

1. The Pointer Method

Utah school teacher Evelyn Nielsen Wood was one of the pioneers of speed reading. In the 1950s, she claimed that she could read at up to 2,700 wpm if she swept a finger along the line as she read.

This became known as the Pointer method, and is also sometimes called "hand pacing" or "meta guiding." Holding a card under each line and drawing it down the page as you read works just as well.

2. The Tracker-and-Pacer Method

This is a variant of the Pointer method where you hold a pen, with its cap still on, and underline or track each line as you read it, keeping your eye above the tip of the pen. This will help to increase the pace at which you take in each line, and improve your focus on the words. Whether you actually underline the words is your choice.

Try to spend no more than one second on each line and then increase your speed with each subsequent page. You will probably find that you retain very little information at first, but, as you train your brain and you become more comfortable with the technique, your comprehension should improve.

Note:

An advantage of the Pointer and Tracker-and-Pacer methods is that they should reduce your need to skip back and re-read sentences – a hindrance to speed reading that is known as "regression."

3. The Scanning (or Previewing) Method

"Scanning" involves moving your eyes quickly down the page – often down the center – and identifying specific words and phrases as you go. These can be key sentences (often the first sentence of each paragraph), names, numbers, or trigger words and ideas. Learning to expand your peripheral vision can help with this.

You won't read every word, but your eye will land on what is important to allow you to grasp the basic idea. It may be helpful to use a mind map® to organize the information you take in.

Tip:

Apps such as Spritz and Spreeder use techniques like "Rapid Serial Visual Presentation" to train you to process information more quickly.

When to Speed Read

These techniques can all help you to read more quickly, but are they appropriate for what you're trying to achieve?

Effective speed reading is a balance between pace and comprehension. Studies have found that the faster you read, the less information you take in, particularly when it comes to remembering detail.

So, speed reading is clearly not the answer if you're reading a complex legal or technical document, even if you are pushed for time. Similarly, it would be sensible to slow down if the material you're reading is new or unfamiliar, or if you have to teach it to someone else.

When you need to understand only the basic arguments or conclusions being presented, though, using a speed reading technique can work.

This may especially be the case if you intend to go back and re-read something more slowly when you're less busy. In fact, one study has suggested that skimming a text can improve your comprehension the second time around.

Generally speaking, if you want to memorize something, you'll need to read slowly, at less than 100 wpm. A normal rate for learning is 100-200 wpm, and for comprehension it is 200-400 wpm.

Speed reading is normally done at a rate of around 400-700 wpm. Anything above 500-600 wpm means sacrificing comprehension, although this varies from person to person.

How to Improve Your Speed Reading

Knowing the "how" and "when" of speed reading is only the first step to success. Here are some more tips to help you:

• Avoid distractions. Create an environment where there are as few interruptions and distractions as possible, to allow you to focus fully on the words in front of you.
• Go easy. Read an uncomplicated novel or a simple online article to get a feel for which technique is going to work best for you. Gauge how much you've remembered or understood, and set a timer to see how much faster you are now reading.
• Cover words that you've already read. This helps you to stop your eyes flitting back to earlier words and slowing down your reading.
• Know what you want from the text. This can be useful if you are using the skimming method, as it primes you to pay attention when you see relevant words, sentences or phrases. You can then slow down at these points, or circle them for emphasis, but otherwise move across the page quickly.
• Benchmark your progress. This way you can tell whether your practice is paying off. There are many free speed reading assessments online, such as at ReadingSoft.com.
• Practice, practice, practice. You have to practice speed reading to get good at it. The more you train yourself, the more natural it will feel.

Tip:

Speed is not the only way to improve your reading. See our articles on Reading Strategies and Review Strategies to help you to understand and remember what you're reading. Get the basics right, with our articles, Information Gathering and SQ3R (Survey, Question, Read, Recall, Review), and learn how to take more effective notes with The Cornell System.

There are different techniques that you can use to improve your reading speed. All of them involve skimming a page rather than "sub-vocalizing" each word as you were likely taught at school.

Excellent speed reading involves practice and retraining yourself, as well as learning to focus more on what is in front of you and avoiding distractions.

But it is important to strike the right balance between speed and comprehension: sometimes speed reading is not appropriate or helpful.

4 Strategies to Learn to Read Faster

Skip to content

Table of Contents

1. The Science of Speed Reading
1. 1. Scan for Key Words
2. 2. Skip Ahead
3. 3. Make it Relatable
4. 4. Take Notes

Everyone knows how it feels to read a book so good you just can’t put it down–you savor every single word on the page and can recall quotes from the passages by heart. We also know how it feels to read a dry, boring textbook and realize that all of a sudden, you’ve “read” 6 more pages and don’t even recall what it was about.

There’s just one thing that’s different from those two reading scenarios, and that’s enthusiasm. Enthusiasm drives our interest, allows us to focus and absorb more of what we read– leading to the ability to read faster and remember more of the content! It can be hard to be enthusiastic about reading a lot of (often boring) text, which generally takes more time, mental stress and unfocused notes on the subject. This is why we’ve found 4 strategies to change and improve the way you read and recall information. 

The Science of Speed Reading

Here are 4 strategies so you can learn how to speed read:

1. Scan for Key Words

Instead of sounding out the letter combinations we put together to make words and reading them all individually, focus on how your eyes move across the page. Focusing on what your eye is seeing will help increase your reading speed. Basically, we want you to scan the content first until your eyes catch on a word or subject that interests you.

We have been taught since day one to read every single word in a sentence and paragraph, but this process is so lengthy and taxing! We really only need to read nouns and adjectives to understand the main idea of a sentence; verbs, adverbs and other parts of speech are usually unnecessary when you’re just trying to get the basic, most important information. This tip can be hard to get used to, but you’ll be doing it all the time once you’ve got it down! Highlighting these key words and phrases is also a great idea for reviewing the text.

↑ Table of Contents ↑

2. Skip Ahead

Just read the first and last sentences of a paragraph first. This can save you a lot of time if the first sentence of a paragraph introduces a topic that you already know. You then know not to waste your time reading the paragraph in its entirety and and can move on to the next paragraph.

↑ Table of Contents ↑

3. Make it Relatable

Our brain stores every single thing we read, we just don’t know it’s there because most of it goes to our subconscious. Because of this, it can be hard to recall a topic or interesting fact that you’ve read previously. To better retrieve it, we recommend that you relate what you read to something you already know, like a personal experience.

Examples:

• When learning about forensic science, you could relate what you learn to a Criminal Minds episode that scared you, or the time you accidentally found some old animal bones on a hiking trip.
• Back in 5th grade, everything we learned was transformed into an acronym based on what the topic was about, and to be honest, many of these acronyms have followed me into my adult life. Specifically, my 5th grade Science teacher taught us to remember the formula for density (Mass Divided by Volume Equals Density) as Mr. Dutton Vomits Every Day. I realize that this may have not been the best or healthiest example to teach a bunch of fifth graders, but it’s been 11 years and I still know how to calculate density!

↑ Table of Contents ↑

4.

There’s a condition known as hyperthymestic syndrome that allows those affected to remember absolutely everything they read, see or hear. Unfortunately, it’s an extremely rare condition, so the majority of people out there need some help remembering what we read– and for that, we write! Once you finish reading, we recommend that you go back and take some notes from the keywords and topics you highlighted previously. Including a short summary of the most important information you found– you can review this days or years down the line and be able to recall what the book or passage was about!

We hope these 4 easy tips will increase your enthusiasm for reading and learning! We also hope that now, everything you read will be as fascinating as your favorite book, and that you’ll get more from those academic textbooks you’ve always dreaded.

• Guides
• Popular

Read More in Self-Improvement

4 methods of quick reading of educational and scientific literature

People have been reading for hundreds of centuries, but only in our time the question of increasing the speed of reading has become so acute. The main reason is the increase in the volume of information as a result of the development of science, its integrativity and the need to significantly accelerate the development of information. Organize daily workouts for your brain and the result will not be long in coming.

In Russian, reading is interpreted in several meanings:

1. reading as a process of perception of texts arranged in various ways:

2. reading as pronunciation, recitation of texts, including for educational purposes;

3. reading as an oral presentation to an audience of educational (lecture) or scientific material (report).

4. reading as a process of perception, processing, recoding, understanding and memorization of various symbols and texts with the help of a visual analyzer.

In-depth is a way of reading in which the reader pays attention to details, analyzes and evaluates them. It is also called analytical or critical.

For example, this way of reading is best used when studying academic disciplines.

Quick reading - continuous reading of the text, in which the process of analyzing facts and synthesizing individual concepts quickly proceeds.

For example, this way of reading is suitable for reading scientific, technical, economic, etc. literature.

Selective reading is a reading method in which individual sections of the text are read selectively.

For example, this method is used for secondary reading of an information source after its preview.

Reading-browsing is a way of reading in which there is a preliminary acquaintance with the source of information.

For example, we pick up a book, skim through the preface, look for the author’s most important provisions by the table of contents, according to which we can presumably judge the main content of the source, look through the conclusion and draw a conclusion about the usefulness and value of the text.

Reading-scanning is a method of reading a source in which it searches for exclusively factual information (numbers, words, surnames, etc.).

For example, to prove his point of view, the reader looks for this or that statistical information in books.

Thus, the considered methods of reading show the need not only to master them, but also the opportunity to choose the appropriate method each time, depending on the nature of the text and the time budget.

Regression - involuntary, mechanical, repeated eye fixations of the same section of the text (phrases, words, sentences). With such reading, the eyes move back, but not to the starting point of reading, but limiting themselves to the near zone.

Speaking is the movement of the lips, tongue and other organs of speech when reading to oneself. When reading slowly, internal speaking occurs, proceeding at the same speed with which we read the text aloud.

Small field of vision — coverage of the text by the eye during one fixation of the gaze. A person perceives letters, words, at best a few words, therefore, the eyes make several fixations, which is called splitting the gaze.

Absence of a reading strategy - absence of a goal, task and topic that moves the reader.

Lack of attention - switching thoughts to extraneous sounds, thoughts, objects reduces interest in reading and slows down the perception of the text.

Reading methods differ in the speed of their implementation, which is defined as the number of characters read per unit of time. Important is not only the speed of reading the text, but also the coefficient of understanding, the productivity of reading.

In different countries and languages, both the names and meanings of reading standards differ (see table).

Our country also has reading speed standards for adults (see table).

Of course, each person's reading speed is individual and depends on many factors: the activity of neuropsychic processes, features of thinking, attention, genetic predisposition. But each person, training daily, can change his own indicators.

Reception 1. Disable regression.

It is necessary to force yourself not to return to the previously read text. To do this, you can wear headphones while reading or use a special reading algorithm. This algorithm assumes sequential extraction of information on key issues.

Special reading algorithm

TITLE (books, articles) - AUTHOR (authors) - SOURCES AND ITS DATA - TOPIC (what the book, article is about) - FACTUAL INFORMATION - DISPUTE ISSUES - NOVELTY OF THE MATERIAL AND THE POSSIBILITY OF ITS USE.

Reception 2. Disable internal articulation (pronunciation).

Since our speech is a rhythmic pattern, to increase the speed of reading it is necessary to use the technique of arrhythmic tapping.

Arrhythmic tapping reception

While reading to himself, a person taps out a rhythm with his hand that does not correspond to the rhythm of Russian speech. For example: one-two-three-four-six-seven-eight. This rhythm breaks the usual mechanism of speech movements when reading a Russian text, that is, it interferes with internal pronunciation.

Reception 3. Expanding the field of view.

The untrained eye is forced to make 12-16 stops while reading, which takes time and tires the eye muscles.

Vertical reading technique

The table contains numbers from 1 to 25. Look at the center of the table from a distance of 30-40 cm, trying to see the entire table. You must find all the numbers in ascending order from 1 to 25 in 25 seconds. If you have lost any purely, then look for it by moving the eye only vertically. Using the same pattern, you can make tables for yourself with a large number of numbers. Exercise 3-5 minutes daily.

Reception 3. Improving attention.

In psychology, it is customary to distinguish the following qualities of attention: concentration, volume, switching, distribution, and stability. Fluent reading skills require the development of all qualities.

To improve all qualities, a series of exercises must be performed daily.

Exercise example.

You have two tasks. Each of which you must close with a piece of paper immediately after reading. Read assignments very quickly. Then you should answer the questions.

Task 1. The wife asked her husband to buy oil, soap, meat, and cabbage. Husband bought: cabbage, soap, oil, lard. What did your husband forget to buy? What did he buy extra?

Task 2. In room 235, in the right drawer of the cabinet, which stands next to the desk, there is a book of Wormsbereh and the Cabin “One Hundred Pages an Hour”. Bring her. Where exactly is the book? Were you asked to enter room 325, 235, 435? Where is the closet? Where is the book? Who are the authors of the book?

The online Schulte table is one of the most effective simulators for developing attention, memory and speed reading skills.

Lumosity - online version has more than 40 games for training attention, multitasking, short-term and long-term memory, focus (concentration), stress management, etc.

PEAK - contains 25 puzzles divided into several categories. Focus - a series of exercises on interacting with shapes: sorting, matching and isolating them. Agility - puzzles that require quick decision making and cause some brain confusion. Problem Solving - a series of puzzles in which special emphasis was placed on working with numbers and geometric shapes. Memory - 7 exercises to train memory and work with cards. Language - provides for the development of skills for quick selection of words, pairing, searching for words among the letter grid (support for English only).

"B-trainika" — daily selects 5 exercises for you, focused on the comprehensive improvement of the basic cognitive functions of the brain. The total class time is 15-20 minutes per day. All simulators are made in the form of games, so classes on them are exciting and interesting.

Thus, with proper determination, diligence and desire, success is guaranteed to you.

Top 7 Speed ​​Reading Techniques | Blog 4brain

Did you know that football commentators from Spain, Italy and Portugal can read War and Peace in 25 minutes? And all because they completed our short course "Speed ​​Reading" and the extended program "Speed ​​Reading". This, of course, is a joke, but in fact, the novel that inspires horror in high school students with its volume is by no means the largest novel in the world of fiction. In total, 4 volumes of "War and Peace" fit into about 1300 pages [L. Tolstoy, 2008].

As a result, this novel by Leo Tolstoy is not even included in the top 10 longest works of world literature [Dekatop, 2018]. And a well-studied and practiced speed reading technique will allow you to overcome this definitely worth reading novel much faster than you thought in high school.

In short, if you haven't read this piece of Russian literary classic yet, put off this important task for another couple of months while you study the Speed ​​Reading course and the Speed ​​Reading program. When you can read 3-5 times faster than now, large books will no longer scare you with their volume.

Why else do you need to read quickly, other than to compensate for the gaps in the school curriculum and “absorb” the maximum number of new books? Let's think together.

Why and who needs a speed reading technique?

The first and foremost thing that prompts the idea of ​​speed reading is the colossal saving of time. Especially for those who, due to their activities, are forced to process large amounts of printed information. If you have a speed reading technique with a high level of understanding and memorization, combined with time management skills, this will give an amazing result.

Benefits of quick reading:

• Saving the working time required to study the required amount of information.
• Possibility to read more in conditions of limited time resource.
• Faster and more effective preparation for exams at school, university and various training courses.
• The ability to broaden one's horizons without additional and excessive time spent on reading.
• Improving cognitive skills for thinking, understanding and remembering.
• Strengthening the concentration of attention.
• Development of fantasy and imagination.
• An opportunity to reveal your inner potential.

We assume that the last option and the bonus of speed reading - the opportunity to reveal your inner potential - requires clarification. The concept of internal potential is quite multifaceted. This is the baggage of knowledge of a person, and his various abilities, and his ability to distribute forces and energy to perform various tasks.

Thus, having learned to read quickly, you replenish your knowledge base more quickly, polish your ability to collect your thoughts and remember the necessary information, learn to properly distribute strength and attention, taking on any new task. Any new book or article that you decide to read is a new challenge for you.

Or, alternatively, a subtask to achieve a larger and more important goal than just erudition and erudition. One way or another, the ability to quickly process a given array of information or master more in a short period of time is useful in many areas of life. And there are also such types of activities where, without speed reading skills, it’s either impossible or very difficult.

Who needs to read fast:

• Students and schoolchildren - more than half of those who can read study "good" and "excellent", while only 4% of those who read slowly "good" and "excellent students" [nubclub, 2018] .
• Businessmen and entrepreneurs - the flow of documents, market reviews, constant innovations in the field of legislation require the ability to quickly assess the usefulness of information, which is impossible if you read slowly.
• Lawyers, financiers, accountants - working with documents is the essence of their activity, therefore, fast reading techniques with a high degree of understanding of what is written are an urgent need.
• Philologists, literary reviewers and critics - the flow of book novelties with the need to write a clear review of each of them requires a high reading speed, otherwise the task will become impossible.
• Political scientists, sociologists, journalists - in the process of preparing working materials, it becomes necessary to get acquainted with a large amount of data and, at the same time, "fit" into the allotted period of time before the start of the broadcast, the release of the newspaper, etc.
• Scientists and researchers - conducting scientific research requires a lot of preparatory work to study the data accumulated by scientists who have previously studied this or that problem, and at the same time, you need to keep up with the latest in the world of science.
• Engineers, builders, designers, IT-specialists - voluminous technical tasks with many nuances and details that are mandatory for execution require mastering the technique of fast reading with a high level of memorization so as not to constantly return to the TK during work.

So, we figured out who needs to be able to read quickly and why. Now it remains to understand how to learn this. You already know about our short course “Speed ​​Reading” and the extended program “Speed ​​Reading”, but you can take the first step towards mastering the technique of quickly reading books, articles and other materials on your own. To do this, be sure to read our article to the end, even if it still cannot be done quickly.

How to learn speed reading?

So how do you learn to read fast? And, for starters, how to single out the most important thing from the endless stream of tips and recommendations for self-development of speed reading? For those who want to start training right away, we can recommend a selection of simple exercises to develop speed reading skills, and these exercises will certainly benefit you. After some time, you will be able to read a little faster than now, which will save you a number of minutes and hours in the short term.

If you are a supporter of a fundamental approach and with the help of reading you solve work problems of a very different kind, the book "Speed ​​Reading Technique" will help you [O. Kuznetsov, L. Khromov, 1983]. There are only 186 pages, which are quite possible to overcome, even if speed reading is not your thing yet. It should be noted that Kuznetsov-Khromov's "Speed ​​Reading Technique" is one of the earliest applied studies on speed reading in the Russian-speaking space.

In the following years, more research and recommendations appeared in this area. For example, "Speed ​​Reading Technique" [O. Andreev, 2011]. The book "Speed ​​Reading Technique", written by Oleg Andreev, contains 322 pages with illustrative examples and tables of exercises and a recommended schedule for training speed reading skills.

For those who are interested, let's say that the publication “Technique of fast reading. Self-instruction manual according to the program of the Oleg Andreev School "is sold as a set with a DVD. And we will tell you in general terms what is at stake in these two books, the content of which largely overlaps with each other.

Flaws of traditional reading

To begin with, it is worth understanding what prevents us from reading quickly and why this skill needs to be specially trained. Indeed, why can't a person read quickly as soon as he learns to read? Tom has several reasons:

• Articulation or subvocalization - mental, “to oneself”, repetition of what was written while reading takes time and prevents reading faster.
• Small field of view - the gaze of an ordinary person without additional training covers only a few words, which is not enough to understand the meaning of a piece of text, even a paragraph.
• Moving the gaze along the line is a consequence of an underdeveloped field of vision, and the time spent on moving the gaze reduces the speed of reading.
• Lack of a reading strategy - most people do not set themselves a clear goal for what they read something, but read “just for the sake of it” or “because it was asked” at school or university or because it is “necessary for work”.
• Lack of concentration - as a rule, people cannot concentrate on reading and are constantly distracted either by other things or by extraneous thoughts.
• Reading regression - a constant return to the text just read slows down the reading process and, oddly enough, reduces the efficiency of perception.

In fact, a poorly developed field of vision and constant return movements of the pupils are not so harmless as it might seem. How much extra eye movements the average reader makes is clearly shown in the book “Speed ​​Reading Technique” [L. Khromov, O. Kuznetsov, 1983]. If you look at the pattern of the human gaze trace follows, you can see how many fragments of text “fall out” of the attention zone:

Is it possible to somehow deal with this and other shortcomings of the traditional reading model? Not only possible, but necessary! And we will start with the formation of a meaningful reading strategy.

Integral reading algorithm

Just in case, let's clarify the terms used. The word "algorithm" means a sequence of actions, the word "integral" comes from the Latin integralis, which means "constituting a single whole." The bottom line is that any process can be optimized by thinking through its algorithm, and reading is no exception.

This purpose is precisely served by the integral reading algorithm. Having determined a single sequence of actions when reading something, we, firstly, noticeably save time on thinking like “where to start”, and secondly, we immediately understand the main essence of the material being studied. In addition, following a certain algorithm and understanding what information we need to extract, we very quickly filter out unnecessary, secondary and cluttering text. The integral reading algorithm consists of from seven blocks :

Mentally "filling in" the first three blocks, we get an idea of ​​the reliability and completeness of the source. This data allows you to immediately find out whether you can trust him and whether it is worth reading in principle. The fourth block allows you to assess the compliance of the issues discussed in the book or article with the declared title. Sometimes the fourth block is called not "Problem", but "Main Content, Topic".

In the fifth block, while reading, we mentally “place” facts and other data that “serve” the topic or problematic of the material. They can substantiate, clarify, refute or help analyze something. For reading simple short articles and notes, these five points of the algorithm are enough.

If we are talking about the study of scientific data, industry reviews, financial analytics, we need to delve deeper into the processes described. And at the same time, to understand how much this information is new or how much it resonates with already known data. It's not all that complicated and long if you use the integral reading algorithm and try to mentally "fill in" blocks Nos. 6 and 7. it is enough to read the introductory and final paragraphs of each section and scan the rest of the text “diagonally” so as not to miss anything. The expression "diagonally" conditionally denotes the movement of the gaze of a sophisticated reader who has mastered the technique of fast reading and does not freeze over each fragment of the text. We will dwell on the nuances of training such a look a little later, but for now let's move on to the final stage of the algorithm.

After reading the material to the end, stop and think whether you understand everything and whether you managed to “fill in” all the blocks of the algorithm in your brain. If necessary, mentally repeat the main facts, arguments, descriptions and justifications. If you don't understand something, read it again. Please note that this in no way contradicts our previously stated postulate about the need to combat regression.

The first time the text should always be read only in direct sequence, without returns and stops, as soon as you firmly decide to master speed reading. And only at the end of reading and after trying to reproduce in your brain the main points of what you read, you can return to incomprehensible fragments and reread them again.

Such a meaningful end of the reading process is called differently by different researchers. Someone calls it “Know how to put an end to it” [O. Andreev, 2011]. For some, this is the "Harvesting" technique [P. Palagin, 2015]. One way or another, it is always necessary to fix the intermediate and even more so the final results of the work done.

Is all this enough for a meaningful reading strategy? As a basis, of course, yes. However, for a deeper and faster understanding of the text, it is necessary to take into account certain features of the work of the human brain.

Differential reading algorithm

To begin with, as usual, let's clarify the terminology. The word "differential" is derived from the term "differential", which has the same meaning in almost all languages ​​of the world: "different", "different", "changing under any circumstances". What does this have to do with reading?

The fact is that in the process of reading our brain correlates the information received with the information already available in our minds. So, when describing nature, we have some images, when describing a war, others, when describing the feelings and experiences of lyrical heroes, still others. And each person will have his own image of nature, war, love, separation. This process can be conditionally represented as0005 text compression levels:

Simply put, we all perceive the same information in different ways. How then to come to a common understanding of something, for example, educational material, terms of reference, or at least the image of a literary hero for writing an essay at school in accordance with a given topic? For this, a differential reading algorithm is needed:

Here, in general, everything is simple. Key words are formed into semantic chains, which lead us to an understanding of the meaning and meaning of the entire text. Thus, the dominant from the diagram shown in the figure is, as it were, the essence of the text, rethought by a person in accordance with his knowledge, experience, and attitudes.

This explains the fact that 30 students in a class will write 30 different essays, although the topic for all was the same. A Senior programmer will solve a problem a little differently than a Middle level specialist if he is offered the same task.

It seems that the meaning of the integral and differential reading algorithms is generally clear. For clarity, a better understanding of the difference, you can use the image proposed by Kuznetsov and Khromov in the book "Speed ​​Reading Technique".

An integral algorithm is when we come to the store and try to remember what we need to buy: bread, milk, butter, vermicelli. A differential algorithm is when we stand in front of a shelf with pasta and try to choose which vermicelli is better for us to take.

And now that we have figured out how to build a meaningful reading strategy, it's time to understand what to do with unconscious reflexes that prevent us from increasing our reading speed. Let's start with such a phenomenon as subvocalization.

Suppression of subvocalization

We have already figured out that subvocalization is the pronunciation of the text being read “to oneself”. Moreover, at the moment of pronouncing our language, the vocal cords and other parts of the speech apparatus make micro-movements that can be recorded using electromyography, a special method for studying the bioelectrical activity of muscles.

In addition to the muscles of the speech apparatus, the brain takes the most direct part in inner speech. How can we silence this whole "chorus" for the duration of our reading? There are several main methods.

Techniques for suppressing subvocalization:

• Close your mouth tightly, and it is better to hold a pencil between your teeth to interfere with the movements of the muscles of the vocal apparatus.
• Count out loud or sing to distract the brain from inner speech.
• Listen to music with a ragged or complex rhythm while reading, having time to follow the melody.
• Select a large piece of text and try to understand it in a few seconds, which is not enough to read with mental pronunciation of words.
• Tap out a special rhythm to suppress subvocalization.

People who know musical notation can use musical notation of a special rhythm to suppress subvocalization:

Everyone else will have to train their ear and try to learn this rhythm from audio recording: