Want to increase your reading speed? Reading is a great way to increase your knowledge and to put it frankly, books are amazing. They are great for anyone with a thirst for knowledge as all this information is easily accessible and you don’t necessarily have to learn it all yourself – learn it from a book by someone who knows what they are talking about.
How Can You Increase Your Reading Speed?
The faster you read, the more books you get through. Most adults read around 250 words per minute but reading material will of course impact speed with some texts easier to read than others. With practice, 1,000 words per minute is definitely achievable with some people being able to read faster than that. We have shared some tips to help you increase your reading speed below.
Here are some fantastic strategies to help you to increase your reading speed:
- Keep Your Eyes Moving Forward – A study that tracked eye movement found that the average reader spends 30% of the time looking back over the words they have just read. Try to avoid doing this and try to make steady progress by keeping your eyes moving in the right direction and soon increase your reading speed.
- Try Not To Fixate On Words – Linked to the above, your eyes actually stop and look at one or more words then move to another and look again. This is why some people can read faster as they actually take in more words by not fixating on them like slower readers.
- Spend Less Time On Your Fixations – With fast readers using less fixations per line, they are also spending less time on each one. If you concentrate, you can probably move along a line of text faster than you think.
- Test Yourself – Try one of the many free reading speed tests online that can assess your reading speed or set a time and see how much you can read in a set amount of time, counting the words you have read at the end. Test yourself regularly and see how much quicker you are getting.
- Try Reading Faster Than What Is Comfortable To You – If 400 words per minute is comfortable to you, try 500 or 600. It should feel too fast but after doing this for a few minutes, your comfortable reading speed will seem easy and you will be able to read more. Start and end each reading session with some fast reading.
- Use Your Finger – Teachers may have discouraged you from using your finger as a pointer when reading but it is actually a good technique for increasing speed and keeping eyes in the right places. You don’t have to use it all the time though!
- Concentrate – Read in a quiet room with limited distractions. Pay attention to what you are doing!
- Read Daily – The more you practice, the quicker your reading speed will increase. You only need to take a few minutes a day to see real progress.
Pick a pile of books, set a timer and see what you can get through once you have been trying out these tips for a little while. You might surprise yourself with what you manage to achieve or you might notice that you may need to work a little harder. After all, practice makes perfect.
The faster you read, the more you learn. If you need to read for work, then you can get your work done faster. With a few minutes a day, you should be reading faster within a matter of weeks! If you are truly wanting to learn how to increase your reading speed, then these top tips should really help you.
If you liked this, you might like Top Tips For Potty Training Your Toddler.
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