Beginning speed readers frequently have the misconception that “speed reading” simply means “always reading at the highest possible speed.” While the general concept is true, it’s important to remember that the rate at which you read will fluctuate depending on three things:

– the difficulty of the material you’re reading
– the reasons you’re reading that material
– the results or answers you want to get from it

Because of this, you need to be sure that your definition of “the highest possible speed” includes these three factors, and that you don’t get so focused on your words-per-minute rate that you sacrifice comprehension and retention.

Here’s something that you might not realize is true even for the most proficient speed readers: your reading rate should slow down when the material requires it. While it’s easy to quickly read through material on a topic you’re familiar with, anything new to you will be, at first, harder to understand and remember. This means that you’ll need to adjust your reading rate downward to compensate for the increased time it’s taking you to process the new information. You’ll have to allow your brain time to create the new base memories related to the information before you can store it, and if you don’t store the memory of what you’re reading, you’ll find it impossible to accurately remember later. You don’t have to be an expert in every field in order to get information from a variety of text sources, but you do need to give yourself enough time to process and comprehend what you’re reading.

A second factor in reading rate is the reason that you’re choosing to read a specific text. Are you looking for answers to one or more questions? Are you skimming through something that’s not terribly important, but that you need to be somewhat familiar with? Are you preparing for a presentation and searching out facts and figures to incorporate or highlight? Or are you sitting on the beach and just wanting a bit of entertainment? What you want to get out of a piece of text influences the effort you put into reading it. Learn to scan and skim when appropriate, and when to slow down to pay attention to every detail. Before you start to read, ask yourself what you want to find, and you’ll find it easier to locate the information you need.

Finally, remember that it’s your overall reading speed that you’re working to improve. As you gain in speed reading skill, even your “slow and steady” reading rate will be much faster than it was before. Set your reading speed to match your needs and goals, and you’ll get results much more quickly.