One of the big stumbling blocks for people when they’re trying to increase and improve their reading speed is a lack of adequate vocabulary. In fact, your eyes literally “stumble” over words you’re not familiar with, and your smooth reading flow comes to a sudden stop as you have to pause, look up a word (or try to guess its meaning), apply the right meaning to the context of the sentence, and pick up where you’ve left off.

You’ve probably noticed that it’s easier to quickly read and comprehend material on a familiar subject – you have most of the vocabulary firmly in your brain, and any less-familiar words are often either related to words you already know, or easy to define based on how they’re used. While no one can be an expert on everything, it’s a fact that the more you know about different topics, the more words you’ll know, because every topic, subject, and field has its own specific set of useful words. By expanding the quantity and variety of what you read (essays, articles, reviews and summaries, novels, research publications, etc.) you will also make it easier to increase your reading speed, by smoothing out the “new word” bumps in the road.

You’ve heard the phrase “vicious circle” no doubt; by contrast, this is a helpful and creative circle, an endless loop of progress rolling forward, as the more you read, the more knowledge you gain, making it easier for you to read works on diverse topics, which gives you an even greater knowledge base to build on. Your ability to quickly assimilate and comprehend information will increase as your reading skills and speed increase, giving you the competitive edge you need to succeed in today’s information-based economy.

Taking the time to read a variety of materials will not only give you valuable knowledge and insight that will help you succeed at work, but will make you a sought-after conversational partner in both professional and casual settings. Your wide range of knowledge will help you participate in discussions on many topics.

Take the time today to pick out something new to read, and the speed of your improvement will soon become apparent.

Vocab1 guarantees to help you increase your vocabulary knowledge! Learn more words and apply them in your writings.
7 Speed Reading is designed to be the world’s most powerful speed reading training program. If you want to learn speed reading, 7 Speed Reading is the best option. 

Let go of (almost) everything you knew about reading (as taught in school)

Subvocalization

Sounding out the words you read in your mind and mouth slows your reading pace significantly. By eliminating the act of subvocalization in easy to medium level texts you pick up the pace of reading without sacrificing comprehension. You see, your mind can read faster than your mouth can sound out the words. By eliminating subvocalization you essentially unleash your reading speed potential.

The same goes for reading out loud. This can be a reading strategy that facilitates comprehension – especially when you first learn to read. But if you alread know how to read, it no longer serves you.

Sharpened eye movement

With eye movement being a fundamental aspect of speed reading, it only makes sense to try to improve eye movement and strength. You can achieve this through eye fixation exercises where you train your eye to read more chunks of words at a time, rather than one word after the other.

This “one word at a time” approach is a habit adopted in your primary school years and when you were first introduced to reading. You probably remember being called upon to read word by word, often out loud. But by the time you finished the sentence you had to reread the whole thing to remember what was at the beginning!

Many people have an off-center  or anomalous reading rhythm too. Speed reading exercises help you achieve a smoother, more balanced eye movement as you read, making the process faster.

Don’t read it again. Ever.

Eliminate regression with increased focus. When we read we often get distracted so we actually read the words without extracting any meaning from them. This forces us to reread so we can understand what we read (again).

This speed-reading-sabotaging habit is called regression. It’s the result of losing your place on the screen or paper, or of not being mindful of the reading process, or of distracting yourself with other tasks or thoughts and having to go over your text all over again.

Learning to speed read by eliminating one bad habit at a time

Don’t read when you’re tired or distracted. If need be take a five-minute break to unwind and focus.

Reading when you’re tired is counterproductive, especially if it’s for research or studying. You will often have slow recognition and response to what you’re reading, find it hard to understand what’s being said and as a result, have to re-read the whole thing.

Many people are slowed down by anxiety that they won’t be able to comprehend a difficult text. You’ll be surprised how much your attitude toward a text can affect your comprehension of it. Be more confident and relaxed when it’s time to read.  Have instrumental music playing in the background or take a brisk walk to clear your head beforehand.

Now, over to you for the comments. What reading habit slows your reading down? How have you tried getting rid of this habit?

Reading will be a part of every day for the rest of your life. It doesn’t matter if you’re reading tweets, books, legal documents, or your daughter’s homework, reading is a way of obtaining information that is vital to our survival and success as human beings.

Yet for all that, most people are never taught a productive way to read. Instead, children learn the basics, but they often learn bad reading habits at the same time. Only when we’re older do we realize just how crucial it is to learn the right way to speed read.

The benefits of speed reading are numerous. You probably know about many of them already. But have you put that knowledge to use?

Remember, when you speed read you improve  your comprehension and expand your understanding of the topic. As a result you become an expert at – and an authority on – what you do.

Because of the sheer amount of knowledge you accumulate, you’ll also be able to exert influence and inspire others. In short, speed reading is the springboard to success. But success requires strategy, not shortcuts.

Speed Reading for Children

“But wait,” you might think, “surely speed reading is secondary to teaching children the basics of how to read!” The problem is that most children never go past the basics, and continue early reading habits like subvocalization and regression into adulthood.

A child can grow up still sounding out the words in their head as they read (subvocalization). They still go back to re-read whole passages of text (regression) because they weren’t paying attention. As an adult, you’re being slowed down by these habits learned in childhood.

That’s why it is so important to teach the right reading skills from the start. Offer children the tools and know-how to read fast without sacrificing comprehension. And when you read a lot and read the right things, a world of opportunities opens up, and the road to realizing your dreams becomes real.

Imagine the time you’ll save and the amount of books you’ll read once you learn to read words in groups instead of one by one. Once you stop backtracking and reading text twice to be sure you understand. Once you have developed the critical skills needed to skim through paragraphs and chapters and only slow down in important sections of a book or textbook.

Speed Reading for Students

The good news is that with the proliferation of cloud-based apps and speed reading software you can quickly improve your reading speed.

Learning to let go of time-consuming reading habits becomes easier when you have software or a virtual tutor to guide you through the essential skill-building exercises.

Speed reading is not a buzzword. Speed reading is not difficult to master. It’s a skill you can acquire through practice and the right guidance.

Let me explain.

Take the sentence “Mary gave John and Julia the keys to her apartment.”

This sentence contains 10 words. You can read it word after word or slice it into two semantic clusters, choosing to ignore words such as ‘and’ and ‘the’ and ‘to.’ Why?

Because these words are not giving you the gist of the sentence. Words like ‘gave’ and ‘keys’ and ‘apartment’ do, and its keywords like those that you need to focus on. Students have a lot of reading to do, and keyword recognition is a speed-reading skill that helps them keep up with even the heaviest course load.

Speed Reading for Adults

It’s obvious that speed reading is all about being smart about your reading. It’s what will ultimately save you time, improve your knowledge base, and keep you a step ahead of the competition. Reading clusters of words instead of one word at a time is one way to learn to read faster. For example, software or online tools will help improve your eye fixation rate and span, which increases the number of words you can read at one time. A good online app will also help you to eliminate subvocalisation and reduce backtracking.

This might sound like a lot to start learning as an adult, but you can learn at any age. In fact, you can master these skills right now. Speed reading will benefit you at every point in your life and give you the seeds to grow your own tree of success and happiness.

7 Speed Reading is designed to be the world’s most powerful speed reading training program. If you want to learn speed reading, 7 Speed Reading is the best option.

Speed reading is impossible without fixing bad reading habits first

Regression, limited fixation, and vocalization are just three of the many bad reading habits that prevent many people from speed reading. Or at least doing so at their full capacity. But please do not blame your primary school teacher. It’s not their fault.

However, you can change these reading habits now. Learn to get rid of them and make room for speed reading habits that will boost your reading speed.

About 30% of your reading time is spend on rereading

Seems like an awful lot of time wasted, doesn’t it? Regression and backtracking are the two main reasons you’re not reading as fast as you could.

Lack of focus, distractions, and the move from paper reading to digital reading all have a role to play in how much you backtrack when reading.

You can eliminate regression, the act of re-reading material either unconsciously or consciously, by making it impossible to do so. Let me explain. Use a pointer to force your eyes to only read what’s in front of you. A pen or cursor can do the trick.

If you’re reading a book or newspaper try using a blank sheet of paper or another book to cover every line you just read. This will force you to be more focused because  you know that you cannot go back to re-read!

Reading fast is all about improving comprehension

Reading at 900 or 1000 wpm is useless if you cannot retain any information. Speed reading is all about your goals, but your two goals should be speed and comprehension working together.

To speed read is not to have your eyes scan content as fast as you can. It’s about being a selective reader where you read slowly when an important argument is made, you start skimming through pieces that are redundant or supplementary, and overall you read at a pace that’s comfortable enough to facilitate comprehension yet fast enough to be time-efficient.

Put simply, speed reading ultimately boils down to being a discerning, critical reader.

Speed reading is an essential skill for today’s professionals

Reading faster is more than saving a few hours every week. It’s about having the opportunity to learn new skills and gather new knowledge. In other words, it’s about staying a step ahead of your competitors and colleagues.

Being a speed reader opens up a whole new world for you, from better career prospects to increased influence and expertise in your company and at a wider community level. Speed reading is your opportunity to move ahead and to stand out.

Educator and entrepreneur Evelyn Wood created the first speed reading course, named Reading Dynamics. That was in 1959. A lot has changed since and speed reading courses have been fine-tuned and optimized, now offering a comprehensive speed reading learning experience with tangible yet impressive results.  7 Speed Reading, for instance, can help you read three times your current speed through the power of technology, progress tracking, and step-by-step video tutorials.

Any bit of help matters

Speed reading is a complex cognitive process. It requires a combination of alertness and mental focus and of course learnable skills like using your peripheral vision to expand your eye fixation, eliminating regression, and reducing vocalization to a minimum.

While it is possible to learn to speed read in a self-directed manner, using a speed reading app can offer you the right tools and techniques to speed read in less time and with less practice.

7 Speed Reading is designed to be the world’s most powerful speed reading training program. If you want to learn speed reading, 7 Speed Reading is the best option.

Speed reading is 99% practice

To speed read you need to eliminate subvocalization, or when you hear and shape words with your mouth and in your head. That’s a fact. And that’s the first step to mastering speed reading. There are several simple techniques that help you fight this habit, but only practice will get rid of it entirely.

You’ve been reading in a certain way because that’s what you were taught to do in school. Now you need to unlearn those old methods and acquire new speed-reading habits! And it’s only through consistent practice you’re going to make it happen.

Amp up your speed reading gradually

In other words, start small. You cannot expect to speed read a medical textbook after a few hours of practicing subvocalization elimination and cluster reading. You need to start small, and practice with books or text that is at your current reading level to help you get in the speed reading mode. It will be easier to concentrate and implement everything you learn when the content is with you and not against you.

It’s also important to be relaxed when you learn to speed read, and starting off with easy stuff does help. You’ll know when you’re ready to move on to more difficult texts.

You’re not on your own

Don’t be that person who sabotages their own learning process because you don’t know how to find help when you need it. If there are tricks and hacks to help you speed read, please use them.

Use a ruler, or a pen, or a card to guide your eyes at the desired speed to the next cluster of words.

This simple device can help you speed up your reading without exerting too much effort. By changing the circumstances, you’re forcing yourself to adapt to the new speed-optimized reality of reading.

Remember, speed reading is all about making smart choices. These three best practices will help you speed read, and read smarter, not harder!

7 Speed Reading is designed to be the world’s most powerful speed reading training program.

What is vocalization or subvocalization in reading?

When you “hear” the words you’re reading on a paper or screen, even if only inside your head, you’re doing what’s called vocalization. You’re reading with your mouth instead of just your eyes, and this inevitably slows you down.

For most people, the eyes go faster than the mouth. That means reading silently is much faster than pronouncing words and phrases out loud. It is difficult to speed read as fast as you’d like if you still engage in this time-consuming habit.

To be clear up front, vocalization is very difficult to completely eradicate. Even the most proficient speed readers sometimes vocalize, but they know how to keep it in check.

Why you should get rid of vocalization when you read

If everyone does it, you might ask, why should I worry about it? Here are a few reasons:

You’ll Read Faster

When you vocalize every single word you read you are slowing down your reading speed. People who can speed read at 800 wpm vocalize very little – that’s what allows them to read at this pace in the first place.

You’ll Improve Comprehension

If you vocalize the words you read, you’re putting extra cognitive burden on your brain. When you speed read, all of your brain needs to be focused on processing what you are reading, and not  on sounding the words out in your head (or worse, murmuring them out loud). The more focused you are on comprehension, the more you can extract from what you read.

How to eliminate vocalisation when you speed read

As you’ve realized by now, vocalization sabotages your speed reading ambitions. It’s completely unnecessary and slows you down to the point of ridiculousness.

To stop subvocalization you need to push yourself into reading whole clusters of words. While still maintaining a reading pace slightly faster than your comfortable speed.

When you see words, and even whole phrases, as semantic entities, you leave no alternative to your brain but to fast-process what you read in order to quickly move onto the next chunk.

As a result, you have no time or ability to sound the words in your mouth or head.

7 Speed Reading is designed to be the world’s most powerful speed reading training program. If you want to learn speed reading, 7 Speed Reading is the best option.

You can improve your reading speed and get up to 3 times faster, simply by letting go of reading habits you learned in primary school and by adopting skills that are more … 21st century compatible, shall we say. Let’s dig in!

Read chunks of words, not word after word

At school you learned to read in a linear manner. Spell out every sound, syllable, and word before moving on to the next. It’s a great practice for children who are just starting to learn to read, but it’s not helpful when you want to read at 500 or 600 words per minute.

When we read we fixate our eyes on a particular area in front of us. To read faster you need to have the fewest number of fixation points per line as possible in order to read faster through each line. This is reading in saccades, jumping from one fixation point to the next in little bursts.

Each fixation act lasts as little as 0.25 of a second, so imagine how much improvement you will achieve by having only one or two fixation points per line! This will greatly improve your words-per-minute rate.

To achieve this you have to learn to use your peripheral vision when reading. Instead of fixating on a single word, focus your eyes in the blank space between two words so that you must read both the word on the left side of the space and on the right side at the same time.

After some time you’ll be able to read more than two words at once using your peripheral vision and by expanding your fixation area.

The only way is forward

Fixation is not the only problem when it comes to speed reading mastery. You also need to eliminate regression.

This is another leftover habit from when you were young and just starting out to read. You would spell out a word, and then instantly read the whole thing to get what you’re reading.

This habit as an adult, however, will completely ruin your speed reading potential. If you constantly back-skip to reread words and whole sentences because you weren’t paying attention, you’re spending too much time. It is estimated that about one third of your reading time is spent rereading stuff  you just read either because you consciously didn’t get it the first time, or because it is something your brain is still trying to process in the old letter-by-letter method.

Either way, you need to reduce regression to a minimum in order to read more in less time. What you can do:

– Prevent yourself from re-reading a phrase of word – unless of course you absolutely have to!

– Use a pointer to keep your reading speed at a high level. Using your index finger, your cursor, or a pen will force your eyes to read faster. Of course, to achieve this you first need to increase your focus and alertness so that every phrase you read is understood and you can move on to the next without backtracking.

By eliminating these two bad habits of regression and vocalization you will be able to read at as much as three times your current reading rate. Remember, speed reading takes practice and the more you practice the faster you will read!

7 Speed Reading is designed to be the world’s most powerful speed reading training program. If you want to learn speed reading, 7 Speed Reading is the best option.

David Mitchel

College is one time period of life that lets you fly like a bird (no kidding). After college life really doesn’t give you a lot of chances; first of all, you don’t really get to make true and sincere friends (not usually). Secondly, you cannot free yourself from the pile of responsibilities, even if you want to and lastly you become a part of a never-ending race. There is, however, one small problem – college life doesn’t really show you the real colors of practical world. You do need to get yourself prepared for that; it is very important, otherwise, you will be kicked out soon. No college student is interested in books, especially when it comes to writing an essay on a book, everyone knows that, but these 10 books are just not scripts but some life hacks you need to learn in order not to flunk in exam of life!

Take a look:

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1. To Kill a Mocking Bird by Harper Lee is just one book everyone should read once in their lifetime. The book shall broaden a student’s perspective regarding societal factors. Harper Lee has addressed the issue of class, gender roles, courage and compassion in her book excellently.

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2. The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini is another brave attempt of identifying the deep-rooted colonial germs in Afghanistan. It also focuses on bonds between families, in particular a father and a son. It is the best way of looking at the world from a different perspective.

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3. How to Get Filthy Rich in Rising Asia by Mohsin Hamid is a perfect interpretation of desires that arise as globalization flattens. It can turn out to be a great piece for students intending to chase literature in future.

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4. I Am Malala by Malala Yousafzai is a story of a girl from Pakistan that fought for her right to education. It is a brave step against Talibanization that is so brutally evading human lives in contemporary times. Students will realize how important education is for people who don’t have an easy access to it.

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5. Free Food for Millionaires by Min Jin Lee is the best read for students who have hard time making career choices. It is a story of a girl who battles between her parents’ choices for her future and her own choice for career. The moral is that it shall be you who decides what is best and not others’ expectations.

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6. As the Crow Flies by Jeffrey Archer is an example of a boy who started his voyage empty-handed and with support of his friends and family reached to levels of success beyond imagination. It identifies how a common man can ignore Britain’s rigid class structure and still achieve goals and ambitions.

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7. Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte is a story of an orphaned girl who is a victim of the 19th century social evils. Being treated bad by her aunt and servants she finally gets mentally ill and is sent off to a religious boarding. There she finds her first friend. The story is a flux of emotions, hardships and sufferings.

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8. One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez is basically the history of an isolate town called Macondo. A family finds it and starts living. For years the town comes in no contact with the rest of the world but then interaction begins and so do wars and politics. It is a story of births, deaths, love affairs and marriages, defining different phases of a shaping society.

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9. The Stranger by Albert Camus is the story of a young man living in Algiers. He experiences different feelings, meets different people and comes across various events. It is a story that will allow students to look deep within them and look at life from a different perspective.

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10. The Art of Happiness by Dalai Lama is a splendid example of defining pursuit of happiness in life. It is a brilliant piece of writing, where people can easily learn to judge their actions in light of happiness. The writer has beautifully mentioned some rules and principles of happiness, compassion, love and kindness. He defines contentment as the ability to stop chasing what we don’t have and focus on what we have.

There are many other books that could win your heart. All that matters is one’s taste in literature. As the famous saying goes, “Books are your best friends.” They not only serve as the best company in times of solitude but also prove to be great teachers in times of hardships. People who spend more time with books have a level of understanding and maturity higher than the others. This is true to a major extent in case of youngsters too. Young people who read books make more logical decisions. Especially when a student graduates there is not much time for friends and fun, so it is better to cash time with these great books in future too.

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Author bio: Dave is an academic college writer writing for various educational platforms, including www.solidessay.com. His article on is how to write a Humanities abstract helps students make their articles and dissertations look professional.

There’s only so much stress and pressure one person can handle. While power drinks and coffee might offer you that desperately needed push, sometimes to be productive you must slow down. Yes, I said slow down.

Before you dismiss my proposal as impossible, hear me out. It might sound ironic but it’s true; we’ve been trained to think that the faster we engage with tasks the better our results. But this is only partially true. If what we’re after is long-term, sustainable productivity then the key is to slow down a bit. With less stress burdening your shoulders you boost your clarity and efficiency, ultimately allowing yourself to be more productive.

Thanks, but no thanks

It’s important to turn down extra projects, overtime work, and anything else that puts extra strain on your already packed schedule. If people come to know you as the “yes, of course I will” person, then you will soon find yourself overwhelmed by the amount of tasks and responsibilities constantly deluging you, and you’ll find it increasingly harder to say “no.”

Saying “sorry, no” reminds people of your own humanity and limitations, and its nurtures others’ respect for you. Fewer responsibilities mean less workload, which then equals better productivity. Simple math here.

It’s all in the present moment

To manage to be productive even at a slowed-down pace requires that you practice mindfulness. Stop worrying over others’ future expectations and opinions of you. Rather, focus on what you need and should accomplish right now.

You can do this by focusing in the present moment. Forget the bigger picture and just be at peace with what you didn’t manage to do (your past) and what you should do (your future). This way you are mindful of what you’re capable of achieving right this moment.

This realization is what will boost your productivity, even if you are working in what it seems to be ridiculously slow-motion.

Sleep, what’s that?

It shouldn’t be optional, period. Sleep has been found to be more important than exercise and its essential role in your well-being is unquestionable. Sleep helps you better control your diet and food intake, while sleep deprivation makes you prone to mistakes and less resistant to fatty and sugary snacks.

With more sleep, you will achieve a consistent and enhanced brain functionality, increase your alertness, and overall perform better with less effort. No project, event or circumstance is more important than sleep.

Our society fosters fast-paced lifestyles; we’re expected to speed read, touch type at 150 wpm, and constantly multi-task so that we can fit everything we need to do into a tight 24 hour time frame. While this increased speed can improve our productivity in the short term, slowing down is important for both our well-being and work performance.  Having overwhelming schedules is not obligatory. It’s an option, and a choice we make each day.

You can change this by being more mindful of your daily routines, focusing more on your health and well-being by resting, turning down more responsibilities, getting enough sleep, and just slowing down from time to time, to recuperate.