People often think that speed reading is simply the ability to move your eyes over as much text as possible in the shortest available time. It’s true that good speed readers can read hundreds of words per minute more than the average reader, but the thing that distinguishes them from the crowd is their ability to comprehend and remember what they’ve read. Reading through text without comprehension is a waste of your time. For this reason, if you’re thinking of signing up for a speed reading course or purchasing speed reading software, make sure they promise both improved comprehension as well as improved speed.

Text comprehension is a multifaceted process, and one that isn’t always taught in schools any more. Part of comprehension involves what’s often referred to as “critical thinking” – that is, the ability to question and analyze text as you read it. In order to do this, you need to be able to both retain that analytical viewpoint and efficiently process text. Learning speed reading techniques will help you do this.

At its most basic level, reading is simply the recognition that the letters on a page are arranged to make words, and those words form sentences. It’s possible to “read” text in a language you don’t know just by sounding out the words, even if you don’t know the meaning of them. Comprehension is what takes reading to a meaningful level.

Comprehension starts with knowing the meaning of individual words. Next, the reader needs to understand the meaning of the words once they are combined into phrases. Finally, the reader must be able to understand the overall ideas and concepts that the author is communicating by using those phrases. Comprehension at this level depends on vocabulary skills, the ability to use context clues to derive meaning, and on the reader’s overall knowledge. That’s why it’s so important to read as much as possible as part of your vocabulary studies, and to choose reading material from a variety of sources. The more you know, the faster you’ll be able to read, and you’ll improve your comprehension skills at the same time.