Skimming - will it improve your reading speed?

Written by Melvin Ng


A cornerstone ofrepparttar ability to speed read isrepparttar 109148 ability to skim. However, many argue that skimming is in fact cheating - i.e. you're not really reading at all! The following is a brief outline argument in favor of why skimming will improve your reading speed (and ability).

Basically, skimming isrepparttar 109149 most rudimentary form of reading. The object of skim reading is not to necessarily comprehend all that is being read, but rather to familiarize yourself, as quickly as possible, withrepparttar 109150 text being read. In this regard, skimming materials, by readingrepparttar 109151 index, subject headings and sub-headings, allows you to prepare yourself so that whenrepparttar 109152 time comes, you can race ahead and speed read at pace - as you are already familiar withrepparttar 109153 text. Consequently, your overall reading speed will be vastly improved.

In addition, skimming allows your subconsciousrepparttar 109154 chance to absorbrepparttar 109155 main ideas of a text. These are later cemented by your speed reading ofrepparttar 109156 contents. The combination of these two methods allows you greater comprehension of what you are reading.

Conversely, if you are reading from cold, there is more chance you'll miss certain points or issues. If you want, think of it as if you are watching a movie forrepparttar 109157 second time: don't you always see parts ofrepparttar 109158 movierepparttar 109159 second time that you didn't seerepparttar 109160 first, which makesrepparttar 109161 second viewing allrepparttar 109162 more relaxing and pleasurable?

How to Skim Read

Having ascertained that skimming will increase our reading speed, we now need to know how to skim read. Whilst there are many different methods adopted to skim reading,repparttar 109163 following arerepparttar 109164 essential elements:

* readrepparttar 109165 index of a text - note that it is essential that you do this so that you getrepparttar 109166 general ideal of whatrepparttar 109167 text is about;

Does speed reading take the joy out of reading?

Written by Melvin Ng


A common enough remark is that speed reading takesrepparttar joy out of reading. However, is this entirely fair? Would it not be fairer to say that being able to speed read actually increasesrepparttar 109147 joy of reading? To answer this, we need to look at some ofrepparttar 109148 reasons why we are speed reading inrepparttar 109149 first place!

It should always be inrepparttar 109150 forefront of your mind that speed reading is a skill. It is adopted when certain circumstances arise and it is not always necessarily a skill you need to invoke each and every time you read something.

An example, if you are curled up in bed readingrepparttar 109151 latest thriller novel, it is unlikely you are going to want to be speed reading. The reason: first, because you have spent a lot of money onrepparttar 109152 novel and so want to make it last; second because part ofrepparttar 109153 atmosphere that you have set in which to read is one of relaxation and taking things easy.

If we now transferrepparttar 109154 scene to one where we are readingrepparttar 109155 latest financial report from ABC Company Limited, even if we are doing this in bed,repparttar 109156 environment in which we are reading has dramatically changed.

The need and reason why we readrepparttar 109157 text in these two scenarios is notrepparttar 109158 same. Inrepparttar 109159 former we are at leisure. Inrepparttar 109160 later we are in professional mode. Clearly inrepparttar 109161 later, where we want to be done withrepparttar 109162 reading and off to sleep, we can adapt out speed reading skills and inrepparttar 109163 former we may choose not to.

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