If you find your mind wanders when you're studying, you may actually be reading too slowly! If you read too slowly your brain has spare capacity, so your thoughts will wander off on a tangent.
This section will introduce you to Speed Reading — simply, reading faster; also to Skimming a text to get a quick overview, and Scanning a text to quickly find relevant information.
You can easily train yourself to read more quickly — if you are willing to practice.
Improving your Reading Speed
Physically, when reading, your eyes move jerkily across a number of "fixation points".
Speed-readers don't try to take in and understand each and every word. They don't "read aloud" in their head.
Speed-readers read in "blocks", thus maximising the number of words they read in any "fixation".
So...
• Relax.
• Focus.
• Use a ruler or index card to guide your eyes down the page of text, line by line. You may feel self-conscious, but it works! Alternatively, just run the end of a pen under each line.
• Move the pen, ruler or card smoothly across/down the page, and force your eyes to keep up.
• Remember, don't fixate on each and every word.
• You will be surprised how much you take in.
Skim Reading
The aim of skim reading is to get the general idea, gist or overview of a text and its content, not to have a detailed understanding of the text.
• Use the Contents page to get an overview.
• Read the first and last sentence of each chapter / section / paragraph to see where the text is going and what it's covering.
Scanning
Scanning is what you do when you read very quickly for a specific piece information. For instance, when looking up a number in a phone book.
Use headings and titles and formatting clues (e.g. bold text, indented quotations) on the page to help you home in on what you're looking for.
Don't try to read every word.
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