Speed Reading Exercises: 3 Ways To Increase Your Reading Speed and Comprehension

Speed reading exercises have been most valuable to students, teachers and even top executives in improving comprehension. Unfortunately, not everyone is privy to these techniques. Seeing as you are reading this article now, I have to congratulate you for making it this far. Acknowledging the need to improve one's reading speed is the first step to achieving a lot of great things. Read on to find out which speed reading exercises work best for you. Speed Reading Exercise # 1: Point and Read The first exercise is nothing out of the ordinary. All you need to do is choose a book. Start with something fairly simple. Get a timer, too, so you can track how long it takes you to read it. Now, as you read the text, let your finger guide you through the sentences. Once you get comfortable, increase the speed with which your finger moves. Doing this helps your brain process the text faster and in turn, finish the book faster. You might be surprised at how much slower you read without your finger guiding you along. Speed Reading Exercise # 2: Skimming the Material Skimming the text allows you to have better comprehension of the text compared to someone who dove right into the first paragraph. It helps you to spot key points which tell you right away what the material is all about. Reading the title and the subtitle also gives you clues as to what you're about to feed your mind. It sounds ridiculously simple, but a lot of people who dive right in often end up dazed and confused. In the end, what have they really understood from what they have read? Speed Reading Exercise # 3: Practicing Speed Reading There is no such thing as a perfect reading speed; however, practice at least helps you get faster with every book. By now, you probably know how long it will take you to finish a certain book of a particular number of words. By continuously measuring your words per minute, you're able to detect progress; or in some cases, stagnancy in your techniques. If you're not improving, then you at least know you're doing something wrong. If you are increasing your reading speed, then you are assured of being on the right track. Speed reading exercises have been helping people climb their way to success. It may sound like such an inconsequential thing; but remember that it's the small things that really make a difference in this world.