Time Management: How to Improve Reading Speed While Guaranteed to Comprehend
Looking back on the previous article, Ro introduced the concept of "time management" to you. To understand it, we need to (1) learn to know ourselves; (2) set long-term/short-term goals; (3) reflect on ourselves all the time. And the suggestion at the end of the article mentions "improving reading speed".
"How to do ten lines at a glance?", "How to increase the number of reading words to 4000+ in one minute?", "How to read quickly?" Many methods emphasize cramming reading, which often ignores the understanding of the reading content. How to avoid such a situation and learn to truly master reading skills may try to break through from the following six points:
1. Clarify the concept of time
Share a data: normal people read articles in their native language of ordinary difficulty, usually 400-700 words/minute. Before you decide to increase your reading speed, use a stopwatch to get an idea of how much you can read in one minute. After clarifying the concept of time, you can consciously take a test every time you read to compare whether your level has improved before and after.
2. Preview first and then predict
When reading materials, you should have an understanding of the overall content: for an article, you can get a general understanding of the main content of the article by quickly browsing the abstract/summary section and the first and last sentences of each paragraph; for a literature, you can also understand the essence of the literature by looking for book reviews. . This process has the meaning of "reading well, not seeking too much understanding". The advantages of preview are that one can understand how the author structures the text and prepare for the subsequent development of reading strategies; the other is to reflect on whether the material is worth reading.
3. Develop a reading strategy
Everything is about strategy. Developing a reading strategy that works for you can not only improve your efficiency, but also deepen your understanding. Clear goals: what do you want to learn from reading and what questions Identify the material: Identify the author's goals based on the "preview" to determine whether it is consistent with your goals, or whether you only need to focus on the relevant parts Prescribe the right medicine: Decide how to read according to the genre. For example, reading novels is much easier than scientific literature.
4. Be a dedicated person
Strong concentration can ensure the efficiency of reading. Try to reduce the influence of external factors: noise, interruptions from others, cell phone messages, and reduce the adverse external influence as much as possible. At the same time, concentration can avoid repeated reading, and the content of the article can be smoothed after one pass. In the long run, this reduces unnecessary waste of time and improves the effective utilization of time.
5. Avoid reading word by word
To introduce a concept - Peripheral Vision (peripheral vision) is the most sensitive area of human dynamic vision. Most people's peripheral vision can reach 4 cm, which means that we should take advantage of this: focus on "text blocks", not "text individuals". At the same time, this can also effectively avoid the phenomenon of silent reading (silent reading - consumes more time and affects understanding) due to word-by-word reading. In the same way, reading every paragraph of the article seems to be a legacy of traditional education. In the era of information explosion, selective reading is wise, not only saves time, but also makes more sense to use the saved time to sort out the structure of the article and solve personal questions.
6. Learn to stick to the summary
After reading the material, summarize it in time. This summary can be a good way to avoid going back and repeat reading, and let you know the general idea of what you are reading. Thinking back to the questions posed before the reading, did this reading make sense? What else can be improved?
Practice makes perfect. (Practice makes perfect) Really mastering the skills to improve reading speed takes practice. Therefore, everyone must have enough patience when practicing, see their own progress, and always encourage themselves to maintain enough expectations.