Can your brain keep up?

[ASC1951]

I taught myself to speed read when I was in College and yes you do retain but not as completely as reading at 'normal' speed. However re-reading the same text the next day fills the gaps so you actually retain more than a single 'normal' read through. I used it to read the text books as revision reading and re-reading them in a much faster time than a slower read through would take....

Repetition is the secret to studying IME. Your method always worked for me except for the small amount of stuff which can only be absorbed very slowly - texts of Statutes, in my case. Thankfully all that is years behind me.

 

[tyred]

I could do the 500 wpm no problem too but what's the point? I used to try to do everything including reading novels as fast as possible but I've come to realise that most activities are much more enjoyable if you slow it down and savour the moment.*

* That's my excuse for cycling so slowly and I'm sticking to it!

 

[Shaun]

For those who are wondering about the 500 wpm :

 

[buggi]

I heard about "spritzing", but does it help comprehension and retention? In other words, people can read very fast, but will the information stay with them?

no i don't think it does. I read fast but if its anything complex i usually end up reading it 3 times to take it in. I have to check myself to slow down.

 

[byegad]

One point is that speed reading is done by scanning large sections of text. To describe how you do it would take a book but as simply as I can...

You start to read as a child, with one letter at a time, learning to put them together into words.

Once you can read words you scan more than one and don't need to actually identify every letter to recognise a word or short phrase.

To get faster you scan larger and larger chunks at a time, and if you continue this process you can really motor along taking in paragraphs at one go.

This is too simple but gives you the idea.

 

[Cyclopathic]

I thought it was something to do with being able to drink a wine based cocktail more quickly. I reckon I could down a couple per minute without any build up. Once I was up to about 5 per minute I'd be looking to turn the whole thing around and see how much I could throw up in a minute. Spritzering. It's the future.

 

[swee'pea99]

Once you can read words you scan more than one and don't need to actually identify every letter to recognise a word or short phrase.

What's more...

I cnduo't bvleiee taht I culod aulaclty uesdtannrd waht I was rdnaiegI Aocdcrnig to rseecrah at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it dseno't mttaer in waht oderr the lterets in a wrod are, the olny irpoamtnt tihng is taht the frsit and lsat ltteer be in the rhgit pclae. The rset can be a taotl mses and you can sitll raed it whoutit a pboerlm. Tihs is bucseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey ltteer by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe. Aaznmig, huh? Yaeh and I awlyas tghhuot slelinpg was ipmorantt!

Apparently the notion that this was 'research at Cambridge' is an urban myth, but it's still quite interesting, I think.