Top Ten Rapid Reading and Comprehension Secrets

Speed Reading Mini-Course
Lesson 1.
Introduction, Mini-Course Lesson 1 training

What is Speed Reading: Read faster, remember more!
How many books or magazines have you made a mental note to read but never found the time to pick up? How much time have you wasted while waiting in the dentist's office or the post office line? Imagine if you could convert those lost moments into productive reading time.
This doesn't mean carrying a paperback into the post office and covering a half page while you are in line. We are talking about covering an entire newspaper or magazine. Reading 1/3 of a book or more! Now that's some well spent in-line time.
How many times have you been given an assignment in school only to moan at the idea of reading a chapter before Friday? Poor reading habits make reading tedious and boring for students. Your brain needs to move faster than your inner reading voice can talk. It is no wonder students wince at a big reading assignment. You have never been given the mental tools to do it right. There is no need to moan if you can speed read. Reading actually becomes faster AND easier
Learning to speed read can affect many aspects of your life. It can improve your perception of things around you because you learn to visually absorb your surroundings. You will always appear to be more intelligent if you can read fast. You will be able to spend your time doing things other than reading while gaining the benefits of reading much more.

What You Need To Start
This mini-course is an important component in gaining the full benefits speed reading has to offer. Many people begin speed reading and then quit because they did not understand what they were supposed to learn or they had unrealistic expectations.

THE SECRET
Ok, no more waiting. Here is how Speed Reading works.
Speed Reading is the visual intake of words. That means seeing words as images and not as a pronunciation guide.
This does not mean seeing a cat when you read the word cat, it means seeing the letter combination that spells cat and knowing what it represents without saying CAT in your head.
It is like seeing the ampersand symbol, &, and knowing it means AND. You do not have to look at that symbol and say in your head 'and' to know what it means, you just look at it and know. You can look at J & S and know it means Jay And Ess without saying those words in your head. You look at a STOP sign and you know what it means on sight, without saying in your head Stop. You no longer pronounce every word you read, you recognize it on sight.
Now, imagine being able to do that with all words.... We will discuss this in more detail later.

The Catch
Knowing how speed reading works will not turn you into a speed reader.
I can tell you how to win a foot race too. Just run faster than everyone else in the race. Now you know the secret to winning the race, but knowing that secret does not mean you can win every foot race. It takes practice and understanding of yourself and running to win races. You must analyze how you run, see what you do right, what you do wrong, and practice the correct methods in order to run faster. Speed reading is the same.
Practicing the Speed Reading techniques, one at a time, is how you learn speed reading. This is a new method of reading, one your mind is not accustomed to. It will take some practice to first learn the new mechanics, and second, to build comprehension. Fortunately, this is made very easy through software. The old way of learning speed reading required you to practice on a book, then time yourself to see if you made any progress. It was a silly system to read a book in one hand and hold a stop watch in the other. New software training systems have replaced this old system and new speed reading techniques have been developed that make software training fast and easy.
You can practice on your own but I highly recommend using training software or an online training system. Computer based training systems allow you to quickly and easily chart your progress and can accelerate the learning process. The interactive quality of a computer training system gives you fixed lessons to follow which are much more structured than trying to apply speed techniques on your own while reading a book.
This mini-course includes methods you can use with your own book for those who wish to try it the old fashioned way.
If you choose to work on your own, you will need a book that contains sentences and phrases which are easy to read. You do not want to pick a book that is filled with long words, complex sentence structures, or unfamiliar ideas as your learning material. These complexities will cause you to stumble and lose focus on the speed techniques you will be practicing. A novel you have read in the past is good because it contains material you are already familiar with. You can also use children's book or reading books for elementary school children. This may seem silly to you, but the sentences are short and easy which makes them perfect choices for learning speed reading.

Speed Tests
You no longer have to test your speed with a stop watch. You can use the free reading speed test on the Speed Reader-X Free Speed Test page.

Try this free test now to see what your current reading speed is and how it compares to average and speed reader levels.

Choose your materials
When you are first learning to speed read, you want to use materials that are familiar and contain common words. If you are stopping at every sentence to figure out or pronounce a word, you will not gain the benefits of speed reading.
Our sample stories should be easy to read. Try to pick similar material for your practice reading. When practicing on your own, also choose appropriate items until you are ready for more advanced reading materials.
After each practice session, you will be given a quiz. In the old days, you had to time yourself while reading a book, then count up the words. Fortunately that is no longer required because you can use a free online tool to calculate your reading speed.
Speed Reader-X Free Speed Test page

Use the above tool after each lesson for a speed test. Write down the result. You can then
track your results. My Full Online Speed Reading Course tracks your results for you and provides you with appropriate reading material plus includes an audio introduction for each lesson that explains even more about speed reading.
You should go to the Speed Reader-X Free Speed Test page now and take a reading test. Do not try to speed read yet. Just read the page text normally and see what your normal reading speed is. Most people read between 200 and 300 words per minute. Write down your result and keep it in a safe place so you can add more results to the list later.
This mini-course presents general learning ideas. Success depends greatly on the motivation of the individual and in the amount of practice contributed by the individual. Trying to learn on your own will also take longer and may not show results as fast as you would experience with a software or online training system that leads you through the process more easily.

Can you do it?
I want to answer that nagging question in your mind by saying YES! You can speed read! Speed reading is not difficult, but it takes practice. The best analogy I have found is comparing speed reading to learning a foreign language. It is a new way of reading, one that seems foreign to you at first. With practice, almost anyone can learn to speed read.
Most people learn to read in first grade and we never receive any further training past that level. We are taught to sound out every word. In time we learn to recognize words and read one word at a time. From this point on, we are effectively reading at a first grade level. The human brain can take in information much faster than this. How many times have you been reading something and realized by the end that you had no idea what you just read? Your brain became bored with the slow reading pace and wandered off on its own.
Expect to be frustrated. You have deeply ingrained reading habits which will be hard to move past. It will be difficult for you to re-learn to read. Stick it with and keep practicing.
When you first learn to read you are told to sound out words and as a result, most people have a little voice in their head that reads every word to their bored brain. This voice is not helping you, it is holding you back. If you can remove this roadblock, you can greatly increase your reading speed.
I will show you how.
Let's start by explaining what speed reading is and what it is not. Speed reading is different from pleasure reading. Speed reading is a very rapid intake of visual information. When you read a novel to gain enjoyment, you usually want to read it slowly, almost in real time. This does not mean you cannot speed read your novels. To the contrary, speed reading will help your pleasure reading. Most novels have lots of detailed descriptions and slow parts. With your speed reading skills you can zip through these parts and resume normal reading of the best parts. You can finish pleasure books faster and still gain full enjoyment from them.
Speed reading does not mean reading at a maximum speed constantly. You adjust the speed based on the material.
If you are reading a text book you will naturally slow down when a new word is introduced. Take the time to look at it, pronounce it, look up the definition. When you see it again you can speed read through it without hesitation.
The majority of text books are filled with useless information. Some have as much as 80% wasted space. The start of a chapter includes a review of the previous chapter or a review of the material you studied last year. The author may also go off on tangents or discuss topics that are not of interest to you. You have no need to re-read all of this in every detail. You can speed read through it, refresh your memory and move on. When you come to a new

Lesson 2 - Speed Reading Mini-Course
I want to burst some speed reading myths before we continue. These myths cause new, would-be speed readers no end of confusion and frustration so let's squash them now.

Hand Motions
Some books, mainly older references, go on-and-on about fancy hand motions, moving in Z or S shapes, and the amazing things you can accomplish just by waving your hands over the words. When these methods are put to the test they fall far short of the claims. There is no magic hand motion that will make you read faster. Some people simply find it easier to use their hand as a pointer and some find it distracting. It simply depends on how your brain is wired. The only fact about hand motions is, if it works for you, use it, if it distracts you, don't use it.

What speeds can people read? What speed qualifies as Speed Reading?
A quick Amazon search reveals some older book systems spouting ludicrous claims of 10,000 words per minute or more. These kinds of numbers have been repeatedly debunked because they are simply made up. No one can read 10,000 words per minute and remember more than a few words. That is not how speed reading actually works and such outrageous numbers as 5,000 or 10,000 words per minute are nothing but marketing gimmicks.
There are documented, real speed readers who have taken no classes. These people picked up the techniques used in speed reading on their own, at an early age. They have had a lifetime to use them and many do not even know they are speed readers. They assume that everyone reads the way they do. The average person reads 200 to 300 words per minute. True speed readers can read 500 to 2500 words per minute but more commonly average around 600 to 1000 maybe 1500 words per minute. That is still a lot faster than 200 words per minute.

Didn't the Air Force Prove Speed Reading works?
The Air Force conducted some research to see how fast someone could recognize a word. This was related to identifying enemy aircraft then later displays and labeling and not actual speed reading. They used a device called a Tachioscope which was a dark screen and flashed a light colored word very fast, then disappeared. The person in front of the screen then had to identify the word. It turns out that a person can identify the word even if it is only shown for hundredths of a second. This does not in itself prove speed reading. It does prove that a person can recognize a word on-sight without using the normal sub-vocalization reading process. The technique used by the Air Force was not meant to test speed reading, but it does prove that the human brain can take in information much faster than many people thought. This technique itself will not teach speed reading either. It only proves a concept. It does not teach speed reading.

Speed Reading is fake. What good is speed reading if you don't have any comprehension?
This is one of the most annoying posts I see on message boards and it is always posted by someone who has never actually tried a real speed reading system or tried it for ten minutes and quit.
The act of asking the question proves that the person asking has no experience with speed reading because this is simply not how the process works. Many nay-sayer's like to claim that there is no comprehension or understanding of what is read when speed reading. That is simply false. They fail to say that 'they' cannot comprehend, and instead claim that no one can comprehend. The real comprehension problem is with the individual who has either not followed a legitimate speed reading training system, or has not developed the skills needed to understand what they are reading.
In speed reading, you must first learn the mechanics of the new reading method. Once your brain can process those mechanics, then you build comprehension. Remember back when you were first learning to read. You would sound out each word in a sentence, read several sentences about the adventures of Dick and Jane running, then the teacher would ask you what you read. Your cute little 5 year old face would look up blankly as you said "I dunno" because you had no idea what you read. Your mind was still learning the mechanics of reading. Does this mean that no one can read anything because it is impossible for them to comprehend or remember what they have read? Obviously not. A child must learn the mechanics of reading, then they develop their skills and build comprehension through the 2nd, 3rd, grades. When someone learns speed reading, it is unrealistic to expect to have the same comprehension level when first learning a new way of visually taking in information. Mechanics first, then comprehension. If you see anyone posting on a message board about how 'they' cant comprehend anything they read when speed reading(assuming they ever tried) you can now correct them.

Speed Reading is just Skimming isn't it?
Absolutely not. Skimming is just that, skimming for some keywords. Speed reading is the act of reading every word. It is not picking out the hilights and it is not 'getting the general idea'. Speed reading is NOT skimming. If any system tells you they are the same, toss it in the trash because they are trying to sell a Skimming system re-labeled as a speed reading system.

Find out for yourself.
Modern speed reading systems have gained a new popularity with the development of software which makes the training and speed measuring much easier.
If you have not already done so, take a free reading speed test at SpeedReaderX.com and see if you read at a normal rate, slow rate, or if maybe you are already a natural speed reader.

How To Learn Speed Reading

In order to take in information rapidly, you must practice even faster. If you are following the online class, the first few lessons will seem much too fast for anyone to follow. They are intentionally fast. If you are using your own reading material, you must push yourself to move faster than you are comfortable with your visual intake methods.

It is much easier to overload your brain by going too fast, then drop back to a slower speed(which is faster than you started), than it is to slowly build up your speed. If you try to slowly build up your speed, that little voice in your head will continue to hold your reading speed back.

Do not expect to understand what you read in the first few lessons. We are not working on comprehension at this point. We are practicing for speed and visualization. The purpose of these lessons is to learn to recognize words as images and to silence that inner voice. Read for speed, not comprehension at this point.

It will take you some time to become accustomed to moving your eyes at the faster recognition rate. Your eyes will want to stop on words and read them which will break your momentum.

Go through the practice session two or three times just to practice eye movement. Don't read. Let your eyes follow the highlighted text without trying to read. Once you have improved your eye movement, return to the practice and try again but this time focus on recognizing words. Not reading words, practice recognizing the major words without pronouncing them in your head. Keep that voice quiet.

When you finish this lesson, you will not know what the text was about. The objective is only to practice scanning rapidly and recognizing words and groups of words as images. You are not reading for comprehension yet. You are learning to break the habit of stopping on every word to pronounce it and learning to visually take in words.

Quick Tip: Readers often waste time re-reading material they are already familiar with. Unfortunately you have no way of knowing if you are familiar with it until after you have read it. By speed reading, you can skim through parts that are familiar and reduce the time spent on review and return to the important new information. This method is explained further in the Three-Read section.

You may find it helpful to read 2 or 3 books you are already familiar with to practice your speed reading technique. Avoid re-reading, or going back to re-read parts that you think you missed. As your speed reading ability increases you will find you miss less and less. If you keep going back during the learning process you will not progress as fast because of the interruptions of stopping and starting. Reading familiar material without re-reading and while applying the visualization of words will help you learn to take in information rapidly and visually while silencing the voice in your head. This is a good opportunity to re-read some old novels you enjoyed in the past.

That is the end of Lesson 2. You are now well aquatinted with how speed reading works and what to expect from it.
Practice these techniques on your own.
In Lesson 3 we will move into some more practical exercises. Lesson 3 will be emailed to you.

You should still see a noticeable result even if you are practicing on your own without using the software or online training systems.
If you are ready to take a more challenging test, try the full online speed reading course at http://www.speedreaderx.com/online-speed-reading.htm?mini-course