Hi I have started to try and speed read. I'm not so sure how good I have gotten at it since Im still pretty much an infante at it. What I wounder though is that speed reading is some what the oppisite of what they teach you in school. In school they taught me to read word for word. But in speed reading it seems you are being taught to read many words at once.
So is this a good thing or a bad thing? Which ones best the school or some speed deamon way? Has any one had any experiance with speed reading? If so I would love to hear what you have to say on the topic.
:) LIMEY BEANS!
ID:275712
 Sep 30 2004, 9:41 am
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Speed reading is generally a bad thing, depending on who you are. Some people are natural born speed readers (such as me) others can read word-for-word. Speed reading takes a lot of practice. When you speed read you do know what you are reading, you just think you do not (it is odd). But, if you keep going you will soon forget what you have just read in the next two minutes. So if you are new at this, read really fast (I would say about 4 paragraphs [depending on how big they are]) then stop, think about what you have just read. If you do not remember everything just glimpse at it for about three seconds and you will soon remember everything you just read (it sounds odd, but it is true).
If you try to speed read then that will become a problem (you will have to try for practice, though). I speed read and do not even notice I am doing it. As my football coach always says "Practice does not make perfect...but perfect practice makes perfect!" | |
The only chance of getting good at speed reading is becoming a good normal reader (as in a few points above average for your age group), at that point you can take classes and whatnot to learn how to input a lot of words at once at figure out what they mean shortly after. Some people as said earlier in the thread are natural speed readers, and usually find out at a young age (reading college books in first grade was the hint I needed =P) if you are able to read above a college level right now, you probably have a good chance of getting good at it.
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digitalmouse wrote:
Green Lime wrote: Actually truth is I switch schools alot when I was little and some words I was just never taught how to spell. Freakin gay stupid kids at my grade school were taught how to spell alot of words I had to learn on my own. | |
Nadrew wrote:
The only chance of getting good at speed reading is becoming a good normal reader (as in a few points above average for your age group), at that point you can take classes and whatnot to learn how to input a lot of words at once at figure out what they mean shortly after. Some people as said earlier in the thread are natural speed readers, and usually find out at a young age (reading college books in first grade was the hint I needed =P) if you are able to read above a college level right now, you probably have a good chance of getting good at it. Uhh is a college level just have harder defind words in it? Cause it would seem strange if it was just the amount of content in it. Basically that would be like speed reading any way wouldn't it? Or at least making you read faster because of the increased content off it. Ahh so become a college level reader before taking on speed reading cause you would be so fast all ready at that level. | |
Don't blame them, its not like these words haven't been presented to you in their correct form hundreds, if not thousands, times already.
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Jotdaniel wrote:
Don't blame them, its not like these words haven't been presented to you in their correct form hundreds, if not thousands, times already. It's actually a lot harder then you think. I make piles of mistakes with spelling and grammar for similar reasons. While we may be presented with these words hundreds and thousands of times we don't read letter by letter. You read this not t, h, i, s. With that said, excuses are worthlesss. I think it's very important for people like Green Lime and I to attempt to bring our spelling and such up to a decent standard. Like they say, being naturally fat doesn't mean you don't have to work out it means you have to work twice as hard. A few tips I can offer: -When posting on a forum look at the spelling to the replies you get. Most of the time they'll use the same problem words you do but they'll spell them differntly. If they have a word that's spelt differntly don't just assume they're right, check it out at dictionary.com or something. You could be wrong, they could be wrong or you both could be wrong. -Don't avoid words. My biggest problem was (is) that I find alternate wording when I can't spell a word. -Don't use shortcuts like 'ur' anywhere. If you're trying to learn to spell and you're only using proper spelling on forums you're probably going to make things harder for yourself. -Don't get defensive when someone points out a mistake. As annoying as it is to have someone say 'you mean demon not daemon' it's what you want. I've been saying 'surpression' for months and someone pointed out the other day it's 'suppression'. I felt like a tool but I don't spell the word wrong anymore. Anyway I'll shut up because now we're just off topic... | |
I wouldn't know anything about learning to speed read but doing it naturally can be a double edged sword at times. I've found that if I'm not interested in the subect I am speed reading about or rush through it fast to do other things how much you can easily recollect just starts spiraling down the mental toilet.
As such, if you are going to speed read try and just sit for a minute and concentrate on what you have been reading for a few moments and see how much you can recollect immidiately after. I've had to re-read things numerous times simply because even though I read so fast I can't easily recollect them soon. In the more long term it is ok, It seems like my brain has had time to digest all the words. As for spelling I suggest you do your best to do it correctly and don't use bad internet abrreviations if at all possible. I personally probably misspelled/ had some sort of grammar error at LEAST 3 words in this post and am not very good at finding such little mistakes. Time I started weening myself off of Microsoft Word's spell check. ;) | |
i know we generally disuade grammar/spelling flames from happening, but all i could think of when reading your post was "hmm, he ought to get his spelling down first *before* he starts to do things faster". :p
good spelling improves understanding, which is one key to speed reading. one popular method is to learn how to grab the proper context of the text you are scanning without needing to read every word.
and before you come back with a post "but i was typing fast and in a hurry", or "i was at school", or "quit picking on my speeling!", keep in mind that if you cannot quickly pick up on your mistakes (by re-scanning your post *before* you submit it) and correct them (that is what the EDIT button is for ya know), then picking up speed reading may prove more difficult than you first imagine.