Becoming A Skilled Reader - Speed Reading And Comprehension
Becoming a Skilled Reader - Speed Reading and Comprehension
Knowledge is the main ingredient of success, and to learn fast, one needs to read fast. Tests have shown that there is a drop by 25% in reading speed when reading onscreen compared to reading on paper. And in today's time, nearly everything is on the computer screen. Reading today not only means reading from paper, but also from the computer screen.
Reading comprehension is defined as the level of understanding and amount of information retained from reading a passage or a text. For normal reading rates, that is considered to be around 200-220 words per minute, an acceptable level of comprehension must be above 75%.
It is believed that speed readers tend to prove themselves as losers when it comes to comprehension. There are speed readers who read more than 1000 words a minute, but tend to have a comprehension of only 50% which is way below average. But it is also true that with time and regular speed reading practice, reading comprehension improves.
Speed reading comprehension skills distinguish the "active" reader from the unskilled, distracted "passive" reader. Skilled readers tend to relate to the text and feel and understand the written words to the meanings they denote rather than the spelling and pronounciation of the words. Skilled readers, for instance predict what will happen next in a story using clues presented in text; create questions about the main idea, message, or plot of the text; monitor understanding of the sequence, context, or characters and connect the events in the text to prior knowledge or experience. A skilled reader is one who can not only read fast but can also retain as much as possible what he has read. The best possible way to keep track of speed and comprehension during reading is to use comprehension passages with questions given at the end of it. Set a time, read the passage and try and answer the questions. That way, you can not only keep track of your time but also concentrate on retaining information while reading. It is critical to understand that reading should lead to comprehension, and the process of reading is not a quarter mile sprint. The concept behind speed reading is that if we read fast, we can read more and thus know more. Tests have shown that with increasing speed, comprehension falls. But the same tests have shown that with regular practice, keeping time constant comprehension levels go back to the normal acceptable rate which is 75%.
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