Reading faster
To feel you've understood the content of a text, you probably have to try out a number of the techniques we describe. You need to be prepared to adapt your strategies according to the difficulty of the content, its relative newness, and how you're feeling at that particular moment. Read, read and read. Practise makes perfect. No short cuts. By reading more and more you increase your speed.

Training your eyes not to backtrack
You may feel a temptation to let your eyes stray back over the text you've just read, especially when you doubt you've understood everything. Just ploughing on, trusting that everything's going to make sense if you persevere, is hard. In fact going backwards interrupts the flow, so you've got to take a leap of faith that by the time you get to the end of the chapter, the pieces of the jigsaw are going to fall into place. And often they do. If they don't, you may have to reread the chapter. But again, do this quickly, without backtracking. You have a better chance of understanding if you read some-thing twice quickly than once slowly. Moving your finger along the line, as you did in primary school, helps you keep moving forwards in the text. If you're a slow reader, do the opposite of what your teachers told you and consciously make your finger go faster than the speed at which you naturally read. Try to make your eyes catch up with your finger! This works for some people.

Reading not speaking
You don't want to read your book aloud, do you? So don't read the words in your head as if you're speaking. If you do sound the words individually in your head, you're definitely reading too slowly and you have to break this habit. It doesn't help you understand or memorise, it just slows you down.

Reading not memorising
Don't read too slowly, just go with the flow and let the writer's train of thought carry you along. Don't stop to try to memorise anything, because the fact of stopping interferes with the flow and logic of what you're reading. You can always go back later and pick out facts or key points. Relax, go with the flow, read as quickly as you can, and only stop when you get to the end of a section. Then you can pause and think.

Varying your reading speed
If you persevere with your reading speed, you're gradually able to adapt your speed to the requirements of the task. Be aware of the relative complexity of the content of the text you're reading - if it's a subject you're familiar with and written in a straightforward way, then go for it! Make those eyes speed along the line and down the page, zigzagging as they go. Then you can slow down when the content gets trickier. Efficient readers are in control of their reading speed and adjust it automatically, just as you do with your foot on the accelerator when you're driving. Extracts from:
Page, M. & Winstanley, C. (2009) Writing Essays for Dummies. Chichester: Wiley. pp. 79-82.

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