Increase Reading and Understanding Speed Of Comprehension – 10 Solid Tips

Written by Nellie Hughes

We all know how to read, but have you ever figured out how much you understand what you read? In today’s world, when we are continuously consuming information through scrolling and surfing the internet, we have given up on the focus that we used to have while reading books or other papers. While we keep scrolling, we are able to comprehend and remember very little information. As the trend in reading has plummeted in the last few years majorly due to busier routines and technological advancements, it is necessary to be able to read quickly to gain more information in little time. If you want to boost your reading and comprehension skills, read the article until the end to get a handful of tips. You can also search for online courses about this.

Read with an intention:

When reading, you ought to have one aim in your mind: a better understanding.

Let us begin with the affirmation to understanding while reading. In other words, it is significant to understand the text you are reading or going through.

When we mindlessly scroll, we come across plenty of information; therefore, we cannot comprehend all of the information at once. The same goes for reading a book; if you are reading a book unconsciously, neither you will be able to read it fast nor will you be able to decode the text you are reading. While talking to many writers who write custom essays and more, they said they read a lot and have a clear intention when reading each paper.  Reading out content aimlessly is a waste of time, where you are even unable to catch the pace even if you try to. When you intend to understand the discourse while reading it, you will understand every bit of it. Therefore, the first and foremost tip for fast reading and cognition is reading with the intention of understanding.

Use pointer method:

When we were kids, we used to move our fingers through the line on the page as we were reading. It was required when we were inefficient readers and had to focus on each word. If truth to be told, I still move my finger along a sentence whenever I want to understand it thoroughly. This is a good method to not only increase the reading speed but to help understand it completely.

In the 1950s, Evelyn Nilsen Wood was the first to introduce a speed reading method, popularly known as the pointer method. She claimed that she could read 2,700 words per minute if she swept her finger along the reading line. Since then, it has become a popular method for increasing the speed of reading.

Tracker method:

The tracker method is similar to the pointer method in which you use a pen to underline or track the line you read. While moving the pen on the paper, your focus continuously moves on the words it goes through.  It will also help underline an important detail, a difficult word, etc. It means that you can highlight and move on instead of getting stuck on a word or going back to re-read a sentence. While practising reading through this method can help you gain speed in reading. You may take more time initially but will eventually become a pro with the time.

Scan and preview:

If you want to become efficient in reading and comprehension, you must learn to scan and preview before actually reading it. By scanning a text, you don’t actually read it but move your eyes around to identify keywords and phrases. The comprehension of a text depends a lot on your ability to understand words and sentences within a context. Reading an unfamiliar text with difficult words can slow down your speed, but you can warm up your understanding by taking an overview and skimming specific words and phrases.

Don’t read in your head, neither say them aloud:

Are you reading this text in your head without moving your lips? If yes? You need to stop that.

Reading the words in the head, also known as sub-vocalisation, is considered to slow down the pace of reading. It is because people who say the words in their head read at the same pace as they talk. In that perspective, if you want to increase your reading speed, you must stop reading words in your head.

On the other hand, reading the words aloud can also significantly influence reading and comprehension. You may have experienced that when you read aloud, you are unable to comprehend what you just read. It is because your focus is merely on reading the words than understanding. Moreover, when reading aloud, our brain has to make an extra effort. Two parts of the brain play a pivotal role in this regard: Broca’s’s Area and Wernicke’s Area. While Brocas’ Area is responsible for turning thoughts into meaningful expressions through speech, the Wernicke’s Area helps comprehension. Avoiding sub-vocalisation and reading aloud can help reduce the extra effort of reading first and comprehending in both parts.

Use peripheral vision:

Peripheral vision, also known as indirect vision, is the part of the vision that helps us to see things around without moving our head around. It allows seeing things outside the central vision. You can use peripheral vision to read the words while keeping the focus on the centre of the line. In this way, you will be able to boost your reading speed.

Don’t go back:

When you are reading a text, make sure you keep reading in a flow. You must read with focus so that you do not have to go back over and over again, which can obviously halt your reading speed. If there is a difficult word, try to infer its meaning according to the context in the sentence.

For example:

 While many say that physical education must be included in the curriculum, many obdurate people say that in future, we need more engineers, doctors, and scientists than athletes. 

While you may not know the meaning of the word obdurate, you can still understand the sentence, so you must go on reading than getting stuck on the word.

Improve your vocabulary:

The reading speed and comprehension relies a lot on your literal skills. If you are familiar with a lot of words, you will be able to comprehend a text more easily than when you do not know what most of the words mean. For example, it will be difficult to understand a sentence that contains lots of difficult words. But what if you are familiar with all those difficult words? You will easily understand it and move one to the next line instead of stopping and thinking about the difficult word. Therefore, you must look for ways to improve your vocabulary.

Keep the subject matter in mind:

You can comprehend the text easily if you read while keeping the subject matter in mind. While reading sentences, you must keep in mind what you are reading about so that you can swiftly understand each line.

Practice, practice & Practice:

A tip that is more important than anything else is practice, practice, and practice. You can’t be an efficient reader unless you are an avid, profound reader. Give it some time, and you will see how it increases your reading and comprehension skills.

More From Nellie Hughes:

Author Bio: Nellie Hughes is a Researcher, Educationist & Content Writer at Essays UK who has written hundreds of articles to assist students’ academic life. She is managing a growing team of writers who love to help students with their academics. As for her hobbies, she likes to read articles, newspapers, and magazines to keep herself updated.

Donate to support The Table Read
We strive to keep The Table Read free for both our readers and our contributors. If you have enjoyed our work, please consider donating to help keep The Table Read going!