A BIOGRAPHY OF ULYSSES SIMPSON GRANT

Good comprehension depends on whether you can extract and retain the important ideas that you’ve read, not on how fast you read them. If you can do this fast, then your reading speed can be increased.

If you pair fast-reading with worrying about comprehension, your reading speed will drop because the mind is occupied with your fears and you are not paying attention to the ideas that you are reading.

But, if you concentrate on the purpose of reading (locating main ideas and finding answers to your questions), your speed and comprehension should increase. Your concern should be not with how fast you can get through a chapter alone, but with how quickly you can comprehend the facts and ideas that you need. Comprehension.

Comprehension during speed reading is easier than during standard reading.

• This is because the mind is busy looking for meaning, not rereading words and sentences.
• The average reader spends about 1/6th of the time rereading words than actually reading them.
• Rereading interrupts the flow of comprehension and slows down the process, that’s why the habit of it should be eliminated.

How to comprehend easily?

• Scan the chapter first. Identify the sections to which the author devotes the most amount of space – what where the text focuses. If there are lots of diagrams for a particular topic, then that must also be an important concept.
• If you're really under time pressure, you can skip the sections to which the least amount of space is devoted.