Chapter 6

 

Speed Reading Tools

 

Overview

Reading workouts and exercises will need the following tools available before you start. The choice of tools is a personal preference decision, so you should try them all and then select whichever you are most comfortable with, and provides you maximum benefit from your workouts and exercise sessions.

 

      Reading Material

      Timer Devices

      Marking Kit

      Writing Kit

      Reading Speed Tables

      Reading Speed Calculator

 

      Reading Material

The choice of reading material is important as it helps to ensure your exercise and workout sessions are more enjoyable and relevant. You shall need the following types of materials at different stages of your practice; the exercise or practice session will instruct you on the preferred type of material to use for the set objectives. The level of difficulty is obviously relative to the reader (a doctor will find a medical book easier to read than a lawyer would).

 

• Easy: adventure/suspense fiction novels, books on general-reading topics
• Medium: Literature, business, investment, history, arts
• Hard: economics, accounting, law, medicine, technology, science or any specialised textbook  

 

      Timer Devices

You will need timers for most of the exercises. The following should be available before you start the exercise:

 

• Voice Recorder/Player: This is arguably the best timer device due to one main advantage: it does not require you to look at it. You can choose any voice recorder/player, but your best options are the smallest ones:

Ø  iPhone/PDA/Smartphone, as they can record and play media/sound files

Ø  Tape Recorder, a simple device playing recorded audio tapes

Ø  CD Player, that can play CD-Rs containing recorded timer tracks

Ø  MP3 Player, that can play recorded MP3 timer files

Ø  MiniDisc, that can record and play audio files

 

Obviously, you can also use your computer or Hi-Fi system, but this could be an over-kill and will necessitate your reading very close to either device.

 

This how your voice recorder/player can be used in the reading exercises:

Ø  All timed exercises will require you to read for a specific time, usually 3, 2 or 1 minute. You will need to record a sound file for each timeframe; hence a 1-minute sound file, a 2-minute sound file and a 3-minute sound file. You will also need a starting signal, interval signal(s) and an ending signal.

Ø  On the recording device (computer, PDA, etc.), watch the clock and start recording about 10 seconds before the starting signal as follows:

·        Start recording “3 minute exercise..”, and wait for the exact start of the next minute timeframe, then

·        Record “Go” or ‘Start”, wait for 1 minute, then

·        Record “1”, then wait for another minute and

·        Record “2”, then wait for another minute and

·        Record “Stop”

Ø  The sound file created above will now be played to control the timing of the 3-minute exercises.

Ø  Repeat the above to produce a 2-minute and 1-minute timer sound files. Use “30” for the halfway mark of the 1-minute sound file.

 

• Stopwatch: A real/physical stopwatch or a computer/PDA/Smartphone/iPhone stopwatch is very accurate and its time can be adjusted to suit the exercise. The best option is a Count Down from the required time e.g. in a 1 minute exercise, set the stopwatch to a count down from 1 minute/60 seconds, and the stopwatch will start at 1 minute, count down the seconds 59, 58,57,.. then ‘beep’ (or something similar) at the end of the 1 minute countdown (0 second).

 

One disadvantage of the stopwatch is that many do not have an interval signal e.g. a 1-minute ‘reminder’ that you should be at the halfway mark during a 2-minute exercise. This can be important as it allows you to speed up, if you are behind schedule, in the second half (or minute) of the exercise.

 

• Watch: the simplest tool to have around, but suffers a main disadvantage: you need to look at it frequently to see the time and (mentally) calculate the elapsed time. This can be tiring and time consuming in high-speed reading. However, some exercises may not need very accurate timing and/or need the time only at the end of the exercise, and so a simple watch can be sufficient.

 

      Marking Kit

The Marking Kit consists of simple tools to indicate markers or signs on the exercise book pages. You will usually need these markers/signs:

 

• Pre-reading; where page line/paragraph markers or signs may be required to guide the eyes, hands and/or pointers
• Post-reading; to mark the ending of each reading cycle, when variable-length reading material is needed

 

The Kit’s simple tools could be:

 

• A lead pencil, which can also be used as a reading guide, if preferred.
• Strips of sticky notes, with numbers written on them, if you do not wish to fill your exercise books with lead marks
• Paper clips, which you can clip to the edge of the paper as an indicator

 

      Writing Kit

The Writing Kit consists of the tools to write your notes for comprehension, recall and analysis during and after the exercises. The notes that you may need are:

 

• Comprehension; free-format showing your understanding of the reading subject
• Recall; free-format or using a Memory Friend (Chapter 3)
• Analysis; free-format or using tools such as the Paragraph Analysis Diagram PAD (Chapter 14)
• KPIs; Key Performance Indicators of reading speed, comprehension and recall

 

The tools could include, but are not limited to:

 

• A computer/PDA-based word processing programme or text editor
• A writing instrument; a pen or pencil that can also be used as a reading guide, if preferred.
• A notepad; or any hard-copy paper
• Pre-printed tools, such as Memory Friends (MF) or Paragraph Analysis Diagrams (PAD)

 

      Reading Speed Tables

The following tables will show you, at a glance, the relevant calculations for the reading exercises and workout sessions. Refer to the Reading Speed Calculator section for interactive and dynamic on-line and downloaded tools to help in custom calculations.

 

Assumptions:

1. A page contains 36 lines
2. A line contains 10 words
3. A page contains 360 words
4. A block is a group of variable number of lines, depending on your vertical vision span and hand movement, and will need 2 seconds of reading time

 

Example: To achieve a speed of 1,800 words per minute using the page Zigzag (‘W’) movement, a page of 36 lines may need to be divided into 6 blocks of 6 lines and the whole page read in 12 seconds (2 seconds per block). Each block will contain a forward sliding movement covering the first 3 lines of the block in 1 second, followed by a backward sliding movement on the next 3 lines of the block in 1 second, completing the V pattern. This will mean 6 Vs or 3 Ws per page.

 

 

Reading Exercises

We shall use a 10-page reading exercise to construct the table.

 

Understanding the 10 Pages Assigned Material Table:

1. Tot P: Total number of pages assigned to the exercise/practice.
2. Tot M: Total time in minutes
3. Tot S: Total time in seconds
4. Speed P/M: Speed in pages per 1 minute (PPM)
5. Speed PPS: Speed in 1 page per seconds (PPS)
6. Speed WPM: Speed in words per 1 minute (assuming a page is 360 words)
7. Blocks/Lines/S: Number of blocks of lines per seconds B/L/S on each page

 

Example:

Tot P	Tot M	Tot S	Speed PPM	Speed PPS	Speed WPM	Blocks/Lines/S
10 P	6 m	360 s	1.6	1P/36 s	600 WPM	6B/6L/6S

 

Your aim is to read 10 pages at 600 WPM. Assuming a page contains 360 words, you must read the 10 pages (3,600 words) in 6 minutes/360 seconds; so each page must be read in 36 seconds, or each line must be read in 1 second.

 

If each page is divided into 6 blocks, each block contains 6 lines then each block must be read in 6 seconds. Hence, if you are using the page Zigzag technique, each forward and backward movement must be executed in 3 seconds. This calculation in advance will help you plan your reading.

Using the 10 Pages Assigned Material Table:

1. In these exercises, you are required to read a specific number of pages then re-read them at a faster rate
2. If you are using a timer, you need to determine your speed (or how much more material needs to be covered to hit your mark) at certain points: usually at 1 minute intervals in multi-minute exercises or at specific points in sub-minute exercises.

 

Tot P Tot M Tot S Speed PPM Speed PPS Speed WPM	Tot P Tot M Tot S Speed PPM Speed PPS Speed WPM	Tot P Tot M Tot S Speed PPM Speed PPS Speed WPM	Tot P Tot M Tot S Speed PPM Speed PPS Speed WPM	Tot P Tot M Tot S Speed PPM Speed PPS Speed WPM	Tot P Tot M Tot S Speed PPM Speed PPS Speed WPM
10 P	18 m	1080 s	0.55	1P/108 s	200
10 P	12 m	720 s	0.83	1P/72 s	300
10 P	10 m	600 s	1	1P/60 s	360
10 P	9 m	540 s	1.1	1P/54 s	400
10 P	7 m	430 s	1.4	1P/43 s	500
10 P	6 m	360 s	1.6	1P/36 s	600
10 P	5 m	300 s	2	1P/30 s	700
10 P	4.5 m	270 s	2.2	1P/27 s	800
10 P	4 m	240 s	2.5	1P/24 s	900
10 P	3.5 m	210 s	3	1P/21 s	1,000
10 P	3 m	180 s	3.3	1P/18 s	1,200
10 P	2.5 m	150 s	4	1P/15 s	1,400
10 P	2.2 m	130 s	4.6	1P/13 s	1,600
10 P	2 m	120 s	5	1P/12 s	1,800
10 P	1.8 m	110 s	5.4	1P/11 s	2,000