If you are trying to learn how to speed read, there are a lot of half-truths and whole-lies that will come your way. So here are the top three speed reading myths busted for your benefit:
Myth 1 - Fast eye movement makes you a better reader.
The above statement might be true from a historical standpoint; it is definitely opposed to reading per se. This is basically the main area of opposition that the concept of ’speed reading’ faces. You might learn the technicalities of reading fast, but they really don’t mean anything without an understanding of that which you are reading. Learning to comprehend is the foremost skill you need to acquire in order to be a speedy reader. And no amount of special courses or software is going to help you do it. The bottom line is you can read only as speedily as your mind responds to the letters on the page. Polishing your skills of cognition is also helpful.
Myth 2 - Speed reading make you lose your power of comprehension.
You must keep in mind that reading does not happen unless you are able to comprehend what you read. If you are an adult and are tying to learn speed reading after years of doing things to the contrary, you may think that in order to comprehend something you need to read every word carefully from beginning to end. This is an old habit and is quite difficult to get rid of. Most experts agree that comprehension is a continuous process. In order to build comprehension, you have to be in the right state of mind. When traveling to a new state, you first focus on the major highways to get there. Then you narrow your focus to the particular street of where you want to go. Comprehension is something like this.
This false notion has spread due to the fact that when students are trying to master the art of speed reading they learn the trick of not focusing of each individual word. It is felt that their understanding will develop a setback. As you make progress, this problem will go away.
Myth 3 - Skim, scan and read the key-words in order to speed-read
This is completely untrue because skimming usually involves reading a few random sentences in the passage. This is not reading.
Scanning is what you do when you look through different points fast. For instance, you scan a telephone directory for a certain number, a newspaper column for a certain ad and so on.
Focusing on key words is an old method where students were taught to focus on only important words and not conjunctions or prepositions. This is very unscientific. You are not able to avoid looking at things which are right in front of your eyes. Your mind may not comprehend something, but looking is essential. This brings us back to the subject of comprehension which was previously discussed.
In conclusion, while I’ve busted these myths for you, you’re eventually going to have no option but to find a way to deal with the information overload in today’s day and age.
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- Kale McClelland