Speed reading skills can be acquired by anyone with a basic reading ability. Anyone can learn to read at a rate far above the average. This isn't something that's available only to the elite. Anyone can dramatically improve their reading and comprehension levels and they can do it without investing big money on training programs and materials.
If you earnestly desire to increase your reading speed - you can. But understand that it does take some effort. You can achieve a noticeable improvement almost immediately with a few basic techniques. But you'll need to use those techniques over and over again to turn them into speed reading skills that you employ automatically.
Measure your current reading speed. If you don't already know how fast you read, take a moment to get a rough measurement now. You'll need several pages of text and a timer. Set the timer for one minute and read at your usual rate. Stop as soon as timer sounds and count the number of lines you just read. Next, take a typical line of text from your reading material and total the number words on that line. Multiply this figure by the number lines read and you'll have an approximate number of the words per minute (WPM) you normally read.
This gives you a starting point.
It doesn't matter how close (or distant) you are from the average reader who consumes somewhere around 175 - 225 words per minute. What matters is that you have a foundation to build upon.
Like learning any skill, practice is required. You can't do the exercises one time and think that's all there is to it. Repetition will get you to higher and higher reading speeds.
Most readers regress and that's a definite no-no for speed readers. You simply cannot go back and re-read something you've already covered. That one negative habit slows more people down than just about anything. Force yourself to move on regardless. Train your brain to consume all it can see because you're never going back.
Pace yourself. You can easily increase your reading speed by using your finger. The simple act of using your pen or finger to move your eyes across the page faster means you'll be reading faster right away. If you consistently do this -- always moving forward and never regressing -- you will dramatically boost your reading rate. But most of us have to overcome that early conditioning taught in school to read with our eyes and not with our hands. It's unfortunate. Using your hands makes a huge improvement.
Vary your reading rate. Know what it is you're looking for and focus your attention on finding it. This means that irrelevant material can often be bypassed entirely or gobbled-up quickly. Then when you discover those segments that reveal the information sought after, slow down a bit and absorb the significant words and phrases to grasp the meaning of the message.
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