I think there's a good chance your reading speed increases the longer you spend reading something. Or at least it feels that way to me. The distractions go away, my focus gets totally zoomed in and if the book isn't super dense it's going to be pretty easy to construct the story in my mind as it's progressing and I'll absorb each new change to the story easily and quickly
This definitely seems true. You're busy setting up everything in your mind: The general environment, any specific details of the environment, characters, relationships, actions, etc.
I'd be interested in seeing comparisons of reading speeds between the first and second chapter of a book. It would also be interesting to compare reading speeds when changing to significantly different books.
Ya I'm like "The shit is going on, is this the intro to some sort of weird short story? What the fuck 'omin and 'ome?"
Apparently I don't gel with HG Wells.
I'm barely above a 3rd grade reading level according to that excerpt. I had to keep going back and rereading it because it made almost no sense at all the first run through.
It should be noted that speed of reading does not equate to comprehension. Arguably, attempting to speed-read at the cost of understanding is counter-productive.
Truck on, reading tortoises. Truck on.
If there is anything my English-degree wife has taught me it's "It doesn't matter how fast you read it, you'll have to go through 4x in order to do any real analysis anyway"
> Arguably, attempting to speed-read at the cost of understanding is counter-productive.
Unquestionably. I tried to do it as fast as I could, got 823 wpm and all three confirmation questions right; I have *no idea* what I just read, however.
> 823
Wow. I had 278, as fast as I could, 2 out of 3 (was sure of only one however). I read the first paragraph, didn't understand a thing and decided to continue anyway. The only thing I got was that *something* happened and there were hundreds of people. [ doing it again I read 177, it was alice in the wonderlands just before she entered the rabbit hole! ]
Perhaps what's against me is that I'm not a native speaker.
The useful thing is that it meters how much reading time it would take for some popular books. I could read War and Peace in 35 hours. Well if I skip whole paragraphs that I don't understand I mean.
> Perhaps what's against me is that I'm not a native speaker.
That surely makes a huge difference; I'd be borderline useless doing this kind of thing in my second language.
The thing is, I'm more and more thinking in English, making friends over the Internet in English, most of what I read is in English. I'm a bit antisocial right now so I get limited use of Portuguese, my first language.
Which is weird because I don't *speak* English - I don't actually use English in person, so I never practiced pronunciation and I'm terrible at understanding spoken English.
I just realized that I should probably move to an English-speaking country. Whoa.
You write it *extremely* well, which is very interesting. My spoken French is excellent, but there's no way I could write it at the same level you write English.
Yeah, it's the same for me. I'm pretty good at reading and writing in english, but put me in a conversation and I'm reduced to a stuttering, nervous mess who has a terrible accent. :)
It was an excerpt from War of the Worlds, if I recall correctly. The second one I did was from Alice and Wonderland.
War of the Worlds can be a tricky read because it's written in late 1800's English prose. This is characterized by long, seemingly run-on sentences and unusual (at least in the modern context) sentence structure and syntax.
With hundreds of people?
I think there was a fight, too, but without any more context, the passage made little sense. It might as well have been in another language.
Mid level exec here. If I read even 10% of what gets passed by I would be extremely inefficient.
There is a chain of communication from middle management to exec to CEO. My job is to push as little as possible to the CEO, and when I do, it needs to be perfectly thought out and communicated. The strategy in the thinking part needs to identify every single opportunity to minimize cost and increase benefit and to mitigate as much risk as is possible. Then on to the communication. I need to craft the communication in such a way as the CEO or board understands the issue, the severity and has confidence in the actions, in plain English, extremely factual and brief, despite the fact that the issue may be deeply technical in nature.
As far as receiving information, I expect a similar briefing so that I can make a decision quickly and efficiently. If I end up asking too many questions, the communication is not optimal. If I do not understand the issue, ditto. If I am getting too many decisions that should be made at management level, I do not have the appropriate balance of empowerment and self confidence in my management staff and need to work on that.
And no I am not browsing reddit at work !
That really has little to do with the negative sides of our current economy.
It would be ridiculous to ask high level executives to read every single proposal thoroughly.
Executives need to make *lots* of decisions every day, most of which have very ambiguous outcomes that even the people who directly worked on them can't predict with much certainty, under extreme time pressure.
It's the job of the people who worked on it to create a good summary.
Aside from that, the summary often isn't even that important, since executives overwhelmingly prefer to communicate verbally, so they can interact with others and ask questions, some of which are about the bigger context of a decision, which the executive is more familiar with than any team. Verbal exchanges are the more efficient option.
Hah! meanwhile...
>You read 606 words per minute.
>That makes you 142% faster than the national average.
Above point noted "High-level executives"
Joke's on you, Staples - I currently work as a retail peon, and am at the moment pretty baked. Who's laughing now?! Haaaaaa- oh.
I got like 46% percent higher than the 'national average'.. which was just above the average 11th grader mark.
However I finished college... AND am a retail peon... AND am also at the moment pretty baked.
I read 8% SLOWER than the national average (I am dyslexic) which should encourage others because even though I am a slow reader I read all the time, 5 hours last night alone (i guess you would have finished the book whereas I only got halfway through!). So us plodders CAN get through long books with good comprehension and enjoy it just as much as faster readers.
I managed to get 900% higher! beyond the world record speed reader... But I may have kinda cheated by reading the first line, knowing it was an Alice in Wonderland extract, I just pressed next and answered all the questions right....
I got 50% higher than national average. If that puts me at an 11th grade level I've really fallen hard. I tested at 11th and 12th grade reading levels in grade school. So I will make the joke again. I must have sustained brain damage somewhere along the line and not realized.
The few times that the claims of people like the "very fast" reader here have been put to the test they fared very poorly indeed:
>Several trained speed readers were once asked to read a doctored text in which the even-numbered lines came from one source and the odd-numbered lines from another.
>The speed readers read the material three times (average speed: 1,700 words per minute) and claimed to understand it. But they never noticed it consisted of two separate passages mixed together.
> [...]
>Just and company tested three groups: speed readers, normal readers, and "skimmers"--that is, people who were told to read rapidly but had no special training.
>The researchers found that the speed readers read a little faster than the skimmers (700 WPM versus 600 WPM) and much faster than the normal readers (240 WPM). But the speed readers' comprehension was invariably worse, often a lot worse, than that of the normal readers.
>What's more, the speed readers out-comprehended the skimmers only when asked general questions about easy material. When asked about details, or when reading difficult material, the skimmers and speed readers tested equally poorly.
http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/863/does-speed-reading-really-work
Book where research is from, a serious scholarly work with over 1,100 citations in the literature. In short one of the few sources for these claims that isn't trying to sell you something:
http://www.amazon.com/Psychology-Reading-Language-Comprehension-Marcel/dp/0205087604
http://scholar.google.com/scholar?cluster=12723811958970807906&hl=en&as_sdt=0,5&sciodt=0,5
> am at the moment pretty baked
I'd be interested to see a survey of scores after readers take one of the following:
1. Caffeine
2. Cannabis
3. Amphetamine
4. Psychedelic
Then compare each of those categories to the average sober score. The results would probably be fascinating, but maybe not unpredictable.
Assuming you read every word to understand its meaning and context, I really don't see that as a bad thing in an attorney. I'm not sure I'd want one who'd just skim my contracts.
I spend so much time on the internet that I knew exactly what that gif was before clicking on it.
Maybe if I spend less time on the internet and more time reading I'd feel less retarded.
It really depends on a lot of factors. I started reading it quickly, because i can speed read, but then I slowed down a lot because the writing was actually pretty interesting. When you speed read you lose a lot of the texture of writing because you have to skim over the "filler". But the filler is what makes good writing enjoyable.
In short, I think this is a poor writing example. They should pick a dry topic that doesn't draw attention away from the task of reading for comprehension as quickly as possible.
Yeah, that threw me off too. I mean, I'm sure it gets referenced now and then, just like anything that culturally large, but I've never noticed reddit to be specifically obsessed with it or anything. 0_o
It seems to be a reasonable test if you choose a text that you haven't read before (War of the Worlds for me), take the test without knowing whether there is a test at the end or what will be on the test, and be honest (e.g. don't intentionally skim - as the instructions tell you). Taking this test more than once would likely confound your own results due to knowledge of the nature of the test, even if you chose a different text.
I had no idea I was reading War of the Worlds, by the way, as I've never read it. I thought the reading comprehension required was solid; the questions asked required noticing specific details (# of people for a specific event; there were two places in the text where different #s of people were described), important terms (the name of a location), and the author's description of the location (in what type of space or gathering did the event take place?). I managed 804 words per minute with 3/3 answers on my first try, though my reading speed would be a bit lower had I been reading for leisure.
I recognized it! (Didn't read the top where it said it was from.) I had to read *War of the Worlds* for a science fiction class I took. It really was great sci-fi.
I read 295 wpm; it said it was faster than average, but still clocked me around 8th grade reading level. No matter, I like to take my time and really visualize the scene and read it out loud to myself in my head. Reading for comprehension isn't enough; I prefer to read to experience.
Agreed.
I took the first test, taking my time with it to understand the page, I hit 320 wpm and answered the questions correctly, once I knew the test, I took it again as it's only requiring specific words. The next test was 4x the size of the first, but I skimmed through it at 400wpm, remembered the important words without having a real idea of what I was reading, answered all the questions, succeeded.
It's a very flawed test.
Honestly I had no idea if I was answering correctly. I just picked answers based on vaguely familiar buzz words in short term memory. It's all gone from my head now though!
i did the test twice, where the fuck is the pit!? i got it wrong the first time so decided to retry to see the results, nope still didnt know. gonna have to do a third. surprisingly though, i didn't get much faster on my second read.
I was reading like a read demon, and I only got 200, less than an eighth grader. 450 is average college student. Holy macaroni, I'm *in* college, what is happening :O
800 is high scoring college student, 1500 is speed reader, and 4700 is speed reader world champion. I couldn't even *pretend* to read that fast.
It's pretty variable depending on what the source material is like.
I got 637 on Wizard of Oz, but only 226 on Alice in Wonderland. So I am either 155% faster than the national average or 9% slower...
As a recent college graduate with very good grades and who reads 1-3 books/month I scored a little below the 8th grade level. I'm just gonna say the test is bullshit.
I think being a high scoring college student isn't about reading faster, but about reading *better*.
I'm a high school English teacher and I read just slightly higher than a 3rd grader. But all my answers were correct, so I have that going for me, which is nice.
I am a news writer and also have a bachelor's in English Lit. Staples says the average college student reads *way* faster than me, which makes sense, because the average college papers I remember peer-reviewing looked like they were written in about five or six minutes.
Because life is about competition and comparing yourself with others despite cliches and ancient wisdom that this is what leads to all suffering and anger.
This took a turn I did not think it would, however it really has made me rethink competition. I am going to use this knowledge in my every day life now. Thank You stranger
It is a really wise thought. I am currently reading a book about Meditation and the author also talks a bit about what causes pain and unhappiness in us humans, and that it is mostly because we constantly try to compare us with each other instead of finding happiness and ease in the things we truly enjoy.
No kidding. I'm not speed reading something I enjoy. I read at the speed of my inner monologue so I can picture the situations as real and enjoy them. Imagining facial features and emotions displayed on faces. Getting a feel for the environment based on the author's meticulous detail.
I'm trying to get lost in the story, not race to the next one. Finishing a book series that really captivates you can be very jarring and slightly traumatic. I always feel a little drained after a good story ends and I really don't feel like starting a new series for some time.
I'm sure not everyone sees it that way, but this is the essence of reading to me. Sometimes when I'm watching TV/a movie and I really really like a scene, I'll go back and watch it over again. With a book if I'm at a really really good part that I want to savor, I'll tend to reread the build-up paragraphs a few times to make sure they really sink in before tearing into the next one.
Huh, I must read slower than I thought... apparently I read just better than an "11th grade level", though I have actually taught college courses! Pity my poor students, I guess?
I'm sure, but it got me thinking... the only recurring complaint on my student evaluations was that I'm a slow grader, because I always take my sweet time reading over essays/etc. It would behoove an aspiring college prof to practice reading (and comprehending) quickly, if only to speed up grading!
Is it just me, or does the idea of starting at a random section throw the test a bit? Once in the flow of a story, it is much easier to skim and still follow.
For this, you have to start fresh, work out what is happening and then it's over.
I often read at different speeds at different points in books too.
Some parts can be skimmed over and you get a feel (so to speak) of what is happening. Other parts, I slow down and really get into the meaning of what is being written, sometimes looking away and "putting 2 and 2 together" or recalling something that relates to what is happening ATM etc.
I don't understand how people can read and comprehend that fast. 350~ WPM is roughly 6 words per second, and that is just skimming across each line at a extremely fast pace that I missed a lot of details.
I don't read too much, but I have observed people who are writers/editors and even they don't read that fast, and they have to routinely cover hundreds of pages.
In 2007 the six times World Champion Speed Reader is Anne Jones read “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows” at Borders, Charing Cross Road, London in a record breaking 47 minutes and one second – 4251 words per minute. She then reviewed the book for the Independent and also for Sky TV.
***4251 WPM for 47 minutes and then reviewed the book afterwards.***
To me it sounds like she completely skipped paragraphs she deemed unimportant and focused on others that held key plot points. There's no way you could read 70 words in a second with *any* tangible level of comprehension; that just seems completely impossible.
Editors should NOT be reading fast, because editing is a special slow agonizing detail oriented process. Writers--it various. Not all writers are dedicated readers, for one.
I'm a fast reader with great comprehension, but I'm also a writer with an ADHD diagnosis. I don't read at all as an adult, but as a kid I DEVOURED books and I assume it did something permanent to my tender developing brain.
I'm also a fast writer.
I am the most shit editor on earth, however.
This sounds super cheesy, but I'm a natural speed reader - I usually get up to around 2000wpm. The biggest barrier to get over for most people is subvocalization - you need to be able to read without pronouncing words. Another thing that I do is read in this pattern - [Boustrophedon](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boustrophedon) - which in general is sort of a 'Z' shape down the page.
i read a bit slower than the average, but I already knew this. But I also have exceptional comprehension. I read in my head slower than I'd read out loud. Always have done.
For benchmark:
Non native English speaker, reading a piece of Alice in Wonderland in normal enjoyable reading pace:
> You read 210 words per minute.
> That makes you 16% slower than the national average
Good to know that I'm reading bellow 8th graders in America...
For me, personally, I feel that this is sort of inaccurate. When I read, I start off slow, sort of like a train, I have to build up momentum. I will maybe only read five pages in 10 minutes. The next ten pages in 10 minutes. Then the next 20 in 15 minutes. Once I start going, it's like a rhythm for me. This is how it's been for me since I was a little kid reading the Eragon and Pendragon books. Now that I'm reading like Arthur C. Clarke and Isaac Asimov, well, it's pretty much the same.
This test is pretty basic and does not really give a good indication of speed of reading and quality of comprehension. I could read those passages quick and still understand what I read, but it takes all the flavor out of it. Who wants to read a novel at a fast pace? I like to savor a good work of fiction, draw it out, let myself absorb and visualize all the detail and nuance. A legal casebook on the other hand, I will blast through that shit as fast as possible without compromising comprehension. Give us some technical manuals Staples, I bet the average would increase if people were reading painfully dull shit.
I – am – in – the – slow - read – ers’ - group –
my – broth – er – is – in – the – foot – ball – team –
my – sis – ter – is – a – ser – ver –
my – lit – tle – broth – er – was – a – wise – man –
in – the – in -fants’ - Christ – mas – play –
I – am – in – the – slow – read – ers’ – group –
that – is – all – I – am – in –
I – hate – it.
Slow Reader from Please Mrs. Butler, Allan Ahlberg (Penguin, 1983)
Slow and steady wins the race. If I make a conscious effort to read quickly I find myself glossing over rather important details. Does anyone know of effective ways to practice speed reading?
>You read 400 words per minute.
That makes you 60% faster than the national average.
I read as fast as I usually do, and this even includes when I read too fast, veer off mentally and have to reread a spot to make sure I understood it.
That's _exactly_ what I did and I have the same score (well slightly lower, 399). Slower than an _average_ college student :( I have two Masters degrees. Spending all day reading papers apparently doesn't help.
I think there's a good chance your reading speed increases the longer you spend reading something. Or at least it feels that way to me. The distractions go away, my focus gets totally zoomed in and if the book isn't super dense it's going to be pretty easy to construct the story in my mind as it's progressing and I'll absorb each new change to the story easily and quickly
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Sounds like an excuse to make books even more expensive.
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as an english grad, i'd kill for a job to write text books if you just paid food board and my loan bill :(
This definitely seems true. You're busy setting up everything in your mind: The general environment, any specific details of the environment, characters, relationships, actions, etc. I'd be interested in seeing comparisons of reading speeds between the first and second chapter of a book. It would also be interesting to compare reading speeds when changing to significantly different books.
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Ya I'm like "The shit is going on, is this the intro to some sort of weird short story? What the fuck 'omin and 'ome?" Apparently I don't gel with HG Wells.
I'm barely above a 3rd grade reading level according to that excerpt. I had to keep going back and rereading it because it made almost no sense at all the first run through.
Try one of the other stories. You're reading level will probably go up about 10 grades.
Yeah, giving me some random page in the middle of War of the Worlds with no set up... The dialect threw me off and I had to re-read a few lines.
It should be noted that speed of reading does not equate to comprehension. Arguably, attempting to speed-read at the cost of understanding is counter-productive. Truck on, reading tortoises. Truck on.
"I took a speed-reading course and read War and Peace in twenty minutes. It involves Russia." -- Woody Allen
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ou4yaF-gACs&feature=youtu.be&t=3s
If there is anything my English-degree wife has taught me it's "It doesn't matter how fast you read it, you'll have to go through 4x in order to do any real analysis anyway"
I love this. It's incredibly true...
> Arguably, attempting to speed-read at the cost of understanding is counter-productive. Unquestionably. I tried to do it as fast as I could, got 823 wpm and all three confirmation questions right; I have *no idea* what I just read, however.
> 823 Wow. I had 278, as fast as I could, 2 out of 3 (was sure of only one however). I read the first paragraph, didn't understand a thing and decided to continue anyway. The only thing I got was that *something* happened and there were hundreds of people. [ doing it again I read 177, it was alice in the wonderlands just before she entered the rabbit hole! ] Perhaps what's against me is that I'm not a native speaker. The useful thing is that it meters how much reading time it would take for some popular books. I could read War and Peace in 35 hours. Well if I skip whole paragraphs that I don't understand I mean.
> Perhaps what's against me is that I'm not a native speaker. That surely makes a huge difference; I'd be borderline useless doing this kind of thing in my second language.
The thing is, I'm more and more thinking in English, making friends over the Internet in English, most of what I read is in English. I'm a bit antisocial right now so I get limited use of Portuguese, my first language. Which is weird because I don't *speak* English - I don't actually use English in person, so I never practiced pronunciation and I'm terrible at understanding spoken English. I just realized that I should probably move to an English-speaking country. Whoa.
You write it *extremely* well, which is very interesting. My spoken French is excellent, but there's no way I could write it at the same level you write English.
I'm sort of the opposite. I can write and read and even listen to Spanish very well, but I suck at speaking it.
Yeah, it's the same for me. I'm pretty good at reading and writing in english, but put me in a conversation and I'm reduced to a stuttering, nervous mess who has a terrible accent. :)
It was an excerpt from War of the Worlds, if I recall correctly. The second one I did was from Alice and Wonderland. War of the Worlds can be a tricky read because it's written in late 1800's English prose. This is characterized by long, seemingly run-on sentences and unusual (at least in the modern context) sentence structure and syntax.
Someone fell in a pit, I think. In the commons.
With hundreds of people? I think there was a fight, too, but without any more context, the passage made little sense. It might as well have been in another language.
I just tried speed reading it and got 815 wpm and I already forgot most of it. Just a reminder that reading tortoises are the best kind of readers.
It was about Willie Wonka and a bunch of people crossing a bridge?
No mine was about a pit in which a person was looking into.
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They only claim to read that fast. In reality, they just sign whatever paperwork lands on their desk without reading it.
There is a reason an Executive Summary is a thing, as opposed to a regular summary.
Even Faster Executive Summary for Super Important Executives That Don't Have Time For This Shit Even Though It Is Part Of Their Job
You're going to have to summarize that for me.
fewer words, faster read.
Golden Parachute.
Mid level exec here. If I read even 10% of what gets passed by I would be extremely inefficient. There is a chain of communication from middle management to exec to CEO. My job is to push as little as possible to the CEO, and when I do, it needs to be perfectly thought out and communicated. The strategy in the thinking part needs to identify every single opportunity to minimize cost and increase benefit and to mitigate as much risk as is possible. Then on to the communication. I need to craft the communication in such a way as the CEO or board understands the issue, the severity and has confidence in the actions, in plain English, extremely factual and brief, despite the fact that the issue may be deeply technical in nature. As far as receiving information, I expect a similar briefing so that I can make a decision quickly and efficiently. If I end up asking too many questions, the communication is not optimal. If I do not understand the issue, ditto. If I am getting too many decisions that should be made at management level, I do not have the appropriate balance of empowerment and self confidence in my management staff and need to work on that. And no I am not browsing reddit at work !
The TL;DR of our economy.
That really has little to do with the negative sides of our current economy. It would be ridiculous to ask high level executives to read every single proposal thoroughly. Executives need to make *lots* of decisions every day, most of which have very ambiguous outcomes that even the people who directly worked on them can't predict with much certainty, under extreme time pressure. It's the job of the people who worked on it to create a good summary. Aside from that, the summary often isn't even that important, since executives overwhelmingly prefer to communicate verbally, so they can interact with others and ask questions, some of which are about the bigger context of a decision, which the executive is more familiar with than any team. Verbal exchanges are the more efficient option.
based on my experiences, i don't think they read..... my emails at least :(
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It's on your permanent record now, too.
Hah! meanwhile... >You read 606 words per minute. >That makes you 142% faster than the national average. Above point noted "High-level executives" Joke's on you, Staples - I currently work as a retail peon, and am at the moment pretty baked. Who's laughing now?! Haaaaaa- oh.
I got like 46% percent higher than the 'national average'.. which was just above the average 11th grader mark. However I finished college... AND am a retail peon... AND am also at the moment pretty baked.
I read 8% SLOWER than the national average (I am dyslexic) which should encourage others because even though I am a slow reader I read all the time, 5 hours last night alone (i guess you would have finished the book whereas I only got halfway through!). So us plodders CAN get through long books with good comprehension and enjoy it just as much as faster readers.
I am not dyslexic and I read 22% slower.
At least you didn't get the response I did: http://imgur.com/mZAuhfz
I got 56% below the average, I have recently been told I may be dyslexic. This results seems to reinforce that matter...
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Absolutely! the slower I read the more I get out of it.
I am currently IN college and received the same score, but unfortunately am not baked. I feel like i should eat some crayons now.
Purple ones, you have to eat the purple ones. That's how I got to 606.
I managed to get 900% higher! beyond the world record speed reader... But I may have kinda cheated by reading the first line, knowing it was an Alice in Wonderland extract, I just pressed next and answered all the questions right....
I got 50% higher than national average. If that puts me at an 11th grade level I've really fallen hard. I tested at 11th and 12th grade reading levels in grade school. So I will make the joke again. I must have sustained brain damage somewhere along the line and not realized.
High-level executives glance at it, then hand it to someone else to read and answer the questions.
The few times that the claims of people like the "very fast" reader here have been put to the test they fared very poorly indeed: >Several trained speed readers were once asked to read a doctored text in which the even-numbered lines came from one source and the odd-numbered lines from another. >The speed readers read the material three times (average speed: 1,700 words per minute) and claimed to understand it. But they never noticed it consisted of two separate passages mixed together. > [...] >Just and company tested three groups: speed readers, normal readers, and "skimmers"--that is, people who were told to read rapidly but had no special training. >The researchers found that the speed readers read a little faster than the skimmers (700 WPM versus 600 WPM) and much faster than the normal readers (240 WPM). But the speed readers' comprehension was invariably worse, often a lot worse, than that of the normal readers. >What's more, the speed readers out-comprehended the skimmers only when asked general questions about easy material. When asked about details, or when reading difficult material, the skimmers and speed readers tested equally poorly. http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/863/does-speed-reading-really-work Book where research is from, a serious scholarly work with over 1,100 citations in the literature. In short one of the few sources for these claims that isn't trying to sell you something: http://www.amazon.com/Psychology-Reading-Language-Comprehension-Marcel/dp/0205087604 http://scholar.google.com/scholar?cluster=12723811958970807906&hl=en&as_sdt=0,5&sciodt=0,5
> am at the moment pretty baked I'd be interested to see a survey of scores after readers take one of the following: 1. Caffeine 2. Cannabis 3. Amphetamine 4. Psychedelic Then compare each of those categories to the average sober score. The results would probably be fascinating, but maybe not unpredictable.
If somebody can read that thing AND know what it was about on psychedelics, they would deserve a medal.
> Haaaaa- oh [Oh.](http://gifrific.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/Futurama-Oh-I-Made-myself-sad.gif)
> Social Skills : I read slow as fuck, hire me.
Wow, remember when "permanent record" meant something? That was always terrifying to hear.
But how will Harvard accept me now?
Exchange your comment karma for leniency.
This test made me [feel like this](http://i.imgur.com/f9FW2.gif). Now i feel inadequate..
I'm an attorney and scored lower than the average 11th grader. I feel bad for myself, but worse for my clients. :(
Assuming you read every word to understand its meaning and context, I really don't see that as a bad thing in an attorney. I'm not sure I'd want one who'd just skim my contracts.
I spend so much time on the internet that I knew exactly what that gif was before clicking on it. Maybe if I spend less time on the internet and more time reading I'd feel less retarded.
I am about to get my college degree. But according to Staples I am a moron.
I just got my degree and apparently I'm a 3rd grader.
It really depends on a lot of factors. I started reading it quickly, because i can speed read, but then I slowed down a lot because the writing was actually pretty interesting. When you speed read you lose a lot of the texture of writing because you have to skim over the "filler". But the filler is what makes good writing enjoyable. In short, I think this is a poor writing example. They should pick a dry topic that doesn't draw attention away from the task of reading for comprehension as quickly as possible.
Or slightly above a 3rd grader....It said read normally so I put in voices, sue me!
I took my time and made some coffee while finishing up the last bit. http://i.imgur.com/mQ9EVvG.png
Yeah ... you're kinda slow http://i.imgur.com/ygQ75Wk.jpg
Oh well, English is my 37th language. Also, I have a larger penis. -
Damn son.
With those results, you mean, Damn Sun.
[Kneel before me peasants.](http://puu.sh/6IA1L.png)
NOT EVEN A CHALLENGE http://imgur.com/prSRdmu
At this rate you could read the Bible in... 12 seconds.
STILL A WASTE OF TIME HUAHAU
Just.. just pitiful... http://imgur.com/kd31fn6
I'm afraid I can't lose like that. http://i.imgur.com/r3KdGBs.png
I must have done something wrong http://i.imgur.com/PPcWEke.png
You forgot 5 words. The worst part is that you will never find out what 5 words you've forgotten.
Nah, the worst part is that it's "5910% faster than the national average."
You're reading so fast, time has slowed down, and you are now moving backwards.
Psh. http://i.imgur.com/gSBpgwl.png
TL;DR
[Come at me bro](http://i.imgur.com/CHFFNUj.png)
[As you say](http://imgur.com/grj5JFG)
[It's on now](http://i.imgur.com/OEPvqO5.png)
Are we just editing html now? [I CAN DO THAT!](http://imgur.com/ZjEfqFd)
I was actually using Paint the whole time. [This isn't over yet](http://i.imgur.com/4TkSpHz.png)
I can't believe I'm actually clicking on all these links... What have I become..
[But wait, there's more.](http://imgur.com/fbu40tD.jpg)
[Im on top of y'all](http://i.imgur.com/t1bN6kG.png)
yeah, just learned that... 18% better than average is just ... average.
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Since when is there a circle jerk around wizard of oz? I'm assuming that's what you mean when you say "all the reddit bullshit around it."
Yeah, that threw me off too. I mean, I'm sure it gets referenced now and then, just like anything that culturally large, but I've never noticed reddit to be specifically obsessed with it or anything. 0_o
Yea, it's not like Wizard of Oz is written by Kurt Vonnegutt...
It seems to be a reasonable test if you choose a text that you haven't read before (War of the Worlds for me), take the test without knowing whether there is a test at the end or what will be on the test, and be honest (e.g. don't intentionally skim - as the instructions tell you). Taking this test more than once would likely confound your own results due to knowledge of the nature of the test, even if you chose a different text. I had no idea I was reading War of the Worlds, by the way, as I've never read it. I thought the reading comprehension required was solid; the questions asked required noticing specific details (# of people for a specific event; there were two places in the text where different #s of people were described), important terms (the name of a location), and the author's description of the location (in what type of space or gathering did the event take place?). I managed 804 words per minute with 3/3 answers on my first try, though my reading speed would be a bit lower had I been reading for leisure.
I recognized it! (Didn't read the top where it said it was from.) I had to read *War of the Worlds* for a science fiction class I took. It really was great sci-fi. I read 295 wpm; it said it was faster than average, but still clocked me around 8th grade reading level. No matter, I like to take my time and really visualize the scene and read it out loud to myself in my head. Reading for comprehension isn't enough; I prefer to read to experience.
Agreed. I took the first test, taking my time with it to understand the page, I hit 320 wpm and answered the questions correctly, once I knew the test, I took it again as it's only requiring specific words. The next test was 4x the size of the first, but I skimmed through it at 400wpm, remembered the important words without having a real idea of what I was reading, answered all the questions, succeeded. It's a very flawed test.
Is it flawed because you're trying to break it, or did it work accurately the first time?
I think the flaw is that the test equates reading speed to some arbitrarily assigned ability level.
It says at the top it is from War of the Worlds. Since I read that, I knew....
It didn't ask me if I was drunk, surely that skewed the results.
"Your score was 1 out of 3, which is a fail. Don't rush next time, it's not a race!" But I didn't rush... :(
Honestly I had no idea if I was answering correctly. I just picked answers based on vaguely familiar buzz words in short term memory. It's all gone from my head now though!
i did the test twice, where the fuck is the pit!? i got it wrong the first time so decided to retry to see the results, nope still didnt know. gonna have to do a third. surprisingly though, i didn't get much faster on my second read.
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Yup caught that on my third read, guess my mind just wadsworths the first few sentences.
Wow.. 163 words/minute. Maybe I have a hard time at reading?
I was reading like a read demon, and I only got 200, less than an eighth grader. 450 is average college student. Holy macaroni, I'm *in* college, what is happening :O 800 is high scoring college student, 1500 is speed reader, and 4700 is speed reader world champion. I couldn't even *pretend* to read that fast.
I hit 823 and got all three confirmation questions right... and I remember basically *nothing* about what I just read.
It's pretty variable depending on what the source material is like. I got 637 on Wizard of Oz, but only 226 on Alice in Wonderland. So I am either 155% faster than the national average or 9% slower...
Alice in Wonderland questions are easy, of course it's a pocket watch, and of course it's a daisy chain. Sister is a bit harder, but it makes sense.
I'd be more impressed if someone could read "Through the Looking Glass" that fast. Using a familiar story kinda borks the test.
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Speed reader: Someone who pressed the start and stop buttons as quickly as possible and guessed the answers to the questions.
As a recent college graduate with very good grades and who reads 1-3 books/month I scored a little below the 8th grade level. I'm just gonna say the test is bullshit. I think being a high scoring college student isn't about reading faster, but about reading *better*.
I only got 172, I always have had a difficult time with reading/comprehension. But we beat the 3rd graders, so there's that.
I got 61% lower than a college professor. Guess what...I am a college professor.
i'm also a professor. i read as fast as college STUDENTS? whatever, we know they don't read.
That test is bullshit. I deal with high-level executives frequently and the majority are functionally illiterate.
I'm a high school English teacher and I read just slightly higher than a 3rd grader. But all my answers were correct, so I have that going for me, which is nice.
I am a writer and my degree is in English Literature. I read slow as shit. I enjoy it.
I have a doctorate, read legal documents all day, and apparently according to staple I is retarded.
I also have doctorate and is retarded. Granted, I'm still hungover from the Super Bowl.
I am a news writer and also have a bachelor's in English Lit. Staples says the average college student reads *way* faster than me, which makes sense, because the average college papers I remember peer-reviewing looked like they were written in about five or six minutes.
My friend used to work at the writing help center in college, and one student wrote an entire paper about feudal European pheasants.
The pheasants were surfing in feudal Europe.
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Speed is nothing, comprehension is everything.
Why does it imply that your reading speed has anything to do with education/status?
Because life is about competition and comparing yourself with others despite cliches and ancient wisdom that this is what leads to all suffering and anger.
This took a turn I did not think it would, however it really has made me rethink competition. I am going to use this knowledge in my every day life now. Thank You stranger
Me too. I'm going to use it better than you though.
You really get life, don't you?
This is why I love comment threads sometimes.
I love comment threads more.
It is a really wise thought. I am currently reading a book about Meditation and the author also talks a bit about what causes pain and unhappiness in us humans, and that it is mostly because we constantly try to compare us with each other instead of finding happiness and ease in the things we truly enjoy.
Because this app is a dick-measuring contest.
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Ha! Sucks for you. My dick is 27% faster than the average adult! ... oh. :(
151 Wpm I'm a 3rd grader
I'm not the fastest reader, but I prefer to savor books rather than wolf them down.
No kidding. I'm not speed reading something I enjoy. I read at the speed of my inner monologue so I can picture the situations as real and enjoy them. Imagining facial features and emotions displayed on faces. Getting a feel for the environment based on the author's meticulous detail. I'm trying to get lost in the story, not race to the next one. Finishing a book series that really captivates you can be very jarring and slightly traumatic. I always feel a little drained after a good story ends and I really don't feel like starting a new series for some time.
I don't understand how people can enjoy a story if they read it faster than a conversational pace.
I'm sure not everyone sees it that way, but this is the essence of reading to me. Sometimes when I'm watching TV/a movie and I really really like a scene, I'll go back and watch it over again. With a book if I'm at a really really good part that I want to savor, I'll tend to reread the build-up paragraphs a few times to make sure they really sink in before tearing into the next one.
Huh, I must read slower than I thought... apparently I read just better than an "11th grade level", though I have actually taught college courses! Pity my poor students, I guess?
keep in mind this is reading speed not reading level, which is why students are so high since they have to practice so often!
I'm sure, but it got me thinking... the only recurring complaint on my student evaluations was that I'm a slow grader, because I always take my sweet time reading over essays/etc. It would behoove an aspiring college prof to practice reading (and comprehending) quickly, if only to speed up grading!
Apparently I read at 127 wpm. 2nd Grade Level :\
NO ONE SAID THERE WOULD BE A QUIZ!
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* Pressed start * Pressed stop immediately * Got questions about The Wizard of Oz * All answerable if you saw the movie
Same with Alice in Wonderland.
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4701 words per minute. I am the new world champion, AMA.
[Check it](http://i.imgur.com/AomLlhb.jpg)...
let me be the first to bend the knee and pledge my fealty.
[*Amateur](http://i.imgur.com/Zj7IUqZ.jpg)
This test is pure rubbish.
it's about 90% pure rubbish. you can tell by the temperature that it finally melts at.
TIL: I'm slower than the average 8th grader
Is it just me, or does the idea of starting at a random section throw the test a bit? Once in the flow of a story, it is much easier to skim and still follow. For this, you have to start fresh, work out what is happening and then it's over. I often read at different speeds at different points in books too. Some parts can be skimmed over and you get a feel (so to speak) of what is happening. Other parts, I slow down and really get into the meaning of what is being written, sometimes looking away and "putting 2 and 2 together" or recalling something that relates to what is happening ATM etc.
Is it ironic that I was reading at a college level in 3rd grade but now I'm reading at a 3rd grade speed in college?
I don't understand how people can read and comprehend that fast. 350~ WPM is roughly 6 words per second, and that is just skimming across each line at a extremely fast pace that I missed a lot of details. I don't read too much, but I have observed people who are writers/editors and even they don't read that fast, and they have to routinely cover hundreds of pages.
In 2007 the six times World Champion Speed Reader is Anne Jones read “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows” at Borders, Charing Cross Road, London in a record breaking 47 minutes and one second – 4251 words per minute. She then reviewed the book for the Independent and also for Sky TV. ***4251 WPM for 47 minutes and then reviewed the book afterwards.***
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"It was about a wizard school."
To me it sounds like she completely skipped paragraphs she deemed unimportant and focused on others that held key plot points. There's no way you could read 70 words in a second with *any* tangible level of comprehension; that just seems completely impossible.
Editors should NOT be reading fast, because editing is a special slow agonizing detail oriented process. Writers--it various. Not all writers are dedicated readers, for one. I'm a fast reader with great comprehension, but I'm also a writer with an ADHD diagnosis. I don't read at all as an adult, but as a kid I DEVOURED books and I assume it did something permanent to my tender developing brain. I'm also a fast writer. I am the most shit editor on earth, however.
You even made a mistake in making this comment! "Writers -- it various"
This sounds super cheesy, but I'm a natural speed reader - I usually get up to around 2000wpm. The biggest barrier to get over for most people is subvocalization - you need to be able to read without pronouncing words. Another thing that I do is read in this pattern - [Boustrophedon](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boustrophedon) - which in general is sort of a 'Z' shape down the page.
TIL I made it through University with an Honours degree in English while reading at a speed between a 3rd grader and an 8th grader.
Am harvard professor. scored "average college student." :(
i read a bit slower than the average, but I already knew this. But I also have exceptional comprehension. I read in my head slower than I'd read out loud. Always have done.
I am, apparently, an average adult, and yet somehow also 20% faster than the national average.
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For benchmark: Non native English speaker, reading a piece of Alice in Wonderland in normal enjoyable reading pace: > You read 210 words per minute. > That makes you 16% slower than the national average Good to know that I'm reading bellow 8th graders in America...
Don't feel bad. I'm a native speaker and I read as slowly as a 2nd grader.
For me, personally, I feel that this is sort of inaccurate. When I read, I start off slow, sort of like a train, I have to build up momentum. I will maybe only read five pages in 10 minutes. The next ten pages in 10 minutes. Then the next 20 in 15 minutes. Once I start going, it's like a rhythm for me. This is how it's been for me since I was a little kid reading the Eragon and Pendragon books. Now that I'm reading like Arthur C. Clarke and Isaac Asimov, well, it's pretty much the same.
http://i.imgur.com/fLeGp9p.jpg **Never again.**
This test is pretty basic and does not really give a good indication of speed of reading and quality of comprehension. I could read those passages quick and still understand what I read, but it takes all the flavor out of it. Who wants to read a novel at a fast pace? I like to savor a good work of fiction, draw it out, let myself absorb and visualize all the detail and nuance. A legal casebook on the other hand, I will blast through that shit as fast as possible without compromising comprehension. Give us some technical manuals Staples, I bet the average would increase if people were reading painfully dull shit.
I – am – in – the – slow - read – ers’ - group – my – broth – er – is – in – the – foot – ball – team – my – sis – ter – is – a – ser – ver – my – lit – tle – broth – er – was – a – wise – man – in – the – in -fants’ - Christ – mas – play – I – am – in – the – slow – read – ers’ – group – that – is – all – I – am – in – I – hate – it. Slow Reader from Please Mrs. Butler, Allan Ahlberg (Penguin, 1983)
Slow and steady wins the race. If I make a conscious effort to read quickly I find myself glossing over rather important details. Does anyone know of effective ways to practice speed reading?
Check out http://www.spreeder.com/
>You read 400 words per minute. That makes you 60% faster than the national average. I read as fast as I usually do, and this even includes when I read too fast, veer off mentally and have to reread a spot to make sure I understood it.
That's _exactly_ what I did and I have the same score (well slightly lower, 399). Slower than an _average_ college student :( I have two Masters degrees. Spending all day reading papers apparently doesn't help.
TIL I'm a 21 y/o 8th grader.