Reading word by word is slow and inefficient. To read faster, you need to train your brain to process groups of words at a time. In this article, we’ll show you how to expand your field of focus and read more efficiently.
What is Field of Focus?
Your field of focus is the area your eyes can see clearly without moving. Most people can see 3-5 words at a time, but with practice, you can expand this to entire lines or even multiple lines.
Step 3: Words as a Group
- Identify Your Field of Focus:
- Look at a line of text and notice how many words you can see clearly without moving your eyes.
- Start with 3-4 words and gradually increase as you practice.
- Use Your Hand as a Guide:
- Place your hand on the page with your middle finger under the first word of the group.
- Use your thumb and pinky to mark the left and right limits of your focus area.
Exercise 3: Group Reading Practice
- Open your practice book to a new page.
- Use your hand to mark a group of 3-4 words and read them as a single unit.
- Move your hand smoothly across the line, focusing on groups rather than individual words.
- Time yourself and compare your speed to previous exercises.
Bonus Tip: Visualization
As you read groups of words, try to visualize the meaning of each group. This engages your brain and improves comprehension.
How to Skim Like a Pro
Skimming is a powerful tool for quickly extracting important information from a text. Whether you are reading a report, an article or a book, skimming can help you decide what is worth your time and what is not. In this article, we will teach you how to skim effectively.
What is Skimming?
Skimming is the process of quickly scanning a text to identify key words and topic sentences. It’s not about reading every word—it’s about finding the most important information.
Step 4: Skimming Techniques
- Look for Key Words: Focus on nouns and verbs, which carry the most meaning.
- Find Topic Sentences: These are usually the first or last sentences of a paragraph and summarize the main idea.
- Use Hand Movements:
- Top-Down: Move your hand vertically down the middle of the page.
- Zigzag: Move your hand diagonally across the page, covering more text.
Exercise 4: Skimming Practice
- Open your practice book to a new page.
- Use a top-down or zigzag hand movement to skim the page.
- Look for key words and topic sentences.
- After skimming, write down the main idea of the page.
Bonus Tip: Skim Before You Read
Before diving into a text, spend 1-2 minutes skimming to get an overview. This helps you focus on the most important parts when you read in detail.
What’s Next?
Now that you’ve mastered skimming, it’s time to become a dynamic reader. In the next article, we’ll show you how to read with purpose and retain more information.
