Reading Strategies

Read Faster.Read Better.

Begin with Previewing

• Previewing will give you the general idea of a reading,• Helps you determine the purpose and audience • Very useful for longer texts.• Helps activate your background knowledge Here’s how to preview: • First, read the entire first paragraph• Next, read only the first sentence of each paragraph• Then, read the entire last paragraphs• Look at pictures, subtitles, textual details (bold, italics, etc)

Then Start Skimming

• Skimming will give you the general idea of a reading• Very useful for shorter texts. • Is a great way to review material you have read before.

Here’s how to skim: • Force your eyes to move

fast. • Sweep your eyes across

each line of type. • Pick up only a few

key words in each line.

Preview & Skimming• Previewing and Skimming cannot promise

more than 50% comprehension.• To read faster and understand more of what

you read, you need to know a third technique.

Clustering to increase speed AND comprehension

Most of us learn to read by looking at each word in a sentence — one at a time. Like this:

My — brother — Russell — thinks — monsters…

• Word-by-word reading slows your reading down.• Clustering trains you to look at groups of words • It increases your speed enormously.

Here’s how to cluster: • Train your eyes to see all the words

in clusters of up to three or four words at a glance.

• Here’s how I’d cluster the story we just skimmed:

Compare the Eye Fixations of Slow, Average, and Fast Readers

Slow Reader’s Eye Fixations

Average Reader’s Eye Fixations

Fast Reader’s Eye Fixations

Clustering Takes PracticeHere’s how to go about it: 

• Pick something light to read. • Read it as fast as you can. • Concentrate on seeing three to four words at once rather

than one word at a time. • Then reread the piece at your normal speed to see what you

missed the first time.

Practice fifteen minutes every day and you might pick up the technique in a week or so.

Special Thanks

• How to Read Faster by Bill Cosby• A Reader’s Handbook by Rose Wassman and

Anne Paye