Review of some programmes for speed reading

Review of some programmes for speed readingRocket reader

www.rocketreader.com (from 56 to 250 depending on the options, watch out for the bottom two thats the price per 4 installments)

It has texts with comprehension and reading speeds.

Pairs of words moving outwards to widen your peripheral vision usage.

Flash cards with very short intervals and increasing length of phrase.

Text revealed in chunks. This is probably the most useful feature as it is the closest to real reading.

You can choose from quite a number of texts to suit your reading taste.

There are progress graphs to chart how you get on.

The site also has a programme for increasing your vocabulary. This has idioms and often confused words and congratulates you with different spoken phrases. Im not sure how much you might learn as I found I just went form one answer to the next without thinking about it. Perhaps it might work better if after each word you thought up a sentence with it in.

Ace reader

www.stepware.com

(From 20 to 60 depending on the version)

Ace reader come in a harder to read font than rocket reader but apart from that it seems to do very similar functions.

Features:

Self paced and forced pace reading test with comprehension.

Increase your eye span.

Flash cards (tachioscope)

Searching text.

WinBlit

www.winblit.com(15)

Excellent bit of software that breaks the text down into chunks (the same as I did with the PowerPoint in the first session). It works in MS word, Explorer and Outlook.

Letter Chase

www.letterchase.com(15)

This allows you to load up your own files and then view them in different ways. It is very flexible in that it allows you to alter font and determine how many words at a time you view.

As flash cards with a set number of words.

As horizontally revealed text.

As vertically revealed text.

It also stores graphical information on your progress.

She saw him