How To Improve Reading Skills – From Comprehension To Speed

While everyone hypes up 21st-century skills like creativity, communication and collaboration, the age-old skill of “reading” is slowly forgotten.

And that’s a shame because reading is more important now than ever. You’re reading right now, aren’t you?

But you and me, we get it. You’re good. You understand the importance of reading skills because you’re here. Now, let’s tell you how to improve your reading comprehension and reading speed, without the BS.  

Three tips to improve your reading skills

How to improve reading comprehension

The most important tip to improve reading comprehension (and speed) is to avoid distractions. It’s better to keep your phone elsewhere while you read. Turn the TV off too.

But ok, that’s all pretty obvious. Now here’s a tip you might not have thought about yourself. “Read with intent”. Make sure you know why you’re reading. Be curious and think about the questions you seek to answer. This will keep you focused and thus increase your comprehension.

You can even use a full-fledged reading strategy for this. Here’s a short intro to our own:

  • Before: Explore the text. Figure out the topic and subtopics. Do you have any prior knowledge? Start activating this knowledge to improve comprehension and reading speed!
  • During: Read with a pencil and a notebook. You can write in the sidelines too.
  • After: Make a summary. Reflect on what you’ve learned.

It may all sound a bit dull; but you want to remember what you read, right? Yeah, I thought so. These extra steps are most definitely worth it.

Avoid distractions and set a clear intent to improve your reading comprehension.

Read selectively to take more action

Why improve your reading skills if you won’t do anything with your acquired knowledge?

This sounds obvious, but too many people just read and read but never change anything.

If you don’t want to be like them, follow these three simple steps to turn more ideas into action.

  1. Read selectively. Only read what you know will be useful.
  2. Take plenty of notes. Better too many than not enough.
  3. Go ahead and take that first step. Don’t wait too long.

It’s as simple as that. 

Be intentional about what you read, and you’ll find it way easier to implement the newly gained knowledge in your life.

How to improve reading speed 

Now that you’re understanding more and implementing your learnings, it’s time for the boss battle: Supercharge your reading speed.

There are many courses teaching you to read 1000 words per minute. But they forget to mention that in doing so, you’ll sacrifice about half of your comprehension.

Luckily, there are some ways to improve your reading speed without neglecting comprehension.

  1. Always keep in mind why you’re reading. Be intentional and stay focused.
  2. Draw vertical lines on the sides of your pages to guide your eyes.
  3. Practise often.

Of course, it also helps to train your attention span and avoid distractions. These things always help.

Improve reading speed without sacrificing comprehension. Just read often and make sure you stay focused. 

Improve your reading skills while reading

So whether your main goal is to improve comprehension or speed, a couple of things are essential: avoiding distractions, reading intentionally and a bucketload of practice.

We’re sorry we don’t have any hacks. But at TopThreeGuide, we prefer to be honest. 🙂

Whatever they tell you, hacks don’t work.

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