Memletics Effective Speed Reading Course: Dramatically Improve Reading Skills to Help You Succeed in Today's Fast-Paced World

Memletics® Effective Speed Reading Course (version 1.0.) © Advanog y.com 200 4. All rights reserved. Ex cept for a llowances of “ fair use ,” you may no t copy, sto re or t ransfer thi s pu blication, in part or full, without t he prior written permission of the copyright owner. Published by Advanogy.com.

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Memletics® Effective Speed Reading Course Sean Whiteley

Contents

Contents

Module 1:

Introducing Memletics® Effective Speed Reading ................ 7

More common speed reading myths ...................................... 8 Reading for comprehension and speed .................................. 9 Six parts to effective reading ..............................................10 Additional course materials .................................................10 Check your current reading speed........................................11 Summary .........................................................................12 Module 2:

Optimize your Alphabetics .................................................. 13

Check and protect your eyesight .........................................14 To print or read on screen?.................................................23 Optimize printed text .........................................................23 Optimize your computer monitor .........................................24 Summary .........................................................................31 Module 3:

Increase your vocabulary ................................................... 33

Two top techniques for improving vocabulary ........................34 Learn common prefixes and suffixes ....................................35 Understand the history of words ..........................................36 More tips for improving vocabulary ......................................37 Summary .........................................................................37 Module 4: Develop your fluency .......................................................... 39 Check your basic fluency skills ............................................39 Support your fluency .........................................................40 Develop your fluency .........................................................41 Summary .........................................................................44 Module 5: Learn to skim read.............................................................. 45 Skim reading structured content..........................................46 Skim reading unstructured content ......................................51 Skim reading on a computer monitor ...................................51 Skim reading exercises ......................................................52 Summary .........................................................................53 Module 6:

Use reading strategies........................................................ 55

Analyze your objectives and material ...................................55 Use reading paths and reading modes ..................................56 Vary your speed when you read ..........................................59 Reading strategy exercises .................................................62 Summary .........................................................................63 5

Memletics Effective Speed Reading Course

Module 7:

Improve your comprehension .............................................65

Improve your attention and concentration.............................66 Locate and use content from multiple sources .......................68 Explore content to comprehend it ........................................74 Summary .........................................................................83

Memletics® Effective Speed Reading Course Guide .................85 Appendices.......................................................................99 An introduction the Memletics Accelerated Learning System ....99 Learn more about Memletics ............................................. 104 Index ............................................................................ 107

6

Introducing Memletics® Effective Speed Reading

Module

1

Introducing Memletics® Effective Speed Reading Let’s set the record straight. T his section discusse s some hype and f acts a bout speed reading. We then look a t the second pa rt of spe ed reading that’s often ignored – comprehension. We consider some common misconception s about speed reading before getting into the six parts of effectiv e reading. Lastly, we kick off y our reading improvement course by measuring your current reading speed.

An entire indust ry is willing to t each you speed r eading us ing ma ny method s, from books and tapes to mechanical machines and software. Some programs claim to be able to teac h anywhere from 2,000 to 25,000 word s per minut e (for example, PhotoReading, I-reading, image streaming, and Mind-Accelerator). There is o nly one person known who ca n read at similar speeds with high comprehension, and he didn’t learn the ability from any course ! His name is K im Peek. Kim was born in 1951 witho ut a co rpus callosum, nerves t hat connect th e left and right side of the brain. While he has some problems with motor coordination, his brain h as d eveloped som e uni que abi lities. T hese ha ve g iven hi m the title of a megasa vant, and he i s th e only o ne in th e w orld. Kim w as al so th e basis for th e c haracter Raymond, i n th e Mo vie Rainman (1988, played by Dustin Hoffman). Kim can speed read two pages at the same time, one with each eye. He can r ecall, and quote from, over 7,600 books he has read since age three. Most books he has only read o nce. Unfortunately, no-one knows how Kim does this, even after much research. A s no-one k nows how Kim’s a bilities wor k, no-one has been abl e to teach it to o thers. Others have been born with the same brain condition, how ever they have not developed the same ability, nor has surgery had the same effect. The d esign of our eyes and ne rvous system mean s the re a re ph ysical limits t o reading speed. Your eyes do not move smoothly across each line of words. Rather, they make small jumps, or “fixations”. The maximum number of physical fixations the eye can do is abo ut 300 a min ute. In good readers the distance b etween each fixation is about an in ch. Thi s m eans th ey see and r egister, on a verage, th ree words each fixation. This is on e reason why experts estima te the maximum reading speed fo r mo st people is 900 words a minute without skipping words. Anything above that means you are likely ski mming or ski pping words. No matter how good the skim reading technique i s, a s soon a s yo u start skipping words your c omprehension su ffers. I suggest yo u treat wit h great skepticism any program o r course t hat advertises reading speeds above 1,000 words a minute with full comprehension. 7

Memletics Effective Speed Reading Course

If you believe you have good reading speed already, it may because you skip words without realizing it. You may find your core reading speed is slower than ave rage, but you make up for it by skipping words. This habit reduces your comprehension. The t echniques in the fluency cha pter will help you inc rease your co re reading speed while maintaining comprehension. Some people will tell y ou that you need machines, software, or expensive training to learn to read faster. Not true. Each of these has their own issues. For example, often t hese systems s et a fix ed p ace. You wi ll see in thi s book yo u n eed to va ry your pace a s you read. Other systems don't tr anslate skills well from computer to paper (consider that most of what we read is still on paper). The techniques below are ju st a s ef fective, if not more, t han mo st of these tools. I have not yet fo und a properly co nducted study sho wing that s uch d evices ar e any more ef fective than the simple techniques taught in this book. Lastly, so me peo ple will tell yo u that re ading speed s of anywhere from 2,000 to 25,000 words a minut e are po ssible. They will tell yo u “your natural ability is within y our r each.” Th ese p eople might be selling yo u so me system that “regular scientists d on’t understand yet.” They wi ll happily charge you $200 to $800 to learn what they know. Companies that have made millions selling these systems seem unwilling to spend any of that on relia ble studi es to show their syst ems wo rk. Start ex ercising your critical thinking skills now and ask “why?” For example, a quick search on a major research journals database fou nd 3 68 re search ar ticles on re ading speed. There was non e, however, o n “PhotoR eading”, “image streaming” and ot her similar topics. Lastly, loo k at the results from t he 200 3 Sp eed Reading World Cha mpionships, held in the UK: Position 1st 2nd Andre 3rd He

Entrant

Raw WPM

Comprehension

Effective WPM

2284

56.30%

1285

w Havery

1108

56.30%

623

nry Hopking

1330

45.80%

610

Anne L. Jones

Which met hod does A nne Jones teach? The sam e simp le reg ulator technique I teach you i n this boo k. If systems such a s PhotoReading work, w hy don’t w e see much higher results in these types of events? Remember the M emletics pr inciple of “t here are no silver b ullets.” P ersonal development comes from time an d effo rt. M ake s ure you s pend th at ef fort on techniques that work.

More common speed reading myths Before we get into too much detail, let's look at some more common speed reading myths: • If I read f aster, my comprehension will drop. Not necessarily true. Slow readers oft en ha ve co mprehension prob lems beca use th ey forget t he start o f 8

Introducing Memletics® Effective Speed Reading

sentences and paragraphs before they finish them. You can easily increase your core reading sp eed, wi thout skipping word s, and still p reserve (or i mprove) comprehension. • I need to read all o f a boo k. Not true. B ooks are a way of capt uring and transferring som eone's id eas and knowledge. Book s a re ine fficient at d oing this, however they are easy to make available to a wi de a udience. O ften publishers force autho rs to bulk out section s with "fl uff" because it will help sell mor e c opies. W hile the a uthor may know their topic well, they might not know how to express their tho ughts we ll in written fo rm. In addition, the author's reasons for writing might not be the same as your reasons for re ading. Keep th ese in mind wh ile yo u search for your gems. I f yo u're not fin ding what you need to make yo ur time invest ment wort hwhile, ha ve the courag e to ski p sections, chapters or even entire books! • I already read well. There's no po int tr ying to im prove my readi ng speed. Not tr ue. Resear ch shows that s peed reading training and drills do improve eye movem ents, resulting in hig her s peeds w hile comp rehension remains st eady. Even i f yo u are a good re ader, som e o f t he drills provided in this course will still help you increase your reading speed.

Reading for comprehension and speed To comprehend what you read, you need to read the words. Skim reading, or skipping so me words, does help with the learning pro cess, and helps locate important information quickly. However, your comprehension suffers. The good n ews i s yo u can improve yo ur normal readin g speed while keeping up comprehension. You c an do this with out software, machines, hy pnotherapy, music, ima ge streaming or P hotoReading. T he mini mum eq uipment need ed i s your fing er! Education al resea rch and leading speed-rea ding coaches point o ut you can l earn to read faster u sing simple tec hniques, d rills and pract ice. You do not need to spend anywhere from $50 to hundreds of dol lars. Yo u m ight want to consider a course if you have significant trouble with reading or trouble applyin g yourself. I f you a re al ready readi ng thi s boo k, yo u have the in formation and existing skills needed to increase your reading speed. Speed readi ng courses attract peo ple because they ofte n a dvertise t hat y ou c an learn faster simply by learning to read faster. Unfortunately, this is not the case. Books have varying d egrees of useful info rmation in them. If you want to learn and remember what yo u read, you need to ex tract "raw ma terial." Think of it like mining fo r diamonds. You ha ve to so rt th rough m uch raw mate rial (rock) to find the gems. Unfortunately, many people stop here, believing that rea ding a book is eno ugh to learn it. To learn a b ook well, you then need to ta ke on thos e raw gems through a learning process. Yo u need to exp lore the material turn what yo u've found into knowledge that's relevant to you. You need to work out how you are going to k eep that information. Yo u need to rein force what you’ve l earnt to store tha t information for the lon g term. E ach of t hese steps helps you “lock in” what you’ve read. This course will help you read faster. The Memletics Accelerated Learning Manual (separate book) des cribes the le arning process in m uch more d etail. S ee the 9

Memletics Effective Speed Reading Course

appendices if yo u wo uld like an overvi ew of th e M emletics A ccelerated Learning System.

Six parts to effective reading There are six part s in the Memletic s® Comprehension Effective Reading System. The parts are: Speed control • Alphabetics. Recognize letters and Vocabulary words accurately. Fluency Skimming • Vocabulary. Understand the meaning of Alphabetics words in context. Memletics® Effective Reading • Fluency. Read word s and sentences quickly. • Skimming. Select what to read while reading. • Speed control. Vary speed according to content and purpose. • Comprehension. Understand the meaning of what you are reading. These six parts wo rk together to help yo u understand what you read. If you a re deficient in any one of these areas, it affects the others. If you only try to imp rove one, while ignoring the others, you’ll receive less benefit. You get the best benefits from improving them all together. This course contains modules to help you impr ove your skills in each of the se areas. I recommend you start with Alpha betics and work your way through in the same order I’ve presented them.

Additional course materials We’ve also included some materials to hel p you during the course. Before reading any further, go to pa ge 85 and review the course guide. The guide has a suggested program for improving your reading speed ov er four weeks. It takes roughly 10 to 20 minutes a day, although the last week may take longer. If you ha ven’t already, print this o ut and use it during the next four weeks (or from whe never you start your reading improvement effort). If yo u feel you al ready have good readi ng skills, adjust the course time frames as you see fit. Similarly, if your cu rrent reading skills a re poor, you may want to len gthen the c ourse o r spend mo re time on the exercises each day. If you have Mic rosoft Excel (2000/XP or lat er), you might also l ike use our reading speed test and pro gress track ing spreadsheet. This m akes i t easier to ca lculate yo ur read ing speed, as well as provides a 10

Test and Tracking Spreadsheet

Introducing Memletics® Effective Speed Reading

table and graph to track your progress . To obtain th e s preadsheet, s ee th e instructions in the course guide on page 85.

Check your current reading speed The first exercise in the course guide (page 85) is to calculate your current reading speed. I recommend you do this now, before you read ahead, so you can see the improvement you get from this co urse. U se either the test in the course guid e or the spreadsheet-based test described above to calculate your reading speed. Once you have completed th e reading speed test, compare yourself to the general population using the table below. Use the check boxes on the right to mark where you are now and where you’d like to be at the end of this course. Speed

Comments

1 - 100 wpm

Very basic reading speed. You might be learning to read, or English may be your second language. You find it hard to comprehend what you are reading at this speed.

100 - 200 wpm

Basic reading speed. Below average reading speed for adults, or average reading speed for readers between 6-12 years old. Low comprehension.

200 - 250 wpm

Average adult reading speed. Most adults stay at the speed for much of their lives. Your comprehension is average, probably more than half of what you read.

250 - 350 wpm

Slightly above average reading speed. Common with average college students or enthusiastic readers. You easily comprehend more than half of what you read.

350 - 500 wpm

Strong reading speed. You enjoy reading and have relatively high comprehension.

500 - 800 wpm

Excellent reading speed. This is a good target reading speed for most people. You can keep this speed without doing regular speed drills. Comprehension is high – 75% and above.

800 – 1,000 wpm

Current

Target

Outstanding reading speed. Your comprehension is approaching maximum. You’ve likely done a top-quality speed reading course and regularly practice speed drills. 11

Memletics Effective Speed Reading Course

1000 – 1200 wpm

World Champion Reading speed. If you are able to read at this speed with high comprehension, you should probably be competing in the world championships. While this speed is achievable, the effort to get this level may not be necessary for your learning goals.

1200+ wpm

Unlikely reading speed. It’s unlikely you can read at this speed with good comprehension. It’s likely you are skimming or skipping words, phrases and sentences.

Summary In this introduction you’ve seen some common speed reading myths. We’ve also discussed c omprehension and that spee d re ading is just one part of le arning faster. Yo u’ve seen t he six pa rts o f th e Me mletics E ffective Reading System. We introduced the additio nal course materials a vailable to you, and tested yo ur current reading speed. In the following fi rst module fo r the co urse, covering Al phabetics, y ou wil l gain some knowledge on how we read. We’ll also test your eyesight and look at how you can optimize your computer screen.

Important notice This boo k is for info rmational purposes only. It ’s yo ur sole respo nsibility t o decide th e usefulness, applicability, compl eteness and co rrectness of the conten t in this boo k. By reading this boo k you agree to the “Memle tics Terms of Use” described in the front of this book. If you do not accept this, don’t read the book.

What did you thin k of this mod ule? Do yo u have s ome suggestions? Let us know your thoughts using our online survey at: http://www.memletics.com/surveys/speed-reading

12

Optimize your Alphabetics

Module

2

Optimize your Alphabetics Alphabetics refers to how we recognize and translate writing into concepts in our mind. Most people reading this chapter will have acceptable skills in this area, so we don’t discuss ways to imp rove core Alphabetics. We do however look at ways you can improve your recognition of t ext. We first do some tests to che ck your eyesight, an d then look at how you can optimize viewing of both printed and on screen text.

Alphabetics refers to t he way we tran slate Comprehension written cha racters into so unds, words, and meanings in our mind . Thi s skill is t he on e Strategies Vocabulary of the first you deve lop when you start Fluency Skimming reading. There are two parts to this skill: Alphabetics • Recognizing charact ers as le tters and sounds that make up words. Memletics® Effective Reading • Translating words and symbol s i nto the correct representation in your mind. As yo u build your reading skil ls, yo ur mi nd sta rts t o chang e from seeing individual letters in words to seeing just the words themselves. Aft er a while, it seems the order of letters within the words doesn’t matter that much. Try reading the following example: Do w e raed ltte res or w rods? Can yo u ud estannrd ts ehe snetncees? Rsercaeh at Cr bidmgae Ur vnitesiy fnuod taht we can slitl raed w rdos eevn we hn the lt teres ar e m xied up . As lnog as the frsit and lsat lrt etes are t he smae, we can slitl raed the sncetnee. Tihs sohws taht aeft r we h vae ln reat the bc isas of riadneg, we srtat sn eeig wrdo s as a wlohe, rehtar tahn a cctiolleon of lrtetes. The lesson from t his exercise i s that yo ur brai n converts a combinati on of l etters into a symbol. It’s able to recognize thos e symbols even when the basic letters are not in the right o rder. This is on e pa rt of how the brai n learn s to read fa ster. Reading mo re and reading a wid er range of ma terial helps ingrain more of tho se symbols in your mind, which then increases your reading speed. As you a re already reading this book, i s li kely t hat yo ur skill in this a rea is enough. Regular reading of va rious material will help you r b rain do the se 13

translations with less effort. T echniques are unlikely to h elp improve this specific skill. It just takes time and repeated exposure to the words themselves. What you can do though is make sure your eyes and brain have the best chance of recognizing words quickly. In this module we look at a few ways of doing this, including: • Check and p rotect your e yesight. Do three tests to d etect some common eye issues, and find out how to protect your eyes. • Optimize pri nted te xt. Find o ut the best way to print text for ease of reading. • Optimize your computer screen. Set u p your comp uter sc reen for id eal onscreen reading.

Check and protect your eyesight

Practice covering each eye

L MC- RTZ-Q Y -MBGC

In this section, we have severa l eye test s along with so me information on how t o protect you r ey esight. You can d o these te sts by r eviewing them on t he comp uter or printing them out. If you ar e vi ewing on scr een, make s ure your scr een resolution is at least 800 by 600. If you are printing them out, make sure your printer res olution is at least 300 d ots per inc h. Choo se wh ichever dev ice h as th e highest resolution. If you al ready hav e glasses y ou us e for read ing, ma ke sure you use these duri ng the te sts. You might like to try the t ests wit hout glasses after you’ve done them with glasses first. These tests are for educational use only and by no means replace specialist advice. A pa ss or fa il in an y of these t ests does not represent any fo rm o f d iagnosis. You should see a specialist if you have any concern about your eyesight.

All th ree te sts ne ed you to co ver one eye w hile t esting t he oth er. U se a separate sheet of pape r to cover each eye. Practice placing it over one eye at a time. Do not close one eye w hile d oing the t est. This can affect th e o ther e ye because man y people squint when they close one eye!

Test one – near sight test instructions

This first t est ch ecks for H yperopia, or long- sightedness. Hyperopia results from light focusing behind t he retina (the back of the eye) rather than right on it. This causes blurred vi sion. This condition af fects about 10% of the population above 40, however many people have this condition without knowing it. Prepare for the test

To do this test , you need the test itself, a rul er, two more pieces of pa per, and a pen or pencil. If possible, have somebody help you with the test. They will use one sheet of paper to write down the letters and words as you read them. Make sure you have enough light while doin g the test. If you are doing the test on screen, minimize any gl are or reflections. Be sure not to look at the words before starting the test.

14

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Memletics Effective Speed Reading Course

Optimize your Alphabetics

Calibrate the test First, yo u n eed to ma ke sure yo ur eyes are t he right distance away from the test. Follow these instructions depending on the viewing method you’ve chosen. • If you a re d oing the t est on screen, yo u need to adjust the zoo m settin g in Adobe Acrobat. Use the options on the toolbar, or look under the Tools > Zoom menu. Adjust it so the calibration line at the top is 6 in. (15.3 cm). • If yo u have print ed it out, m easure the calibration line a nd chec k it is 4 in . (10.2 cm). If not, try setting the “page scaling” option in Adobe Acro bat 6 print options to “none”, o r see your printer man ual fo r optio ns fo r scaling. If n o success, adjust the distance in the next step. If the line is longer, hold the paper slightly further away. If it’s shorter, hold the paper closer. Remember, the test is only a guide so don’t worry if it’s not exact. Measure the distance between your eyes and the test If you are doing the test on screen, change pages so you can’t see the test. Position your h ead s o it’s 24 in ches (60 c m) f rom t he sc reen. F or th e pa per te st, t urn it over so you are looking at the back of the page. Position the paper so it’s 16 inc hes (40 cm) from your eyes. As you do the test, make sure you do not move your head or the paper forward or backwards. Do the test Go back to the test on screen, or flip th e paper over so yo u can see the test. Each test, between the dark lines, has three lines of text. Read th e first w ith y our right eye covered, the middle with both eyes, and the last with your left eye covered. If someone i s hel ping yo u, read alo ud so they c an write d own what yo u s ee. If yo u are d oing the te st you rself, writ e down wh at you see. Start at the top with the larger text so you get comfortable with the material. Be sure to read out all words, letters and symbols, including punctuation marks. If you can’t recognize a word, letter or symbol, read out “can’t see” or write an x. Stop the test when you cannot read any lines with yo ur left, right an d both eyes. Your eyes may be different so be sure to continue until you can’t read any lines. Check your results Go over what y ou’ve written and comp are it t o the ori ginal te st. Mark each error with a d ifferent colo r p en. Count t he n umber of e rrors fo r eac h lin e. Then wo rk out, fo r e ach ey e, w hich wa s th e li ne num ber you cou ld r ead with less t han fo ur errors on the line. Write your answer here: Left Eye: ________

Both Eyes: _______

Right Eye: ________

15

Memletics Effective Speed Reading Course

Analyze your results Here’s what the lines match to: Line

Vision Scale

Visual Effectiveness

1 20/100

50%

2 20/70

65%

3 20/50

75%

4 20/40

85%

5 20/ 6 20/20

30

90% 100%

You may benefit from having yo ur vi sion corrected if you scored less than 20/20 or 100% fo r on e o r both eyes. Sc oring less t han 20/20 may suggest Hy peropia (long-sightedness) or another vi sion pr oblem. Glas ses or contact lenses can correct Hyperopia can in most cases. See your specialist. Remember, this test does not replace the need for regular vision testing.

16

Optimize your Alphabetics

Test one – near sight test

Calibration line – 4 in. (10.2 cm) on paper. View at 16 in. (40 cm) 6 in. (15.3 cm) on screen. View at 24 in. (60 cm)

1

2

3

4

5

6

L

V X K A FROG PEANUT CLOCK A D K Z

B

D A ? T PEN MIDDLE FLOW N 3 X

R

I D . EVERY ZAP ALMOST H D E Q !

L

K V B D NOW NEWS WHO D A U Q

B

V D 2 U DUCK RED FIRST Q 9 D

R

Q A F K STILL ZIT FRY TENT E S J

L

H E O CARD LETTER PIG S E W A

B

D 2 Q P WOULD FAIL TIME N J ;

R

R T D MOVE TEAR CLEAR K L W

L

H R 4 I THE STORY HELP HAVE U : Z M

B

4 K D V GUY ONE INFECT AGE % H Y E

R

Q A D J THEY HE LOT WAS AT 6 ; D E

L

R U I P PELT GET THING WARN G D Q 5

B

A C F J THEIR STATE HAD END K L ; Q

R

A D C B TEST KIT MAY SIT DUAL T Y I L

L

C S Z E THIS BOOK YEAR MARKET Q M E D

B

Q Z X SOLD AND THEM HEART J H F G

R

B V E U RED HAVE SIX SECRET I P 4 D

17

Memletics Effective Speed Reading Course

Test two – astigmatism test instructions Astigmatism r esults from ir regularity in t he shape of some p arts of the eye, and results in some blurrin g of vision. It’s often, but not alwa ys, associated with other vision problems li ke short or lon g-sightedness. Astigmati sm is the mo st commo n vision problem in ad ults. It a ffects children a s well (a recent study found 28% o f children had this condition). Many people are unaware they have this condition. Prepare for the test For the paper version of this test, you will need tape or other adhesive to place the test on a window or wall. You can do this test on your own comfortably. Measure the distance between your eyes and the test If you are using the test on sc reen, use the same zoom level as test 1 above. If not all of group 1 fits, adjust the zoom so the group is taking up the screen. Move your head so it’s about 3 feet (1 meter) from the screen. For the paper test, stick the t est to a wind ow or well- lit wall, at ey e level. Place a mark on the floo r that’ s 3 f eet (1 met er) fro m the wall. Stand with your toes on that line. The astigmatism test depends less on distance, so there’s no need to be exact. Do the test Look at each pattern group with the left eye, both eyes, then the right eye. For the la rge pattern, look first for the line that looks the darkest without any blurring. Then compare the other lines. Write down the line numbers if you see: •

Lines loo king light er t han th e othe rs do (i. e. not heavy black). • Grayish or blurred edges on the line. • Extra “shadows” of some lines. If all the lin es look the same, don’t write down any line numbers. For the smaller patterns , wri te d own th e patt ern number if you see: • One pattern looking lighter than the other does. Examples of what you are looking for

Group 1 example

Someone w ith astig matism may see t he t ests lik e th e examples on the right. Analyze your results If you have written do wn any line or pattern numbers, Group 2 example this may indicate Astigmat ism. Glasses or contact lenses can usually correct Astigmatism. See your specialist. Remember, this test does not replace the need for regular vision testing.

18

Optimize your Alphabetics

Test two – astigmatism test

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Memletics Effective Speed Reading Course

Test three – macular degeneration test instructions Macular d egeneration cove rs several co nditions a ffecting the retina. These become mo re common for people over 40, however t hese can al so occur at younger a ges. Ce rtain grou ps a re more at ri sk, for example if th ere i s fami ly history, you have dia betes, you smoke, or you are of African-American descent. If you a re in any of th ese ri sk gro ups, yo u should ha ve your eyes ch ecked mor e frequently than the general population. In the United States, age-related macular degeneration is the most common cause of vision loss for those 50 or older. The risk increases with age. Prepare for the test Apart from the test itself, there is nothing to do to prepare for this test. Measure the distance between your eyes and the test If you ar e u sing th e te st on scre en, us e the same zoom l evel a s te st 1 above. For the pap er t est, al so u se t he s ame distance a s test 1. Position th e p aper so it ’s 16 inches (40 centimeters) from your eyes. Make sure you do not move your head or the paper forward or backwards. Do the test Look at the grid with the left eye then the right eye. There is no need to do this test with both eyes. Cover one eye. Position the central dot in front of th e eye you a re t esting, at t he d istance described above. While continuing to look only at the central dot, use your peripheral vision to check the other parts of the chart. Examples of what you are looking for Look for an y sign s of i rregularity in the g rid. See th e d iagram on the right for some examples o f what yo u might see i f you ha ve a vision problem. Analyze your results If your eye is working correctly, you sh ould see the centre black dot, the fo ur corners and the fo ur sides of th e grid. T he lines should appe ar straight and unbroken. Inability to se e th e ce ntre dot, h oles or b lurry spots, o r line s a ppearing wa vy, fuzzy, di storted or b roken may suggest a p roblem. S ee your specialist a s soon a s possible, especially i f this is a n ew findin g for you or if you notice changes over a short period. Some of these issues may threaten your vision if not treated quickly. If you are over 40, it’s a good idea to keep this vision test in a convenient location to check every few months. Remember, this test does not replace the need for regular vision testing. 20

Optimize your Alphabetics

Test three – macular degeneration test

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Memletics Effective Speed Reading Course

Symptoms that might suggest problems Other s ymptoms d uring or aft er reading can su ggest yo u need to ge t your eyes checked. T hese includ e ey estrain, head aches, fatigu e, w atery or un comfortable eyes, excessive blinking, and trouble seeing long distances after reading. Further symptoms that may suggest eye problems include: • Your eyes have trouble adjusting to dark rooms. • You have high sen sitivity to light or glare, with exce ssive sq uinting or blinking. • The color of your iris changes. • You have pain reoccurring in or around your eyes. • Your eyelids are red or swollen. • You have double vision, or see spots and ghostlike images. • A dark spot obscures your central vision. • You have dry eyes which itch or burn. The fol lowing sy mptoms may suggest you should se ek eme rgency medical attention: • You have a sudden loss of vision in one eye. • You have a sudden hazy or blurred vision. • You have flashes of light or dark spots. • You get halos or rainbows around light. • You get a curtain-like blotting out of vision. • You lose peripheral (side) vision.

Tips for protecting your eyesight Your eyesight is important. Here are some ways you can protect your eyesight. • Take fr equent brea ks. Take frequent breaks during up close work. Follow the 20/20/20 gu ideline. For ev ery 20 m inutes of u p cl ose wo rk, spend at least 20 seco nds looking at something more than 20 feet (6 meters) away. Every hour get up and move around. • Get your eyes c hecked r egularly. Se e a sp ecialist regularly to hav e your eyesight checked. Once every 18 months is a good target, more if you are over 40 or in higher risk gro ups (e.g. t here is family hi story, yo u have diabetes, y ou smo ke, or you a re of African- American d escent). As k you r specialist to make sure your prescription lenses are not stronger or weaker than necessary. Recent research suggests both can cause further problems. • Eat well. Scientists have proven that a di et high in fruit and v egetables (especially green vegetables) reduces the risk of macular generation. Avoid highly refined foods, especially for children. • Stay fit a nd heal thy. Exercise reg ularly as thi s helps keep good blood flow to the eyes. Studies have also shown that children who play sport have a lower incidence of eye problems. • Don’t smoke. Simple.

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Optimize your Alphabetics

To print or read on screen? A fe w y ears ago , it was safe t o say th e readability of text on scr een w as significantly less t han printed text. Technological progress over t he last few years though has helped mo nitors catch up. Mo dern e quipment, p roperly configured, easily matches the readability of printed text. The most important factor of readability fo r screen and p rinted text is resolution. If you have a lar ge, high-res olution s creen ( at le ast 17” or gre ater size, 1024x768x16K colo rs), but a poo r qua lity printer (e.g. dot matrix or low qua lity inkjet), reading on screen is your best choice. If you have less capable screen but a good 600+ DPI (dot s per inch) inkjet or laser printer, then printing might be a better choice. If you have both, the question of whether to print depends on other issues: • Portability. Print ed material i s easier to ca rry aro und, for example to read on the bus o r trai n, or ot her parts of th e hou se. Ta blet PCs ar e still taking time to catch on. • Marking. It’s o ften easier to mark an d highlight print ed matter. Some ebook tools provide this feature, however it’s easy to lose your annotations. • Searching. Electronic versions are easier to do keyword searches of the material and your notes. • Comfort. Reading in a comforta ble c hair is often easier than sitting in front of a PC. • Cost. It’s cheaper to read on screen. Regardless of which format you choose, follow the guidelines below to optimize how you use these formats.

Optimize printed text Most of t he time, yo u won’t have contro l o ver ho w printed text appears, for example in books, ma gazines, r eports, etc. Th e be st yo u ca n do is m ake sure yo u have good l ight whi le reading, yo u read with material squarely facin g you, at a comfortable distance (around 16 inches or 40cm). If you do have control over the material you are printing out, you might want to consider th ese g uidelines. Th e s ame ap plies if you a re d esigning material f or others to print and use. • Typeface or font:. While there is still debate on this topic, the prevailing guidance suggests “serif” fonts (Times New Roman, Times, Georgia etc) are better for printed readability. The name of this font is Georgia. • Type siz e: 10-12 poin t, dependin g on the fo nt. This fo nt is 10.5pt and expanded by 0.4 pt. Fonts larger than 12 points have little impact and may negatively affect readability. • Line spa cing: Studies show t hat more line spacing increa ses readability. The lin e spacing for t his t ext is 14pt, wit h 1.5pt before and aft er eac h paragraph. • Line wid th: The idea l line width is around 12 wo rds a line. So metimes two columns may be better.

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Memletics Effective Speed Reading Course

•

•

Margins: If your print outs will be lying flat (i.e. not ha rd bound), t hen large margins don’t af fect readability. Margins are useful for bound b ooks. The binding ofte n cu rves the pape r and text near the ins ide bor der. This reduces readability. Draft versus normal printing modes: While draft mode might save time and ink, lighter text reduces readability.

Optimize your computer monitor More people a re using comput ers for long er hours thes e days . If you ar e one of them, spend some tim e learning how you can be st configure your monitor and P C for on-screen reading. In this section we cover several steps, including: • Choose between LCD and CRT monitors. • Use your monitor correctly. • Adjust monitor settings for the best view. • Maximize screen resolution, refresh rate and DPI. • Try various font settings. • Experiment to find the best settings for you. • Test settings with commonly used applications. If you beli eve you already have good settings fo r your mon itor, you might want to look at the images on the right. The im age on top is from a standard monitor using “d efault” configuration settings (1024x768) without any extra settings. Th e im age on the bottom uses the same hardwa re with opt imized settings. T he r esolution is 1600 x1200, with 150% DPI and ClearType set on. Can you see the difference? Many peo ple will go fo r years usin g the default set tings on their computer, without knowing can do so much more!

Default settings – 1024x768

Optimized settings – 1600x1200

Choose between LCD and CRT monitors LCD (liquid crystal display) monitors have enjoyed great popularity over the past few y ears. This h as h elped d rive the p rice d own as we ll. While LCD monitors a re good for g eneral use, C RT (cathode ray t ube) monitors have been around longer and bett er suit some speci fic a pplications. Be sure to consid er these when choosing a new monitor. Let’s look at some benefits of both, before considering which applications suit one or the other. LCD benefits over CRT monitors LCD’s are usually brighter than C RTs, sometimes by up to two times mo re. The image cl arity at the LCD native resolution is sharper, cri sper and i s flicker f ree. They do not su ffer f rom scr een di stortion, while so me C RTs do. In addition, the 24

Optimize your Alphabetics

stated sc reen si ze i s t he act ual sc reen size. A 17” LC D mo nitor has 17 ” v iewable, whereas a 17” CRT may only have 16.2” viewable. LCD’s ta ke up l ess d esk sp ace and weig h le ss than CRT s. They also c onsume l ess power, sometimes up to half the power of CRTs monitors in use. This can lead to a lower cost over time. CRT benefits over LCD monitors There are several benefits CRT monitors have over LCD’s. Depending on how yo u use your computer, these could be important. LCD’s pix els a re slower to respond than on CRT monit ors ho wever, t hey a re getting better. This is still an issue when yo u are viewing high motion images, for example watching vid eos or playing ac tion-orientated games. C RTs are also viewable from wider angles , where as L CD monitors be come darke r and “washe d out” when viewing at an angle. CRTs have better color reproduction th an LCD’s. While a casual user may not notice the difference, grap hic d esigners will probably find this a significant limitation. In addition, the contrast rati o on CRTs i s much better. Blacks look black, whereas many LCD monitors display black as dark grey. CRTs can di splay many resolutions without any problems. LCD monitors can onl y display on e native resol ution wit h c larity. If yo u t ry running other resol utions o n an LCD mo nitor, you get a lower i mage quality. CRT mon itors do not suffer from “dead pixel s,” pix els that might be permanently bright or dark. Yo u can’t fix a dead pixe l, and most of the time you can ’t return your LCD monitor unless it has several dead pixels. These can distract you. Lastly, CRT monitor s c ost l ess to buy “up fro nt.” You can get a C RT monitor 1- 2 inches larger than an LCD monitor for the same price. Application suggestions This table provides some suggestions based on how you use your computer:

Application

Suggestion

Create mult imedia presentation s, web pages, document s or 3D graphics, over long periods.

LCD

Watch digital videos, home movies, streaming images.

CRT

General business, home or home office use.

Either

Play action games.

CRT

Do graphic design, co mputer aid ed d esign, or have ot her high graphic needs.

CRT

Overall Good LC D monitors provid e bett er readabil ity of online text for the same size screen. However, a larger CRT screen is often better than a smaller LCD screen. If 25

Memletics Effective Speed Reading Course

Use your monitor correctly Regardless of which m onitor typ e you ch oose, the re a re s ome g eneral guid elines you should follow. Place the m onitor di rectly in front of yo u, a bout an arms length away , and tilt ed slightly upward towards you. Position the to p of th e screen at eye level or slightly higher. If y ou ha ve a l arge monito r, sit f urther bac k. Place it hi gher so yo ur eyes are abo ut 2-3 inches below t he top of the viewing area. I f you have bifocal s, you might want to place the monitor lo wer so you can see through the bottom part o f your glasses without straining. Be careful with glare and brightn ess. Windows and lights are the most comm on source. To check, tu rn your monitor off an d look fo r any reflection s. Adjust yo ur monitor brightness so it is a bout equal in brightness to the area behind it (assuming your workplace ha s enough li ght). If yo ur workplace has nat ural lighting, you may need to adjust the brightness throughout the day.

Adjust your monitor settings for the best view

Increase screen resolution, refresh rate and DPI settings

L MC- RTZ-Q Y -MBGC

Learn how to adjust t he settings o n your monitor. Mod ern displays have digital controls to help you adjust brightness, contrast, screen size and other settings. It’s usually b etter to h ave high er contra st and lower brightn ess, however thi s wil l depend on your workplace. A common problem i s people who ha ve bo ught large C RT monitors do not kno w how to size the screen image. The result is unused screen space around the display image, wa sting perha ps half to one inch o f monitor size! S ee your monito r manual, or ask someone to help, if you’re not sure.

Firstly, le t’s u nderstand what s creen re solution, r efresh rate and DPI me an. Th e image on your comp uter screen compri ses of tho usands of tin y pixe ls. Th e resolution refers to ho w many pixels ma ke up your viewi ng area. A reso lution of 1024x768 means there are 1,024 pixels across your monitor, and 768 pixels down. The refresh rat e r efers to how m any time s t he i mage o n the screen re freshes. Numbers from 50-120 hertz ar e c ommon h ere. Lastly, t he DPI setting r efers t o “Dots Per I nch.” Som e oper ating sy stems al low you to set higher DPI s ettings when you h ave hi gher re solutions. This incr eases th e si ze of sc reen elements so they are easier to see. The s ettings and di splay q uality y our ov erall machine supports d epends on t he features of your computer and your monitor. You may need to work with someone knowledgeable to follow these instructions. Note: These instructions are specific to Windows XP. Win dows 2000 and 95 have similar settings b ut may diff er. Again, cons ult your docu mentation or ask someone knowledgeable if you have problems.

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you ha ve specific a pplication need s, or if price is an i ssue, a larger C RT monitor might be a better choice.

Optimize your Alphabetics

Check your drivers First, c heck your Windows d rivers (configuration information) for your computer are correct. To get to your di splay settings in Windows XP, go to Start > Co ntrol Panel > Display, t hen clic k th e “Settings” tab. Referring to the im age on the ri ght, check th e l ine aft er th e “ Display:” label. In the exam ple it say s “Hitachi CM715 o n NVIDI A GeForce4 MX 440 .” The first setting refers to yo ur monitor, t he second refers to your graphics adapter ( some ha rdware insid e your compu ter). If e ither of the se say “Generic” or d on’t refer to your hardware, check your drivers or ask someone for help. Setting resolution and color quality For CRT monitors you usually have a choice of screen resolution. You can see that in th e d iagram above the screen r esolution is 1600 by 1200 pixels. Make a note of your cu rrent settings before changing yours! Mo ve t he slider across t he fa r right to find t he highest reso lution of your computer. Sometim es you ma y need to set the color quality (on the right) to a lower setting to get t he highest resolution. Make sure it’s higher than 256 colo rs though. Hit Apply and see how yo ur com puter responds: • If the screen goes blac k, wait 15 seconds a nd the i mage wil l return. Try the next r esolution down. If you are una ble to find a working resolution, click Cancel. • If the s creen refreshes but is out of shape, use t he settin gs on the front of your monitor to reshape and resize the screen image. You may li ke to exp eriment wit h

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Memletics Effective Speed Reading Course

the resolution settin gs to get an image t hat doesn’t ap pear flat o r narrow (aft er adjusting y our monito r). U sually these resolutions wo rk b est on C RT monitors of standard sizes: 1024x768, 1200x900, 1360x1020, and 1600x1200. If the screen is now hard to read because the fonts ar e small, that’s fine. We’ll fix that in a moment. For LCD m onitors you only have one cl ear c hoice wh en it com es t o resolution. Ch eck you r LCD monitor d ocumentation for t he “native” o r “p rimary” display resolution, then c heck yo ur settings to make sure they match. Setting the refresh rate Once you’ve resi zed yo ur screen to the maximum resolutio n, check to make s ure th e i mage i sn’t flickering or shimm ering. I f so , your refresh rate may b e too low. Click on the Advanc ed button in the dialog above, and then click the Monitor tab. Make sure the chec kbox titled “Hide mod es thi s mo nitor cann ot displ ay” option i s ON, otherwise yo u can damage your monitor (or worse, start a fire!). Write down your current setting, t hen click th e “S creen refresh rat e” d rop down box (that says 72 Hertz in this diagram). Choose the highest r efresh rate that’s available. Click apply. You may need to resize your image again using your monitor settings. Setting DPI and font size If you have a recent model monitor and computer of good quality, it’s likely you now have a high screen resol ution set. You might find tho ugh the font s, icons and other screen elements are too small. The next settings to change are as follows: • If both the icons and text are too small for you, you need to change the DPI setting. Click on the “General” tab of the advanced settings dialog box, and you wi ll see a dialog box like t he ones on the right abo ve. Write d own your curr ent s etting. Set the DPI setting to a larger nu mber. If you r resolution is 1200x900 or 1360x10 20 (o r similar), try sett ing it to “Large Size (120DPI).” If your resolution is 1600x1200 or higher, try “Custom Size – 15 0% (1 44DPI)” o r higher. Clic k O K and close al l th e display setting dialog boxes. Restart your comput er and view the n ew display se ttings. Keep going thro ugh the rest of these in structions before trying alternative settings.

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•

If jus t the fonts are too small fo r y ou, yo u ca n s et these to you r preference as well. Go to the “Appearance” tab in the main displa y settings dialog box. It looks like the one on the right. Try setting the “Font size” setting to “Large Fonts” o r “Extra Large fonts.” You can also s et t he font size for individual Windows objects by clicking the “Advanced” button in t his dia log. Click apply. It may take a few moments t o adjust thes e settings. Again, b efore tryin g v ariations o n these settings, contin ue to t he en d of this sect ion to understa nd all the choices. When you do come back to try alternatives, I suggest you set the DPI setting first and the font size second.

Try extra font display settings Microsoft h as done much wo rk t o impro ve the readability of font s on sc reen. Microsoft calls one of their recent advances “ClearType”. This technology can improve t he readabilit y of text on many displ ays. Mic rosoft Window s XP i s th e first op erating sy stem to have C learType b uilt in. Unf ortunately, no pre vious Microsoft operating systems can support ClearType. If you have Windows XP, you can turn it on two ways: • Visit http://www.microsoft.com/typography/ClearTypeInfo.mspx and then click the lin k titled "ClearType Web interf ace." This is a better c hoice as it ha s some tuning settings you can try out. • Click th e “ Effects” but ton on the Appearanc e tab of the main display setting s dialog box. Make sure you select the checkbox by “Use the following method to smooth edges of font screens,” th en sel ect Cle arType f rom the d rop down box. Then click OK and apply the settings. I’ve found that ClearType works well on many displays, but not all. On resolutions at 1024x768 or less, it may make text look slightly blurry. It works better when you have high color set tings as w ell. You might like to try the other option in the font smoothing box – “Standard” – if ClearType isn’t working well for you.

Experiment to find the best settings for you Everyone has the ir own pr eferences. Now that you know several key settin gs that control your displ ay, feel free to try diffe rent combinatio ns to get the best effec t. You might like to start with the followin g tabl e as a g uideline d epending on the maximum resolution you have.

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Memletics Effective Speed Reading Course

Resolution

Colors

Refresh Rate

DPI

Font size

1024x768

Min 16 bit

Min 72 Hertz

1200x900

Min 16 bit

Min 72 Hertz

Large size - 125%

Normal or Large

On

1360x1024

Min 16 bit

Min 72 Hertz

Large size – 125%

Normal or Large

On

1600x1200

Min 16 bit

Min 72 Hertz

Custom – 150%

Normal or Large

On

Normal Normal or Large

ClearType

Off/on

Compatibility with applications You now need to c heck you r existing applications to see ho w they p erform und er higher resolutions. Some applications have di fficulty wi th higher resolutions or larger custom font sizes. I find that l eaving the font size as “No rmal” and a djusting th e DPI has the least adverse impact on applications. Sometimes, you ma y need to go looking for font settings specific to that application. For example, in Microsoft Outlook I increased the size of fonts in s everal view s. U se the command View > Current View > Cu stomize Cu rrent View, th en click “Other Settings.” Some web pages in I nternet Ex plorer may also have difficulty with these settings. It’s o ften not the browser’s fault. Website d esigners don’t al ways consi der p eople with higher resolution screens. You ma y need to ma ke a trad eoff betw een t he ap plications you use and th e resolution you want. An other alternative might be to configure two user accounts in Windows XP wit h di fferent display settings. In additi on, ch eck if you r disp lay drivers sup port multip le display p rofiles. Fo r example, the ba se N VIDIA displa y driver incl udes a d esktop manag er that lets you switch b etween d isplay p rofiles quickly. See the image above for an example.

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Optimize your Alphabetics

Summary Well done! That’s the first module complete. Most of you sho uld have fo und tha t the tests indicate your eyesight is fine for reading. I suspect though, for some, you might have found these test s uncovered a problem yo u were not awa re of. I strongly en courage yo u to se e so meone quic kly. Fo r e veryone, yo u’ve al so s een some important information on symptoms that could indicate problems, and some tips on how to protect your eyesight for the rest of your life. Next I went thro ugh so me tips on how to opti mize yo ur c omputer sc reen for on screen reading. Yo u understand th e di fferences be tween LCD and CRT monitors , and when one performs better than the other one. You also now ha ve information on how to configure your monitor to get the best performance from the equipment you’ve purchased. In the fo llowing mod ule, we disc uss ho w your voca bulary af fects yo ur reading speed. Yo u’ll al so s ee some surprising infor mation on how vocab ulary infl uences success in y our life. Yo u’ll l earn how a simple d evice, t hat you probably a lready have, can make a big difference!

What did you thin k of this mod ule? Do yo u have s ome suggestions? Let us know your thoughts using our online survey at: http://www.memletics.com/surveys/speed-reading

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Memletics Effective Speed Reading Course

32

Increase your vocabulary

Module

3

Increase your vocabulary Often ignored by many s peed-reading course s, vocabulary holds many people back from fast reading speeds. You improve your vo cabulary simply by increasing how many words you understand. By doing so, yo u also improve th e likelihood of greater success in your life. Read on to learn how.

Your vocabulary is the collection of word s Comprehension you r ecognise and und erstand. Th e Engli sh Strategies language has the la rgest vocabulary of al l Vocabulary languages – o ver 1,00 0,000 defin ed wo rds. Fluency Skimming English-speaking ad ults use approximately Alphabetics 3,000 different wo rds in everyday Memletics® Effective Reading conversation, however on avera ge know t he meaning of around 50,000 words. What i s i mpressive is that a chi ld betw een the ages of s ix and ten le arns, on average, more than 5,000 new words on year . What is not so impressive is that the average adult learns, on average, 50 new words a year. Why it is vocabulary important? It’s important because the size of your vocabulary has a significant influence on yo ur reading speed. The be tter your vocabulary, the faster you read. Many speed-readin g courses don’t provide much guidance on this topic. However, improving your vo cabulary can have as much an impact on your reading speed as any of the other techniques. This is especially true when learning new topics. Here i s why. Every ti me yo u co me ac ross a word you don’t know, yo ur brain automatically focuses o n it. Your brain tri es reading the w ords around it to figur e out the meaning. Even if yo u give up and move on, the nex t time yo u come across the word, the same t hing hap pens. Ev ery tim e yo u see a word yo u don’t know , your fl uency (speed) a nd comprehen sion suffer. When you a re l earning n ew topics, it ’s likely yo u will com e a cross mo re word s that are new. Your reading performance s uffers e ven mo re i f you d on’t take the t ime to fin d out their meanings. If that isn’t enough motivation for you to improve your vocabulary, here’s another reason. Look at these test results from employees of over 40 large organizations in the USA. What do you think they represent?

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Memletics Effective Speed Reading Course

Level Presidents, vice presidents

Average Result 236

Managers 168 Superintendents 140 Overseers 114 Floor bosses

86

These are scores from a vocabulary test, o ut of a possible score of 272 points. It’s clear that those in higher positions have command of more words. In another study, the only consistent factor across thousands of people was successful people scored hig h in vocabul ary te sts. O ther st udies link a stro ng vocabu lary to strong scores in IQ tests.

Two top techniques for improving vocabulary It’s ea sy to improve y our vocab ulary without attending expensive courses o r buying software. The best tool that ca n hel p you improve yo ur vocabula ry i s probably already sittin g on your booksh elf, dusty and unused. I t’s call ed a dictionary. If you don’t have one, get one! How to use your dictionary effectively Each time you come across a word you don’t know, or the way it’s used is unfamiliar to you, follow these easy steps: 1.

Spend a few second s trying to wo rk o ut the meaning from the context of the sentence, before progressing to the next step 2. Lightly underline the word, and put a small box in the ma rgin with an ‘n’ next to it (for new word). Write the page number in the front of the book. 3. Make a decision: Do you need to know the meaning of this word now, or can you look it up later. If the word is important to the topic you are reading, look it up now. When yo u find it in the dict ionary, also ci rcle or hi ghlight it. Thi s will help yo u lat er. Write a small d efinition so mewhere near the word in the book. 4. When you finish reading the book or chapter, go back through the page numbers and look up any words you didn’t look up before. Let’s g et so me practice. As sume yo u haven’t seen t he wo rd “di scovery” wh en you read the following sentence: Megan’s discovery surprised the whole family! Now go thr ough t he steps abo ve. How long d oes it ta ke you to find a pen and dictionary? What words come before an d af ter “d iscovery”? Ar e th ere any ne w words you haven’t seen on the same page of the dictionary? If you n eed some motivation to do this , re member that every new wor d you look up might add $50 or more to your annual income one day!

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Increase your vocabulary

Make them stick – use new word journal A great way to make those new words stick in your memory is to keep your own “new wo rd journal.” U se a not epad, writin g book or spreadsheet. Every time yo u come ac ross a n ew wo rd, al so ad d the wo rd and the d efinition to your jo urnal. Review th ese occa sionally. Ev en better, ad d entri es to Sup erMemo (so ftware discussed i n Meml etics). Th ese regular r eviews h elp y our memory and you ’ll surprise yourself with the words you once didn’t know! Here’s a ti p i f y ou are learning a new top ic or subject. Keep ne w words, j argon, symbols and acronyms specific to that topic in a separate part of your journal. Keep the journal nearby while you study so you can refer to the meanings easily. Two extra steps you can take to lock in new words: • Substitute sim ilar w ords. When you l earn a new wo rd, take a m oment and think o f t hree similar words yo u know. Rephrase th e sentence u sing one of these wo rds, and th en sa y th e s entence agai n with th e new word. Write t he similar words into your new word journal. • Write your own sentences. Cr eate a new sentence u sing the wo rd you’ ve just learnt. Write it into your journal! Again, k eep in mind th at ev ery entry yo u m ake in yo ur jo urnal mig ht be adding another $50 to your annual income one day.

Learn common prefixes and suffixes Knowing common prefi xes and suffixes ca n help yo u wo rk out t he meaning of a word without looking it up in t he dictionary. Here are some common prefixes and suffixes. There are many others – ask a teacher or look on the Internet for more. Prefix or suffix

Meaning

Examples

-able, -ible

capable of

portable, teachable

anti- agai -ar, -ary, -ory

nst, opposed relating to

bio- life

antisocial, antidote, anticlimax auditory, similar, imaginary biology, biography

co-, con-, com-

together, with

conspiracy, cooperate

de-

from, away

demote, depart

dys-

hard, ill, with difficulty dysfu

ex-

out, from

geo- Ear

th

nctional, dyslexia express, exhale geologist, geography

-gress

go, move

egress, progress,

hyper-

excessive, over, above, beyond

hyperthermic, hypersensitive

hypo-

under, below, beneath

hypothermic, hypodermic

-ic

having characteristics of

Linguistic

inter- between

interstate, international

intra- within

intrastate, intranet

-less witho -logy s macro- large

ut tudy of

heartless, careless Biology macroeconomics, macromolecule

35

Memletics Effective Speed Reading Course micro- small

microchip, microscope send

transmit, dismiss, missile

non- not

nonsense, nonetheless

omni- all

omnipotent, omnipresent, omnivore

peri- around

peripheral, perimeter, periscope,

-phon-

sound

phonetic, phonics, telephone

port- carry

portable, portfolio

post-

after

postgraduate, postpone, posterior

pre- before

preamble, preconceived, predict, preface

re-

back, again

-rupt

break

redo, return, refund rupture, bankrupt, interrupt

-scope view

microscope, telescope

semi- half

semicircle, semester

spect-

see, look

sub- u

spectacle, spectator

nder

super- over

submarine, subversive

, above

tele-

supersonic

far

telephone, telepathy, telemetric thermal, thermometer, thermostat

trans-

across

un- not

transport, transmit, translate

, opposing, reverse

under-

uncertain, unlawful, unbearable

below, beneath

L MC- RTZ-Q Y -MBGC

therm- heat

underground, underneath, underestimate

Some wo rds a re simple com binations o f these prefixes and suffixes. Try loo king up th e parts o f t hese words in the table above: Microscope, bi ology, t elephone,

telescope, periscope, a nd hypotherm ic. P ick one underline it every time you see it while reading.

of th ese fo r a d ay an d

Understand the history of words

Many of the wo rds in the Engli sh language come from Latin, a language that’s thousands of y ears ol d. Latin heavily in fluences t he p refixes and suffixes tab le above. Here are some more examples of words with Latin roots:

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Latin Word

Meaning

Examples

avis

bird

aviary, aviator, aviation

cumulare

to build up

accumulate, cumulative

dens, dentis

tooth

denture, dentist

flare, flatus

blow

deflate, inflate

gerere, gestum

to carry, to bear

digest, gesture, gestation

judex, judicare

judge

judge, judicious, prejudice

locare, locus

to place, place

allocate, dislocate, local

putare

to think, estimate

computer, reputation

vita

life

vitamin, vitality, vital

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-mit, -miss

Increase your vocabulary

Good dictionaries often have information on the origins of each word you look up. Study th em and you ’ll remember the word for longe r. You mig ht li ke to w rite the history into your word journal as well.

More tips for improving vocabulary Here are some more tips to help you improve your vocabulary: • Increase your rea ding ra nge. This is a great way to find new wo rds, develop yo ur reading skil ls and have fun doing it. Read mo re widely on different topics. Read material that’s higher than your current reading and vocabulary level. D on’t w orry i f i t’s slow g oing – tr eat it a s a deve lopment exercise. • Follow wo rd trails. Often when you look up a word, you find new words in the definition you don’t understan d. Mark them and then look them up as well. How far can you go? • Use o nline dic tionaries. If you are near a computer while reading, it’s sometimes faster to find a word using an online dictionary, such as dictionary.com or Microsoft Encarta. A great feature of these tools is they often have a sound reco rding of th e wo rd. Thi s ca n hel p yo u get th e p ronunciation right. • Try software, wo rd a day s ervices, vo cabulary tes ts, cour ses a nd other tools. Yes, t hese can help, but only do these after you’ve developed the discipline o f looking up words yo u find in your normal reading. T his i s still more effective be cause the new wor ds you come acr oss re late more to your areas o f in terest or study. I suggest you on ly d o the se if you ha ve a k een interest in improving your vocabulary, and be wary how you spend your money. Many good materials cost less than $15.

Summary This mod ule ha s helped you understand the role voc abulary pla ys in reading speed. You’ve seen that a strong vocabulary helps you read faster, and you’ve seen that your vocabulary also plays a role in how successful you are in life and work. You’ve learned two to p techniques for significantly improving your vocabula ry. The firs t is to us e a dictionar y frequently, and the second is to keep a new wo rd journal. You’ve seen how many w ords use common prefixes and suffixes, and that word history can often help you understand modern words. In the following module, you’ll learn how to i mprove your core reading speed, i.e. the speed you read individual words and phrases.

What did you thin k of this mod ule? Do yo u have s ome suggestions? Let us know your thoughts using our online survey at: http://www.memletics.com/surveys/speed-reading

37

Memletics Effective Speed Reading Course

38

Develop your fluency

Module

4

Develop your fluency Your fluency is a key part of readin g effectiveness. Fluency develops with practice , however some simple techniques can help improve your overall reading speed. Speedreading courses and inst ructors teach these te chniques, in various forms, all over the world. You are now about to learn these yourself.

Fluency i s the a bility to read words and Comprehension sentences quickly. In t his section, we loo k at Strategies three ways of impro ving your fluency so you Vocabulary can read faster. These are: Fluency Skimming • Basic flu ency. Understand basic word Alphabetics and sentence construction. Memletics® Effective Reading • Fluency suppor t. How to suppo rt fluency and fluency development. • Fluency development. How to improve fluency.

Check your basic fluency skills Most people reading this book will al ready have basic fl uency skill s. If yo u fin d reading a c hallenge though, you might want to do some work to improve your basic fluency skills. Here are some ways you can check and improve these skills: • Read aloud to you rself. Take some time to read passages aloud. If you have difficulty with certain passages, practice them until they become fluent. U se two types of reading. During practice readings, work on pass ages you find difficult. D uring “live” reading s, assume yo u a re reading to an audience. Perhaps stand up as if you are presenting to a cl ass, group, or audience. If you make a mistake, keep going! At the end, come back and practice those difficult passages again. • Read with others. Read to parents, teachers, sibl ings or friends. Ask them to point out any problems they hear. Remember they are helping you, so keep an open mind! You might also ask them to read difficult passages with you. Perhaps ask them to record themselves reading on to a tape or a computer. You can then play it back later and read with it. • Use speech syn thesis prog rams. Speech synthesis so ftware can take t ext from your computer and read it aloud. These are getting better over time. Some current versions have e nough sophistication for you to read with and learn a s 39

you go. Yo u can also find fr ee d emonstrations on the I nternet. Us e the se if you’d jus t like to check a se ntence or two . Search for “t ext to speech demonstration” (without the quotes), AT&T Labs TTS, or RealSpeak. • Do s ome training. I f yo u still have di fficulty reading, or are reading in a language ot her t han yo ur nativ e language, yo u mi ght like to try so me expert training to develop your fluency skills.

Support your fluency

L MC RTZ-Q Y -MBGC

Now that we’ve c hecked your basic fluenc y skill s, let’s loo k at some wa ys to support fluency. It’s probably been a while since you learnt to read, so some of these yo u may ha ve simply fo rgotten over time. You can easily do these straight away, whereas the to pics we di scuss after these point s will take more time to develop. • Get in g ood Mem letic St ate. Make s ure you ar e co mfortable a nd relax ed. Remove distractions, a nd check y ou have go od light and ventilatio n. See t he Memletic State chapter in the Memletics Manual for more help here. • Position th e book. Have the book squarely in front of you, preferably lying flat. If necessary, help the book stay open by opening it near the front and pushing it flat. Wo rk t hrough the book 20-40 pag es at a time and push it flat each time. Take care not to damage the book. • Keep your head still . Use your eyes to move acro ss th e pag e. Yo u may tu rn your head from side to side to read each page. • Don’t voc alize. Do not read th e word s al oud ( unless it’s fo r so me oth er reason). One o f th e first k ey steps to imp rove your reading s peed i s t o en sure you a re not reading each wo rd in dividually. Firstly, thi s means keeping yo ur voice quiet while you read. However, you also need to check you are not moving your lips or voice box. If you a re, you limit your reading speed to how fast yo u can talk (which is far slower than the mind c an think). An easy way to chec k your voice box is still is to put your hand on it while you read. If you feel any movement, you are still vocalizing. Focus on reading without moving your voice box or lips. • Don’t regress. Average readers often go bac k over the same material without realizing it, sometimes more than 30 times on a single page. This is different to when you deliberately go back to review some thing you didn’t unde rstand (which is acceptable). Regressing is a habit from when you first started learning to read. You went back over the text to make sure you read it correctly. Once you d evelop core readin gs skills, yo u don’t need to do this but the habit often remains. To break this habit, read with a small piece of card or paper, and run it d own the pag e above the current line you are reading. This will hide the text you’ve read and prevent regressing. Practice for a few minutes each day for a week, then as needed aft er that. Th e techniques below will also help with this.

40

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Memletics Effective Speed Reading Course

Develop your fluency

Develop your fluency Now it’s time to look at some ways to improve your fluency. These exercises and techniques take time t o work, however even with 10-15 minutes a d ay of practice you will start seeing differences within a week. These exercises help do two things: • Improve y our eye moveme nts. Recall from the intro duction your eyes do not smoothly progress across each line of wor ds. Th ey m ake small j umps, or “fixations”. Good r eader’s eyes jump abo ut o ne inch between each fixation, however s lower readers “ fix” on eac h wo rd (and parts of th e word). Th e exercises b elow wi ll help yo ur e yes jum p to th e right pl ace each tim e, and not remain too long on particular words. Note: It’s not a matter of learning to make two or t hree fix ations on each lin e. Some lines need mo re fixation s because they have uncommon words on them, wh ereas others may have common words that need fewer fixations. Your eyes will learn to adjust with practice. • Reduce subvocalization. You may recall from above I discussed vocalizing – or reading words alo ud. Subvocalizing i s pro nouncing the wo rds in your head. This is another lim it that slows do wn reading, how ever yo u will al ways subvocalize to a certain extent. So me sp eed reading r eferences tell you to s top doing this, howe ver t hey don’t provide guidance on how! You can reduce subvocalization simply by doing t he d rills an d e xercise below. You don’t give your brain enough time to vocalize each word, and it learns to adapt.

Learn the Regulator Technique The primary techni que yo u can us e to i mprove your reading sp eed is the regulator tec hnique. T his is a simple ye t very effective way to lea rn to re ad books and other w ritten mate rial f aster. It works b est b ecause yo u c an us e it o n your own material, at y our own pa ce, in your own time. Many of the other “bells and whistl es” of speed read ing co urses ar e the re to make th em seem d ifferent from their competition. Leading speed-reading coache s t each t his t echnique w orldwide. Rick O strov, author of Power Readi ng (a top ranked book on speed reading at Amazon.com), says that the regulato r technique “is the best method for increasing reading speed and effectiveness.” Charles Van Doren, author of “How to Read a B ook” (another top sell er at Amazon.co m), says “…it is not n ecessary to employ any device mo re sophisticated than your own hand.” Here’s how to learn the regulator technique: Stage 1: Apply the regulator Run yo ur finger, penc il or pen (capped ) al ong undern eath t he line you are reading. If you are reading on the compute r screen, use your mouse. Your finger, pencil, pen or mouse is your “regulator.” When you finish that line, you move your regulator d own to the next lin e an d do th e sa me again. Keep you r ey es above the regulator, however mak e s ure yo u re ad the wo rds and not watch you r reg ulator! Keep your eyes loosely focused, rather than peering hard at each word. In this first stag e, ju st get comfortable having the regulator th ere. Don’t t ry to pic k u p your speed. Slow down if the passage becomes harder to read in places. Aim to spend at least 10-15 minutes a da y using this technique. Do it for all reading fro m now on, including what yo u a re reading now! If yo u find it ’s 41

Memletics Effective Speed Reading Course

distracting you from a n importan t reading a ssignment, go back to your norma l reading practice during the assignment. Restart using the regulator after that. You may find that even in stage 1, your r eading sp eed increases. The inc rease might not be drastic, but en ough to make the exercise worthwhile. How? It helps your pace while reducing regression over words lines and sentences you’ve already read. Which regulator should you use – finger, pencil or pen? It’s up to yo u, however if you reading to learn, I suggest using a pe n or pencil. You can underlin e, tick o r mark important passages as well as mark new words straight away. Adults: You might find it embarrassing to u se this exercise in front of others, for fear of looking like you are learning to read. Simply explain you are doing a speedreading course and most people will usually want to know more! Stage 2: Shorten the regulator’s distance Now that you’re comfo rtable using the regu lator, the next stage is to shorten how far t he regulator tra vels ac ross each line. You mig ht ha ve al ready started doi ng this if you found it hard to keep the regulator up to the same pace as your reading. Aim to cover the middle half to two-third s of each line. Start part the way in, an d don’t go all the way to the end. Make su re you sti ll read each word t hough, an d again don’t try to push yourself just yet. Make sure you are still reading the words and understanding what you are reading. Go back and test yourself if necessary. Again, aim to spend 10 to 15 min utes a day for another 2 to 3 da ys, at least, doing this. In th e next stag e we’ll start increasing the speed of the regulator, so fo r now keep up your regular pace. Stage 3: Do speed drills Now it’s time to start increasing t he speed of your reg ulator. B elow you wi ll fi nd some speed drills to use. Start with the basic drills for a week, then the intermediate drills for a week, then the ad vanced drills for a w eek. Aim to d o one of these exercises every day for 10-15 minu tes. If you want to gain mo re speed, do two or more each day. For example, do one in the morning and one in the evening (keep in mind the principles of repetition from Memletics– space them out). Instead of simply speeding up your regulator, you will see the d rills involve going back over to your material at a faster pace. This helps “train your brain” to speed up your reading while still keeping up comprehension. An importa nt point here is to keep your d rills and norm al reading separate fo r now. Th e r eading mat erial yo u use fo r yo ur practice an d drill s s hould not co me from subjects or to pics you are learning now. Find a boo k that ha s m any simi lar pages (preferably without diagr ams or pict ures), with good line spacing and tex t size. It should be reasonably easy for yo u to read and un derstand at your current level. This will be your “drill book.” During t he drills, yo u foc us o n im proving speed first and kee ping up comprehension second. When you are re ading to learn, comprehension comes first. The speed drills will also increase your speed during your normal reading. Here are the drills to use over the coming weeks: • Basic speed drill 1 (15 mins). Go to a sectio n in your chosen drill book that you ha ven’t read before. Ma rk yo ur starting point then start readin g at your 42

Develop your fluency

normal pac e. Don’t t ry to speed up during this first read. At the end of 10 minutes, mark your finish point. Now go back to your starting point and reread what you just read. This time, aim to “read” the same amount of material in 5 minutes. Us e yo ur regulator to ma ke s ure yo ur eyes mov e ov er every word o f every line, but j ust do it fa ster. Keep up an even pace so you finis h within fiv e minutes. If you go over, just redo the exercise at a faster pace next time. Register a s many wo rds a s yo u ca n durin g th e f ast s ection. Fo r thi s drill don ’t worry if yo u don’t register all of th em. At the e nd of the ex ercise, write in you r course booklet. You only need to do this once a day, however feel free to do it a few times a day for maximum impact. • Basic sp eed dr ill 2 (20 m ins). This dri ll is essenti ally t he sam e a s basic speed drill 1, with one small addition. At the e nd of your 1 0-minute read, write some si mple note s th at desc ribe w hat you read. Use a notepad o r so me oth er spare pape r. Take about one to tw o mi nutes. Then do t he fi ve-minute read . After that, spend another minute adding a few more notes to your list. • Intermediate speed drill 1 (15 mins). This is si milar to basic sp eed drill 1. After completing the five-minute read, reread the mat erial in two minut es. Make sure you read every line, but keep up the pace. This is also a good time to start u sing speed paths from stage 4 b elow. Choose one of th e sp eed path s and us e i t d uring this drill. Fo r instance, run your regulator down the page, not across every line. • Intermediate speed drill 2 (20 mins). Same as intermediate speed drill 1 , however add the review task. Aft er each ten, five and two minute read, spend a minute writing some simple notes. • Advanced speed drill 1 ( 25 minutes). Mark a st arting spot and start reading at your normal pace. After five minutes, stop and mark the ending spot. Count the number of pages and multiply this by three – this is yo ur target page count. If you read a page and a half, then your target page count is about four and a half pages. Mark a sta rting spot in new mat erial, count y our ta rget pages forward and ma rk yo ur end spot. St art reading an d aim to fi nish first time in 1 2 minutes. You will n eed to read slightly faster. At the end, spend one minute writ ing som e notes on what you read. Then, reread the mat erial in 6 minutes. Add to your notes. • Advanced speed drill 1 (4 0 mins). Do advanced speed drill one with these differences. Multiply your ta rget page count by 5, complete the first reading in 20 minutes, and the second reading in 10 minutes. Stage 4: Choose your speed path As your speed increases, you ma y find yo ur regulator has trouble keeping up wit h your ey es. You can no w choos e a sp eed pat h for you r r egulator th at suit s yo u. Instead of moving your regulator across underneath each line, try moving it in one of the following paths. Down the middle of the page, down the margin, in a large S or Z pattern down the page, or several Z’ s down the pag e. For online reading, t ry running th e mo use d own th e middle o r sid e o f t he text. C ombine yo ur experimentation with more speed drills for 10-15 minutes a day for a week.

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Memletics Effective Speed Reading Course

Previously you were using your regulator to keep your place on each line. Now you are u sing y our regulator to k eep your plac e on the page. Yo u sti ll read each li ne though. No one path is better than the others are. Choose one you find most comfortable. You might also try changing your regulator depending on which reading mode you are in (e.g. fast or slow). For example, you might go back to the line-by-line pattern while reading complex or important passages.

Using the regulator technique Using the regulator t echnique with th e speed d rills ove r fo ur we eks ca n dramatically impro ve fluency. A fter you’ve comple ted the four -week course, commit to doing a few s peed drills each month. This will pr eserve and even further im prove yo ur overall f luency. Ev en experienced r eaders will find th e exercises helpful. A question you may ha ve is “Do I ever st op u sing t he regulator?” T he an swer i s “it’s up to you.” Man y people cont inue to use the regulato r technique for all their reading. You might like to stop when you read for leisure, or if you feel you read well wit hout it. Start using it a gain if yo u feel your speed s lowing, while reading important material, or if your concentration is lacking.

Summary In this mod ule, yo u’ve discovered how to imp rove you r f luency. Yo u’ve ch ecked your basic fluency skills, and learned ways support your current fluency. The main part of this module though focused on how to develop and improve your fluency. You’ve le arned a simple and effective technique fo r develo ping fluency – the regulator t echnique. You’ve s een h ow to apply the regulator tec hnique and then how to do the speed drills needed to pick up your pace. You’ve also learned some speed paths that help you as you increase your reading speed. Don’t let the simplicity of the regulator tec hnique fool yo u. Take the time to do the speed drills and you will see a dramatic increase in your reading speed. While yo u work on develo ping yo ur flue ncy, you can continue wit h developing more skills that improve your reading speed. The next module teaches you how to skim read. Skim reading is anot her important techniq ue fo r effective reading, however you need to know the right time to use it. Read on to find out more.

What did you thin k of this mod ule? Do yo u have s ome suggestions? Let us know your thoughts using our online survey at: http://www.memletics.com/surveys/speed-reading

44

Learn to skim read

Module

5

Learn to skim read Skim reading is a valua ble technique fo r overviewing, previewing, and reviewing information at both the general and specific levels. It’s useful for reading structured text in which there are organizing clues and for reading uns tructured text in which there are n o organizing clues. In t his ch apter, you’ll learn how to use skimmi ng techniques in each situation so you’ll be a ble to read both complex and sim ple content at a faster, more efficient rate, and at a deeper level of understanding.

Skim reading is an essential t echnique for Comprehension you to use in both general reading and speed reading. It differs fro m “fluent” reading in Strategies Vocabulary which you read ever y word in an ar ticle or Fluency Skimming book wit h the purpose of fully understanding the in formation in those Alphabetics publications. S kimming ha s t he purpose of Memletics® Effective Reading allowing yo u to locat e information in o rder to overview, preview or review key concepts. The benefit of skim reading is that i t allows you to rapidly assess the importance of material in relation to your reading purpose an d then to f ocus effectively on k ey facts, conc epts, and i nformation needed to a chieve t hat pu rpose. In othe r word s, yo u can learn information very quickly and efficiently and improve your learning process. Note: Don’t u se skim reading alone with ma terial you need to know in depth. In such a ca se, re ad the in formation ca refully an d at a sl ower rate. Use skim ming before and after reading at your stan dard rea ding s peed to ga in a better understanding of material. This chapt er provid es specific guidelin es on how to use the skimming technique. The guidelines are: • Skim reading structured content • Skim reading unstructured content • Skim reading on the computer Each of t hese guidelines d efines the t echniques of skim r eading and pro vides directions o n how to apply tho se t echniques a ppropriately. Study ea ch guid eline closely. Th en, at the en d of the chapte r, comp lete the exercises. Th ese will h elp you reinforce learning of the content in this chapter.

45

Memletics Effective Speed Reading Course

Skim reading structured content Structured content is information that has organizing elements such as tables of contents, heading s, bullet s, and other orga nizing clues i n the text. Textbooks, business books and technical manuals usually contain structured content. Skim reading provides a high-leve l view of such structured in formation in two ways. First, with this technique, you can get a preview or overview of new material so you can decide how you want to approach it in terms of reading strategies. (It’s also useful in finding key idea s in new ma terial.) Second, it’s useful for reviewing material you’ve already studied. The ben efit of skimming is that it helps yo u with the learning process and also aids in locating important information quickly. Specifically, skim reading st ructured co ntent involves searching for the m ain ideas in an article or t ext by looking for organizational “clues”. In other words, an author organizes his or her material in specific ways that can help you discover the main points quickly and easily. The clues can include the following: • Front and back cover • Table of contents • Major and second level headings. • All headings in bold and italics and diagrams • The first and last lines of paragraphs • Summaries • Other organizers (numbers, days, dates or times, proper names, etc.) Let’s look at each o f th ese “clues” in turn to see how t hey can he lp y ou w hen you scan read them for information.

Front and back covers Book covers can provi de great summari es of the cont ent. By nature, covers ar e designed to convey maximum information i n the least amo unt o f space. B y reading thes e, you can ge t a quick understanding of t he a uthor’s main ideas which, in turn, helps you decide if the book does or doesn’t meet your goals on a particular subject. For example, let’s assume that you have an interest in learning how to save money, budget, and red uce credit card debt . You also wan t an easy guide to these subjects be cause you ’re not interested in a lo t of theo ry; you just want the mo st practical guide po ssible. So, yo u g o to th e l ibrary or b ookstore a nd pick up the following b ook. (N ote: th is book doesn’t r eally e xist; w e’ve cr eated it s olely for this chapter to illustrate the techniques.)

46

Learn to skim read

The Practical Person’s Guide to Saving Money

A smart, easy guide to keeping money in your pocket

By scannin g the t ext on the fron t cover, yo u can pick out word s that fit the purpose of finding a book th at f its yo ur needs—“ practical”, “guide”, “ saving”, “smart”, “easy”. T he t ext on the front cover i s promi sing so now yo u look at t he back cover of our imaginary book to get a little more detail on the content.

The Practical Person’s Guide to Saving Money Ready to get serious about getting control of your finances? We’ll show what to do in the following areas: Create an effective budget. Save money painlessly. Get control of your credit card debt. Plan for the future. …and Much, much more

The back cover text shows you that the book will explain how to create an effective budget, hel p you sa ve money, and get cont rol of credit card debt. So, based on your skimming o f t he te xt o n the tw o c overs, you c an be reasonably sure th at the book will gi ve you th e answers yo u n eed, and it’ s wo rth your w hile to chec k t his book out from the library or buy it from a bookstore.

Table of Contents The Table of Cont ents gives you the autho r’s organ ization of his o r her subject matter. The table provides a gen eral und erstanding of what that author feels i s important t o underst and and remember. You can bui ld on that organi zational information to “read smart”; t hat is, conc entrate yo ur r eading on th e a reas that will gi ve yo u the mo st informatio n in th e least amo unt of time. B elow, we’ve provide you with a partial sample of the Table of Content for our imaginary book. 47

Memletics Effective Speed Reading Course

Table of Contents Chapter 1: Getting Control of Your Money .........................1 Analyze your spending habits.......................................1 Track expenses..........................................................3 Sample budgets.........................................................6 Chapter 2: Reducing and Eliminating Debt ...................... 10 Debt overload.......................................................... 10 Ridding yourself of credit card addiction ...................... 12 Ordering credit reports from the “Big Three” ................ 14 Finding help with overwheming debt ........................... 16 Debt consolidation and bankruptcy ............................. 19

As yo u can se e a bove, the Ta ble of Content s giv es yo u very specific clue s a s t o what’s included in each of the chapters. For example, Chapter 1 will show you how to analyze your spending habits, track expenses, and provides sample budgets for you to use in your household.

Index The index provides an alphabetical s ummary o f th e f acts, people, and plac es that are most im portant in a book’s cont ent. For example, an im portant event, person or date will have many references in the index. That tells you that the autho r considers those items very impo rtant. Th ese will ne ed y our f ull attention wh en you read t hat inform ation. By skim read ing this section, you’ll have a bett er understanding of the vi tal el ements of th e tex t. For exa mple, be low i s an exce rpt from the index of the imaginary book. C Credit bureaus, 21 Credit cards, Credit counselling agencies, 35-36 Finding lower-rate credit cards, 30 Hidden risks of, 25 Interest rates, 31-32 Missing payments on, 29 Monthly debt obligations, 17 Paying off, 52 Statements, 30 Six steps for cutting back on, 31 The pa rtial listing un der the “C ” cate gory show s the informatio n availabl e concerning credit cards. By ski mming it, you discover that ther e’s qu ite a bit of information availabl e o n the hid den d angers of cred it car ds, how to f ind cheap er interest rates for those cards, and other important subjects relating to credit card usage. The presence of an index can also be a good indicator of the quality of the book. If there is no index, you might want to consider using other references if possible.

48

Learn to skim read

Major and second level headings Major and second level headings in a text provid e you with specific clues regarding i mportant i deas contai ned within an articl e o r boo k. By skim readin g these h eadings, you gain a d eeper level of und erstanding of the content. Below is an excerpt from the chapter on reducing and eliminating debt.

Cut up (almost) all those cards! Credit c ard addi ction is a way of lif e for man y people! It’s important for yo u to remember t hat millions of people have fallen into the trap of paying for purchases o n credit ca rds. The t rap is paying minimum amounts on debts with 18% or more interest rates. Debt keeps building and building! It ’s time to take control of your addiction by following the six steps outlined below. Step 1: Figure out a budget —right now! Set limit s on your spending. It ’s a gre at wa y to ke ep d ebt under control. Step 2: Lim it yourself to one lowe r-interest credit car d. One c redit card i s all yo u really n eed. Keeping mo re than one is just an invitation to keep on spending. Step 3 …

It’s clear from the bold-faced major heading that the author considered cutting up credit cards very important. From that heading and the following bold faced second-level headings, it’s easy fo r you to d etermine that the in formation in this section is designed to show you how to reduce debt by taking some very specific steps.

All text in bold or italics, diagrams As you saw in the excerpt above, the mere fact that the author has chosen to boldface o r it alicize info rmation tells you thi s information i s i mportant and needs to be und erstood. Vi sual displ ays, such a s diagrams, ch arts, and othe r gr aphics, are also i mportant beca use they provi de vi sual explanation o f essential i nformation. Our ima ginary chapt er on reduci ng an d eliminating debt doesn’t have any diagrams in it. However, a rea l bo ok on credi t and debt might incl ude a sampl e credit report from a m ajor c redit-reporting a gency. T his is easier a nd quic ker to digest then paragraphs of text describing the contents.

First and last sentences of paragraphs Often, the first sentence of a paragraph states the main idea of that parag raph while th e la st s entence often p rovides a quick re statement of that sa me id ea. So you can read these lines to pic k up the info rmation you need. It’s important t o remember that this technique is valuable but doesn’t work for every author. Some writers write clearly while others bury information in complex sentence structure 49

and make it diffic ult for t he re ader to pick out and und erstand key c oncepts. In such cases, it will call for a closer read than is provided by skim reading. Below, read the first and la st sentences from a paragraph in our imaginary book and see how th ey p rovide a go od id ea of the ma in thrust o f the info rmation in this passage.

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One of th e great p roblems wit h cr edit card d ebt i s called interest. What is interest? It ’s the money you pay l enders for th e privilege of b orrowing m oney from t hem. From t he lenders’ poin t of view, you’re an investment on whic h they earn money (interest). Credit ca rd companie s are lenders, and wh en you borrow money from them (i .e. use their cards), they can charge you interest ranging anywhere from 9 to 21% int erest or more, d epending on eco nomic conditions. This rate i s called the A nnual Percentage Rate (A PR), and, c ombined with the compound interest charge, it c an cause your debt to grow like a virulent cancer. By skim reading the first and last lines of the above paragraph, you c an pick out the main point—credit card interest can seriously damage financial well-being.

Summaries

Summaries at the end of articl es, chapters, a nd books gi ve yo u an informationpacked “snapshot” of the key ideas in the content. Quickly reading a summary is a great way to understand and review concepts considered important by the author. For example, look at the summary created for our imaginary book.

Summary In this chapter, you saw that credit card or other debt can become a crushing burden on your financial house unless you take charge of your finances. You also saw that the first step in reducing or eliminating debt is t o set up a household bud get so yo u can carefully control expenditures. In additi on, yo u l earned that a fa st way t o pile up debt is through addiction to credit card spending. I gave you six steps for getting control of that addiction. The best advice I can give you at this point is: fo llow tho se six steps im mediately! Take action right now. The only thin g you have to lose is stress!

A quick read of the summary tells you that the author believes there are two main ways out of de bt—setting up a budge t and getting rid of credit card addiction. So, you know promptly the main ideas presented in this chapter by the author. 50

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Memletics Effective Speed Reading Course

Learn to skim read

Other organizers Other o rganizers incl ude n umbers, d ays, dates o r tim es, proper nam es, and any other specific “clues ’ which indicate that t he author considers this informatio n important. For example, a ssume t he a uthor p rominently listed a r esource in ou r fictional chapter on reducing and elimin ating debt. Thi s fictiona l resource i s called “T he Internatio nal Fo undation for Co nsumer C redit”, and t he a uthor lists this organization’s address, phone number, and web sit e link. Because the autho r has l isted all thi s contact inform ation, he o r she has let you know that this knowledge is vital for you to know.

Skim reading unstructured content Unstructured content is text that has fe w head ings, bull ets and other organizin g clues. Biographies, novels, and some business books are examples of unstructured content. Even though this material doesn’t have as many organizational clues as structured content has, you can still use skim reading to gain a high-level view of the material. When skim r eading un structured content, your objective is to read quickly and absorb the gist of the autho r’s messages and k ey ide as. You don’t r eally focu s on any particular elements. In es sence, you tr ain yourself to ski p words, phrases and sentences that are less likely to h ave key points. Instead, you focus on those parts of the page that are more likely to have key points. To learn to skim read unstructured content, use the speed drills from the previous chapter, but gradually increa se your pa ce so you only sp end about 5-7 seconds skimming each page for an average size paperback. Use more time for larger pages or smaller print. Use less time for smaller pages or larger text. Run your eyes over the page from top to bottom. Focus near the start and end of paragraphs, but pick out relatively random phrases wit hin para graphs as we ll. T urn p ages a t regular intervals to keep up speed. Don’t use th e regulator techni que whi le skimming. I n this case, the “regulator” is the act of turning the pages. It’s import ant to remember that most articles, books a nd other m aterials have some structure. T his mean s yo u can s witch bet ween techniques used for structured and unstructured content. So, b e fl exible in use of th e techniques. For example, you might pic k up an in spirational business book written by a corporat e executive. T he main top ic is th e “power o f concentrated focus”. Beca use the boo k is loosely organized (the aut hor is a better ex ecutive than a writer), y ou first ski m read it as unstructured material. In the process of skim reading it quickly, assume you disco ver potenti ally us eful in formation. At that point, you swi tch to skim reading that information as structured material in order to determine its worth in relation to your reading purpose.

Skim reading on a computer monitor Research suggests that people skim re ad info rmation mo re slowly o n comput ers compared to paper. However, the same research also suggests that understanding of the information is greater. You can see th at there is a tradeoff in this sit uation. It may be that you have to work harder to develop good skim reading skills when using a computer. Here are some tips to help you improve those skills: 51

Memletics Effective Speed Reading Course

• Use full screen mo de: Use the full screen mode if possible to minimize scrolling. It’ll reduce both “finger fatigue” and eye fatigue. Both Adobe Acrobat and Microsoft Word provide full screen views. • Minimize mouse usage: Try to minimize use of a mouse or alternate it wit h other regulator devices (pencil or pen, for example). Overuse of this device can lead to repetitive strain injury (RSI ) and ca use pain in the wri st, arm o r shoulder. • Print it out. Text on paper is often easier to skim read than on computer. For more tips on optimizing your computer screen for reading, see the Alphabetics module in this co urse. A well configured sc reen will a ssist in s kim reading.

Skim reading exercises Below are some exercises for you. Thes e will he lp y ou learn th e sk im reading technique.

Structured reading exercise Find a structured text for this exercise. It could be a text book, b usiness boo k or any other structured material. Skim read the text using the techniques outlined in this chapter for structured text. Specifically, skim read by looking at clues such as front and back covers, tables of contents , ind ex, headings and other organi zers. Practice picking up these clues using a regulator – i.e. point to each o f these items using your finger or pen. Try these exercises: Structured skim reading drill 1 Follow these steps: • Set a countdown timer for 2 minutes, plus 2 seconds per page. • Start readi ng the structured cont ent in this order: Covers, table of contents, index, first and se cond level headings. Foc us on getting your eyes to the right places. Don’t worry too much about content yet. • Aim to finish within the time you allotted. Structured skim reading drill 2 Follow th e same st eps as for skim readin g drill 1, ho wever also skim r ead t he introduction, all headings, a ll bolded t ext, plus the first sentence of each paragraph. Give yourself 4 minutes plus 3 seconds per page.

Unstructured reading exercise Find an uns tructured text for this exercise. It could be a n ovel or a biography of a famous person you’ve always wanted to know more about. It should have large sections of text with few headings and other organizing features. Unstructured skim reading drill 1 Follow these steps. If you come across any organizing features during this exercise (for example headings, bold text, diagrams), just skip over them for now. • Pick a st arting pag e, m ark it, read fo r t en mi nutes at yo ur normal pace, and mark where you finished. 52

Learn to skim read

• Count the pages you’ve read during that time. • Starting f rom wh ere yo u fini shed, count out t hree times the n umber of pages you read. If you read 4 pages in 10 minutes, count 12 pages ahead. • Aim to skim read that number of pages in next ten minutes. • Write down a few points on what you read. • Optional: Reread the material at a slower pace to s ee where you might have picked up more key points. Unstructured skim reading drill 2 Follow the same steps as for the drill above, except count out five times that many pages. Aim to skim read that number in ten minutes. Keep following these steps, but increase your number of target pages. Keep this up over several days until you reach approximately 5-7 seconds per page. Remember, the aim is to develop your skim reading skills. The focus is on speed while picking as much information possible during a fixed time per page.

Combined skim reading exercise Now that you’ve practiced skim reading structured and unstructured text, it’s now time to bring these together. Combined skim reading drill 1 Find a book that has a good combination of both structured and unstructured text and try the following exercise. • Pick one chapter from your book that’s of average size and count the pages. Allow yourself 4 minut es p lus 7 seconds for each pag e in that chapter. Set a countdown timer if possible. • Skim read the covers, table of contents, index, and introduction. • Proceed to your chosen chapter and skim rea d the headi ngs, bold ed text, and unstructured text in one read. Aim to finish within the time you set. • Write some notes about what you’ve read. • Reread the chapter at a slower pace, noting any important points you missed. Repeat the drill using different chapters over a few days.

Summary This mod ule taught yo u the skim readin g t echnique. You’ve learn ed that when reading structured m aterial in which there are or ganizing clues , you use skimming to get a “bird’s eye” view of structured information or to review information you’ve already studied. When reading unstructured material with few headings, bullets, or other organizing clues, your purpose is to absorb the gist of the author’s messages and key ideas. Whether skim reading structured or unstructured material, remember that the key idea i s s peed. Yo u fo rce you rself to ke ep up the pace. Read front and back, introductions, and summaries at your standard r eading sp eed, but then pic k up the pace while reading the content pages. Remember to sp end no longer than 5-7 seconds per page, adjusting for the size of the page and print. 53

Memletics Effective Speed Reading Course

When you need to spend a lot of time reading new material, it helps to think about the ap proach you wil l us e. T he n ext mod ule t eaches you how to develop specific strategies to help you read and understand new material faster.

What did you thin k of this mod ule? Do yo u have s ome suggestions? Let us know your thoughts using our online survey at: http://www.memletics.com/surveys/speed-reading

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Use reading strategies

Module

6

Use reading strategies It’s essential to apply re ading strategies to the information you read. Applying the correct strategy will give you maximum un derstanding of i nformation in less time and with less effort. In this section, we’ ll explain different reading strategies and show you how to adjust reading rate acco rding t o your purp ose in reading and the difficulty of the mat erial. By the t ime yo u complete this section and thoroughly practice the principles outlined in it, you’ ll be able to read an d comprehend material much more quickly and efficiently. .

To be an effective reader, you can’t approach Comprehension information in a haphaza rd ma nner. Yo u need to tac kle it wit h a specific str ategy in Strategies mind. A defined strategy will improve yo ur Vocabulary Fluency Skimming comprehension, increase reading speed, and save time. In this chapter, we’ve pro vided Alphabetics you with three majo r guidelines o n choosing Memletics® Effective Reading strategies and applying the m effectively. These guidelines include: • Analyze your objectives and material. • Use reading paths and reading modes. • Vary speed when reading. Each of these guid elines contains specific information on how to apply strat egies. Study e ach guid eline closely. T hen, at th e end of th e chapte r, c omplete th e exercises. These contains drills which wi ll h elp y ou reinforce le arning of the content in this chapter.

Analyze your objectives and material Whenever you ap proach mat erial you want t o read, yo u sho uld ta ke a strategic view. Ask yourself specific questions in these areas:

Ask questions about your objectives Whenever y ou pick up an articl e or book to study it, you should fi rst mak e s ure you’re on the right track in terms of reading the information in those publications. You don ’t want you r goals d erailed by reading material that has little o r no relationship to your o verall goals. I t’s a waste of time and energy . So, keep focus 55

right fro m the start by asking yourse lf the following questions about yo ur objectives. • What’s my purpose in reading this mate rial? Is th e p urpose directly related to my overall goals? • How well does this material link to my overall learning goals? • Specifically, what do I want to get from the material I’m reading? • How much do I already know about this topic? • How well do I need to learn and memorize it?

Ask questions about your material

Decide your strategy

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Next, ask questions about the mat erial you’re reading. To ask those questions, use a combination of fast reading and skim reading to gather this information. • What do I already know about this subject? • How difficult is this material for me to understand? • How well structured is the material? How is it organized? • How has the autho r o rganized the chapt ers? Are the chapters interrelat ed o r independent? Do I need to read the chapters in order, or can you read them in order? • Does the introduction or foreword match my objectives? • Are there summaries, reviews, tests and exercises? • Is there an index? Will I need to create my own? • Is there a glossary? Can I use this as a starting point for my “new word list?” • What d o I know a bout t he au thor? I s th e au thor l ikely to p resent fa ctual or biased information? • Are there other books or materials I need before reading? While reading? • Do I own the material? Can I write in it?

Based upon the answers to the above qu estions, you c an determine the best methods of approaching the material; that is, you can decide if you need to skip it, skim it, read it once, or if you need to read it several times using different speeds each time . Depending on how you answer these qu estions, you ’ll accelerate or slow down your reading speed. For example, if you decide your purpose in reading a text is to thoroughly understand the difficult and unfamiliar ideas in it, then you will d ecrease you r reading s peed to achiev e t hat purpose. If, on t he other hand, you’re reading familia r, ea sy mat erial, then y ou’ll incr ease your r eading sp eed because it ’s not necessary to go into gr eat depth on materi al you al ready know . Below we pr ovide you w ith s pecific situations in which to increa se or d ecrease reading speed.

Use reading paths and reading modes

For mat erial you need to learn and memo rize w ell, yo u ne ed to mak e s everal passes through your reading material. A “r eading path” is how you move thro ugh the material to maximise your understanding of it. A “rea ding mode” is a speed you u se on a particula r pas s. You can improve yo ur understanding by making several passes through the material at higher speeds, then slowing down as you 56

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Memletics Effective Speed Reading Course

Use reading strategies

"drill down " into the material. A t the end, you can then review the material at higher speeds again. First we will look at reading paths. The “context read,” “fast skim,” “context skim” items yo u will see below ar e th e re ading m odes. I disc uss t hese a fter r eading paths.

Use Reading Paths Think of a reading path as a strategy or o verall plan for approaching material you want to lea rn. There are three general reading paths you c an travel. The path you choose will vary according to the materi al, struct ure an d topic of t he material you’re reading. The following diagrams explain each path and when to use it. The Straight Through Path As you can see below, y ou r ead straight through the t ext without skimming when you use the straight thro ugh path. Use this path when yo u’re reading fo r enjoyment (novels, short stories, etc.) or to build a general understand ing without needing to memorize the material. Chapter 2

Chapter 1

1.

Context read

2.

Context read

Chapter 3

3.

Context read

Chapter 4

4.

Context read

The Downwards Path Use the downwar ds reading path to study material in whic h t he chapt ers a re loosely related. B ecause t he c hapters are relatively independent, the most effective way of reading the mate rial is to get an overview by fast skimming, then drilling down within each individual chapter. Chapter 2

Chapter 1 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 22.

Fast skim Context skim Context read Explore Collection Review Refresh

1. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 22.

Fast skim Context skim Context read Explore Collection Review Refresh

Chapter 3 1. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 22.

Fast skim Context skim Context read Explore Collection Review Refresh

Chapter 4 1. 17. 18. 19. 20. 21. 22.

Fast skim Context skim Context read Explore Collection Review Refresh

This metho d allows yo u to judge the qualit y of the cont ent as it relates to you r overall reading objectives. It h elps prevent wasted time on information that’s not related to those objectives and keeps you focused on essential content. The Crossways Path Use the crossways path when th e chapters are tightly related. For example, if yo u need knowledge of earlier chapters to make sense of later chapters, you should use 57

Memletics Effective Speed Reading Course

this technique. The crossways path means skim read to deeper levels across the entire book before reading each chapter in detail. As s hown i n the flowc hart b elow, you fa st sk im, context skim, and context re ad across al l t he c hapters first. You t hen explore, collect an d review ea ch chapt er at time. You might also choose to do t he chapters in a different order, base d on your initial readings. Chapter 1 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 16.

Fast skim Context skim Context read Explore Collection Review Refresh

Chapter 2 1. 2. 3. 7. 8. 9. 16.

Fast skim Context skim Context read Explore Collection Review Refresh

Chapter 3 1. 2. 3. 10. 11. 12. 16.

Fast skim Context skim Context read Explore Collection Review Refresh

Chapter 4 1. 2. 3. 13. 14. 15. 16.

Fast skim Context skim Context read Explore Collection Review Refresh

Using this path gives you a bett er und erstanding of the re lationships between topics. Like the downwards pat h, i t also allows yo u to g et a good sense of t he content and make choices about what information you need to concentrate on.

Use Reading Modes As w e sa id ea rlier, a re ading m ode is a tactic to use when you’re reading information. Tactics help yo u carry out yo ur reading st rategy. E ach tactic has a specific p urpose a s s hown in the chart b elow. You use reading mod es to start reading mat erial at a hi gh level. Yo u then “drill down” to understand material in more detail. At the end of your reading session, you do review skims to help consolidate and check what yo u’ve read. Longer term, you us e r efresh s kims to help you retain what you’ve learned, perhaps over weeks or months. You choo se which r eading modes you ne ed to us e ba sed on your ov erall strategy and the r eading path y ou’ve chos en. You do n’t necessarily need to use all of the modes. Fo r example, fo r a simple r eading w ith ea sy cont ent, you m ight j ust n eed to use fast skim and context skims to get a good understanding of the information. Alternatively, if yo u’re reading a c omplex coll ege text on , say, advanced ph ysics, then you’ll need to build a solid understanding by using all the modes.

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Reading Mode

Purpose

Overview

As the name suggests, use this mode to get an overall idea of what the content is about and how it’s organized. Overview the following areas: Title, back cover/inside jacket, about the author, preface, introduction, table of contents, book reviews on Amazon.com, etc.

Fast Skim

Fast skim content to move down a level from the Overview mode. This mode will give you a more specific sense of the content within the book or article you want to read. Fast skim the following areas: chapter headings, chapter introduction, summaries, section headings, etc.

Use reading strategies

Context Skim

Context skimming “drills down” to an even more detailed level than fast skimming because you’ll look at the specific structure of the information. Context skim the following areas: all headings, key paragraph lines (first, last), pivotal words, italics, bold, key lines, diagrams, bullet point lists, etc.

Context Read

Read straight through the material at your fluent reading speed. Highlight and look up any unknown words as you progress.

Exploration Read

The purpose of an Exploration Read is to understand and highlight key points, concepts and ideas. Use exploration techniques in the rest of the comprehension chapter. This mode involves a slower, more thorough read, which may involve going back over material until you completely understand it. You might also use exploration techniques outlined in the next chapter.

Collection/Extraction Read

The purpose of this mode is to pull out information and create review notes or type material into SuperMemo (a software program discussed in the Memletics Accelerated Learning Manual). It also helps you work out what you need to memorize, and then memorize it.

Review Read and Skim

Use this mode soon after reading to check your understanding of the information and your memory of it. Fast read or skim read sections when using this mode. Look for your highlights, notes, comments, etc.

Refresh Skim

Just as the name suggests, sometime after a reading (e.g., weeks or even months later, skim read to refresh your memory on key points etc. You should review your notes and highlight key information. This mode should be faster than the Review Read mode.

Tip: When to use reading and regulator techniques As s hown i n the abov e cha rt, u se fl uent re ading and ski m r eading techniq ues based on the mod e you are using. In addi tion to these tec hniques, you can apply different regulator paths to reading modes. For example, us e the S or Z regulator paths for the fast skim, context s kim, review read/skim (i.e., fast reading) modes. During context read and for exploration read, us e the l ine-by-line regulator fo r more detailed reading.

Vary your speed when you read The best way to think o f controlling your reading speed is to compare the proc ess to driving a car. Just as you have to vary your speed when driving to match the 59

Memletics Effective Speed Reading Course

road condition, so you have to adjust your reading speed to match the material you’re reading. In other words, when you encounter material that’s difficult to understand and it’s an uphill battle to understand it, you’ll n eed to shift yo ur “reading g ear” into lo w to get more po wer. When it’ s s impler mat erial and ea sy going, then you’ll shift into a higher ge ar to drive faster and more effici ently through the content. A mark of effective readers is their ability to adjust reading speed to the nature of the material they’re reading. This i mproves und erstanding of the material an d makes the overa ll reading pr ocess m uch easier. To he lp you va ry your reading s peed appropriately, w e’ve p rovided bo th g eneral and s pecific guidelines for your study. You may want to decrease your speed in the following situations: • Unfamiliar words. For example, assume you r un into the wo rd “lethargy” (a feeling of ti redness, drowsiness, or lack of energy) and happen not t o know it s meaning. First, you can slow down and try to understand it from t he way it ’s used in the sentence or paragraph. Second, you can read on and return to it later. (Suggestion: underline the word so you can find it again easily.) • A lo ng and involv ed sentence and para graph stru cture. Slow down so you can untangle th e structure and get an accurate id ea of what the autho r is saying. Not every a uthor i s a goo d, clea r w riter so you may need t o work at uncovering the meaning in a particular passage. • Unfamiliar or abstract ideas. Some ideas are difficult to understand with a quick readi ng. In suc h cases, slow down to lo ok fo r examples or illustrations which explain them more clearly. If th ese tactics don’t work, find someone who will help you understand. In any case, demand that the idea make sen se to you. And nev er g ive up unti l you do understand the idea b ecause it’ll make reading the material following it that much easier to understand. • Detailed, t echnical material. By its nature, technical material demands that yo u slow down t o read and und erstand it. T echnical mat erial oft en includes complicat ed direction s, abst ract principles, diagrams and other content in which you might not have much background. • Content you really want to remember. To memorize content, you need to study it ca refully, so speed is not the key in this situation. Instead, you need to emphasize organization and r ecitation—read the mat erial out loud to fix it in your mind. You may want to increase your speed in the following situations. • Simple material with few ideas new to you. Make the best use of your time by co ncentrating on any unfamilia r i deas whil e moving ra pidly over familiar materials. • Unnecessary exa mples a nd illustra tions. If e xamples and i llustrations clarify ideas you already know, why waste your time? Skip over them quickly. • Broad, ge neralized ideas. Usually, th ese i deas can b e und erstood quickl y even when you use scan techniques.

Tip: Look for pivotal words and phrases A “pivotal” word or phrase can give you quick clues as to important points in the material. Typical pi votal wo rds an d phrases a re shown in the c hart below. Read 60

Use reading strategies

the chart, you’ll see examples of pivotal words and phrases and how they can help you read and learn more quickly and effectively. Pivotal Word and Phrases

What to do

In summary…In conclusion…Summarizing…In brief…Summing up, etc.

Pick these out if you are skimming – they can give you a quick overview of large sections of text.

First, second, next, last, etc.

When you come across these, skip ahead and find the matching words (firstly, secondly, lastly). It will help you understand the relationships.

For example (e.g.)…Such as… For instance…Like, etc.

These expand on a point. If you already understand the point, pick up your reading speed. If it's not clear yet, slow down. It might be important because the author has gone to the trouble of providing examples.

In other words…To repeat…Again, etc.

Similar to the line above, you can skip these if you understand the proceeding text: otherwise take care – the author is highlighting important points.

Examples Let’s look at som e ex amples to highlight th ese pi votal words. In t he fol lowing passage on the Co riolis Ef fect, t hink a bout wh ether y ou wo uld i ncrease o r decrease your reading speed. The Coriolis Effect is the apparent acceleration of a moving body on or near t he Earth as a result of the Earth's rotation. An object on the Earth's s urface move s fa ster at the equator than it does away from the equator. An object near the equator is moving through a 25,000-mile (40,000-kilomet er) circle in 24 hours. But, away from the equator, it tr avels in a smaller ci rcle in th e same 2 4-hour p eriod. The Co riolis Eff ect alt ers th e pat hs of any projectile or moving object on Earth – eg bullets, aeroplanes etc. This is technical material. If you’re unfamiliar with it, you should decrease your reading speed to understand any complica ted direction s, abst ract principles, and other content in which you might not have much background. In the follo wing passage on the natural rate of e mployment, I ’ve us ed ce rtain pivotal wo rds. See if you can pick out t hose words and t hen thin k about t he best method for reading this passage. How is t he natural rate of unemployment determined? The basic answer is that peo ple keep changing thei r minds! First, consumers change their mind s. Th e re cent tr end toward e ating more veg etables and l ess meat m eans jobs a re lo st in t he meat 61

Memletics Effective Speed Reading Course

industry while jobs are gained in th e vegetable industry. Second, employers change their minds. If t hey find some workers are not as productive as they hoped to be, they o ften fire them. Third, employees change th eir mind s. T hey may find that th ey’re not getting t he wages and ben efits they want and quit. All tho se events lead to job turnover. The pivotal words are “first…second…third”. When you run into “first” skip ahead and find the matching words “sec ond” an d “third ” to help you understand the context of the points. In the following paragraph on bad habits, the pivotal word is “For example”. How should you vary your reading speed in this example and why? Be aware of old habit s that may be diverting you from yo ur focus on goals for success. Fo r example, a bad habit might be watching too much television. If you’re spending t hree hours a night watching reality shows, then you’re not d ealing with yo ur o wn reality! Tho se 180 min utes ar e wa sted tim e. Do the mat h. If you spend th ree ho urs a ni ght fi ve da ys a we ek watching “Survivor” and other prog rams, that’s fi fteen hours a week taken away fro m your ma rch toward success. M ultiply that fifteen hours ti mes 52 weeks, and you’ve wasted 780 hours in a year. So, obviously, this amount of televi sion watching is hindering you f rom a chieving success—or at lea st d elaying yo ur journey o n the road to that success. Kick that habit! Take a hard look at your life and see how you can devote your energies to more pro ductive activities— activities that will bring you more health, wealth, and success. When a pivotal word like “ for example” occ urs, it expands on a p oint. If yo u already understand the point, then pick up your reading speed. If it's not clear yet, slow down . It might be important because the autho r has gone to the tro uble o f providing examples.

Reading strategy exercises Now that you’ve learnt ways to read and skim read faster, it’s now time to bring both skills together. Find a bo ok that has a good mix of structured an d unstructured text, and try the following drills. Downwards path drill We’re not going to set a specif ic time target for this dril l. Rather , jus t keep tr ack of the time taken and number of pages covered. Aim to improve yo ur “time per page” over successive drills. Pick two chapters and follow these steps. • Read the book covers, table of contents, and introduction. Scan the index. • Start the timer.

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Fast skim b oth of you r chosen cha pters, one a fter th e oth er – j ust looking at headings. • Skim read the first chapter. • Read the first chapter. • Skim the first chapter again, re-reading any sections you found difficult. • Write some notes on the first chapter. • Skim read the second chapter. • Read the second chapter. • Skim the second chapter again, re-reading any sections you found difficult. • Write some notes on the second chapter. • Stop the timer and note the time and the number of pages. After you ’ve d one the d rill, review the mat erial once more and see if you mis sed any key points. Repeat the drill a few days later using two new chapters. Crossways path drill Again, we’re not going to set a specific time target for this drill. Just keep track of the time taken and number of pages, an d aim to impro ve yo ur “ti me p er pa ge” over successive drills. Pick two chapters and follow these steps. • Read the book covers, table of contents, index and introduction. • Start the timer. • Fast skim b oth of you r chosen cha pters, one a fter th e oth er – j ust looking at headings. • Skim read the first chapter. • Skim read the second chapter. • Read the first chapter. • Read the second chapter. • Skim the first chapter again, re-reading any sections you found difficult. • Write some notes on the first chapter. • Skim the second chapter again, re-reading any sections you found difficult. • Write some notes on the second chapter. • Stop the timer and note the time and the number of pages. After you ’ve d one the d rill, review the mat erial once more and see if you mis sed any key points. Repeat the drill a few days later using two new chapters.

Summary This module ta ught you ho w to d evelop a st rategy for reading any new material. You’ve seen how to analyze your objectives and materials by asking various questions. You’ve seen thre e r eading paths , and you kn ow when t o us e th em. These p aths a re th e straight th rough pa th, t he downwa rds path an d crossway s path. Yo u’ve a lso seen s everal r eading mo des, such as the fas t sk im mode , the context read mode and the refresh skim mode, and again when to use each. We also discussed when and how to vary your reading speed while you read, and you’ve l earnt to be on the loo kout for pivot al wo rds and ph rases. L astly, yo u’ve seen some e xercises to bring together your improved reading speed, skim reading skills and reading strategies. These help you practice all three. 63

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You’ve nearly fini shed reading this course. The la st module, I mprove yo ur Comprehension, follo ws. This module will teach yo u how to impro ve yo ur concentration and attention, how to colle ct the right material fo r learning, an d how to explore material to increase your comprehension. What did you thin k of this mod ule? Do yo u have s ome suggestions? Let us know your thoughts using our online survey at: http://www.memletics.com/surveys/speed-reading

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Module

7

Improve your comprehension Comprehension is usually the ultimate goal of reading. You want to understand an d learn what the author is communicating. More than previous parts though, how well you comprehend material depends on many va ried factors. If you want to learn and remember the material, you also have more wo rk to do to retain it for the long term. This last main module p rovides you with t ools and techniques to help you start on that path.

The previous sections of thi s co urse ha ve Comprehension focused on improving your reading speed. In Strategies this section, we ta ke a closer look at the last Vocabulary part to effective reading – comprehension. Fluency Skimming How well y ou com prehend a boo k depend s Alphabetics on many factors. Some of those include: Memletics® Effective Reading • Your reading level and vocabulary. • Your previous understanding of the topic. • How long it takes you to read the material. • Your concentration levels. • Your “world knowledge.” • Your learning and memory skills. • Your motivation. • … and more. Unfortunately, no o ne simple techni que will help yo u im prove your comprehension of a bo ok. Yo u may rememb er in the int roduction I mention ed that yo u should t reat r eading a bo ok a s a con tent coll ection ex ercise. If yo u a re reading a book to lea rn a new topic well, yo u need to tak e several more steps. The Memletic Process, d escribed in t he Me mletics Acce lerated Learning Manu al, consists of five main steps:

L E A R N Memletic Process

Locate

Explore

Arrange

Reinforce eNqui re

Reading a book mainly falls in the Locate step of this process. Some well-written books will also help you explore the content, so you can improve your understanding. Once you have this understanding though, it won’t last. That’s why you need to Arrange the material for memorization, Reinforce it using memory techniques, then review your progress using the eNquire step. 65

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The Memletics Accelerated Learning Manual provides details on all these steps and more. I’ve included a summary of the entire manual in the next chapter. In this section, I’ve provided three complete extracts from the manual related to comprehension. These are on Attention and Concentration from the State chapter, and the Locate and Explore steps from the Memletic Process chapter. As you can see, learning to read effectively is just one part of effective learning. I couldn’t hope to cover all the ways to improve comprehension through better learning skills in this chapter. The Memletics Manual is 220 pages of material devoted to just that. The following material is the most relevant from that book. If your goal is to improve your overall learning performance, I strongly suggest you read the Memletics Manual with this course.

Improve your attention and concentration Relaxation This is a c omplimentary extract from the State Chap ter o f the Memletics Accelerated Learning Manual. Atten tiveness is one part Glucose of s ixteen p arts o f M emletic Sta te - th e best state for learning. Memletic State Attention and concentration are fundamental to learning and memorizing. If yo u don ’t pay Nutrients Health Fitness attention when you see a n ew fact, it’s unlikely it even makes it into your memory. If it isn’t in there, you d on’t have m uch chanc e of recalling it. Nearly a ll the ot her good stat e princip les influence your att ention and concentration. Fo r example, a dist racting environment affect s y our conc entration. No t eating well o r failing to follo w natural body rhythms also ne gatively impacts concentration. You may also find it hard to con centrate if you don’t believe the material you are studying contributes to your overall goals. If you find your conc entration wanderin g or staying att entive is di fficult, scan through the state layers and see if there is an obvious problem somewhere. You may also want to try some specific concentration techniques during study, or try s ome longer-term exe rcises to impr ove your overall c oncentration. Let’s look at these two in more detail.

Concentration techniques during study Some specific techniques can help you stay focused on your material. These include: • “Be here now.” Every time you find yourself distracted, say “Be Here Now.” Say it aloud if possible, otherwise just repeat it in your mi nd. Then bring your attention back to yo ur task. In the beginning, you may fin d that yo u do this a lot. Over time, you gain more focus and your mind stays where you want it. • The spider approach. If you hold a vibrating tuning fork next to a spider web, the spider usually comes to see what’s happening, thinking it may be an insect. 66

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• •

•

•

•

Do it a fe w time s and the spider eventually chooses to ignore the distraction. You too can train yourself to ignore distractions. The sensations from your ears and eyes are simply sensations you can choose whether to react to or not. Paragraph marking. If y ou ar e reading a book or a rticle, ti ck each p aragraph as you read it. Use a pencil in case you want to re-read parts of it later. Keep a distraction log . Every tim e you find yo urself distracted, draw a tick or write the current time on a separate piece of paper. This is your distraction log. Initially the number of distractions may surprise you. By highlighting your distractions, you can begin to control and reduce them. Write down distrac tions. If som ething im portant comes up a s a distraction , simply write it down so you can d eal with it later. B etter yet, set a distraction time. Agree with yourself to take a break and de al with those distractions at that time. Switch top ics. Rather than spen ding a lon g time on one partic ular topic, switch between various unrelated topics if possible. The brain loves variety and rewards you with better concentration. Make it interactive. If studying with others, plan some time to get together and discuss the material you are learning. Even if you are not at the same stage in the co urse, simply ag ree to spend te n minut es listening to one ano ther tal k about their current study topic.

Longer-term improvement of concentration The p revious tec hniques ar e good f or k eeping up concent ration whil e you st udy. Some longer -term te chniques can impr ove you r over all conce ntration as we ll. These include: • Games. The old card game of “C oncentration” is still effective in impro ving concentration. If you have not come across it, the basic idea is to lay down a set of playing cards in a grid, all face-down. You then turn over a pair of cards. If they match number an d color (if using pl aying cards), t hen yo u take them o ut of the grid. If they don’t match, you place t hem bac k f ace d own a nd pick another pair. Bett er concentration , thro ugh practice, results in a shorter tim e to clear t he grid. You can also pla y with a frien d for competition. The one with the most pairs at the end of the game wins! Many ex pensive software packages claiming to improve co ncentration still use this principle in many gui ses, oft en wi th pictu res ins tead of playing car ds. There ar e a lso f ree co mputer game s, ba sed on Concentration, avai lable on the Internet. Using these an d some not es in a spreadsheet to t rack progress can b e just as effective as the more expensive packages. • Meditation. Meditation is an effective way o f impro ving your concentration . See my comments in “Mental Relaxation” for more comments on meditation. • Other exercises. Many other exercises c an help y ou increa se yo ur concentration. From si mply sta ring at a fixed point or candle, to martial art s, these can all help improve your overall concentration. Environment and concentration When po ssible, choo se a plac e fo r lea rning t hat is r elatively f ree from ext ernal distractions. Thi s helps att ention and concentration . Let fami ly, fri ends, o r 67

Memletics Effective Speed Reading Course

colleagues know that you are studying and would prefer no interruptions for a while. Use a do not disturb sign—but don’t overuse it! Be awa re of unwant ed noise in yo ur environment, including noise from overhead lights or electrical equipment. Consider using light background music to mask this noise if you are unable to control it. Also, b e a ware of visual d istractions, even if th ey a re only in you r p eripheral vision. Fo r example, w hile in a lib rary sit facing a wa ll in a secluded area, rather than near a passageway or door. Even in t he be st-planned en vironment, yo u may sti ll have interruptions. T rain yourself to pause for a moment before responding to an interruption. During that pause mak e a note, me ntally or o n pape r, of whe re yo u are. It ’s th en ea sier t o regain your concentration when you return. How do you train yourself? An idea is to ask someone to help you. Role-play the interruption and your action!

Locate and use content from multiple sources

L E A R N

Memletic Process This is a complimentary extract f rom th e P rocess Locate Chapter of the M emletics Accelerated L earning Manual. A ttentiveness is on e part o f s ixteen par ts o f Me mletic State - th e optimum state for learning. The locate step involves gather ing the content you need for learnin g. Sometimes this ma y b e ea sy. Th e c ourse may prescribe t exts and mat erials fo r y ou. At oth er times yo u may b e l earning som ething th at f ew oth ers have, so you have to forge your own w ay. Yo u ma y be somewhere in the mid dle, wit h som e t exts p rescribed for you and some further research to do. Let’s look at some typical content sources, as well as some general tips for locating content.

Content sources There are many sources of content for learning. You may find some materials already wel l organi zed, for exam ple well- written books o r course manuals. Yo u may also fi nd unstructured content. For exam ple, content may be ins ide someone else’s head. It’s your job to locate this content and prepare it fo r the next stage of the learning process. Some common sources for content include: • Books, texts and manuals. Books ar e stil l the mo st common so urce for content. L ook be yond the standard r eferences thou gh. What other r eferences may be useful? Whe re can you ge t th em? Which sho uld you buy yoursel f, versus which s hould you borrow? I recommend you buy a t least the c ore set of texts or re ferences. Y ou should the n ha ve no hesitatio n to write notes o r highlight text in them. • Instructors or lectur ers. Often you g ain content f rom a kno wledgeable person. Yo u may have one-to-one access to an instructor. For other courses, you may need to spend time in lectures. Either way, make sure your note taking skills are good and you have a system for organizing and referencing them later (some tips are on page 71). 68

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• The Internet. Over the past de cade, the Intern et ha s made mo re and mo re information avail able t o us. O ften you can find further in formation relat ed to your training topics. Be mindful of the source though. Not everything you find is legitimate. • Computer-Based Training. Comp uter-based training co urses, o r C BTs, have become mor e popu lar re cently. However, many are in effective. Sittin g in front of the com puter doing a CBT is n ot usua lly enough to learn the con tent well. You still need to go t hrough t he process of exploring, a rranging, reinforcing and reviewing. After doing many CBTs myself, I recommend using them mainly as a so urce of content. Treat them like a lect ure o r book, and write y our own notes. Aft er completing the CB T, cont inue with t he Memletic Process to explore, reinforce and memo rize t he cont ent. It’s also ea sier to refer to you r notes later, rather than trying to restart the course to find what you are looking for. • Other students. Often you can gain good cont ent by talking to other students. They may have helpful references you haven’t come across. They also have tips and techniques they’ve learned from different sources. Share some of your own experiences as well. • Others alr eady in th e field. Those who ’ve already learned what you a re learning often have useful in formation. Do n’t just limit yourself to t hose immediately around yo u either. Biographies o f famous people from your fi eld may also hold many lessons. Some of these stay in your mind longer because of the emotional content. • Video. The prevalence and avai lability of do mestic vid eo camera s and PC editing software ma ke it ea sy to c apture your own learni ng content on video. It’s a great way to help you visualize and review the skills you are learning. • Other references. Be sure to have a good dictionary so you can quickly chec k unfamiliar term s. A n encyclop edia can also p rovide r elated or extr a information on a topic not covered well in your training material.

What to look for while searching for content Later in this c hapter, I introd uce you to two ways to classify conten t by t he way you use it. Once you understand t hese tw o ways, yo u start to realize that many books and courses out there contain little practical content. This is especially t rue of many s elf-help and business bo oks. T hey c ontain su pporting fact s, idea s and principles, rather than practical c ontent. Of the ones that do, eve n fewer contain specific steps or ideas on how to learn that content. I want to give you a feel for what inform ation you ma y find wh ile gat hering content for training purposes. I’m going to give you some examples of the content you may fin d in a book on present ation sk ills, speci fically on making ey e contact during a presentation. In some of these books, you may find this information: Example A: The why it’s important book Good ey e contact with the a udience is im portant. It helps th e presenter c onnect with the aud ience. It also h elps th e pr esenter gauge t he audience’s reaction to the mat erial. T he p resenter appears more confident and “in control.”

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That’s interestin g information. What do es good eye co ntact mean though? It doesn’t t ell you ! I ’ve read so me books that go on fo r pages about why some particular skill i s im portant, cit ing many examples a nd re search. A b etter presentation book gives you specific details about what good eye contact means: Example B: The here’s how to do it book To develop good eye contact, you first have to stop reading your presentations word fo r word . It ’s d ifficult to ke ep go od eye contact whi le yo u a re reading d irectly from notes. S ee [some other part of the book] to learn how to do this. Once you have your notes under control, you then need to get your eyes up and looking at the audience. It’s not just a matter o f looking at the bac k of the room. Yo u n eed to search o ut individuals and make eye contact with them. Hold their attention fo r two to t hree second s, and then move to someone els e or back to your no tes fo r the next point. Spread your attention to vario us parts o f the audience. B e sure not to focus in on e part of the roo m, or on one individual, fo r too long either. Thi s ali enates others o r makes t he individ ual feel uncomfortable. If you a re presenting to a much l arger a udience, som etimes it’ s difficult to make eye contact w ith a single individual. The audience may seem more of a bl ur, especially up the back and in low light c onditions. Don’t avoid the se areas, a s th ere are stil l people th ere. Hold yo ur focus in a pa rticular a rea fo r a f ew seconds, before moving to another. Can you see th e d ifference between th ese t wo exam ples? Examp le A d oesn’t t ell you m uch a bout w hat t he skill i s, whereas example B d oes. I ’d ha ve ev en mo re respect for a presentation book that then went further with information like this: Example C: The here’s how to learn it book. Here a re s ome suggestions on ho w you can learn to ma ke eye contact in your own presentations: Practice reading a point fro m yo ur notes and then physically looking up. Put toget her some meaningless points , and the n stand up in your kitchen or other room and practice. Put a mark at the end of eac h li ne, fo r example an u p ar row l ike , to remind you to look up. W hen you do look up, look at different parts of th e room. If you ar e in the kitc hen, vi sualize th e microwave, stove, sink and refr igerator a s members of your audience. Make you r point d irectly to one of thes e a udience members, and then move on to the next point. Better yet, if yo u have access to comput er imag e p rojection equipment, get a picture o f an audience from th e speaker’s perspective and projec t it on the wall. Stand facing the scr een and practice making eye contact with your captive audience. Before your next presentation, as k a fri end or colleague who will be in the audience to help you out. Have them stand behind the audience and give you gestures to remind you to look around. 70

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Memletics Effective Speed Reading Course

Improve your comprehension

They may a lso give you signals to s low down y our speaking, stop fidgeting, or to relax your posture. Also, ask them to give you some comments and suggestions after the presentation. Consider w hether th e content you find is mor e lik e ex ample A, B or C above. A re you getting the “why it’s important,” “here’s how to do it,” or “here’s how to l earn it”? T his doesn’t j ust appl y to books either. So me training courses an d presentations also focus on “why it is important,” rather than covering practic al and us eful information you can u se to b uild your skills. Memorizing ten point s about why good eye c ontact is i mportant d oesn’t n ecessarily help you improve your own eye contact. Keep th ese three exa mples in min d whil e you locate content fo r le arning. If th e content yo u find i s l ike example A, yo u need to find mor e i nformation to understand what “ making eye contact” invol ves. If it ’s example B, tha t’s fine. You then use M emletics to learn th e m aterial. I f it ’s exa mple C, the y a re giving yo u a shortcut!

Specific content collection tips Two important skills to use d highlighting. Oft en peo ple ha ve specific tips on how to do these collect to make it easier to use in

uring th e locate st ep are not e taking and troubl e with these skills, so l et’s lo ok at some well. In addition, you should organize what you the next steps of the process.

Intelligent note taking Intelligent note taking ma y range from writin g comment s in textboo ks o r revi ew notes aft er lessons, right thro ugh to heav y-duty note t aking d uring fast-pac ed lectures. Here are a few points on how to take intelligent notes: • Don’t write everything down. Li sten fo r the main points and summa rize where possible. W hile list ening to a l ecturer, li sten f or chan ges in tone, inflection and other c ues to de cide wh at’s i mportant. This can also suggest when the topic changes. If you are learning with an instructor or with a smaller group of people, ask the inst ructor or le cturer to outline the lesson first . This helps your context during the lesson. • Leave white space. Leave space to fill in more notes later, especially in the margin. On e not e taki ng syst em (Cornell) involves writing summa ry points in the margin for each paragraph of notes. This is a good way to organize and review your notes. • Scribble in your own books. Write, ma rk a nd highlight key point s in your own textbo oks and referenc es. Some peopl e feel yo u should not write in o r mark print ed books. If you are on e of these p eople, I suggest yo u b uy a ch eap book and scribble all over and thro ugh it. Do what you need to do to break this limiting belief. If writing or highlighting sections in a book makes it easier to learn, go right ahead! • Use alternative formats. Alternative formats include Mind Maps an d diagrams. I cover mind maps in more detail in the next section. Use diagrams if you can draw them quickly enough.

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Intelligent highlighting and marking Many peopl e mi stake highlighting for learning. Some study guid es recommend you don’t do it all, because so many people do it poorly and it can give a false sense of accomplishment. I beli eve highlighting is an impo rtant and useful skill. Treat it a s a content collection t echnique though. Collect the key points, idea s and de finitions for use in the next steps—exploring and learning what you’ve collected. Here are some specific tips for intelligent highlighting: • Only mark the key points. Yo u ca n u sually find the se at the start o r end of a paragraph, but not al ways. Even when marking a key point, on ly ma rk at maximum three or four words within that point (if possible). • Highlight after you read. Mak e sure you read the entire paragraph, or even page, before you go back and highlight the key points. • Only highlight the defined word, not the whole sentence. Use a normal pen and put brackets aro und the word’s d efinition if yo u would like to separat e them. • Mark unus ual, unco mmon or questionable items. Perhaps us e a different color. Make a point somewhere to come back to it if needed. • Try different colors. Try using different color highlighters for different points. This may work fo r some peo ple an d not others. Don’t go too far tho ugh. U se a maximum of three colors! If you plan to photocopy or scan notes later, only use a light-colored highlighter. Yellow appears the best. Other colors can come out black! • Still write notes. When you are highlighting, keep a normal pen handy as well. For example, w rite some note s i n th e m argins on w hy y ou’ve h ighlighted particular points. • Transfer to other notes or a mi nd map. If a point is important, don’t just highlight it. Transfer it to your ma in notes or to a mind map (d escribed soon ) for yo ur to pic. One of my st udy t echniques involves highlighting while I read the material, then transferring the main points to a mind map afterwards. Use highlighting sparingly otherwise the unmarked text may stand out more. Take care that you don’t fini sh with a book full of colored paper! I know of one fli ght instructor who hand s out a summary of her lessons on bright yellow paper. T his saves those with questionable highlighting skills the trouble of creatin g the notes themselves. Just to r eiterate. Highlighting i s a content collection exercise. Don ’t mista ke highlighting for learning. Organizing content I believe it’s better to have more information availabl e t han the mi nimum yo u need to complete your course. To make this work, you need to organize your content well. While you locate and collect information, keep a summary or index of the material you find, where you found it, and when. Also, rate the quality and relevance of the content. Use the A, B, and C categories from above if this helps. This extra information helps you when you explore the topics in the next step.

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Occasionally check your summary against an overal l trai ning plan, and look fo r areas w here yo u have we aknesses o r ga ps. If yo u find yourself c hasing some curious reference that probably won’t add much value to your training, take a st ep back. It ’s better to have all topic s covered to a good level, rather than spendin g significant amounts of time looking for too much detail in one particular topic.

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Explore content to comprehend it This is a compl imentary ex tract fr om th e P rocess Chapt er o f th e Meml etics Accelerated Lea rning Manual. The Exp lore step is o ne o f fi ve steps o f th e Memletic P rocess. It p rovides general e xploration tech niques plus techniques that suit your personal learning styles. If you don’t know your personal learning styles, try the free Memletics Learning Styles Inventory at: http://www.learning-styles-online.com The n ext st ep in th e le arning Memletic Process process i s to explore yo ur Explore topic and the material you’ve collected. Your goal is to understand the topic, rather than just rote learn it. A fundamental lear ning principle underli es exploration . If you learn something in more depth up front, you remember it for longer. Learning material by r ote sometimes appears easier. You could learn some topics faster by rote compared to tryin g to understand the details behin d the topic . However, this typically results in slower overall learning for two reasons. Firstly, if you forget part of the topic learned by rote, you have little to help you recall it. If you unde rstand the un derlying ideas, it ’s mo re li kely yo u can rebuild parts of the topic in your mind. Consider a mathematical formula. If you only rote learn it, yo u may fo rget whet her t o add or su btract so me item in the form ula. I f you understand the theory behind the formula, it’s more likely you can work out whether to add or subtract. Secondly, it’s less likely you can apply a topic in a slightly different way if you only rote learn it . If yo u learn the d etails behind a topic, you have more opportunity to work out what you n eed to chan ge to ap ply the topic d ifferently. For exam ple, understanding some details behind aircraft navigation makes it easier to apply the same knowledge to maritime navigation. You can explore at many levels. When you first start your training, you explore the overall course content and understand how each lower level module contributes to the overall objectives. As you progress, you then explore each part in more detail. Both the high and low-level details form part of your understanding of a topic. Many techniques and tools can help you explore your content. In thi s section, we first look at some gen eral techniques yo u can apply to any explo ration activity. Then I p resent mo re techni ques g rouped (roughly) i nto the most r elevant Memletic S tyle. W e are y et to cove r t hese styles in d etail, so yo u may want t o review the basics of each style in the Overview chapter. In summary, the styles are Visual, Aural, Verbal, Physical, Logical, Social and Solitary learning styles. Here is a summary of the exploration techniques described in this section:

L E A R N

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General exploration

Physical exploration

• • • • •

• • • • •

High altitude view Deeper level Branch wider Abstractions Bottom up

Walk about Get hands-on Role-playing Index cards & Post-It notes Tick it off

Improve your comprehension

• Questions 3 Visual exploration • Diagrams, graphs, and sketches • Mind maps • Systems diagrams • Visualization Aural exploration • Sound focus • Record sounds Verbal exploration • Lectures and discussions • Dramatic reading • Express and summarize aloud • Write and rewrite • Write articles • Write summaries • Record

Logical exploration

• Logic analysis—OSAID • Logic trees • Play with numbers Social exploration • Group learning • Study buddy • Opposite view • Role-play • Involve others Solitary exploration • Reaction notes • Learning journal or log • People exploration • Make up your own mind

How fa r should yo u go when exploring your mat erial? It depen ds on your objectives. If you want to know a particular topic well, you may want to explore it in more detail than a course mandates. Don’t go too far tho ugh. If you fin d yourself an alyzing the behavio r o f elec trons in wate r m olecules, and how that contributes to a landscape photograph, you have probably gone too far!

General exploration techniques I use a to pic pyramid t o help me unders tand general exploration t echniques. Let me expand on this idea. Think of the knowledge you need for your course or topic as a pyramid, with the goal at the top. Branching down and out from there are major topics , subtopics, su b-sub-topics (and so on) t hat you n eed to know. Look at the example in this diagram: Sailing

Each of th e dark boxes sho ws a co mpulsory to pic for a b eginners sailing cour se. The white boxes show topics that you don ’t need to know to complete that sailing course. Yo u can imagine eac h of th e low er l evel boxe s continuing to bre ak d own into more and more detail. Thi s pyramid goes right d own to basic chun ks of knowledge, such as individual facts, skills and behaviors. We’ll use this example as we go through the general exploration techniques. General tec hniques that can help you ex plore a wide range of cont ent includ e high-level view s, going a level deeper, go ing wi der, abstracting, and a bottom up approach. I n addition, you can use the Fi ve Ws technique to he lp yo u with thes e techniques. Let’s look at these in more detail. 75

Memletics Effective Speed Reading Course

Get a high altitude view Before yo u start a topic or lesson, begin by g etting a hig h-level vi ew of whe re it fits into your current learning objective. This is “getting the big picture” or the “forty thousand foot view.” Using the topic pyramid above, this technique involves looking at the whole pyramid from a high level. Also, look at the topic of focus for your current lesson. This helps you decide what to concentrate on during the lesson, and it helps you discard what you don’t need to know. You can get this view b efore b eginning a book or training manual. Flip throug h the majo r sections. Review the chapter ti tles. Read each chapt er’s introduction . Think a bout which c hapters are more relevant, and which chapte rs contain secondary i nformation. If your co urse lac ks t his o rganization, you may want t o consider creating your own topic pyramid. Go a level deeper At some point down each branch of the pyramid, imagine a line drawn across. This m arks the mini mum n eeded knowledge for yo ur cour se or to pic. I s uggest you go one pyramid level lower than this line. For example, understand and l earn a few key points underneath a compulsory topic, even if the se are You need to know this not compulsory. topic... ...so learn Let’s loo k a t our pyramid exam ple. these points as The black box is a compul sory (Minimum needed knowledge line) well topic. The shaded box es a re topics you don’t need to know. If you learn the key points from these grey boxes, yo u will remember the compulsory topic better. While this may initially take longer, it us ually need s l ess o verall time and re sults in better recall. For exampl e, yo u could spen d thirty minutes t rying to rot e-learn a p articular topic or ch unk o f content. Alternati vely, you could spend fifteen minutes f inding a few key point s underneath that topic, and ten minutes summar izing those. Not only do yo u improve yo ur und erstanding, yo u a lso remember it better as well. Over the following w eeks yo u w ould li kely spend l ess t ime reviewing that topi c, compare d to if you just tried to rote learn it. Go one branch wider Learn related topics to Continuing the pyramid analogy improve overall recall Sailing above, widen out your pyramid by understanding topics relat ed t o One branch wider your course bu t not compuls ory. Looking again at o ur pyrami d example, we see the main br anch to the right of the core sailing topics is not compulsory. If you spend some time learning some key points from this branch, yo u will li kely improve yo ur o verall understanding and reten tion of the compulsory topics.

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For example, one particular branch may be the history of your topic. What impact has your topic of focus had on society? Who were some of the early pioneers, and what did they contribute to where you ar e today? Yo u could al so look up r elated jobs or industries. While t his i nformation may not be compulsory to compl ete a co urse, it aids yo ur learning and understanding of core topics. Understand higher level abstractions Abstraction involves lo oking at some level facts or id eas and dra wing out so me High ideas and higher-level obse rvations from tho se. abstractions You m ay n ote that yo u can app ly a particular technique or appro ach in a different context or ar ea. For example, you could abst ract the general p rinciple o f a sking q uestions while selling, and th en apply those same principles to increase your persuasion in other areas. At the end of e ach l esson, s ee if you can a bstract th e top thr ee id eas from that lesson. See if you can apply those ideas to other subjects or topics. Bottom up approach Sometimes a pa rticular idea is difficult to grasp fully until you understand t he lower level details. You need to learn those low er l evel detai ls first , before bringing together that understanding into a coherent picture. Some peopl e may prefer thi s botto m up approach rat her than top down. Issues can arise when an instructor or author teaches one way while you prefer the other. If this is the case, you may need to restructure yo ur mate rial t o suit yo ur preference. Alternatively, you co uld try a ccepting that bot h ways can be effective in learning a topic. If you ty pically pref er a top down appr oach, try resisting that preference and sta rt at th e bottom . If yo u p refer a bottom up ap proach, ma ke an effort to understand the high-level organization first. Questions questions questions—how to expand your pyramid If you are n ot sure how to expand your py ramid, try the Five Ws technique. Later in this chapter I discuss the Five Whys technique. This involves asking “why” five times in a row to help discover underlying causes of problems. The Five W’s technique uses a similar approach to help you expand your pyramid. To us e th e techniq ue, state a f act, id ea or p rinciple f rom your topic. Now ask a question about that statem ent be ginning with one of th e W word s. T he fi ve W words are Who, What, Why, Where and When. If you know the answer, keep going with more question s. When yo u hit questions you don’t kn ow the an swer to, writ e them down for f urther r esearch. Ask anoth er q uestion starting w ith ‘W ’, an d repeat this until you have at least five new questions you can research. For example, pilots study meteorology as part of their training. Five questions you could ask about weather forecasting are: “Who does the forecasts?” “Why are they sometimes wrong?” “What do they do to prepare fo recasts?” “Where do they do it?” “When (how often) do they do it?” Answ ering th ese q uestions br oadens yo ur 77

Memletics Effective Speed Reading Course

understanding of the forecast. You may then und erstand, for example, wh y th e forecast is sometimes different to the weather on the day. A way to reme mber these words is the phrase “A he n wearing a hat said ‘Hi-di-ho I’m here!’ ” Add a W to the front of each of the words starting with H and you get the five W’s.

Visual style exploration Most learni ng mat erials rely on printed t ext t o pro vide i nformation. As a visual learner, find ways to represent informat ion visually. Here are some ways you can do this: • Use diagrams, graphs and sketches. If you can’t find g ood diagra ms, graphs and s ketches that r epresent th e key m essages in your topics, create t hem yourself. Just start drawing, even if you don’t think you draw well. In addition, easily acc essible spreadsheet p rograms now a llow you to create g raphs for a ll kinds of data. • Use Mind Maps ®. Organize topics and ideas using a drawing technique called mind mapping. This helps yo u vi sualize and und erstand the hi erarchy and linkages b etween topic s. Ton y B uzan, in some o f his books, d escribes thi s technique in detail. In addition, some software pro grams can help you eas ily create min d maps. T he so ftware I us e i s “M ind Manage r” f rom Mi ndJet . Rather than describe mind maps in detail, I’ll let my mind map below do it for me.

• Use systems diagrams. Systems diagrams are another diagramming technique you can use to help understand a dyna mic syst em, such as an engine, body , yacht or network. The traditional way of di ssecting something into sepa rate parts, to u nderstand t heir ro les, often makes it harder to understand the system. Fo r exampl e, it ’s hard to u nderstand the wo rkings of th e h uman bod y by simply looking at the individual parts. Similarly, understanding how a yacht 78

Improve your comprehension

stays in eq uilibrium un der fu ll sail is hard i f y ou only look at the sail, rudder, keel and hull individually. The lin kages b etween multiple parts a re usually w hat make these dynamic systems work. Th ese linkages may not be visible when t he system i s lyin g in bits on the floor, or in separate topics in your mind. Systems diagrams help show and explain those linkages. The diagram below is an example of a systems diagram. It shows how various parts of an aircraft engine work together. Carby

Air and Fuel Vapour

Fuel

Spark

Spark Plug Electric Energy

Bang Fuel Pump/s

Magneto

Pushes down Oil Pump

Turns

Cools Lubricates

Turns

Piston Turns

Turns

Crankshaft

Powers

Turns

Turns

Alternator

Powers Radios

Starter Motor

Charges

Turns Powers Battery

Powers Instruments

Vacuum Pump Drives

• Use visualization. Use the visualization tec hniques outl ined in th e Memletic Techniques chapter to help und erstand various topics. If you can visualize a topic clearly and precisely, you should have a good understanding of it. If some areas appear grey or fuzzy, this suggests you still have some further work to do to understand it fully.

Aural style exploration Aural ex ploration invo lves exploring the sounds and r hythms p resent in you r learning topic. Unless you’re studying a music-based topic, there may not be many musical or rhythmic areas to explore. Here are a few ideas though: • Focus on s ound. Pay particular attention to sounds in your en vironment. In an airc raft, examp les may includ e th e engine, gy ros, w ind sound (more at higher speeds, and lack of it at lower speeds). On a yacht, examples may include the sound of wind in the rigging, the hum of the tension in the shrouds, the sound o f the wat er gurgling past. A ll thes e can give you e xtra pe rspectives in your training. 79

Memletics Effective Speed Reading Course

Verbal style exploration

Physical style exploration

L MC RTZ-Q Y -MBGC

Exploration using t he verbal style i nvolves using spoken a nd writt en words. T his could be via attending lectures, engaging in discussion, wri ting articles, rewritin g topics, talking and summarizing aloud, and more. Let’s look at some more details: • Attend lectures or e ngage in discussions. Find ways to involve more listening in you cont ent collection and expl oration. Atten d a class, lecture, or study group. If possible, engage in discussion with your lecturer or instructor, and ask them to explain topics in more detail. • Read dramatically. When reading important material, try reading it out loud and dramat ically. Act a s if yo u were on sta ge i n a play o r simila r pro duction. Say the important points with vo lume an d st rength. Skip over le ss important information more quickly and quietly. • Talk yours elf through material and summarize aloud. As yo u read, pause after each parag raph and read alo ud the key points from t hat paragraph. Also, summarize each lesson aloud. • Reword and rewrite l earning material. Rewrit e impo rtant section s of yo ur training material. Thin k abo ut ho w you would writ e tha t section i f you w ere writing your own instruction book or manual. • Write an article. A powerful way to learn a topic is to write an article on it. Do some further research, thin k a bout you r audience, loo k t hrough yo ur cont ent and then express the core ideas in your own words. Why not send it to a related magazine as a “student’s view on topic X?” • Write summaries. Write your own su mmaries of each les son or topic. Re view them periodically as you progress, and keep them for future reference. • Record notes on to a tape or computer. Record l ectures, disc ussions or readings on to tape or on to a computer (for example via an MP3 player or recorder). Copy im portant p arts and put t hem together into a summary recording.

Exploring with the physical st yle in volves findi ng way s to incorporate mov ement and touch into your training. Get up and move around while learning. Try walking around whi le reading or list ening. Go further and get y our hands on phys ical expressions of the topics you are learning. Use role-playing. Try using index cards to arrange topics physically, or tick o ff item s as yo u r ead them. H ere a re tho se points in more depth: • Walk about while rea ding or listening. If possibl e, g et up and wa lk aro und while reading or list ening to content. Stop and pause on important points, and keep walking when reading less important material. Another idea is to simulate procedures while wa lking aro und a room. For ex ample, for flight tr aining try “flying” circuits, forced landings, instrument approaches and other procedures by walking around yo ur living room. If y ou ar e le arning to s ail, per haps tr y

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• Record sounds on to a tape or computer. If it’s possible, try to record sounds from yo ur topic on to a tape or co mputer. Ma ke use of t hese recordings wh en you use techniques such as visualization and simulation.

Improve your comprehension

tacking and docking in a simila r way. Have your notes with you an d read o ut what you are doing at the time. • Get hands on. If you are learning about physical objects or topics, find ways to get your hands on them. Fo r example, if you are l earning about how an engine works, get outside and open the front of a ca r or a ircraft. Touch each of th e parts. Som e sc hools a lso ha ve ol d parts a round so yo u can se e th e inte rnal workings, so ask a round. If you have an old engine, fo r example fro m a wornout lawn m ower o r chain-saw, p ull it ap art. Note likenesses and diffe rences between that engine and the engine you are studying. Another example: If you a re l earning a bout th e w eather, keep your own weather sta tion for a whil e. Ob serve an d write down rainfall, cloud, wind, temperature, and barometric pressure daily. • Use role-p laying. If you a re in a g roup, why not t ry som e role-playing exercises th at i nvolve p hysical acti vity. I nstead of reading a bout the rules controlling rig ht of way w hen approaching anoth er aircraft o r boat, for example, get up and do a few examples with other students. • Use index cards & Post-it notes. Write the key facts and ideas on index cards, and then physically sort them in d ifferent ways. Alternatively, write snippets of information on post-it notes and stick them to a wall according to relationships with other ideas. This is almost li ke physica lly building a mind ma p on the wall. • Tick i t off. Whil e you read, tick off or ma rk each pa ragraph a s you read and understand it. This helps you concentrate as well as involves movement.

Logical style exploration You can explore cont ent from a logical pe rspective by using the OSAID model to analyze logic further. You can visualize logic using a logic tree, and yo u may want to look in more detail at th e mat hematics behind you r t opics. Let’s explore th ese further: • Analyze the logic. Look at the logic within your learning material. Don’t always accept that yo ur mat erial i s correct. Much mat erial i s still only the expressed beli efs of th e author . Us e the fo llowing OSAID mod el to pr obe th e author’s logic, as well as your own logic. OSAID is a mnemonic for: • Objective reasoning. Does the author base an argument on facts? Questions: How do you know they are facts? Could they be opinions or assumptions? • Subjective reasoning. Does t he author ba se an arg ument on personal opinions o r the o pinions of ot hers? Question s: Do yo u believe t he so urce? How reliable is it? • Assumptive reasoning. Does the author base an argument on assumptions? Questions: Whose assumptions? What if these are wrong? • Inductive reasoning. Does the author provide a reasonable conclusion by noting some specific cases? Questi ons: Can you thin k of cases that disprove the conclusion? • Deductive reasoning. Does the author provide a specific conclusion based on principles accepted to be true? Questions: Are the principles correct? Is it a logical step from the principles to the conclusion? 81

Memletics Effective Speed Reading Course

These qu estions can he lp you te st the underlying lo gic of your learn ing material, rather than just accepting everything at “face value.” • Create a logic tree. A logic tree is a diagram that starts with a key statement, and then branches o ut with further logic or points that support that st atement. If you want to go further with this, find more information on using deductive or inductive rea soning. Find why it’s i mportant that each branch is MECE (mutually exclusive an d collectiv ely exha ustive). Se e th e diagram b elow for an example of a logic tree. Creates a "personal" bond

Good presentations require good eye contact

Helps you determine audience engagement

You appear more open Audience feels personal atten ion

Can see body language Can see level of atten iveness Can see distractions

Helps you keep control

Alter focus / tack / speed to match audience engagement Control a distracting individual / area Interact with assistants

• Play with numbers. If you a re more math ematically minded, ex plore some topics by numb ers. For examp le, us e a sp readsheet program to graph mathematical formulas or information from your training.

Social style exploration Social sty le explo ration techniq ues involve learning wi th oth er people. T he discussion, de bate and agree ment he lps you better understand a particular topic. Here are some ideas: • Learn with a group . This is the basic t echnique o f lea rning socia lly. Join a class or study gro up fo r yo ur top ic of st udy. If none exists, consid er creating one. Suggest class discussions or debates on particular topics of interest. • Work with a study buddy . If you can’t find or create a group, try to find someone at a similar point in their trai ning. Work toget her through material and exercises, comparing and contrasting answers and viewpoints. • Play the opposite view. In a group or “st udy buddy” setting, try taking the opposite viewpoint or o pinion on various topics. Play the “devil s advocate.” Let the ot hers know yo u a re going to challenge t hem with a n oppo sing view, and ask them to do the same at other times. This challenges yourself and others to defend the topic of focus, leading to better understanding. • Role-play. I’ve al ready discussed rol e-playing with a phy sical activit y focus, however yo u can also use role-playing as a social l earning technique. Roleplaying in this way works well for activiti es that invo lve comm unication between two or more people. • Involve others. Find ways to involve tho se around you in your learni ng. If you live at home with your parents, involve them by asking them their opinions on various topics. Try explaining to them so me of the ideas you’ve learned. If you have chi ldren, ho w ca n you invo lve th em i n your trai ning and learning? Sometimes children ha ve a w ay of reveal ing your lack of underst anding in a particular area by their own technique—the barrage of “why” questions.

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Solitary style exploration Solitary st yle explo ration involves learning mainly on your own. Solitary exploration also involves und erstanding your own vi ews and emotions on particular t opics. Yo u can extend this to try to und erstand ot her people’s motivation behind their work. Here are some techniques to try: • Note your own reactions. Keep track of your own reactions, opinions and emotions as you progress through your course. Do you find it interesting, exciting, boring or dull? How do you fe el w hen s omething f inally mak es sense, versus when you are struggling to understand an idea? Emotions play a big role in understanding and rem embering material, so don’t ignore this valuable part of learning. • Keep a journal or lea rning log. While you are studying, keep a jou rnal or log of your activities. Take partic ular attention to your reactions to vario us to pics as outlined above. Through history, some of the greatest contributors to society and scienc e wrote down thei r inner tho ughts, emotions, hopes and a mbitions. They u sed diaries, jou rnals, l etters, po ems, essays and a rticles to ca pture and explore th eir liv es. T hese incl ude peop le such as N ewton, J efferson, Bach, Edison, da Vinci, and more. Some researchers be lieve the ir scribbling and writing helped them achieve their success. • Explore the people. Ask your instructor or lecturer what motivates them to teach what they d o. Ex plore t he p eople behind you r topi cs, bot h c urrent and past. What can you find out abo ut thei r lives, motivation , concern s and other achievements? Try reading biographies or do some research on the Internet. • Make up your own mind. Much of what you read is an expression of beliefs of other peo ple. T hose people are no t always right. Try keeping an attitude o f “I choose to believe that for now.” Keep an open and independent mind.

Summary Congratulations on making it to the end of this co urse. Yo u no w have the information, tool and exercises you n eed to dramatical ly increase your reading speed. However, all your effort so far will be in vain if you don’t do the exercises! Practice is essential in any activity to achieve profici ency. So, pract ice sel ecting and applyin g the ex ercises, t echniques an d st rategies until th ey become second nature to you. Yo ur practice will r eward you with faster reading speed and bett er comprehension of any material yo u read. In d ue course, y our new skills will hel p you reach your overall goals sooner. As a lways, if you have any thoughts o n how we ca n impro ve Meml etics and i ts pr oducts a nd serv ices, please d on’t he sitate to contact us us ing the website, or do the survey below. We value your input, including both testimonials and suggestions for improvement! The URL for the survey is: http://www.memletics.com/surveys/speed-reading

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Memletics Effective Speed Reading Course

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Memletics® Effective Speed Reading Course Guide

Memletics® Effective Speed Reading Course Guide

Your details Name: __

_______________________________

Date started course:

_________________

Your course goals:

_________________________________

__

_______________________________

__

_______________________________

__

_______________________________

__

_______________________________

Your instructor/teacher:

_________________________________

What you need for this course • A pr intout of these not es. Even if you a re doin g this course o nline, it ’s worthwhile printing out these pages. • A test and drill book. The reading mate rial you use for your tes ts and dr ills should not come from subjects o r topi cs yo u are currently learning. Choose a book t hat h as man y similar pag es (p referably witho ut di agrams o r pictures), with good line spacing and text size. It should be reasonably easy for yo u to read and understand at your current level. Fiction and non-fiction are both OK. • Some way to ke ep time. A watch or sto pwatch, preferably with a c ountdown alarm. An a larm clock is another o ption, however you will need to start exactly 10 minutes before alarm time. • A pen or pencil. • A calcula tor (optional). A calculato r will help with the speed test calculations. • An open mind and a desire to read faster!

Additional materials You can o btain a printa ble PDF version of this course gu ide, a long w ith a n E xcel spreadsheet to help yo u with test calc ulations and progress t racking. Download them f rom your download manage r for yo ur o rder. Lo g into the stor e and follow the instructions after the green text titled “Electronic Product Collection.” Click to go to the store: http://www.memletics.com/store 85

Memletics Effective Speed Reading Course

Initial reading test Pick a starti ng page in your test book. Make sure you haven’t read the text before or not fo r a long time. If po ssible, set an ala rm for 10 m inutes tim e. Read for 10 minutes at your normal pace. When 10 minutes is up, mark your finishing line on the page in the book. Then fill out the following informa tion. For th e s ummary, write down a few short notes on the main points of the section you read. Date: __

___________

Name of book:

_________________________________

Started reading on page:

_____________

Finished reading on page:

_____________

Summary of what you read: _________________________________ __

_______________________________

__

_______________________________

__

_______________________________

__

_______________________________

__

_______________________________

Speed calculations Fill o ut t he follo wing data to calc ulate how many Word Per Min ute (WPM) y ou read. The first section is data for the book itself: Word count for 10 lines:

A _____________ (including small words)

Word count for one line:

B _____________ (cross off the last zero from A)

Line count per page:

C _____________

Word count per page:

D _____________ (multiply B. by C. )

The next section calculates how many words you read: Full pages you read:

E _____________

Full page word count:

F _____________ (multiply D. by E.)

Lines read on last page:

G _____________ (complete lines)

Last page word count:

H _____________ (multiply G. by B.)

Total words read

I _____________ (add F. and H.)

Now you can calculate your words per minute by dividing by 10 (because you read for 10 minutes). Words per minute

J _____________ (divide I by 10).

Compare your reading speed to the table on page 11. How well would you rate your reading speed? Excellent Good OK Not so good Poor 86

Memletics® Effective Speed Reading Course Guide

Comprehension check Now let’s do a simple test of how well you understood what you read during your reading test. Read your summary notes then answer these questions: Did you understand what the author was saying? __

_______________________________

Did you understand the main ideas? __

_______________________________

Did you remember the basic facts? __

_______________________________

Now reread your test pages thoroughly. Was your understanding as good as you thought earlier? __

_______________________________

Did you remember the main ideas correctly? __

_______________________________

Did you remember the basic facts correctly? __

_______________________________

Did you have difficulty remembering the material while summarizing, but felt you understood it while you were reading it? __

_______________________________

How well would you rate your comprehension during this reading? Excellent Good OK Not so good

Poor

Overall results What do you feel needs the most improvement? Speed Comprehension Both How much time are you willing to commit to improving your reading? __

_______________________________

Remember: Learning comes from doing!

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Memletics Effective Speed Reading Course

Week One Objectives for this week Eye tests. If you haven’t already done so, do the eye tests on page 14. Vocabulary exercises. Do the exercise outlined on page 34, and start a new word journal. Fluency development . Start using the regulator t echnique. See th e regulator t echnique d escription o n pag e 41. Do stag e 1 for t he fi rst 3 day s, then sta ge 2 for th e l ast 4 d ays. Aim to spend at least 15 minutes a day, however continue using the regulator technique for all reading from now on. Daily log Keep track of your daily activities using the form below. Day 1: Name of book:

_________________________________

Time spent:

_____________

Day 2: Name of book:

_________________________________

Time spent:

_____________

Day 3: Name of book:

_________________________________

Time spent:

_____________

Day 4: Name of book:

_________________________________

Time spent:

_____________

Day 5: Name of book:

_________________________________

Time spent:

_____________

Day 6: Name of book:

_________________________________

Time spent:

_____________

Day 7:

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Name of book:

_________________________________

Time spent:

_____________

Memletics® Effective Speed Reading Course Guide

Week Two Objectives for this week Computer monitor setup. If you have a com puter screen, experiment with the settings to get the best display. See page 24. Fluency development . Start t he reg ulator speed drills. S ee th e regulator technique description on page 41. Focus on stage 3 and th e basic speed drills. Aim to spend at least 15 minutes a day. Skim reading. Spend some time t his week doing the skim reading exercises on page 52. Do the st ructured skim reading drill 1 and the unstructured skim reading drill 1. Do each drill 3 times during the week. Daily log Keep track of your daily activities using the form below. Day 1: Name of book:

_________________________________

Time spent:

_____________

Day 2: Name of book:

_________________________________

Time spent:

_____________

Day 3: Name of book:

_________________________________

Time spent:

_____________

Day 4: Name of book:

_________________________________

Time spent:

_____________

Day 5: Name of book:

_________________________________

Time spent:

_____________

Day 6: Name of book:

_________________________________

Time spent:

_____________

Day 7: Name of book:

_________________________________

Time spent:

_____________

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Mid course review You a re no w half way thro ugh you r cour se. L et’s do a midcour se r eview to chec k your progress. Reading test Pick a starting pag e in your te st book, p referably th e same one you u sed for your first reading test. Read for 10 min utes at a comfortable pace. When 10 minu tes is up, m ark y our finishing line on the page i n the book. Fill o ut t he following information. Date: __

___________

Started reading on page:

_____________

Finished reading on page:

_____________

Summary of what you read: _________________________________ __

_______________________________

__

_______________________________

__

_______________________________

__

_______________________________

__

_______________________________

Speed calculations Fill o ut t he follo wing data to calc ulate how many Word Per Min ute (WPM) y ou read. The first section is data for the book itself: Word count for 10 lines:

A _____________ (including small words)

Word count for one line:

B _____________ (cross off the last zero from A)

Line count per page:

C _____________

Word count per page:

D _____________ (multiply B. by C. )

The next section calculates how many words you read: Full pages you read:

E _____________

Full page word count:

F _____________ (multiply D. by E.)

Lines read on last page:

G _____________ (complete lines)

Last page word count:

H _____________ (multiply G. by B.)

Total words read

I _____________ (add F. and H.)

Now you can calculate your words per minute by dividing by 10 (because you read for 10 minutes). Words per minute

90

J _____________ (divide I by 10).

Memletics® Effective Speed Reading Course Guide

Let’s repeat the comprehension test to see how well you understood what you read during your reading test. Read your summary notes then answer these questions: Did you understand what the author was saying? __

_______________________________

Did you understand the main ideas? __

_______________________________

Did you remember the basic facts? __

_______________________________

Now reread your test pages thoroughly. Was your understanding as good as you thought earlier? __

_______________________________

__

_______________________________

Did you remember the basic facts correctly? __

_______________________________

L MC- RTZ-Q Y -MBGC

Did you remember the main ideas correctly?

Did you have difficulty remembering the material while summarizing, but felt you understood it while you were reading it? __

_______________________________

Overall midpoint review Speed from initial test:

_____________ (2 weeks ago)

Speed from this test:

_____________ (today)

Change:

_____________ (better/worse)

How well would you rate your reading speed improvement? Excellent Good OK Not so good

None

How well would you rate your comprehension improvement for this reading? Excellent Good OK Not so good Poor What are you doing well so far: __

_______________________________

__

_______________________________

What do you need to improve on? 91

Memletics Product Protection. Please report unauthorized copying to http://www.memletics.com/protect

Comprehension check

Memletics Effective Speed Reading Course

__

_______________________________

__

_______________________________

Have you been meeting your time commitments? __

_______________________________

__

_______________________________

Remember: Learning comes from doing!

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Week 3 Objectives for this week Fluency development. Continue the speed drills and learn the speed paths. See the regulato r tec hnique desc ription on page 41. Foc us on stage 3 and 4 and the intermediate speed drills. Aim to spend at least 15-20 minutes a day. Skim reading. Spend some time t his week doing the skim reading exercises on page 52. Do the structured sk im re ading drill 2, the u nstructured skim reading dri ll 2, and the combined skim reading drill 1. Do each drill 3 tim es during the week. Daily log Keep track of your daily activities using the form below. Day 1: Name of book:

_________________________________

Time spent:

_____________

Day 2: Name of book:

_________________________________

Time spent:

_____________

Day 3: Name of book:

_________________________________

Time spent:

_____________

Day 4: Name of book:

_________________________________

Time spent:

_____________

Day 5: Name of book:

_________________________________

Time spent:

_____________

Day 6: Name of book:

_________________________________

Time spent:

_____________

Day 7: Name of book:

_________________________________

Time spent:

_____________

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Week 4 Objectives for this week Fluency development . This week bring what you’ve learnt together and push yo urself faster, while k eeping up com prehension. See t he regulator technique description on page 41. Focus on the advanced speed drills. Aim to spend at least 20-30 minutes a day. Reading stra tegies. Do the re ading s trategy e xercises on page 62. Do the downwards path d rill and crossways path d rill at least 3 times during th e week. Extra credit. Try some of the speed drills on different material to what you’ve been using. Daily log Keep track of your daily activities using the form below. Day 1: Name of book:

_________________________________

Time spent:

_____________

Day 2: Name of book:

_________________________________

Time spent:

_____________

Day 3: Name of book:

_________________________________

Time spent:

_____________

Day 4: Name of book:

_________________________________

Time spent:

_____________

Day 5: Name of book:

_________________________________

Time spent:

_____________

Day 6: Name of book:

_________________________________

Time spent:

_____________

Day 7:

94

Name of book:

_________________________________

Time spent:

_____________

Memletics® Effective Speed Reading Course Guide

Final Review Congratulations on compl eting th is sp eed r eading cour se! Let ’s do a final re view to see how far you’ve come over the past 4 weeks. Reading test Pick a starting pag e in your te st book, p referably th e same one you u sed for your first reading test. Read for 10 min utes at a comfortable pace. When 10 minu tes is up, m ark y our finishing line on the page i n the book. Fill o ut t he following information. Date: __

___________

Started reading on page:

_____________

Finished reading on page:

_____________

Summary of what you read: _________________________________ __

_______________________________

__

_______________________________

__

_______________________________

__

_______________________________

__

_______________________________

Speed calculations Fill o ut t he follo wing data to calc ulate how many Word Per Min ute (WPM) y ou read. The first section is data for the book itself: Word count for 10 lines:

A _____________ (including small words)

Word count for one line:

B _____________ (cross off the last zero from A)

Line count per page:

C _____________

Word count per page:

D _____________ (multiply B. by C. )

The next section calculates how many words you read: Full pages you read:

E _____________

Full page word count:

F _____________ (multiply D. by E.)

Lines read on last page:

G _____________ (complete lines)

Last page word count:

H _____________ (multiply G. by B.)

Total words read

I _____________ (add F. and H.)

Now you can calculate your words per minute by dividing by 10 (because you read for 10 minutes). Words per minute

J _____________ (divide I by 10).

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Comprehension check Let’s repeat the comprehension test to see how well you understood what you read during your reading test. Read your summary notes then answer these questions: Did you understand what the author was saying? __

_______________________________

Did you understand the main ideas? __

_______________________________

Did you remember the basic facts? __

_______________________________

Now reread your test pages thoroughly. Was your understanding as good as you thought earlier? __

_______________________________

Did you remember the main ideas correctly? __

_______________________________

Did you remember the basic facts correctly? __

_______________________________

Did you have difficulty remembering the material while summarizing, but felt you understood it while you were reading it? __

_______________________________

Overall final review Speed from initial test:

_____________ (4 weeks ago)

Speed from mid-point test:

_____________ (2 weeks ago)

Change:

_____________ (better/worse)

Speed from this test:

_____________ (today)

Change:

_____________ (better/worse)

How well would you rate your reading speed improvement? Excellent Good OK Not so good

None

How well would you rate your comprehension improvement for this reading? Excellent Good OK Not so good Poor

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Memletics® Effective Speed Reading Course Guide

What did you do well during this course: __

_______________________________

__

_______________________________

Do you need to redo any part of the course? __

_______________________________

__

_______________________________

Did you meet your time commitments? __

_______________________________

__

_______________________________

Regardless of whether you’ve completed this course successfully, please provide feedback via our online survey. Go to this URL: http://www.memletics.com/surveys/speed-reading

97

Memletics Effective Speed Reading Course

98

Appendices

Appendices

An introduction the Memletics Accelerated Learning System Memletics draws together much of what we know about effective learning into an easy-to-apply system. This chapter provides you with an overview before you start learning about the indi vidual pa rts of M emletics. This helps you learn Memletics faster. Having this overview also helps you understand links between the different parts of Memletics. You will soon begin to see the power of Memletics comes from both the individual parts and the whole system. This appendix outlines the five pa rts of M emletics. T hese parts a re t he M emletic State, Mem letic Proc ess, Memletic Techniques, M emletic Styl es and Mem letic Approach: • The Memletic State. How to make sure your brain cells, physical systems and mental systems are in the best state for learning. • The Memletic Process . The st eps you tak e to LEARN th e know ledge ne eded for your goal. • The Memletic Techniques. These techniques improve the speed and quality of your learning. • The Memletic Styles. Use your stronger and secondary learning preferences to improve your overall learning. • The Meml etic Appro ach. Manage the o verall learning journey by prior planning and then tracking along the way. Don’t worry too much about the details of each part at this point. In this chapter, I just provide an overview of each part of Memletics. This is because there are many interrelationships bet ween the five pa rts of the sys tem. H aving a broad understanding first helps you recognize those linkages as they arise.

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Memletic State is the right state for learning Memletic S tate h elps you en sure your c ell state, phy sical state a nd mental state a re in Relaxation good condition for learning. It’s harder to learn if your c ells, body and m ind do not perform well. Glucose Cell state refers to t he state of the c ells, Memletic State primarily n eurons, whi ch make up the brain. Physical st ate invo lves th e d ifferent bodily Nutrients Health Fitness systems th at sup port li fe, such as breathing, blood circulation, sl eep and gen eral bodily health. Mental state involves mental processes that predominately occur in th e mind, such as motivation, concentration, awareness and Cell State Layer attitude. Physical State Layer Good le arning stat e supports t he building o f Mental State Layer the n etworks of neuron s for t he material yo u learn. At t he sa me ti me, po sitive l earning experiences build neural networks that improve how you learn. What is “good condition?” Let’s look at some examples: • Cell state. The b rain i s a cel l-based sy stem a nd reli es on es sential materials such as oxygen, water, food and nutrients. These materials are essential for the proper fun ctioning of neuron s and ot her key brain cells. Good cell stat e requires a good supply of all these during learning. • Physical state: Yo ur p hysical environment ha s a big imp act on yo ur body, so fresh air, ri ght t emperature, good ligh t and corr ect fu rniture ar e important. Controlling your breathing and stre ss helps good state, as does getting enough rest and sl eep. Longer term, good diet and exerci se al so hav e pos itive e ffects. Some dietary supplements can also increase brain performance. • Mental state: Clearly defined goals and de fined steps for achieving those goals are essential fo r moti vation. Att ention and concentrat ion are cri tical for learning. Lo nger t erm, good menta l h ealth and “m ental ex ercise” al so improve your overall learning. There a re also some n egative i mpacts on st ate. Fo r example, excess st ress an d tension are enemies of good state.

Memletic Process—the steps to LEARN The M emletic Process Memletic Process provides step s to follo w when learni ng new materi al. Locate Explore Arrange Reinforce eNqui re You us e this process at varying level s of detail throughout your learning. For example, you first use this process at a high level to understand the overall organization of yo ur material. You then repeat the process at lower levels of detail until you are learning individual chunks of knowledge,

L E A R N

100

Appendices

such as a par ticular skill or fact. This approach provides a repeatable process you can refine to improve your overall learning performance. The diagram above shows the five activities of the Memletic Process. These are: • Locate. Firstly, you fin d and prepa re content for yo ur l earning goal. This may involve u sing standar d books an d manual s, howe ver i t could als o involv e getting not es from lec tures, on e-on-one tuto ring sessions, the Int ernet and other references. • Explore. Here you work through and understand your content. There are some general principles to follow, such as learning to a level deeper than needed. There are al so some app roaches relevant to par ticular le arning s tyles that y ou may want to try. • Arrange. Next, you select which material you want to memorize, and prepare it for m emorization. Yo u se lect M emletic Te chniques bas ed on the type of knowledge you want to learn. Thi s book has o ver twenty di fferent te chniques you can ap ply to va rious forms o f content. Y ou th en p repare yo ur content fo r use with those techniques. • Reinforce. You then use tho se tec hniques to rein force k nowledge, s kills and behaviors. Further reinforcing techniques help you lock in that material for the long term. • eNquire. L astly, you review both how well y ou l earned your conten t, as wel l how well you applied Memletics along the way. Notice how the first letters of t hese steps spell o ut LEARN ( eNquire st arts wit h the ‘N’ sound). Don’t feel like you have to stic k rigi dly t o these activities. They so metimes overlap. Fo r ex ample, when you explore cont ent you start to fo rm i deas on t he techniques to use to memorize it. You start to reinforce material when you explore and arr ange it. Yo u ma y ne ed to r earrange some mat erial durin g th e re inforcing process, as it may not be suitable for t he pa rticular t echnique yo u c hose. Your mind naturally conn ects topic s, associates in formation and does its own revi ews as you progress. Letting it do so helps the whole memorizing process.

Memletic Techniques lock in knowledge You mainly use the Memletic Techni ques during the reinforcing activity of t he Memletic Process. T he t echniques a re t he p rimary methods of reinfo rcing the kno wledge yo u need to remember for the long term. You can use many techniques in your learnin g activities. I’ve grouped these int o six main categories, based on t he underlying principles of how the techniques work. These categories are: • Associate. Associate n ew know ledge with knowledge that’s al ready i n y our memory. These te chniques are gre at for facts and procedures.

Visualize

Verbalize

Memletic

Techniques

Simulate

Perform

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• Visualize. Use yo ur “ mind’s eye” to recr eate s ensory a bilities, experiences, ideas and v iews in your mind . Visualization c an be cr eative, fo r example fo r experiences that have not happened yet. You can use it to rehearse new procedures and skills, and as well use it to strengthen other techniques. • Verbalize. Your inter nal se lf-talk influe nces your behavior . Us ing ver bal techniques such as assertion s (or affirmations), scri pting and a “mental firewall” you can alter you r internal s elf-talk to align with your learning objectives. • Simulate. Simulation reinforces a behavio r o r skill using ext ernal to ols. Ba sic simulation can involv e ju st cardb oard cuto uts or household item s, whil e PC based simulation is becoming mo re and mo re advanced. Role-playing is al so another form of simulation. • Perform. There are specific tec hniques to im prove skill performance. Some of these te chniques involve understanding t he theory behind learning and performing skills. Other Perform techniques help change existing behaviors, as well as improve performance of already learned skills. • Repeat. While Memletics aims to red uce rote repetition, rote learning is still a common a nd s ometimes use ful te chnique. F lashcards are a lso use ful, h owever some newer softwa re c an significa ntly impro ve the way you lea rn an d retain new material. I’ve listed the techniques in each of these categories in the following table: Associate

General association First letter mnemonics Acrostic mnemonics Linked lists Peg words

Peg events Mental journey or story Roman Rooms Chunking

Visualize

General visualization Creative visualization

Mental rehearsal Strengthening techniques

Verbalize

General verbalization Assertions

Mental firewall Scripting

Simulate

Basic simulation PC simulation

Advanced simulation Role-playing

Perform

Three stage skill learning Part task training Performance variation Overlearning

Shunt Anchoring Modeling

Repeat

Rote learning Flashcards

Scheduled review Programmed repetition

As w ell a s t he t echniques, I al so d iscuss some common r easons why techniq ues may not work as well as you expect at the end of the techniques chapter.

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Memletic Styles personalize your learning The M emletic Style s r ecognize th at each of us prefers to le arn in differe nt ways. There are many variations on this theme and differen t Visual Logical ways to describe these preferences, however the Social Memletic S tyles u ses t he seven shown in the diagram a s its basi s. The se s even L earning Memletic Styles Styles are: Aural Verbal • Visual. You use pictu res, images , Solitary visualization, and spatial arrangements. • Aural. You use voice, sounds and music. Physical • Verbal. You use words and writing. • Physical. You use your body, hands, and sense of touch. • Logical. You use logic, reasoning and systems. • Social. You prefer to learn with groups or other people. • Solitary. You prefer to work alone and use self-study. All of th ese styl es a re effective l earning styles. Yo ur favored u se of partic ular styles does not mak e you a more o r le ss effective l earner. Cu rrent school approaches tend to focus on only two of these. This bias may have influenced how you view your own learning abilities.

Memletic Approach—the path to your goals The Memletic Approac h i s a Memletic Approach series of ta sks that yo u can Plan Target Track use to approach and manag e Do it for life any learni ng journey. The time you spend in t his activity varies a ccording to the length and importanc e of your goals. The four tasks of the Memletic Approach are: • Target. Choose and clarify y our goal. Targeting your goa l involves understanding your reasons, exploring your goal and setting your objectives. • Plan. Decide your ap proach. Do prior research, plan your course map, and work out time and cost estimates. • Track. Tr ack your progre ss. This involves regularly (bu t not too r egularly) checking your progress and adjusting where necessary. • Do it. Enjoy it for life. This one is self-explanatory!

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Learn more about Memletics If you’d like to learn more abo ut the Memletic s Accelerated Learning System, visit the home page for the Memletics Manual at www.memletics.com/manual/default.asp This m anual is the core reference for Me mletics – there are no other materials describing Memletics in depth. Also on the Memletics website, you’ll find: • Memletics St atistics. Se e some i nteresting statistics on Memletics users. • Instructor-led tra ining. Lea rn about upcoming instruct or-led training fo r Memletics. • Testimonials. Don 't j ust ta ke o ur wo rd fo r i t. Se e some comment s from readers and reviewers of Memletics. • Resources. See some of the additional reso urces that are availa ble to Memletics Members. • Accelerated Learning Resea rch Projects. Find out about some of our current research projects, including in formation on Mem letics VR (Virtual Reality). You can also learn more about us.

Discount code for the Memletics Accelerated Learning Manual We’re happy to provide yo u with a 20% discount off t he M emletics Man ual. To obtain the discount: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5.

Go to the Manual home page at www.memletics.com/manual/default.asp Page down to the bottom and click “Continue” under the format of the manual you’d like. You can also select your region for international pricing. On the order form, be sure to log in first! Use the link at the top to log in as an existing user. Enter the d iscount code SPDRDC in th e discount code field (in the payment part of the order form). Complete your order normally. As long as you provide the discount code above you'll receive the discount (check the order total on the order verify page).

Memletics for organizations & businesses Representatives o f organization s and businesses ma y be inte rested in t he following programs: • Volume license pro gram. Thi s program is ideal for o rganizations that want to provide the Memletics products to many students or employees. • Partner c ertification program. For individuals and training organizations wanting to conduct traini ng specifically on Mem letics, o r create new products or services based on the Memletics content. 104

Appendices

•

Affiliate pr ogram. If you would lik e to re ceive re wards for re ferring visitors to our sites, the affiliate program is for you. • Reseller p rogram. If you would like to resell Memletics, for example as reference with yo ur existing t raining program, you can o btain the Manual at a discount. For more information on these programs, please visit www.memletics.com/support/programs.asp

Other sites we run Feel free to visit these sites as well: • www.learning-styles-online.com – Di scover your p ersonal learning styles, graphically! Thousands of people have done this test. • www.accelerated-learning-online.com – G eneral informat ion on accelerated learning plus thousands of research article abstracts. • www.find-health-articles.com – This site helps ever yone dis cover me dical research information more easily.

You can also influence the contents of this section by doing the survey at: http://www.memletics.com/surveys/speed-reading

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106

Index

Index

A abstraction, 77 African-American descent, eyesight risk, 20 Alphabetics, 13 Anne Jones, teacher, 8 applications, compatibility, 30 astigmatism, test for, 18 attention, 66 Aural style exploration techniques, 79

B back cover, skim read, 46 Be here now, concentration technique, 66 blinking, 22 blurred vision, 22 bold text, skim read, 49 bottom up approach, 77

C CBT, Computer-Based Training, as content source, 69 ClearType, 29 colors, monitor settings, 27 comprehension need for, 9 computer monitor. See monitors Computer-Based Training, as content source, 69 concentration, 66 and environment, 67 longer term improvement, 67 techniques, 66 content book examples, 69 collection tips, 71 exploring, 74 locating, 68 organizing tips, 72 sources of, 68 Cornell, note taking, 71 course guide, 84 covers, skim read, 46 crossways path, 57 CRT monitors, choosing, 24

D dark spot, in vision, 22 diabetes, eyesight risk, 20 diagrams exploration technique, 78 skim read, 49 systems, 78 dictionary, for vocabulary, 34 diet, and eyesight, 22 discount code, for Memletics, 102 distractions log, for concentration, 67 training to ignore, 67 double vision, 22 downwards path, 57 DPI (dots per inch), 26 draft printing mode, 24 dry eyes, 22

E embarrassment, 42 environment and concentration, 67 examples content sources, 69 excessive blinking, 22 exploration techniques aural style, 79 general, 75 Logical style, 81 Physical style, 80 Social style, 82 Solitary style, 83 Verbal style, 80 Visual style, 78 explore step, 74 eye movements, 41 eyesight astigmatism test, 18 diet and, 22 frequent checks, 22 higher risk groups, 22 macular degeneration test, 20 near sight test, 14 protecting, 22 testing, 14 eyestrain, 22

F fatigue, eye, 22 finger, for regulating speed, 41 fitness, and eyesight, 22 Five Ws technique, 77 fixations, 7 fluency basic skills, 39 developing, 39 font, readability, 23 front cover, skim read, 46 fruit, and eyesight, 22 full screen mode, skim reading, 52

G games for concentration, 67 graphs, exploration technique, 78

H halos, in vision, 22 headaches, 22 headings, skim read, 49 high altitude view, 76 highlighting, 72 history, of words, 36

I index skim read, 48 index cards, for exploring content, 81 italics skim read, 49

J journal, for exploring content, 83 journal, for new words, 35

K Kim Peek, 7

L LCD monitors, choosing, 24

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lectures, for exploring content, 80 line spacing, and readability, 23 locating content, 68 logic tree, 82 logic, for analyzing content, 81 Logical style exploration techniques, 81

M machines, reading, 8 macular degeneration, test for, 20 margins, and readability, 24 maximum reading speed, 7 megasavant, 7 Memletic Approach overview, 101 Memletic Process overview, 98 Memletic State for fluency, 40 overview, 98 Memletic Styles overview, 101 Memletic Techniques overview, 99 Memletics, introduction to, 97 Mind-Maps, 78 modes reading, 58 monitor optimizing, 24 monitors and skim reading, 51 choosing, 24 correct use, 26 CRT, 24 LCD, 24 native resolution, 28 settings, 26 suggestions, 25 mouse, for regulating speed, 41

N native resolution, LCD, 28 near sightedness, test for, 14 new word journal, 35 noise, and concentration, 68 note taking, 71

O optimizing your monitor, 24 OSAID model, 81

P paragraph marking, 67 paragraphs skim read, 49 paths crossways, 57 downwards, 57

108

reading, 57 straight through, 57 Peek, Kim, 7 pen, for regulating speed, 41 pencil, for regulating speed, 41 peripheral vision, and concentration, 68 peripheral vision, loss of, 22 phrases, pivotal, 60 Physical style exploration techniques, 80 pivotal words and phrases, 60 Post-it notes, for exploring content, 81 prefixes, 35 presentations example content, 69 printed text, optimizing, 23 pyramid, for content, 75

Q questions about material, 56 about objectives, 55 questions, for content pyramid, 77

R rainbows, in vision, 22 Rainman, Movie, 7 readability on screen, 23 reading modes, 58 paths, 57 strategies, 55 reading speed compare, 11 testing, 11 varying, 59 refresh rate, 26 regression, 40 regulator technique, 41 role-playing for exploring content, 81, 82 rote learning, 74

S screen resolution, 26 screen, reading on, 23 screens. See also: monitors sensitivity, to light, 22 sketching, exploration technique, 78 skim reading, 45 exercises, 52 structured content, 46 unstructured content, 51 smoking, eyesight risk, 20 Social style exploration techniques, 82 software, reading, 8 Solitary style exploration techniques, 83

sound, for exploring content, 79 speech synthesis, 39 speed drills for fluency, 42 speed paths, 43 Speed Reading World Championships, 8 spider approach, 66 sport, and eyesight, 22 spreadsheet, test and progress tracking, 10 squinting, 22 straight through path, 57 strategies, for reading, 55 structured content, 46 study buddy, 82 subvocalizing, 41 suffixes, 35 summaries skim read, 50 SuperMemo, 35 symbols, words as, 13 systems diagrams, 78

T table of contents, skim read, 47 techniques abstraction, 77 aural style exploration, 79 Be here now, 66 bottom up, 77 concentration, 66 deeper, wider, 76 diagramming, 78 distraction log, 67 Five Ws, 77 general exploration, 75 graphing, 78 high altitude view, 76 highlighting, 72 logic tree, 82 Logical style exploration, 81 Mind-Mapping, 78 note taking, 71 OSAID, for logic, 81 paragraph marking, 67 Physical style exploration, 80 regulator, 41 sketching, 78 Social style exploration, 82 Solitary style exploration, 83 spider approach, 66 study-buddy, 82 systems diagrams, 78 Verbal style exploration, 80 Visual style exploration, 78 tests astigmatism, 18 eyesight (general), 14 macular degeneration, 20 near sight, 14 typeface, readability, 23

Index

U unstructured content, skim reading, 51

V varying reading speed, 59 vegetables, and eyesight, 22 Verbal style exploration techniques, 80 video, as content source, 69 vision, loss of, 22

Visual style exploration techniques, 78 visualization for exploring content, 79 vocabulary and dictionary, 34 and reading speed, 33 increasing, 33 test results, 33 vocalizing, 40

W watery eyes, 22 Windows XP, configuring monitor, 26 Windows, monitor drivers, 27 word history, 36 word journal, 35 words as symbols, 13 pivotal, 60 World Championships, Speed Reading, 8

109