Rereading text

One of the misconceptions some of our students form is that rereading text is bad. It is true that rereading single words and sentences may be counter-productive, but there are several highly efficient methods to reread content. In fact we teach several methods during the course.

Prereading
Before actually reading the text we urge our students to preread the text at about x5 the regular reading speed. During the prereading we understand the structure of the text, prioritize varios parts of the text, capture keywords, generate curiosity and decide on a theme for the mental markers…

Reading complex parts
Some parts of the text will be so logically complex, full with details, include mathematical or chemical formulations or contain notions we do not know. It is best to understand those complex parts before we actually read the text. The speed is not an issue here, since we may need to reread the content multiple times, check on internet or even run simulations… Fortunately these complex parts are present only in small percentage of text most of the people read.

Speed-reading
This is the regular reading we practice so much. With speed of 800-3200wpm based on your advance, read and retain as much as possible….

Verification reading
After reading the entire text I recommend to parse the mental picture of the text and look for the missing issues. Typically we will find some inconsistencies and missing details. To get these details we read the text from the beginning at prereading speed, dumping the speed to regular speed-reading speed where we missed something.

Obsessive rereading
If we need 100% retention, we may reread the same paragraph many times at the normal speedreading speed, completing more and more details to the existing markers each time we read. Usually after 3-4 reading we will be able to recreate the paragraph word-by-word since each word will be encoded as a detail on existing visual markers.

We all prefer to read the text once and proceed with our activities. This method works 90% of the time for most of us, but 10% of the time we do need to preread and reread. Do not be afraid to reread, but do choose the most potent strategy for the specific article… Please share your experiences as comments in this blog.