TOEFL Reading - Improving reading speed
1. Scan through the text first looking at the first and last line of each paragraph. Pay attention to headings, subheadings, and other cues.
2. As you begin to read the text line by line, eliminate any distractions. Try your best not to let your mind wander. Your worst enemy is that you lose your focus and concentration. As a result, you have to re-read something that you have already read. Re-reading a text slows your reading speed and makes it difficult to get the overall idea of the text. As you practice reading, you need to carefully and attentively approach a text.
3. Do not read every word in every sentence of the text. Group 4-5 words together as a chunk and concentrate on silently reading chunks of words rather than reading word by word. In addition, you do NOT want to read out loud the text. Nor do you want to sub-vocalize when you read. Reading word by word out loud or in your mind will prevent you from getting the big picture of the passage. It will also slow down your reading speed. To prevent you from reading word by word, try pointing your finger at each chunk of words as you read. Then move your finger to the next chunk. Doing this will help your eyes to quickly move through the text.
4. Skip sentences or words in the text that are unimportant.
