To improve your reading skills and read faster, you should learn how to "speed read".
2 strategies: SKIM & SCAN
Do NOT use them at the same time
Skimming: find ONLY the general or main ideas of the article
Works best with non-fiction (or factual) material
When to skim: questions about the summary/main ideas
How to skim: read the first and/or last sentence of each paragraph (=topic sentences)
How to practice skimming: 1 - Read the headline and the first sentence of each paragraph to get an idea of what answers they can find from where.
2 - When reading and seeing words/phrases that are unfamiliar, write them down to learn AFTERWARDS. But during the test, unknown words should be ignored.
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Scanning: look only for a specific fact or piece of information without reading everything
TIPS: use your fingers/pencil to follow along
Don't read everything > scan quickly to find the keyword and read the whole sentence
When to scan: questions for finding a detail or purpose
How to scan: search for keywords such as proper nouns, dates, numbers, and times
How to practice scanning:
1 - Look up for specific dates, events, names and places.
2 - Use indexing to search for something in an alphabetically-arranged list.
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How to use skimming and scanning for tests like TOEFL?
How to skim for tests: read all the BIG headlines, titles, and subtitles. Then, read through the first & last sentence of each paragraph
How to scan for tests: know the key words in the question so that you can find the key words in the reading passage
TIPS: Find the Subject, Verb, and Object
Summarizing into STEPS:
Step1: Find the keyword in the question (identify the question type > decide to skim/scan)
Step2: Skim through the passage for questions on main idea / scan to locate the specific information you need to answer vocabulary/detailed questions
Step3: Read the sentence with the keyword & think about your answer
Step4: Choose an answer (time: ~45 sec)
Recommended article: Skimming And Scanning: Two Important Strategies For Speeding Up Your Reading
↘ Do you know any other ways that helped you read faster? Comment below!↙