Turn Pages Faster for Reading Faster

Do you want to read faster? I guess do you do so in at least some cases. Well, then turn pages faster. Sounds ridiculous? Actually, it does matter how much time you spend on paging.

During my speed reading courses I have observed carefully how the trainees perform the reading exercises. I have noticed that different people spend considerably different amount of time on turning the pages. Most people can turn pages in one or two seconds, but some people waste too much time on it. I have seen some of the trainees to spend five seconds on turning the page.

How does it affect your reading speed? If you spend five seconds on turning the page then during those five seconds you are not reading the text. If the other guy pages in one second, then he can use extra four seconds for reading and he gains a considerable advantage.

How much will it affect the reading speed? It depends on the amount of text printed per page and on the reading speed itself. On the average, there are about 500 words per page, but it may range form 250 to 1000 words. The fewer the number of words per page the more often you have to turn pages and the greater the effect of paging speed on reading speed is. The reading speed is also important as if we read at 500 words per minute and then there will be one paging per minute in case of 500 words per page. If our reading speed will be only 250 words per minute, then we have to page every two minutes. So, paging speed becomes more important when we are faster readers.

If we are reading at 500 words per page, which is twice the average speed and there are 250 words per page then an increase in paging duration by one second will reduce the reading speed by 3.3%. I chose 500 words per page as an example as after learning the basics of speed reading most people are able to achieve that reading speed. Three extra seconds in that case would cost in 10% lower reading speed, which makes a considerable difference.

How to page fast? You have to avoid the mistakes the slow-pagers make. First, if you are not sitting straight and behind the desk, then it may be more difficult for you turn pages. It is much easier to page when the book is flat on a table. Do not lie on a sofa while reading as you have to hold your book with your hands then. In that position you are also not so actively participating in the reading process; you do not react so fast when you have completed a page and you are likely to make a delay with turning the page.

Second, your hand should be in a position that you can turn the page immediately after you have completed a page. You have to be ready to turn the page, when the right time comes. As in case of speed reading you may want to keep track on reading with the finger of your dominant hand (right hand for most people), then you should use your non-dominant hand (left hand for most people) for turning the pages. You should wrap your left forearm and hand around the book in a way that the fingers of your left hand a resting on the top corner of the page. Put the index finger of you left hand under the upper-right corner of the page. If your left hand is in that kind of position then you are able to turn the page by flipping it over with your left hand. Be sure that you are always ready for turning the page. The minimum you have to achieve is that your left hand is in a right position at least for the time you have reached the halfway point of the page.

For those you are left-handed it is better to use the right hand for turning pages. The right-handed people may use it too if they are not using their finger of pencil for keeping track. In that case you should grab the pages from the bottom-right corner of the page. Put the index finger of your right hand under the bottom-right corner of the page and flip the pages as you did it with your left hand.

There is no absolute must to apply these paging techniques for you. May be you will feel more comfortable by using different methods. But give it a try. Find out how you can turn pages faster. Feel free to experiment with different ways to turn pages and find out the method that suits you best and allows you to turn pages with shortest time possible.