Four ways to read, and choosing between them

There is no single skill called reading. There are four, and the mistake most learners make is using the same one for everything.

1. Skimming: what is this about

Fast, for the shape of the text. Read the title, the first and last paragraph, and the first sentence of every paragraph in between. Twenty seconds on a page.

Use it to decide whether something is worth your time, and to build a map before reading properly.

Why the first sentence works. English paragraphs usually put their main point first, in what is called a topic sentence. The rest of the paragraph supports it. Reading only the topic sentences gives you most of the argument.

2. Scanning: finding one thing

Faster still, and you are not reading at all. You are looking for a shape: a number, a name, a date, a word. Let your eye move down the page without forming words in your head.

Use it for timetables, indexes, and any question that asks when or how many.

3. Intensive reading: understanding fully

Slow, every word, going back when something does not fit. This is for a contract, a set of instructions, or the paragraph an exam question is really about.

4. Extensive reading: quantity

Long, easy, enjoyable, without a dictionary. This is the one learners skip, and it is the one that builds vocabulary and fluency most.

The rule of thumb: if you meet more than about five unknown words on a page, the text is too hard for extensive reading. Choose something easier. Reading a hard text slowly with a dictionary is intensive reading, and it does a different job.

The exam approach

For a reading question, the order that works:

1. Skim the text for about thirty seconds. What is it about, and how is it organised?
2. Read the questions. Now you know what you are looking for.
3. Scan back to the part each question is about.
4. Read that part intensively and answer.

Reading the whole text carefully first, then the questions, is the common approach and it is slower and less accurate. You spend your attention evenly on a text where only a few sentences matter.

The habit that slows you down most

Subvocalising, saying each word silently in your head, caps you at speaking speed. It is hard to remove entirely and worth reducing for skimming and scanning. Try letting your eye take in phrases rather than words.

Rereading every sentence is the other one. On a first pass, let a confusing sentence go. Very often the next sentence explains it.