There are courses where you can read quickly and effectively. For example, if you have to read a lot professionally, this can be useful. However, not everyone is happier and sometimes people consciously like to take a lot of time to read through a piece, to ruminate on it, as it were. But many people really want to keep up with the speed of contemporary existence and therefore read everything that comes their way one day.
The base
If you choose for yourself to take in a lot, reading quickly can help. Actually, it already starts in primary school and we increase the number of words per minute from about 200 words to more than 300 during the HBO study and 400 to 450 words as an academic. Yet it cannot only be traced back to official studies. The average figures are distilled from the many informative texts that we have to read. But there are also people who read novels at an enormous pace, devouring these books, as it were, and even then a high number of words per minute can be achieved.
What does apply to both groups is that once the study is completed or the novels are no longer devoured, the number of words per minute quickly declines significantly . We then go back from 400 or 450 to 240 to 270 words per minute with the greatest of ease.
Methods
There are different methods to get people reading and increase speed, but the end result is the same thing. We vocalize and then we speak out loud what we read, but usually we subvocalize and that is silent reading, we say the words in our minds. This is how reading comprehension works most effectively.
We need pronunciation when our vocabulary expands and we learn to read new, more complex words. It is more convenient for the brain to pronounce this and then absorb it.
Read faster
If for some reason we want to read faster, there are several methods. Not everyone uses a method equally successfully, so you have to see for yourself what works best. Some are relatively easy to learn/pick up, where an active attitude and calm, regular breathing is always best to make progress quickly.
Cut it up
You can reduce subvocalization by training yourself not to read the sentence fluently but by going through a sentence in a sort of jumps. You, as it were, cut the sentence into essential pieces (in your head). During the jumps you don’t see the sentence until your eyes stop again. Your brain can logically put the cut-up sentence together without pronouncing the words in your head. This method takes some practice, but can be very effective.
Use your hands
Another commonly used method is a simpler method. We know it from children who learn to read, they use their finger or pencil to move forward in a sentence. If you do this at a fluent pace and the brain can pick it up as a kind of cadence, then this is also a method for adults to learn to read faster. The brain picks it up in such a way that the sentence comes in much more smoothly, subvocalizing decreases and connecting logical word groups increases automatically.
Finally
Some people do it for fun and others because it saves time. Whatever you choose, take it seriously to get the best results. And for those who don’t need it or who consciously take the time to read, that’s also more than fine. Speed in reading or not, respecting everyone’s opinion is important and can be put into practice.