There are many schools of thought online and off on how to learn to "speed read" and even if speed reading is a real thing. Can I learn to speed read? This is not only a question but also an argument - Is speed reading real?

I can safely say that it is! Speed reading is not only real, it can be achieved in many different manners and can be fueled by training and dedication. You can train yourself to be a faster and better reader a few steps at a time. Let's take a look at what resources are available for you online.

For our first tool, check out Spreeder for some great speed reading exercises. Spreeder was covered in the MakeUseOf tagectory a while back. When we arrive at the site we will see this:

learn to speed read

You can either paste in your own text or use theirs. It will flash each word in front of the screen quickly at a pace of 300 words per minute. Practice with different texts and at different speeds. You can change the speed and font, background colors, sizes and more by clicking on the settings:

learn to speed read

Our next tool will help you with studying or reading material where you will need to digest everything. It assists with what they call line reading. That is also the name of the tool. You can check it out here.

learn to speed read online

Once you open up the web application you will see it is very similar to Spreeder with the exception that it displays a full line at a time instead of single words. But the trick is that they highlight the words as you should be taking them in. This will help set your pace and also shows you the words that will be coming up.

how to increase reading speed

Copy and paste the text you want to read into the box you see on your screen and when you are ready, hit the accept button. The text will then be displayed like you see below.

how to increase reading speed

You can increase or decrease the speed to help train your eyes to act so that you can optimally take in as much information in chunks as possible. They also offer a similar flash reading tool to Spreeder without all the options.

Finally we will be looking at a method to test your reading speed. You can use this before and after your studying sessions with the first two tools to chart your progress. The site is called Reading Soft.

When you arrive you will see some text and a start button. Click the start button and start speed reading.

how to increase reading speed

When you are complete you will see the stop button. Go ahead and click it.

speed reading online

Then click the done button to move on to your score and a reading comprehension quiz. After all what good is speed reading if you do not understand what you have read?

speed reading online

Do you have tools or other resources to help us learn to speed read? Have you used any of these three tools to help improve your word per minute reading? If so please share them with us in the comments!