I found my notes taken from 2 high school lit classes as well as some taken from the video tapes "where there's a will, there's an A" I thought it might be interesting to some.

Before you read:
Preview
Outline
Question
Read- underline answers
Review
Review again

The way to read faster:
Just read faster
relax
set a time limit
test your limits
next time go faster
move your eyes faster- take in phrases instead of individual words
don't or limit mentally saying the words to yourself

Saccade ("sack-aid")- when your eyes leap across the page in short bursts

Fixations- the amount of words you can see at one time. Your eyes saccade from fixation to fixation. The faster you can do this the faster you can read.

Regressions- backing up and rereading. Bad.

Survey- scanning assignment and read headings, subheadings, lists, charts graphs, summary and any questions.

Speed isn't everything, skillful readers vary their reading rate acording to what they're reading. You can use different reading rates on the same material, you might sprint through an assignment for key words and ideas, then return to the difficult parts for a more thorough reading.

Pry out questions, root up answers, recite, review and review again.

Increasing vision span- wider and deeper, eyes take in chunks of words, vision jumps from group to group.

Put ideas on index cards and review throughout the day whenever you have 'downtime.'

Accelereading- using your finger to read faster than you could possible comprehend.

Write your own test questions as if you were the teacher.

Establish objective for reading

reading and learning are 2 separate stages

Familiar subject- increase speed

Inferential Questions- "what is my purpose and how can I use this information?"

Read Index, glossary, appendices and Bibliography

80% of information is in the topic sentence or paragraphy

3 levels of information:
Literal
Implied
Inferential
Fast reading gives Literal. Studying and thinking provides Implied and Inferential. Schema allows you to read Implied and Inferential knowledge into the text. Familiarity with text/subject = you can go faster. Experience.

Prerequisite Knowledge- ???

Table of contents- a book's roadmap

Productive Skimming/Scanning- spend no more than 3-5 seconds per page stopping only on key ideas. Scan for who, what, when, where, why, how.

Skimming- eye covers text to gain a general overview

Scanning- skimming while also looking for a specific peice of information

Study in short bursts, do not cram.

Read more
read for main ideas
challenge your comprehension
budget your time
stay on target
pace yourself
develop habits of conscious attention
vary rate according to purpose
discuss with others
Authors theme
central meaning
Think along with author and pursue central theme for essential meaning
skimming is getting the essence of material without reading all of it. Sense the pattern of the authors thinking and recognize what's important to the writers basic message and what is considerable less important.
Highlight point to memorize
repetition

That's pretty much it.