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ACTION DIGEST
In writing a class paper, follow these steps:
1.
Establish a point of view.
2.
Identify specific research materials.
3.
Compile all your information.
4.
Reorganize the information into one master recall pattern.
5.
Write the first draft.
6.
Prepare the final draft.
9
How Fast Can You Go?
All the skills you’ve learned so far—including the hand motions, the
layered reading process, and the various preparatory procedures for
effective study—have been moving you inexorably toward this point.
Now, you’re ready to put it all together, to see just how fast and
efficiently you can read and study.
In this chapter, you’ll learn to hone the skills you’ve acquired and to
break through to new plateaus of supersonic reading. Most likely, if you
practice the “push-up” and “push-down” drills and other exercises
described in the following pages, you’ll find yourself identifying with
one or more of these students:
Anna.
As a junior in high school, Anna’s reading rate was 330 words per
minute, and her level of comprehension was 65 percent. She had become
frustrated with her performance at school, which ranged from B-minus
to C-plus. So, on her own initiative, she enrolled in one of the Evelyn
Wood courses.
After only about one month of practice, her regular reading rate had
risen to 1,440 words per minute, with a comprehension level of 85
percent. Even more important, her grades at school began to get better.
She began to do much better on her tests, with grades consistently in the
A-minus to B-plus category.
By the time Anna had finished her junior year, her mother had
become more than curious about her marked academic improvement.
“This is not the Anna I know,” she told one of her friends. “She’s always
been one who was content just to get by. Maybe she’s finally growing
up.”
But then, her mother began to put two and two together: “You know, I
think it may be this reading course she’s been taking. That seems to have
changed things completely.”
After Anna confirmed this analysis, the mother hit on a bright idea.
She knew that her daughter had turned in a mediocre performance
during her first two and a half years of high school, and those low grades
were bound to work against her as she applied to colleges.
So she suggested—and the school guidance counselor supported—this
novel strategy: Anna would write to her prospective colleges explaining
how her study habits and performance had been transformed as a result
of the Evelyn Wood methods. Also, the mother and counselor asked
Anna’s Evelyn Wood instructor to write a separate letter to the various
college admissions committees.
The results were highly encouraging: The majority of the admissions
officers said that they would take the changes in Anna’s study habits into
account in considering her admissions application. As a consequence,
she gained admission to at least two schools that she would ordinarily
not have expected to enter.
Brian.
A seventh-grader, Brian, was assigned a two-hundred-page
paperback novel to read for a test. The test was scheduled in two weeks,
and Brian was worried about his ability to handle this extra piece of
work. Like that of most children his age, his schedule was loaded up
with other homework and extracurricular activities.
Fortunately, however, Brian had been taking an Evelyn Wood reading
and study course. As a result, he had acquired some important skills that
enabled him to complete the reading assignment with relative ease.
Reading at a rate of about 1,000 words per minute, he completed the
book in a total of less than two hours—and he did it on the same day
that the teacher had assigned the book. The entire elapsed time even
included the drawing of a rather complete slash recall pattern.
Then, on two or three evenings in the next two weeks, Brian reviewed
his notes, reread some sections of the book, and added appropriate facts
and comments to his recall pattern. By the time test day rolled around,
Brian was completely prepared. He received an A on the test.
Max.
Eventually, Max became the star pupil in a course given by one of
our instructors, Carol Romaniszak. But he didn’t by any means develop
his stellar reading and studying capacities overnight. In fact, at the
beginning of the program, Max complained several times, “I really don’t
get this stuff. I don’t understand how I’m supposed to increase my
reading speed this way. It just doesn’t
feel
right to me.”
The Evelyn Wood program can be like that at first: Some of the
concepts may seem quite strange to new students. I liken our techniques
to the first steps in learning skiing or tennis. During the first few tries,
you may fall down, or miss the ball, or whatever. But eventually, for
those who stick with it, these “strange” new sports become more familiar
—and expertise and enjoyment increase.
Max started the program reading at a rate of 300 words per minute,
with only 48 percent comprehension. But he had made up his mind to
work hard, and every time the instructor introduced a new concept that
he didn’t quite understand, he’d stop her and say, “Wait, wait a minute.
Could you go over that again?”
Like a bulldog, he’d hang on to each skill that he found difficult until
he finally understood it and began to master it. Then, invariably, he’d
announce, “Yeah, I got it now. I’ve got it cold!”
In fact, Max learned everything so well that by the end of the three-
week course, he had increased his reading rate to an incredible 2,927
words per minute. And his comprehension had soared to 92 percent!
These students, and many others like them, have experienced
phenomenal improvements in their reading speeds and comprehension
scores in our course. Furthermore, high achievement in the Wood
program is consistently reflected in higher marks in schoolwork.
But I want to be completely realistic here. It’s true that most students
can see dramatic improvements in their reading and recall abilities with
less than a month of intensive work. Commonly, reading rates increase
from about 250 words per minute at the beginning of the course to
1,000–1,200 words per minute or more at the end.
On the other hand, these skills are just that—skills. A skill of any type,
intellectual, social or athletic, will atrophy unless it’s maintained with
regular nurturance and practice. You can talk to many of our instructors
and they’ll tell you that they can read at their highest rates only when
they’re “in shape,” or “in training,” or “in practice.”
Earlier in this book, I described some of the speed plateaus that can be
reached through subvocal linear reading. As you may recall, there is a
kind of supersonic subvocal barrier at about 800–900 words per minute
for this type of reading. To break through this barrier, it’s necessary to
begin to read vertically and visually. This process becomes more possible
as you use the various vertical hand motions, layering methods and
other techniques that have already been described.
What can you expect in terms of speed and experience after you do
break through the subvocal barrier? Here are some of the possibilities.
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