One of the most important skills I learned right from my first year of college is not a specific subject, but speed reading.
At that time, I had to read hundreds of pages of books every week for my college classes. If you read every word in the traditional way, you really don’t have enough time to complete all the exercises, readings, and learning goals you set for yourself.
Since I started applying speed reading seriously and properly, I realized that reading faster is not simply about saving time. More importantly, it gives me space to process, analyze and connect the information I just read.
I read with more focus, knowing what main ideas need to be kept and what details can be skipped. Thanks to that, I no longer fall into the situation of having just finished reading a line and forgetting what I just read, or reading the entire page without being able to remember anything in my mind.
This skill helps me keep up with the increasingly dense class schedule during my college years. And when entering Medical school in the US – where the amount of knowledge increases many times over – speed reading becomes even more important.
It followed me throughout my years of medical school, during my intense residency training, and now, when I am a doctor with a very busy schedule and having to process a lot of information every day.
It must be said that speed reading is one of my biggest “saviors” in exams with many long questions and many words such as MCAT, USMLE, and later board exams.
There are questions on USMLE that are longer than an A4 page, with a lot of information about medical history, symptoms, tests and confusing details. If you read in the usual way, just reading the question will take more than a minute.
At that time, many students – even those who are very knowledgeable – fall into a situation where they don’t have enough time to think, analyze and eliminate answers. Time pressure causes many people to hastily “choose” an answer, even though they know in their hearts that they can do better if they have a few more seconds to think.
With speed reading skills, I can shorten the time to read questions by about half. Thanks to that, I have more time to think more carefully, connect the data in the question with the knowledge I have learned, and significantly increase my ability to choose the correct answer.
So what is speed reading?
In my opinion, speed reading is simply a skill, and the important thing is that anyone can practice it if they practice properly and have enough patience.
Below are the methods I have applied and maintained for more than 20 years:
1. Don’t read word by word, but read in clusters of ideas
Instead of reading each word separately:
“A | patient | patient | 65 | years old | went to | emergency room | because of | chest pain”
I practice reading in phrases:
| A 65 year old patient | went to the emergency room because of chest pain |
Reading in clusters helps the brain process information much faster and more naturally than having to “spell” each word.
2. Use your finger or pen to guide your eyes
This is a very simple but extremely effective way. It helps my eyes focus more on the content I’m reading and reduces the chance of going back to read the lines I just finished reading.
I often use my finger or pen to move from top to bottom on the page, instead of from left to right. This method gives the brain a slight pressure to finish reading the current line and move on to the next line, thereby helping reading speed improve significantly.
3. Focus your eyes on the middle of the line
When focusing my eyes on the middle of the line, I take advantage of my eyes’ ability to see the boundary area, thereby reducing the need to constantly move my eyes from left to right.
To do this more effectively, I often adjust the zoom of the screen so that the text frame is within a wide enough range, suitable for my eyes’ vision.
4. Choose a font that is simple and easy to read
If I can change the font of the document, I usually choose simple, neat fonts like Arial. These fonts help reduce eye fatigue and reduce information processing pressure on the brain, especially when reading for long periods of time.
5. Adjust reading speed – not everywhere reads the same
Speed reading does not mean always reading quickly.
With definitions and mechanisms, I often read more slowly to get a clear picture in my mind.
With illustrative examples, I can read faster.
With the summary table, I focus on looking at the layout and how the information is arranged.
As for the long descriptions but little value, I allow myself to quickly skim through them.
6. After reading, stop and ask yourself: “What did I just read?”
After each reading passage, I often stop for a few seconds to ask myself this question. If I can’t answer, I know I need to reread or adjust my reading style.
Reading quickly without remembering is really meaningless.
Have you ever tried these speed reading methods?
If not, try applying a few methods to see what happens and then let me know the results.
If you find this article useful, please comment “yes” or share it with those who are studying for MCAT, USMLE – who knows, they may really need this.
Dr. Christina Nguyen
Phoenix Medical Academy
