Speed Reading And Highlighting

Today’s post is in response to a comment to a previous post on personal development books for students and one on speed reading. Both of them ask the same question “When speed reading, should I highlight? While I do speed reading or after?”

When You Should Highlight When Speed Reading

I always advise students who learn to do speed reading NOT to highlight while speed reading.

The simple reason I advise NOT to highlight while speed reading the first time is because the FIRST time you read anything, it’s hard for you to know what’s important and what’s not.

By the time you finish the chapter, the beginning will become obvious to you and the specific details to need to remember will be different than when you started reading.

Chances are if you highlight WHILE you are speed reading, your reading speed will be a LOT LESS plus you will highlight two or three times more – which means you’ll waste a lot more time reviewing. Think about it. If you KNOW you only highlighted the specific details you need to remember, there is a lot less stress preparing for an exam, but if you highlight almost every line, then you’re in fact re-reading it all again, which is a massive waste of time.

When CHOOSING to highlight something, you need to trust your instincts – to highlight LESS than you THINK… So that the highlights are ONLY those items you feel you’re not going to remember automatically. Yes, I know this takes judgment on your part. You have to trust yourself. Start with MORE highlights and REDUCE them as you get better at CHOOSING what to highlight.

Trust yourself – you’ll soon know what you MUST highlight versus what you WANT to highlight. These are not the same thing.

The strategies I teach take time to implement. The key is to TRUST them as you apply them. You can TEST what I suggest – sometimes highlight WHILE you are speed reading and then AFTER… You determine what works best for you.

I can just tell you what works best for me and thousands of other students.

IF you are the EXCEPTION, that’s OK – DO what works for you, but DO IT because it works, not because you THINK it works.

To KNOW IT WORKS, you have to track your time and comprehension BOTH ways, otherwise it’s a value judgment and chances are you will be biased and wrong in your self-assessment.

For more speed learning tips, check out my Speed Learning Video by clicking on the hyperlink.

Of course if you haven’t yet purchased my Speed Reading Video, click on the hyperlink to get started today. It’s guaranteed to double your reading speed in one hour.

2 Responses to “Speed Reading And Highlighting”


  • Hello sir
    I read your book and I applied everything inside it. It was great and helped me get through some subjects that I was so worried I would to fail, but I didn’t thanks to you.
    Now I am having a big problem because I am having two referral subjects most of them need a lot of memorizing and one of them is material science ( The third time I am repeating this subject) and the other one introduction to manufacturing. Same thing also
    for another one… mechanical science.

    I hope if you may help me to pass them or even get good grades for them at least. Lastly you have a great study book.
    Thanks for your attention.
    Jack

    • Jack, I will respond with additional suggestions for you in a few days via a blog post. Stay tuned for that and keep me posted on your grades as they keep improving!

      Onward and upward!
      Marc

Leave a Reply

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *