Practice

How to speed read online (a setup that holds up)

Speed reading online fails when people only chase words-per-minute. Use this sequence instead — built around a browser tool like BriskRead.

1. Pick material that matches the method

• Good for Flash RSVP: newsletters, blogs, reports you already half-know
• Good for Focus / Page: cases, law notes, first-time technical chapters
• Slow down or stop: contracts you must quote, equations, unfamiliar dense theory

2. Import cleanly

Order of reliability on BriskRead:

1. Paste selected text
2. Upload PDF, EPUB, or TXT
3. OCR for scanned images
4. Chrome extension for the open tab
5. Public URL only for simple public HTML (many sites block extractors)

3. Start around 350 WPM, then adjust

A realistic adult silent baseline is often ~200–280 WPM. Starting near 350 WPM is a useful stretch without becoming gibberish. Drop 50–100 WPM when comprehension falls. Raise only after a clean stretch of text.

4. Turn on Audio Sync for dual-channel focus

Most flash tools are visual-only. With Audio Sync, speech follows the same stream as the flash. That reduces the “I saw it but didn’t encode it” feeling on medium difficulty material.

This is grounded in dual-channel / multimedia learning ideas: people process visual and auditory verbal information in partly separate channels, so aligned eyes+ears can support attention better than flash alone — while pure ultra-fast RSVP has been shown to hurt comprehension in lab work (e.g. Acklin & Papesh, 2017). Use Audio Sync as a focus aid, not a license to max the slider.

5. Switch modes mid-document

Use Flash to clear easy sections, Phrase for short context, Focus when you need the paragraph visible, Bionic or Page for review. You should not restart the whole import to change mode — on BriskRead, modes share one document.

6. Protect comprehension

• Pause on dense paragraphs
• Use check-ins (optional MCQs every ~1,000 words) on study material
• Save to library so you can resume instead of rereading from zero