ReadSpeeder Review – Features, Pros, Cons

ReadSpeeder – A free tutor for beginners to develop comprehension

ReadSpeeder is a free program designed by David Butler and used by over 90,000 students around the world. The main goal is to improve the way you comprehend what you read. That means visual and mental reading is the focus rather than pace. Keep reading this brief review to see if it works for you.

ReadSpeeder – Goals & Overview

What does ReadSpeeder make different from other tutors? Many speed reading software programs focus on helping you read more words per minute and usually make use of the following techniques.

• Read faster in order to read more words per minute
• Increase your eye span to see and read more words at a time
• Stop vocalizing your words out loud or silently as you read it.

These strategies are good and practical, but they often simply push you through a book. The biggest limitation of this is that you may feel rushed to read the words. This again may lead to poor comprehension. And what is a book’s value if you do not understand what you are reading? ReadSpeeder addresses this limitation by focusing on comprehension, rather than the number of words processed in a short time.

ReadSpeeder – 4 Learning outcomes

• No rushing or skimming through the text. Learn to read words properly, only faster.
• Faster Comprehension. When you read a word in the correct context, you will understand it better and thus understand words or phrases quicker.
• Better concentration. To comprehend better, you learn to concentrate correctly on the material in front of you, and even visualize it.
• Learn faster. It is inevitable: when you read better, you will understand better. You will then learn to work more effectively.

Learn to visualize with ReadSpeeder

ReadSpeeder will help you develop your visualizing skills.

• Learn how to read fast and with focus
• Read words in groups
• Create meaningful phrases from each group
• Create an image for the phrase
• Use the image to understand and remember the phrases

This concept is quite simple. Take the well-known sentence used for typing skills: “The quick red fox jumps over the lazy brown dog.” First, visualize the red fox. Got it? Now visualize the brown dog. Take the fox and visualize him jumping over the dog. There you have it. You read a sentence and visualized it. Now you will understand and remember the sentence better. ReadSpeeder will focus on this topic as well.

Alternatives: Browse our speed reading courses for the best premium alternatives such as Spreeder or Rev It Up Reading or Iris Reading.

ReadSpeeder – Features and Highlights

Baseline test. Lessons start with a baseline test. This test calculates the number of words you read per minute. It also indicates your average level. Lesson one starts by emphasizing the important phrases and visualization of phrases for comprehension.

Concentration score. At the end of each segment is a concentration score. This indicates your true concentration. It looks confusing at first, but you will soon understand it better as you understand the goals of ReadSpeeder. It mainly calculates the time you spend on each phrase according to the length of the phrase. Your words per minute are compared at this stage to your comprehension. You can view the next lessons, but they will only be unlocked when you reach the desired goal.

Lessons one to four is the stationary phase. The focus here is to train you to visualize the phrases and learn basic visualization techniques. To emphasize the phrases, the fonts and background change in each lesson. This is to enhance the visual effect.

Lessons five to eight teach you to recognize phrases while scanning the text from left to right. This is called horizontal scanning. Again comprehension is encouraged by changing the appearance of the text in each lesson of ReadSpeeder.

In lessons nine to twelve, you are challenged to remember phrases without visual support. This requires you to only move your eyes while reading. Only black and grey texts alternate in the phrases. Lesson 10 uses FocusDots® to strengthen your peripheral reading.

ReadSpeeder offers 4 ways to track your progress

• A speed segment indicates your results in a color-coded chart. This chart is divided into your top third scores, middle scores and your lowest scores.
• Daily Words is a straightforward chart that indicates the total words you read that day. You can reset the scores when you reset your results.
• Daily Speed indicates your average reading pace of the day. You can reset these scores in ReadSpeeder to start over.
• You can export your results into a spreadsheet. Save your information as a Comma Separated Value (CSV) file and then import it into the spreadsheet.

ReadSpeeder tools to achieve your goals

• You can adjust the settings to control the number of words per phrase. Or leave it on Auto Set for preloaded values.
• Visual Comparison allows you to set your goals and compare them to your current progress. It is displayed as a left side and right side column.
• ReadSpeeder has a timer you can set for additional book reading. This function is very handy to keep track of your overall progress. This way you can combine it with your daily activities.
• PhraseFlash is a fun activity to test your comprehension. The program displays a phrase and then replaces it with several images. You then choose the image that best describes the phrase.
• Your ReadSpeeder account saves all the information you input. You can access the information anytime to view your progress. You can also reset the information if you want to start over.
• ReadSpeeder includes a library of 500 books you can access with many well-known classic titles. You can also add your very own material and customize it to your interest. The variety of titles will keep you motivated.

ReadSpeeder Review – Summary and Verdict

ReadSpeeder is free and available online. This makes it accessible to anyone with the desire to try such software without cost or to overcome general skepticism. It is clear from the start that the main goal is comprehension. The program is aimed at learners at a beginner level and will require motivation to complete the ReadSpeeder course.

Visualizing uses the right side of your brain. This is the creative side. You are also recommended to read the book “Reading with the Right Brain” by David Butler which is not free though. ReadSpeeder will give you a better understanding of how the right brain assists in reading and comprehension.

Keep in mind there are various opinions when it comes to the topic of subvocalization. It is usually seen as a habit that will limit your pace since you can only speak roughly 300 words/minute. There is also an interesting talk between David and Kris Madden about the topic which might be helpful in understanding the subject even more.

Bottom line – ReadSpeeder is a learning opportunity that often goes under the radar. It is popular among many people around the world and apart from the book offered, it does not cost you anything.

Though being available for such a long time it shows little signs of aging, however, expect some rather outdated styles and graphics here and there. ReadSpeeder is worth a try and to try strategies that derive from a different point of view and focus.

ReadSpeeder Access: Create your account here for free.