This exercise will help you learn how to read material and process it more quickly. The purpose of this activity is to reread “old” material quickly and to glide on to the new material until you can read and comprehend it faster. You will need a practice text that is at least 1-2 pages long and a timer.  Set the timer for 60 seconds and try to read as much of the text as possible. Stop the timer at 60 seconds. Start the timer at 60 seconds again and read again from the beginning of the text. Try to read more material during this 60-second period than you did in the first reading period. Repeat this exercise a third and a fourth time. Try to read more of the text during each exercise until you read more of the text during the fourth time. This is a longer activity where you will read the same short passage over and over again until you improve your reading speed. Keep your reading speed in mind as you complete this exercise and use it as a benchmark. Try to improve your reading speed so it becomes faster during every rereading.  Begin with a 100-word paragraph. Set the timer to two minutes. Try to read the paragraph four times during the two minutes. Aim for a reading speed of at least 200 words per minute. Once you are able to read the paragraph four times in two minutes, move on to reading a 200-word paragraph eight times in four minutes. As you continue to do this reading drill, your reading speed should improve. You may slow down when you read due to rereading or regression, where you skip back over a phrase or term due to an inability to follow the lines of text on the page. To help make your eye placement on the page more accurate and efficient, you can use a pen as a guide.  Hold the pen in your dominant hand, with the cap on. Hold it under your hand, flat against the page. Set the timer for one minute. Use the pen to underline each line of text as you read. Keep your eye fixed above the tip of the pen. The pen will act as a useful marker on the page and will help you maintain a consistent reading speed. At the end of one minute, calculate your wpm based on the number of lines you read. Note if your reading rate improves with the use of the pen. Many readers tend to vocalize the text as they read, where they move their lips and read words out loud. You may also subvocalize, where you talk to yourself in your head as you read silently. Both of these habits can slow down your reading rate, as speaking is a relatively slow activity. The average speaking rate is 250 wpm, which is not considered a very fast reading rate.  Limit your reading habits so it involves only your eyes and your brain, rather than actual speech. Vocalization will slow your reading down and cause you to try to do two things at once, rather than focus on the text. Poetry and plays are texts that are meant to be performed, so it can be difficult not to vocalize as you read these texts. In fact, vocalizing while you read these texts can help you understand them better. You may find speaking the dialogue in a play or a line of poetry can enhance your understanding. However, it will likely slow down your reading rate. If you are aiming to improve your reading rate and your reading comprehension rate, you can do a 30-60 second preview of the text before you read it in full.  Start by reading the title of the text, such as the chapter title. Read all the headings and subheadings. Look over any marked, italicized or bolded text. Look at any pictures or illustrations, as well as any charts or graphs. Read the first sentence of every paragraph, particularly the first sentence of the first and last paragraphs of the text. After you have previewed the text, ask yourself: What is the main idea of the text? What is the author’s purpose for writing the text? What is the style of the writing: formal, informal, medical, legal? You should be able to answer these basic questions if you preview the text properly. Chunking is when you group words in the text into short, meaningful phrases that are three to five words long. Rather than read every word, and risk forgetting the beginning of a sentence by the time you get to the end of the sentence, you can chunk the text into groups of words that will help you comprehend the text quickly and effectively. Many teachers will use chunking in the classroom to help students comprehend large texts. You may be given a statement of purpose to guide you as you go through the text and look for specific sections you can chunk together. Keep in mind excessive chunking can limit or reduce your comprehension of the text. Try to use the statement of purpose given to you by your teacher to guide you as you chunk the text. Approaching the text with a question or in a questioning manner can make you a stronger reader and possibly a faster reader. Look at the text as if you were searching for something, or trying to reach a goal. Take the heading or title of a chapter and turn it into a question. For example, if a heading of a section in the text is “The Causes of Global Warming”, you can switch it into a question, such as: “What are the causes of global warming?” You will then approach the text with a goal, and will be looking for the key answers to this question in the text. Your reading will now be goal-oriented, allowing you to possibly read faster and not lose your reading comprehension ability. Once you start to improve your reading rate using assigned texts in a class or out of a book that is considered suitable for your reading level, you should try to vary the types of texts you practice with to improve your reading rate. Varying your texts will also expand your vocabulary and help you avoid having to reread or pause over a certain term or word when you are reading. Keep in mind legal material and medical material are not meant to be read quickly, so it can be difficult to maintain a high reading rate when you practice with these types of texts. Take your time with these types of texts and work on improving your reading rate slowly, over time.
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One-sentence summary -- Practice a rate build up exercise. Do a timed repeated reading. Use a ruler or pen as a marker or tracker on the page. Try not to talk to yourself as you read. Preview the text before you read it in full. Chunk the text into sections. Read the text with a goal in mind. Challenge your reading rate by practicing with more difficult texts.


It's the app that has an icon with two circles with a line connecting them. You'll only need to use this method if you were unable to revert back to your provider's original voicemail service before disabling the Youmail app. This dials the code you need to return to your carrier's voicemail. Use one of the methods below to return to set your voicemail speed dial number.  If you are an AT&T user, set your voicemail speed dial number to your cell phone number. Your device should now revert back to the default AT&T voicemail. If you are a T-Mobile subscriber set the voicemail speed dial number to (805) 637-7243. Your device should now revert back to the default T-Mobile voicemail.
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One-sentence summary --
Open the voicemail app on your device. Dial ##004# and press Send. Set your voicemail speed dial number.