<p>Geez you make it sound like I'm from another country. I was born here, taught spanish by my parents, and learned English in elementary school like most other kids did.</p>
<p>By the way, I find myself reading more everyday, especially while in public transportation. I do it before work as well. In fact I just got a book from my school that they "recommend" incoming freshman to read and it's big compared to what I'm used to reading but I'm actually not intimidated by it. I feel I'll be able to finish it in no time.</p>
<p>Btw, the program I'm taking says that you can read two times faster with hard material, and four times faster with easy material.</p>
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I was born here, taught spanish by my parents, and learned English in elementary school like most other kids did.
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<p>...and your surname is Pavlov. That kinda confuses me a lil. But, then again, that is what I like about the good old US of A: its diverse group of people.</p>
<p>My aim is to hit the 1000 mark when I finish my sophomore year. I dont know how I am gonna go about it. But I am gonna reach it.</p>
<p>My best on the typing was 85.48 with 3 mistakes, but a while ago while taking a computer class I was typing close to 100 wpm. I don't type at all how you're supposed to, my fingers go all over the place.</p>
<p>I tried the reading thing a few times, with different books, my scores ranged from 462 wpm to 704 wpm.</p>
<p>Typing: I am pretty quick, but I could type before I could write. I've been keyboarding since I was two years old. Usually I average between 130 and 150. On a test in 2001, I scored 178. Keep in mind this was one paragraph and is a small sample size, but it was worthy of a certificate in the computer lab. The record still stands but was nearly broken a few years later. The girl who came close wound up being one of my best friends--and NO, we DID NOT MEET BECAUSE OF TYPING...although I practice typing every day with the hopes of someday typing a consistent 170+ WPM, getting 200 now and then on a laptop. I also play piano and have done so since I was four, so I think this also has something to do with it.</p>
<p>Reading, I'm not that good. I can read fairly fast, but I rarely get any content out of it if I do so. I've never timed myself on reading but if I'm reading for understanding I'm probably the slightest bit below average.</p>
<p>Oh man,
I was looking at the mighty scores all of you have notched on that website. I got 37.9 with 11 mistakes!! Too slow, I know. But, I have been using the comp only for a year now. Is the speed okay for someone like me?</p>
<p>I did about 110wpm my first time through with 3 mistakes I think. The writing style they use on that test is really annoying. I prefer the good old "the quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog."</p>
<p>When I finally did one error free, it was at 144wpm. 158wpm best with mistakes counted.</p>
<p>I wish my handwriting was even a fourth that fast...</p>
<p>A good typing technique? Don't be standardized.</p>
<p>I don't use a typical method. My pinky fingers aren't that strong. Therefore, I use them very sparingly. My left pinky only types the left shift key. Now and then it also does something like an "A", but only if my other fingers are typing another letter (the word probably is an example of where I would use that neglected pinky). The right one does return and right shift. And the only thing I use right shift for is a question mark. Many of my other fingerings are also strange. For example, I don't use my thumb on the space bar. It is always my right index finger. My thumbs don't even type anything! (There's no strength problem in them).</p>
<p>So basically I type with three fingers on each hand with a fourth coming in whenever I need to type shift or return, or a letter on the left in rare cases.</p>
<p>It probably won't work for most of you because you're not me, and I know I'm sort of quirky in terms of methods of doing ANYTHING, but just a thought.</p>
<p>Typing: 66.18 wpm with 7 mistakes. That would probably be a little faster if I weren't using a foreign keyboard - I've been working overseas for a month now but I'm still a little awkward with it and I make typos. Not TOO much faster though. I'm not a great typist.</p>
<p>Reading: "I'm a freak." Which I knew already. :) I'd never really tried to figure out what my speed in wpm was but I just tried to measure it with some essays and it looks like I'm in the ballpark of 1400 wpm. At least with the stuff I was reading, which I'd consider medium difficulty/complexity.</p>
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He was telling me of people that naturally read like 1000 WPM and can see like an entire paragraph with their eyes.
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<p>This is true. And it's a good way to describe it. I was an early reader, and I can't remember a time in my life when I couldn't do this. I try to explain it to people and they look at me blankly.</p>
<p>Actually, to go into a little more detail and try to explain what I'm seeing when I read...let's say I'm looking at a large-ish paragraph, seven or eight lines of text. I quickly run my eyes vertically down the paragraph. I don't attempt to read line by line (unless there are words or concepts that I am struggling with, in which case this whole method doesn't work as well and I'm reading slower). The bits of text pop into my brain in semi-random order during the split second that my eyes are running down the paragraph, and then my brain synthesizes it into "content". It's like if you're looking at a picture made of a grid of different-colored flashing lights - the lights pop on and off but what you see is a picture.</p>
<p>Since I do it automatically, I'm hard pressed to give anyone advice on learning it...maybe if you're trying to learn it you can practice seeing and comprehending a couple of words at a time, then a couple more, then a line...and practice with interesting material; it's so much more pleasant that way and you're less likely to get distracted.</p>