On any learning course you'll need to spend a great deal of your time reading, and some people find this a source of difficulty. 'I can't keep my mind on the book.'; 'I have trouble remembering what I have read.'; 'I read too slowly and will never get through all the necessary texts.' are expressions of concern which may well sound familiar. It's important to realise that you can quite easily improve your reading speed.

The ability to speed up or slow down in accordance with what and why you are reading can make a valuable contribution to effective study.

When studying always treat reading as a highly active process in which you must become totally involved. Try to develop flexible reading speeds.

Three reading techniques can help you here, sometimes referred to as: skimming, scanning and sampling:

• Skimming is unlike fast reading since it involves making full use of your visual span - up and down as well as across the page. To get some idea of your visual span, fix your eyes on one word of a sentence. Notice that you can be aware of words above and below, as well as to the right and to the left, of the word chosen. When reading you normally narrow your attention to a single horizontal line of print, but when skimming you must open your awareness to the five or six lines which fall within your reading span. This enables your eyes to move very rapidly down the columns of print. Skimming is an essential ability when your reading purpose is simply to get a general idea of what there is on the page.

• Scanning is similar to skimming but here the purpose is to search for a particular item of information. The question you want answered must be fixed very firmly in mind before running your eyes as quickly as possible down the page. You must refuse to be diverted by anything but the information for which you are searching. The ability to scan material quickly for essential items can save you a great deal of time and energy.

• Sampling is a way of getting an advance 'taste' of reading material. Remember that information is usually concentrated at the beginning and at the end of any piece of writing. So, when sampling a text you should concentrate your attention on the first and last few sentences of a paragraph; on the first and last paragraphs of a chapter; and on the first and last chapters of a book.

Reading to Learn The technique outlined below aims to make your study time more productive:

1. Slip a bookmark into the page of the learning material that you aim to reach in your study session; then leaf through the pages, skimming and sampling as you go, and paying particular attention to headings and summaries and to all graphic material such as illustrations, tables and charts.

2. Next, ask yourself what you already know about the topic you are about to study. Only take two or three minutes, jotting down a few key words. This is an important step in the strategy because it's much easier to understand and retain new material when you can actively relate it to knowledge you already have.

3. Then ask yourself what you want to find out from your reading, again jotting down a few key words. If you have an assignment to write based in part on the material, check on the question now. Once more you need only a few minutes, but it will be time well spent. If you read with a specific purpose in mind you are prepared for understanding and retention.

4. As you read through the text make a straight mark in the margin against all material which seems important and a wavy line in pencil against any material you find difficult. If there are any words with which you are unfamiliar, and cannot understand from the context, underline them.

5. Now read the entire passage again, paying careful attention to the sections you have marked. Make outline notes (see next section) as you proceed. It may well be necessary to go over the difficult parts very slowly, perhaps several times, before they are fully mastered. If the meanings of the words you have underlined are still unclear, check them in a dictionary which it's a good idea always to have on your table. Expanding your vocabulary is an essential part of increasing your reading skill.

6. At the end of this concentrated reading jot down, using key words only, all the main points that you can remember. This must be done from memory. Do not look back at the text and do not refer to your notes, until you are ready to check the effectiveness of your recall. If you have remembered very little you need to read the material again. But if you have remembered most of the essential points, you're ready to proceed to your next study task. The benefit of this strategy is that the emphasis throughout is on activity and involvement.

If you follow these techniques, your mind will be kept so busy that it simply will not have time to wander off. Furthermore, you're safe in the knowledge that you are using your study time effectively.