Before I mention how tDCS can benefit your reading speed you probably should know a little about tDCS If you already know about tDCS please skip the first paragraph.

Firstly, What Exactly is tDCS?

The electrical activity of certain cells in our body, such as nerve and muscle cells has always been a mystery to scientists. It is amazing that all the things that we see, hear, smell, taste, and touch are based on electrical impulses generated from cells. All our emotions, memories, behaviors, and moods are the result neural connections. All this is well organized and synchronized in our brain and spinal cord, which together make the central nervous system and transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) can seemingly enhance this system.

For over 100 years, people have been experimenting with electrical currents that can change the conduction of impulses between nerve cells, more recently people have learned how to benefit from it. tDCS is one of the most advanced approaches to external brain stimulation that has been well researched and shown some impressive results. tDCS works by delivering a very low electrical current stimulating specific areas of the brain through the scalp with two simple wet sponges, one sponge the cathode (positive current) and one the anode (negative current).

How Could It Help You Improve Reading Speed?

It’s worth noting that some scientists have noticed that tDCS not only increases reading speed, but most importantly improves the accuracy of reading at faster speeds. The cognitive functions tDCS improves are now being examined more thoroughly, however I’m going to give you my anecdotal results for improvement in my reading and comprehension. The tDCS kit I have purchased and recommend is the Omni Stimulator found at http://www.omnistimulator.com .

How to Use My tDCS Kit?

As stated my decision was to purchase the Omni Stimulator. Its simplicity for an average user makes it a simple choice and the price said grab me! It consists of a voltage regulation device, two cables, two sponge electrodes and a headband. You also have very detailed instructions on how to position the electrodes on the surface of your scalp in order to stimulate specific parts of the brain and get the desired result. For fast reading, scientists recommend the anodal stimulation of the border between the left temporal and left parietal region of the scalp. Firstly, I simply soaked the electrodes with the saline solution (for better conductivity than water) then placed the electrodes in their position and secured them with the headband. It was very easy to use. One thing you may notice when you turn the tDCS kit is a tingling sensation where the electrodes sit, this is just the small electrical current and you get used to it quite quickly.

My Personal Results

As a student, I recall using energy drinks and having what I called booster coffees (6 teaspoons of coffee in one cup) in order to keep my focus while studying for exams. If I had something like Omni tDCS kit at that time, I would have used that in its place and not been so jittery from all the caffeine. Today, my work requires skimming through a lot of content from which I have to notice and extract the sequences that are relevant to the particular problem I need to solve. I have been using the Omni device for the past 6 months, and there is a noticeable difference. My reading is definitely faster, and I think that is because it feels much easier than before. I used to get very tired, especially when reading technical language, and my reading speed used to slow down after a few working hours, not to mention the decrease in comprehension. I did notice results with my first use, but I did question whether this may have been the placebo effect like any good skeptic. However, after months of use I see that this little Omni tDCS kit really keeps me focused on my reading. It seemingly makes my mind clearer and although I still take breaks, I have noticed that they are becoming shorter and that my mind is getting refreshed and ready to work much faster than before.

Writing & Other Speed Readers Thoughts

I use the Omni Stimulator according to the instructions for speed reading, but what I have also noticed is a higher level of creativity while writing. I’m sure you have all experienced moments when you get stuck trying to find the right words to describe something, well that rarely happens to me now. Moreover, people I recommended the Omni Stimulator to in the speed reading field had similar feedback. Depending on their daily activities, some reported they were able to read faster, while others noticed a greater effect on reproducing the content they have read.

Conclusion

In conclusion I think that tDCS technology is fantastic for speed reading. Using my Omni Stimulator has definitely been worth it. I highly recommend grabbing a kit and giving it a shot.

For more information or to grab your Omni tDCS kit click here.

References

Thomson JM, Doruk D, Mascio B, Fregni F, Cerruti C. Transcranial direct current stimulation modulates efficiency of reading processes. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience. 2015;9:114. doi:10.3389/fnhum.2015.00114.

Turkeltaub PE, Benson J, Hamilton RH, Datta A, Bikson M, Coslett HB. Left lateralizing transcranial direct current stimulation improves reading efficiency. Brain Stimulation. 2012;5(3):201-207. doi:10.1016/j.brs.2011.04.002.

Brasil-Neto JP. Learning, Memory, and Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation. Frontiers in Psychiatry. 2012;3:80. doi:10.3389/fpsyt.2012.00080.

Scheldrup M, Greenwood PM, McKendrick R, et al. Transcranial direct current stimulation facilitates cognitive multi-task performance differentially depending on anode location and subtask. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience. 2014;8:665. doi:10.3389/fnhum.2014.00665.

Speed reading is all the rage these days. We have little time and so much to read through that being able to read more without sacrificing comprehension is an essential skill more and more students and professionals want to master.

You can improve your reading speed and get up to 3 times faster, simply by letting go of reading habits you learned when you were a child and by adopting skills that are more … 21st century compatible, shall we say. Let’s dig in!

Read chunks of words, not word after word

At school you learned to read in a linear manner. Spell out every sound, syllable, and word before moving on to the next. It’s a great practice for children who are just starting to learn to read, but it’s not helpful when you want to read at 500 or 600 words per minute.

When we read we fixate our eyes on a particular area in front of us. To read faster you need to have the fewest number of fixation points per line as possible in order to read faster through each line. This is reading in saccades, jumping from one fixation point to the next in little bursts.

Each fixation act lasts as little as 0.25 of a second, so imagine how much improvement you will achieve by having only one or two fixation points per line! This will greatly improve your words-per-minute rate.

To achieve this you have to learn to use your peripheral vision when reading. Instead of fixating on a single word, focus your eyes in the blank space between two words so that you must read both the word on the left side of the space and on the right side at the same time.

After some time you’ll be able to read more than two words at once using your peripheral vision and by expanding your fixation area.

The only way is forward

Fixation is not the only problem when it comes to speed reading mastery. You also need to eliminate regression.

This is another leftover habit from when you were young and just starting out to read. You would spell out a word, and then instantly read the whole thing to get what you’re reading.

This habit as an adult, however, will completely ruin your speed reading potential. If you constantly back-skip to reread words and whole sentences because you weren’t paying attention, you’re spending too much time. It is estimated that about one third of your reading time is spent rereading stuff  you just read either because you consciously didn’t get it the first time, or because it is something your brain is still trying to process in the old letter-by-letter method.

Either way, you need to reduce regression to a minimum in order to read more in less time. What you can do:

– Prevent yourself from re-reading a phrase of word – unless of course you absolutely have to!

– Use a pointer to keep your reading speed at a high level. Using your index finger, your cursor, or a pen will force your eyes to read faster. Of course, to achieve this you first need to increase your focus and alertness so that every phrase you read is understood and you can move on to the next without backtracking.

By eliminating these two bad habits of regression and vocalization you will be able to read at as much as three times your current reading rate. Remember, speed reading takes practice and the more you practice the faster you will read!

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Spreeder is designed to be the world’s most powerful speed e-reading tool that contains the basic course of learning how to speed read. 

Because many word pairs in English are homophones (words that sound alike), some mistakes that people make when speaking aren’t noticeable to others. For example, if we were to tell you that today its cold outside or our dog lost it’s collar yesterday you wouldn’t know that we had used the wrong version of its / it’s in those two phrases. However, if we had written those phrases in a letter or e-mail, you would have noticed right away, and would probably have started doubting that we really know what we’re talking about when it comes to English vocabulary, if we made such an obvious mistake! There are many pairs of words in English that are often confused due to their pronunciation, their spelling, or both. If you’re one of the many people who are confused by them, you’re at risk of seeming less knowledgeable when you make those mistakes. Here are seven word pairs to learn – correctly – by heart:

forward / foreword

Moving forward means “moving ahead.” A moving foreword is a preface or introduction to a book that causes an emotional reaction. We’re giving you the extra word pair here of two definitions of the word moving as well.

averse / adverse

If you really don’t want to dye your hair blue, it might be because you’re averse to making such a radical change in your appearance; that is, you’re unwilling to dye your hair. You might also be reluctant to do it because it would have an adverse (negative, detrimental) effect on your chances of a promotion at work.

counsel / council

We would counsel (advise, suggest) that you take some time to study the local ordinances before running for a seat on the town council (a group of people elected as administrators).

advise / advice

In the previous sentence, we gave you a piece of advice. The verb to advise means to counsel someone, or to share your knowledge to help another person. The noun advice describes what it is you’ve told that person.

discreet / discrete

If you’re advising someone on a sensitive issue, you should be discreet (subtle, cautious, unobtrusive). The word discrete, which is pronounced the same way, means “separate, individual, not connected.”

inflammable / flammable

Unlike the other word pairs in this post, these two adjectives both mean “able to be burned.” The adjective nonflammable is the one to use when you want to describe something that can’t be burned.

viscous / vicious

These two words are frequently misspelled and mispronounced. The adjective viscous (pronounced VIHS-cuss) describes a sticky, thick liquid, like glue or honey. The adjective vicious (pronounced VIH-shuhs) means fierce, angry, or cruel.

Stick with your daily vocabulary study and you’ll keep moving forward towards your goal of English vocabulary improvement!

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Vocab1 guarantees to help you increase your vocabulary knowledge! Learn more words and apply them in your writings.

Everyone keeps telling you how touch typing will improve your career prospects and give you an edge over other candidates who suffer from sloppy writing filled with typos. But has anyone really explained exactly how touch typing helps you on a practical level? Here’s how:

Productivity boost

Touch typing saves you a lot of time. While other people use the old “hunt and peck” method to write a report, you’re done in half that time and use the spare time to focus on a personal project, negotiating with a potential new big client, or doing some extra work to get that raise.

Touch typing doesn’t only help you finish your work on time, it gives you time to learn new skills, hone existing ones, and of course pursuit new projects and expand your network in beneficial ways.

It’s a health matter

Bad posture and counterproductive keyboard positioning can leave your neck stiff, your shoulders sore, and your wrist joints hurting. Touch typing is not only about typing with lightning speed, it’s also about the correct sitting posture, the correct hand and finger placement, and the ability to use your motor skills effectively so that you won’t have to look down your keyboard every few seconds to find the correct key.

Clear communication, uninterrupted flow

Poor typing habits means your thoughts are interrupted each time you accidentally press the wrong key on your keyboard. Touch typing gives you an advantage in that you get to type as fast as your thoughts pour in. In two words: torrential productivity. With unimpeded typing you are able to focus on your ideas, and spending your time processing and refining them.

Instead of wasting your time proofreading your work for misspellings and typos, you have more time to fine-tune your ideas and present top notch work.

Professional image

Proficient touch typists have a very low rate of typos because apart from typing speed they also have mastered their typing accuracy. Fewer typos means fewer chances of the entire Internet someone finding embarrassing typos, such as the notorious digital typo by Amanda Hess.

Have you been convinced to start learning how to touch type yet?

Everyone is asking “How can we read Kindle Books to an e-reading device especially with speed reading capability software?”

Well, we should worry no more! Pluto Pavlov has created a video tutorial that might help everyone with the dilemma.

1) Watch YouTube video “How to Remove DRM from Kindle Books” by Pluto Pavlov, published 1/1/2014.

2) Download and install calibre ebook management software from calibre-ebook.com/download

3) Download and install DeDRM Tools 6.5.2 from https://apprenticealf.wordpress.com/2016/10/11/dedrm-tools-6-5-2-released/. Apprentice Alf’s Blog contains several useful posts.

4) Follow directions on YouTube video above to install DeDRM plugin for calibre.

5) Follow directions on YouTube video to drag and drop Kindle ebook into calibre. This will automatically remove DRM from the Kindle ebook.

6) Convert the Kindle ebook to EPUB format. In Page Setup, set Input Format as “Kindle” and Output Format as “iPad”, but other settings may work as well.

Speed reading software teaches people to read articles and documents quickly, and helps them learn how to instantly scan and comprehend text line by line instead of word by word. The best speed reading software teaches this important technique, and such software will also have other benefits. For example, the best speed reading software is easy to use, and so can be used by anyone regardless of their age or educational background. For instance, a post graduate student can use it and get good results, and a high school student can also use it for their learning needs. Another benefit the best software provides is that the user is able to access the application from any computer; they can learn anywhere, at any time, as long as they have a computer or laptop.

The most obvious benefit of the best speed reading software is that it increases the user’s reading speed when they use it. A person can increase their reading speed by up to three times each week by regular practice. The more times a person uses the application the more they increase their reading speed. The best reading speed software is also has easy to follow instructions, enabling the user to adjust a wide range of parameters to suit their own learning style. The user can also reinforce all the techniques that are important for becoming an efficient reader. A speed reader is able to do a lot of reading faster and so will enjoy the reading process.

The best speed reading software is a learning tool and combines both physical and physiological methods. These methods should be supported by empirical evidence attesting to the fact that they work, and that the exercises have practical utility. Another major benefit from the best speed reading software is that it provides additional exercises after each reading lesson that keep the user’s brain in good overall shape. The exercise enables the user to learn to think and answer based on the reading done previously. The exercises are useful as they help to practise for exams or interviews, giving the user the experience of how to answer questions based on previous study. The best speed reading software also offers a range of exercises that are based on the readings made in the chapter or unit.

The best speed reading software promotes learning by providing instantaneous feedback. The reason this is important is because the user can examine if they have benefited or learnt something from the reading exercises just completed. The more questions in the exercises the user can answer the more they understand or comprehend the reading. The reading speed of the user is also another feedback point, showing how it increases or improves with time. Good speed reading software allows the users to comment on how much knowledge they have gained. The best speed reading software also has many tracking tools and reports that are useful and accurate. This provides proof of the credibility of the speed reading software.

The best speed reading software also has interactive games and learning tasks for the students. The games and learning tasks help the students to take a break from the more intensive reading exercises, and enhances their memory and understanding of the reading material in fun ways. They engage the students and encourage them to participate in the games and learning tasks, thus enabling learning to continue despite the break. Games are useful as students love games and also play them willingly. Therefore, offering users the opportunity to engage in games and learning tasks as they read enable them to improve their reading, as they are eager to find more games. The users can also enjoy stories that are present in the software. The best software will provide stories that are based on a wide variety of topics.

The best speed reading software also provides a wide range of programs that are designed professionally. These programs are calibrated in order to meet the needs of the individual and groups using the software. The user is also able to pursue a curriculum that is structured, focused and designed by the user on their own.

Anyone can benefit from the best speed reading software as it improves comprehension and understanding of the reading. This is because such a software product has interactive games, stories, exercises and learning tasks that aid in understanding as they provide a practical example to the theory discussed. It also helps the users to train their eyes and brains from one step to another. The best speed reading software also provides results that are guaranteed. The software is parent-friendly and customizable thus can be adjusted to meet the needs of the user.

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Cross-posted on the 7 Speed Reading blog.

There are many words in English that differ by only one letter, and when it’s the same letter repeated, it’s easy to get confused. However, English pronunciation comes to the rescue to help with English spelling rules, and there’s an easy way to tell the difference between words that have a single letter and words that have a doubled letter: the sound of the vowel. Learning the pronunciation of a word helps you know which to use to get the word you want.

Take a look at these word pairs and their pronunciations:

scraping / scrapping
(SKRAY-ping / SKRAH-ping)

waging / wagging
(WAY-jing / WAH-ging)

hoping / hopping
(HOH-ping / HAW-ping)

doting / dotting
(DOH-ting / DAW-ting)

diner / dinner
(DAI-nuhr / DIH-nuhr)

caped / capped
(KAYPT / KAHPT)

In each of the pairs, the first word is pronounced with a “long” vowel sound in the first syllable – that is, it has the sound of the letter itself: a = AY, i = AI, o = OH.

In the second words of each pair, the doubled consonant has changed the vowel from a “long” vowel sound to a “short” vowel sound: a = AH, i = IH, o = AW.

Note: In today’s post we focused on single and double consonants, but there are also ways to use pronunciation to help with doubled vowels. We’ll look at those in another post.

Taking and passing the GRE (Graduate Record Examination) is a requirement to get into most advanced university programs in English-speaking countries. Students who are pursuing a doctorate in their field will need to take the GRE General Test, and may also be required to take one of the GRE Subject Tests. In these exams, students are required to show their ability to read and analyze texts in the reading comprehension section.

Good reading comprehension is based on having a good vocabulary. Obviously, if the text you’re asked to analyze contains one or more words that you don’t know, you’ll find it harder to accurately discuss the meaning and content of the text. We’ve found a passage from H. G. Wells’ “The Outline of History” that’s related to vocabulary. Read the text, then answer the questions we’ve provided, which are modeled on questions you’ll encounter in the GRE.

It is improbable that there was ever such a thing as a common human language. We know nothing of the language of Paleolithic man; we do not even know whether Paleolithic man talked freely. We know that Paleolithic man had a keen sense of form and attitude, because of his drawings; and it has been suggested that he communicated his ideas very largely by gesture. Probably such words as the earlier men used were mainly cries of alarm or passion or names for concrete things, and in many cases they were probably imitative sounds made by or associated with the things named. The first languages were probably small collections of such words; they consisted of interjections and nouns. Probably the nouns were said in different intonations to convey different meanings. If Paleolithic man had a word for “horse” or “bear,” he probably showed by tone or gesture whether he meant “bear is coming,” “bear is going,” “bear is to be hunted,” “dead bear,” “bear has been here,” “bear did this,” and so on. Only very slowly did the human mind develop methods of indicating action and relationship in a formal manner. Modern languages contain many thousands of words, but the earlier languages could have consisted only of a few hundred. It is said that even modern European peasants can get along with something less than a thousand words, and it is quite conceivable that so late as the Early Neolithic Period that was the limit of the available vocabulary. Probably men did not indulge in those days in conversation or description. For narrative purposes they danced and acted rather than told. They had no method of counting beyond a method of indicating two by a dual number, and some way of expressing many. The growth of speech was at first a very slow process indeed, and grammatical forms and the expression of abstract ideas may have come very late in human history, perhaps only 400 or 500 generations ago.

Question 1: According to Wells, is a large vocabulary necessary for communication?

Question 2: How does Wells imagine Paleolithic man communicating the difference between the phrases “bear is coming” and “bear is going”?

Question 3: What is the main difference that Wells finds between modern language and the earliest forms of language?

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To increase your GRE score by 7 points in 2 weeks, click here to start practicing for free with PrepEd GRE

Carpal Tunnel Syndrome (CTS) is a major concern for millions of people who type during a large part of their workday. Web programmers, writers, data analysts, and many other office workers, scientists, and professionals will experience some discomfort in their hands and wrist after repetitive motions.

Even if you don’t type constantly, things like swimming, tennis, and weight lifting can cause CTS as well.

You can, however, avoid carpal tunnel syndrome by following these preventive practices.

Practice common sense

If you’re in a profession that makes you prone to CTS consider taking measures that will prevent this from happening to you. Any job where you use your hands and wrists extensively puts them at risk. Make sure you rest your hands and body enough and strengthen your wrists to avoid damaging them.

Optimize your workstation

It may be the job of your employer to make sure that you have a workstation that helps to prevent CTS and other repetitive stress injuries.

If this is not the case, take the matter into your own hands. Use ergonomic equipment like a keyboard pad, and take frequent breaks from repetitive work that puts your wrists and shoulders under a lot of stress.

Take care of yourself

Exercise and strengthen your hands and wrists in a way that doesn’t contribute to deterioration, but helps keep it at bay instead. The key thing to remember is that you’re looking for ways to exercise that avoid any extremes.

Being in overall good health will ensure you keep CTS at bay, and helps you to take prompt action when symptoms kick in.

Improve your posture

If you exercise regularly, it will help improve your posture, which is an essential aspect of successful CTS prevention. Are you following the experts’ recommendations for good posture when typing.

1) Your spine should rest against your chair along your mid-back.

2) Your shoulders and elbows should stay in a relaxed position.

3) Your wrists should remain in a horizontal position.

4) Your feet should either be on a footrest, or firmly touching the ground with the back of your knees forming a 90 degree angle.

5) Your screen should be at eye level to avoid strain on your neck and extra stress on your wrists and hands.

6) Your wrist should be lightly supported by a keyboard pad, but not rest heavily against it. Do not rest your wrists on the edge of your laptop.

Following all of these steps will help ensure that you minimize your risk of developing carpal tunnel syndrome.

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When you’re trying to grow your business, you’re constantly fighting against the clock. There are never enough hours in the day to do everything. Customers and clients expect you to be on call 24/7 and you’ve got to fit that into your schedule along with everything else. And both society and technology keep moving forward, which means that you have to keep up with trends, stay on top of breaking news, and make sure you’re ahead of the competition. In order to do that, you need the best information you can get, from as many sources as possible – and you need the ability to read, remember, and recall that information so that you can use it at precisely the right moment. That’s one of the reasons we encourage people to learn to speed read. When you have that extra time, you’ll be able to devote it to learning from people like Peter Sandeen, whose expert advice on marketing can help you expand your client list and communicate with your customers to keep your business booming. We asked him about his strategies for information overload and other time-saving tips.

7SR: You’re an articulate writer, and you frequently emphasize the importance of well-crafted professional text in written communication with customers. Is writing a skill that people should spend the time developing, or can they “outsource” that particular task?

Peter Sandeen: If you write for a business, the purpose is to make the reader get closer to buying what you sell. Understanding what are the best reasons for them to choose your products and services is more important than literary ingenuity.

First, of course, you need to know what those reasons are—what I call your value proposition—so you can convey them with your writing.

When you have a clear value proposition, developing your writing skills makes perfect sense. But you should devote your studies to copywriting. Writing with the explicit purpose to “convert” is very different from casual writing. Much of the general writing advice just won’t have the same impact on your results that better copywriting skills could have.

7SR: There’s a lot of information out there on marketing strategies, not to mention all of the articles and news feeds that are directly related to a person’s field, service, or product. What do you recommend to people when they tell you they’re unable to keep up with reading all of that material?

Peter: Information overload is a very common reason for people to slow down their progress. They might actually do a lot of things. But they’re not focused on taking consistent steps on the shortest road to their goals, but instead they spread their efforts over countless projects, so they don’t make much progress at all.

Focus your information intake on a small select group of sources. And avoid learning from conflicting sources—people look at marketing in so many different ways that you might be dragged to completely different directions by different people’s advice. Preferably find just one or two sources you trust and understand, so you can actually act on the advice.

7SR: Where should a new business owner begin? Should they be working on self-improvement that will polish professional credentials or personal skills, or focusing on getting a website up and running and starting to look for sales right away?

Peter: Maybe you’re fine with first studying marketing for a few years before setting up your first website.

But you won’t learn marketing from a book, blog, or course if you don’t put the ideas into action. So, set up something simple soon. And then improve over time.

Getting started might seem daunting, but once you’re off square one, you can learn much faster.

7SR: Even though professional communication is so important, it’s such a basic part of everyday life that some people may treat business e-mails in the same way they do a quick text to a friend – in other words, without worrying too much about spelling and grammar. How much of a problem do you think this is in general?

Peter: If I get an email with lots of typos, I feel like the sender didn’t really think that the email was worth putting any effort into. In other words, I don’t feel respected.

Simple grammar mistakes that are clearly mistakes, on the other hand, can make you look plain dumb or uneducated.

I don’t mind the occasional typo or forgetting to follow the most obscure grammar rules. But you should respect the person you’re writing the email to enough to read it through at least once.

7SR: What are three books you’d recommend to people to help them improve their communication skills?

Roy Peter Clark: Writing Tools. You’ll learn specific tools (that are surprisingly practical) for making your writing better.

Sol Stein: Stein on Writing. Another excellent book on improving your writing. Sol Stein is an accomplished editor, which gives him a great perspective on what makes writing better.

Joe Vitale: Buying Trances. A great book that helps you understand some key copywriting lessons. The book isn’t quite the classic some other copywriting books are, but it’s really good (and recommending the same old classics seems like a boring choice).

I’d also love to include some Tony Robbins’s books just because writing effectively is really about understanding people. And that’s about psychology—not grammar 🙂

Read More About Peter Sandeen’s Time-Saving Marketing Strategies At www.PeterSandeen.com

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