Dr. Paul begins by introducing David and Gerri Hinton who share a bit of their background and how they got into speedreading. After completing his first speed reading course, David was able to read 10,000 words per minute with a 95% comprehension rate.

David explains in greater detail the three main barriers/bad habits to fluent reading.
1. Fixation. (when you fixate on individual letters and words)
2. Regression. (we read so slowly that our mind gets sidetracked/bored so we have to go back and re-read)
3. Subvocalization. (this is the hardest part to correct. This is when you are mentally sounding out/hearing the words and phrases)

David gives some ideas to help overcome these bad habits:
1. Use your index finger as a pacer as you read. Move your finger smoothly across the page in one fluid motion and trust your brain to register the words
2. Say the story out loud as your reading it (not word for word, just the general story)
3. Get good at calculating the number of words on a page

To get a word count, find a page that is completely full of words (no pictures or graphs on the page) and count the number of words on the first three lines. Take that number and divide it by three to get the average number of words per line. Then count the number of lines on the page and multiply the number of lines on the page by the average number of words per line to get the average number of words per page. Repeat this process on three separate pages (at the beginning of the book, the middle of the book, and the end of the book) and divide those three totals by three to get the average word count per page for the entire book.

Assignments:
1. Determine your baseline reading speed (words per minute) and comprehension score. Use the attached pdf story and complete the learner activity.
2. Practice for one full hour every day. Use your finger as a pacer and push yourself to “make your mark”