How to Remember What You Read: Speed Reading and Memory

Does speed reading help you remember more?

Not by itself. The central review of speed-reading research found a trade-off: as speed rises, understanding falls (Rayner et al., 2016). In one study it summarises, adults who took a speed-reading class went from about 280 to 400 words per minute, while their comprehension slipped from 81% to 74%. Trained speed readers at 600–700 words per minute did no better on detail questions than people told to skim.

People who read to remember slow down on their own. Adults read English non-fiction silently at about 238 words per minute on average, but a 2019 meta-analysis suggests planning for about 100 when the goal is recall (Brysbaert, 2019). One study in it found people studying a text read at 54 words per minute, against 189 when they simply read comparable texts.

Use speed around the memory work, not instead of it: a quick look at the structure, then slow effort on what you must keep. More in does speed reading work?

How do you remember what you read?

Test yourself. Practice testing, or retrieval practice, means pulling information out of memory instead of looking at it again: closing the book and writing the main points, answering questions, turning flashcards. A large review of ten common study techniques gave it the highest rating, together with spaced practice (Dunlosky et al., 2013). In real classrooms, across 222 studies with 48,478 students, quizzes raised achievement by a medium amount (Yang et al., 2021).

How often should you review?

Spaced review means spreading your reviews over days or weeks instead of cramming. In an analysis of 317 experiments, spacing helped, and the best gap grew with how long people needed to remember (Cepeda et al., 2006). A rule of thumb from a study of more than 1,350 people: for a test a week away, leave about 20–40% of that week between sessions, roughly one and a half to three days; for something you need in a year, about 5–10% of the year (Cepeda et al., 2008).

Do rereading and highlighting help?

Not much. The same review rated rereading, highlighting and summarising as low utility (Dunlosky et al., 2013). Use them for a first pass at most, then test yourself.

Do memory techniques work? Marking and the memory palace

Speed Readingo’s course has its own memory step, marking: at the end of a paragraph, pick the one term or idea you need and tie it to a vivid, slightly absurd picture, ideally in a place you know. Its hippocampus is a hippo on a university campus, carrying USB sticks full of memories. As the course puts it, the more meaning you attach, the longer it lasts.

The evidence is mixed. The Dunlosky review rated the techniques closest to marking, imagery for text and the keyword mnemonic, as low utility for learning from text. The method of loci (memory palace), which places images along a route you know, was not among the ten and does better in its own trials: across 13 randomised trials, mostly with university students, it improved recall by a medium amount, though most tested word lists and many were weak in design (Twomey & Kroneisen, 2021). Novices who trained it for six weeks improved their word recall far more than untrained groups, and the advantage lasted four months (Dresler et al., 2017).

Use marks for terms, names and short lists, paired with self-testing. The marking lesson shows how, and notes and flashcards turns marks into reviews.

Does knowing the topic help you remember?

Yes. Background knowledge is what you already know about a subject. In a study of 64 seventh and eighth graders, those who knew more about the topic recalled more of a text about it, whether they were strong or weak readers (Recht & Leslie, 1988). So reading around a subject makes the next text easier to recall.

The evidence at a glance

Technique	What the research says	Use it for
Practice testing (recall, flashcards)	High utility (Dunlosky et al., 2013); quizzes helped across 222 classroom studies (Yang et al., 2021)	Anything you must recall
Spaced review	High utility; the best gap grows with your deadline (Cepeda et al., 2008)	Exams, books to keep
Memory palace (loci)	Medium effect in 13 trials, mostly word lists (Twomey & Kroneisen, 2021)	Lists and sequences
Imagery for text, keyword mnemonic	Low utility for learning from text (Dunlosky et al., 2013)	Terms and names, plus testing
Rereading, highlighting, summarising	Low utility (Dunlosky et al., 2013)	A first pass only

A routine: before, during and after reading

• Before: a few seconds of pre-reading: headings, bold words, figures. Decide what you need to keep.
• During: read at a pace where you follow the meaning, and slow down for anything you will be tested on. At the end of each paragraph or section, mark one idea.
• Right after: close the text, write the main points from memory, then check what you missed.
• Later: turn what must stick into flashcards and review them at growing gaps.

At work and in study

Before a meeting, write three lines about the report from memory. After a textbook chapter, write a few questions and answer them the next day without looking. For a book you want to keep, write one note per chapter and review it a week later, then a month later.

Try it

The reading speed test hides the text before its questions, so your comprehension score doubles as a recall check. Take it at your normal pace, then read something you need, close it and write three things from memory. Practice texts are on the exercises page.

Next: how to read faster without losing the meaning.

Read next: Speed reading techniques that work · How to choose a speed reading app.

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