This is a follow-up training exercise after you have taken the Learning Techniques® speed reading course. Remember: The speed reading warm-up exercise trains you to read at higher speeds; it is not speed reading.

Choosing the Reading Material: Use light reading material for the warm-up; an easy novel is perfect. Stick with light reading material so that you don't have to worry about "missing something important." Never warm up using difficult material.

Selecting the Optimal Beep Rate: Once you have selected the reading material, decide which beep rate works best for you. There are four choices (see below). Experiment to find the best rate for the material you have chosen. Expect a book with many words on a page to require a slower beep rate than one with fewer words on a page.

A rule of thumb is to select the beep rate that allows you to complete each page with a partial understanding of ideas. An indicator that the beep rate is not fast enough is that your comprehension is too high (either good or excellent); an indicator that it is too fast is that you comprehend little or nothing on each page of your book. If the rate you originally select is too slow or too fast, select a different rate for the exercise.

Remember that even though the warm-up exercise builds your speed, it is not speed reading!

Follow the instructions below to download the warm-up exercise audio files. Each file has a 15-minute length, with a file size of about 800KB.

1) If you do not have an MP3-playing application on your computer, click one of these links to download one: