Why is “How to read faster” a Hoax in CLAT and Other Competitive Exams

November 5, 2020
Posted by: Team CP
Category: clat preparation

Yes, you heard/read me right, it is a hoax. A hoax means “a plan to deceive someone, such as telling the police there is a bomb somewhere when there is not one, or a trick:” as per Cambridge Dictionary, and “an act intended to trick or dupe : IMPOSTURE” as per Merriam – Webster.

So let me tell you why such articles that emit global gas on paper, and take you through lame tricks are not good for you at all. We all know that right now with the new paper pattern in CLAT, there is an urgent need for us to read faster, but isn’t reading faster supposed to be accompanies with understanding faster also? So by following tricks on reading faster, do we end up understanding the passage as well? Ask yourself this question. How many of you have tried these tricks to read faster and ended up messing the paper? Not just you but even those who are decent and above average in mocks and tests once they apply these tricks they will end up losing many a mark. For many of you this much is good enough to give up this trick, the rest of you must be thinking there is some problem with me that I cannot follow these tricks, and eventually in your morbid state you give up reading altogether. Now that’s a scary outcome of a plan that was supposed to make you read faster. Why do these plans fail?

Let’s understand a simple thing. Who is in need of these plans? A good or above average reader may not fall for this ruse (another word for hoax), however those that are unsure of their reading are the first ones to lap up these ‘quick fix’ methods. Think about it….if your slow reading is not so good, will a faster reading technique help you? Isn’t this something that should be built on strong reading foundation? So without warning you these ‘quick fixes’ lure you and then fail you altogether.

Second, reading faster as a technique is most ill – suited for competitive exams because it contradicts a fundamental requirement for these exams; which is ‘eclectic reading’. Eclectic means reading from various genres and subjects. In this form of testing while some genres you may be able to read faster, however the ones you are not comfortable with, try as hard as you might you will not do so. I boast of a reading speed of above 800 on average and I will still be slower when it comes to certain topics I’m not comfortable with. So reading faster is a phenomenon applicable to those people who have to read the same subjects or files from the same genre everyday. It was devised to help them and understand the main idea of what they are reading.

Thirdly in your exam scenario there are two types of questions asked; 1)theme based 2)specific detail based. In the former an accurate understanding of the passage is needed to come to the right option choice, which requires understanding the passage more than speed reading. In fact many competitive tests abroad advocate slower reading and stress on comprehension rather than speed and messing up of comprehension. As far as the second question type is concerned it can be tackled with a great reading tool called ‘scanning’. This means searching for the exact information asked in the question. This is a skill that you as competitive exam takers or CLAT takers should hone. This is a fool proof skill and practising to scan for specific detail answers thrice a week will really help you score more in RC (reading comprehension exercises), especially those passages you didn’t have time to read, you could scan some answers from the passage and mark them. However you should not answer theme based questions without reading.

Finally, do not waste time in these attractive entrapments. Be wise and focus on basic skill – building if you really want to excel. Find out what the paper needs and whether the skill you are developing will help there or not. And turn to trusted advice always. Anyone who claims the road to your goal is easy is a hoax! No roads are EASY but you can toughen up and walk them EASILY to your goal. The difference lies in changing the adjective into and adverb!