How to read faster & to write better essays

[kata1207]

Hello to people all around the world! I was Googling then I found this website - yes, as you could've already guessed, I just joined the forum.

Here are my two questions and thank you very much for your time and answers!!

1. How can I read faster?

Well I like to read a lot of books and I used to. Not that I don't read books now but it's quite obvious that I read less these days. Often it pains me to leave all these interesting books behind because my reading speed in English is pretty slow (50 pages an hour? I don't know). Plus I'm doing all these English-rich subjects (well, technically all history-related subjects) like Art History so I have heaps of reading materials that I need to go through as well. I can read fast in Korean and I wonder if that can help in reading in English.

2. How can I write better essays?

AH! This is my major issue alongside my accents. Sometimes I get a huge inspiration and create a 'masterpiece' (Sorry, I sound quite arrogant!) that surprises people. But my style (rather than vocabulary and/or structure) needs some improvement; it is often mentioned in essay feedbacks. But it sounds so vague! I once had an English tutor and I tried reading one of those self-how-to-do books but so far they're not helping. I just try to read a lot and hope that this helps. Is there any way I can improve my essay writing skills and style?



Again thank you so much!!

[Kraken]

Erm, well, 50 pages in one hour means that it takes you more or less one minute to go through a whole page. I don't think you need to read any faster, unless you want to beat a world record or something.
It's more important the amount of pages you read and actually understand than the reading pace you can reach.

About your style, though I am not a teacher, I daresay that you know your way and that you can produce nice pieces of writing.

Don't take things too seriously, relax and keep on the good work.
And since you have found us, stay.

Regards.

[stuartnz]

Often it pains me to leave all these interesting books behind because my reading speed in English is pretty slow (50 pages in an hour? I don't know).

(not a teacher) Nearly a page a minute in a language not your first?! That's nothing to be ashamed of. If I could read in my other languages that fast, I'd be celebrating.

[Omania]

Lucky you Kata
Whenever I start reading a book, I end up sleeping or throw the book away..

I don't enjoy reading.. I only enjoy reading poetry

[Tdol]

While reading fast is useful, focusing exclusively on speed may be detrimental to other aspects of a complex skill. It's also a bit of an artificial measure because speed can vary so much according to the text- I can race through newspapers and novels, but a poem can reduce my speed to a crawl and often require more than one reading.