Power-User Tips for Students

There's much more that RapidReader can do for you. Let these "Power-User" tips take you to time-savings even beyond speed-reading.

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RapidReader includes a powerful set of markup tools for Notes, Highliting Text and More

Below you'll find easy "step-by-step" instructions and "how tos" for a number of techniques that RapidReader users have shared with us that make their work or study easier, faster and more efficient. Each has a downloadable sample in the RapidReader (.r2d) format which you can open with RapidReader to use as a model.
NOTE: For "how to" downloads for Mac OS X click here

For information on the benefits of RapidReader for those with special needs please click here.

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Study Smarter in Far Less Time. Build a RapidReview "Crib-sheet" From Class Notes.

Problem: The exam's in a couple of hours and you've got to cram
Solution: Use RapidReader for Accelerating Study for Exams:

Of course, on a daily basis you can use RapidReader to shorten the amount of time you have to spend reading and studying. But there's another great way to use RapidReader when it comes time to do that last minute review for Exams. You can create a "crib sheet" using RapidReader to "brief" yourself at high speed with the information you'll need. Because RapidReader assists you to read at several times the average speed, you'll be able to to get more repetitions of the required information just prior to taking the test and keep it fresh in your mind.

Memorization is often a matter of focused repeated exposures to the material you want to remember. You can easily build a RapidReview document from your own class notes or excerpts from the text of electronic class materials. You can even create a "drill sheet" will multiple repetitions of your notes to blast through. At RapidReader speeds you can get multiple exposures to the material in the same time it would take you to read it just once with traditional methods. Then if you wish, you can Highlite text or add Notes to your RapidReview document. Now you've got a accelerated quick-study on your laptop computer.

You can download a sample of a test prep in RapidReader below

In this example:
You're going to gather together the core information you want to remember.
Then create a "crib sheet" in a single document containing your review information.
Then once you're satisfied with your notes you will "COPY/PASTE" the entire sequence multiple times into the same document
Then open the document in RapidReader add any further comments or Highlites and save it as a RapidReader file.

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A Better Grade and More Time for You. Save Time Writing Your Papers.

Problem: Your research paper on "The Influence of Homer Simpson on Politics" is due next week.
Solution: Use RapidReader to read and gather online source material:

Obviously the Internet is an amazing resource for research. However the process of using that resource for writing can be labor intensive. There may be dozens of web pages that hold promise for the material you may want. Now with RapidReader you can save the pages to your machine to work offline, RapidRead them for useful content add reference Notes and even excerpt quotes and save them for use in your paper. In short, using RapidReader can streamline much of your work and cut hours off the time it takes to create a paper from research on the Internet.

What this means is that you have the materials you need, from research to writing, right at your fingertips in an efficient, flexible format. What's more, as you write you can use RapidReader to accelerate the entire Proofreading and Editing process.

Download a sample research paper in RapidReader below.

You can download a sample of a test prep in RapidReader below

In this example:
you're going to gather together the core information and save it offline to a project folder
Then create a "master document" for your research material
Then use the Notes and Highliter tools in RapidReader for the excerpts you wish to use in your paper
Export your Notes and excerpts to a text file to paste into your final paper

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Using RapidReader for Proofreading and Editing Your Writing Assignments

Problem: You're about to turn in the paper you worked hard on and you need to review it for mistakes
Solution: Use RapidReader for proofreading your work

Don't Let Little Errors Cost You a Grade. At RapidReader speeds, it's amazing how obvious poor writing or factual errors become. At several hundred words per minute, awkward language, grammatical errors and even "filler and padding" stand out in high relief as a result of the flow of language with the RapidReader "speech mimic" algorithm.

This is the kind of proofreading that a simple spell checker or grammar checker can't do and it's essential to improving your grade. Good editing means actually re-reading the document, editing it for content and readability to best communicate your knowledge to your teacher or professor. RapidReader can cut the proofreading time to a fraction while streamlining the editing process. In fact there is a feature called "Return to Previous App" right on the RapidReader toolbar to make going back and forth between proofreading in RapidReader and editing in your Word processor fast and easy.

In this example:
You're going to proofread your paper in RapidReader
Then use the Notes, Dog-Ear and Highliter Tools to make comments and mark where edits are necessary
Then Export your RapidReader markup to use when editing your paper
By going back and forth between your original and RapidReader you can quickly and efficiently edit your paper

You can download an example of proofreading in RapidReader below

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Get Better Scores: Create Your Own RapidReader "Flashcards" for SAT and Other Standardized Tests

Problem: Memorizing vocabulary, dates and places, terminology for placement exams
Solution: Use RapidReader to streamline to create high speed practice:

Work Faster and Smarter and Get Better Scores. RapidReader for SAT Prep: Accelerated Vocabulary "Flashcards"

One of the major requirements of any kind of learning is practice. When it comes to knowledge building, the psychophysiology of learning tells us that there is simply no substitute for repeated exposure to the information we want to remember. This is particularly true of vocabulary building and other rote learning tasks. That's why "flash cards" were invented in the first place. To create a time efficient tool for practice. RapidReader uses computer assisted technology to build on this premise. When you're able to sit back and read at several hundred words per minute, multiple exposures to words becomes easy and learning is accelerated.

As an example when using RapidReader for vocabulary review, you can easily be exposed to each entry three or more times in the time it previously took to read it once. This of course means shorter study time. In addition to the benefit of multiple exposures in less time, the speed of the dynamic display helps you maintain focused attention which in turn increases retention.

Below you'll find an optimized format for creating RapidReview for vocabulary. Of course the same principle applies with any memorization task such as science terminology, historical data etc.

In this example:
You're going create a "master list" of vocabulary words formatted for maximum efficiency in accelerated learning.
Then from those items create your "flashcards" document containing multiple repetitions of each item in the sequence you wish.
Then open the document in RapidReader add any further comments or Highlites and save it as a RapidReader file.
Spend a few minutes a day RapidReading your "flashcards" to boost your score.

Download the sample RapidReview vocabulary "flashcards" for you to use as a model

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Spend Less Time Keeping up with your Academic Journal Articles:

Most students and academic professionals spend a great deal of their time trying to keep up with all the journals and news related your academic career. This is the critical information you need to stay current in your chosen field or just to keep up with your colleagues. In today's information space, the ease of electronic distribution has had the effect of loading more reading into the work week. The good news is, that because the material is distributed electronically, you can now use RapidReader to cut your reading time to a fraction. That means that instead of printing it out and lugging it home, the software can help you spend less time reading and more time putting that information to good use. Of course anything you can read in RapidReader you can also annotate and Highlite in RapidReader. This will make short work of later review for your writing.

NOTE: for information about how to open files and web pages in RapidReader please click here

Every day, more and more professional Journals and publications are being put online. Some are these are subscription or fee based, others are free. Below is the address for the Stanford "Highwire" project which lists most online medical and scientific journals.
http://highwire.stanford.edu

There are other library projects that offer a similar service of aggregating online journals. Many are listed at the FREE RapidReader Library.

Visit the RapidReader Free Library

In this example:
You're going to open a Journal Article from an online resource in RapidReader
RapidRead the article
Place Notes, Markers or Highlites into the text of the article
Save the document and your markup to your computer as a RapidReader file to read offline

You can download a sample of a Journal Article in RapidReader below

NOTE: Many of the journals are formatted as HTML web pages. With one click you can read these in RapidReader directly from Internet Explorer. Other online journals are only available in PDF format. These can be downloaded and then converted with RapidReader PRO*.

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Free RapidReader Editions of Hundreds of Books

As a student much of your assigned reading is likely to be available on-line. For instance you will find classics of Literature, History, Philosophy, Sacred Texts or Learned Journals and research materials if you choose to spend some time looking. SoftOlogy IdeaWorks has created the RapidReader Free Library to gather together rebooks that widely appear on "100 most assigned" lists for high school and college. This is an ever growing collection of more than 300 books specially formatted to be read in RapidReader. In addition to speed reading the book itself RapidReader's Note and Highliter features give you the tools to save time with studying or writing book reports and other assignments. It's a powerhouse for reference papers and research. You'll find a lot of your required reading is available to you in specially formatted RapidReader Editions. They're free to download for either PC, Mac or Mobile.

Visit the RapidReader Free Library

Some of what you'll find at the RapidReader Free Library
Literature
History
Science
Psychology
Sacred Texts
Access to Professional Journals, News, Reference Works and much more