Average reading speed? Pages per hour.

TheFORCE

Certification study books are not your normal books for sure, i guess it depends on your experience on the topic that is being studied but how long does it take the people here to read 100 pages or a book of 500 pages?

danny069

It takes me a LONG time to go through 100 pages, that is because I am super busy. I am about to tackle the monstrosity that is the AIO CISSP book. Did you read that one for your CISSP? Most of the books I've read, I usually skim through the subjects that are familiar to me, and read in depth ones I am not too familiar with, such as what I did with the CASP book.

NotHackingYou

It depends if I'm taking notes or not. It can be as little as 10 pages/hr for me if I am taking detailed notes.

thomas_

I would say 20 pages/hour is about what I read them at.

TheFORCE

danny069 wrote: »

It takes me a LONG time to go through 100 pages, that is because I am super busy. I am about to tackle the monstrosity that is the AIO CISSP book. Did you read that one for your CISSP? Most of the books I've read, I usually skim through the subjects that are familiar to me, and read in depth ones I am not too familiar with, such as what I did with the CASP book.

I read the entire AIO front to back yes, but it took me about 4-5 months. Studying long hours on the weekends and at work daily 2-3 hours.

techfiend

I'd say 15-20 pages per hour but it really depends on how it's structured. I usually study one topic and if the next topic is very closely related I continue reading otherwise I take a 15+ minute break between topics to let it sink in. This 'bite sized' studying has helped me retain information immensely.

Deathmage

I can read about 50 pages an hour, before nootropics it was like 30.

danny069

Deathmage wrote: »

I can read about 50 pages an hour, before nootropics it was like 30.

50 pages per hour? Geeze, you're like that robot from Short Circuit, Johnny 5 lol

OctalDump

About a page a minute when I'm in the zone. But this is certification books, and I skip bits like extended exercises, end of chapter summaries, white space, the introduction etc. There's also a few diagrams and pictures. Sometimes you get 5 or 6 pages for an exercise which is a couple of lines of text per page and screenshots. So, actual pages of text read is probably less than 1/minute, but an average ~600pp textbook is usually 10-12hrs of reading, which if I am lucky I can cram into 3 days.

aderon

Mines varies quite a bit depending on my mood, motivation levels, the subject, my prior experience, interest in the subject, how well the author captivates, etc.

At my fastest I do about 30 pages/hour, but I'd say my average is usually more like 15-20 pages/hour while taking notes. I try not to speed read unless I feel like my progress is lagging behind.

Deathmage wrote: »

I can read about 50 pages an hour, before nootropics it was like 30.

How long have you been using nootropics? I've heard it takes like 8+ months before you start noticing the affects. I did it for a few months, and kind of lost the motivation to keep taking pills every day lol

davefranco

If top readers read at speeds of above 1000 words per minute (wpm) with near 85% comprehension, they only represent 1% of readers. Average readers are the majority and only reach around 200 wpm with a typical comprehension of 60%.

Deathmage

aderon wrote: »

How long have you been using nootropics? I've heard it takes like 8+ months before you start noticing the affects. I did it for a few months, and kind of lost the motivation to keep taking pills every day lol

about 6 months now, I notice that now where I go to bed at 11pm I wake up at 5 am fully rested (no more 30 minutes startup required I wake up alert like a freaking person who just drank a redbull), I take about 10 of them now including two new ones, Yerba Mate and Bacopa Monnieri. I'm always energized, I'm alert and focused all day long, haven't had 3 pm crashed in months. On days when I workout and take my 10 gram BCAA's during my workouts that my muscles heal way faster since taking Yerba Mate.

I've gone from 150 lb tire lifts from 2 months ago to now 380 lb tire lifts and I do 8 of them in a straight line and go back forwath 6 times and thn take a 6 minute break and do that 3 times per workout on top of the cardio and strength training. Lol, after my workout I'm even more lazer focused for hours...

I've gone from a size 34 back in 2011 to a size 28 in my waist.

While also not to deviate from learning and get off topic but I'm also learning a great deal and more quickly but more importantly retaining it. As many know Cisco and VMware as repetition skills, if you don't use them you lose them, however I have noticed I'm able ot recall them much quicker. What odd though is lately I'm having dreams about switches and routers like are the circuit board level, like I'm actually in them like living a dream in Tron land.

It's the little things I've noticed, I way more adaptive and agile to match my two sports cars wicked agility on the road, I'm able to quickly respond to fast and quick manuvuers at speed and not have addreneline kick it.. My Pontiac G6 for instance has Sports Tuned Koni Yellows on Eibach Pro-fit Lower Springs with 22mm sway bar in front and rear and a strut tower bar front and rear and when I go from left to right at 85 mph I make Audi's and BMW's respect my G6 it's so agile plus with Brembo's on all 4's it stops on a dime. Cars move out of the way when I drive home casue they have learned not to F*ck with my G6, it has a Turbo, so it's my sleeper, it actually just reached 205k on it too but I rebuilt the transmission and engine last summer so I'm good for a long time. ....hey I may be a IT guy but I'm a closet grease monkey... ... my Z28 even though it's big is not as agile as the G6....I'm calm and relaxed through it all even more now with these nootropics, love it!

On a plus side I'm always not burnt out at all, sometimes in the past my brain felt like it needed to recharge after studying right now I feel like I can't learn enough kind ofl ike these nootropic opened up new memory banks in my brain. These nootropics have been shown to fire and make new nerotransmitters in the brain thus allows for new information to be stored and I'm starting to feel those effects. You know how after a while your reading and you feel like your brain is in overload and you to take a break? ... I don't have those anymore, my biggest problem is I can't learn enough in one day...but the next day I still retain it and I love it...**** I can remember everything of what I did on every day up to 3 weeks ago...never before could I do that...

I never imagined these nootrpics would make me this way, do I feel smarter kind of but more like in a overall way. like every manner of existence is increased, no more brain fog, my mood is balanced, conversation is relaxed, words in conversation is more deep and richer vocabulary words that I'm like wtf did I just say....

On a plus side I went to the doctor to get blood work a physical and my cholesterial is perfect, blood pressure is amazing, vitamin levels are perfect and my liver levels are amazing. I take LiverCare for liver function and I eat mung/Alfalfia Sprouts daily on top of an apple a day and 6 small meals daily and more water than I care to admit.

I can only imagine what another 6 months will bring.

DoubleNNs

Deathmage wrote: »

I take about 10 of them now including two new ones, Yerba Mate and Bacopa Monnieri.

Your above post sounds awesome Deathmage. I've been doing some research on nootropics as well for the 12-18 months and have experimented with a few -- tho my lack of consistency has limited their effectiveness. Do you think you could PM me a bit more info? Such as what those 10 are, when you take them and how you space them out throughout the day, and what works best for you? Also, were you as active w/ as healthy a lifestyle/diet prior to taking them? To me, I feel when I feel good I eat healthy and am active, making me feel even better. However, when I feel bad, I skip out on working out and eat poorly, continuing the momentum. Have you experienced similar, causing you to take smaller steps outside of just nootropic supplements that contribute to your effects?

To answer the thread's question, I average about 8 pges an hour. I take way too many notes however and read thru all the exercises, whether I lab them or not. I've always told myself I could probably cut down on the notes, but I never actually went through with it.

The CCNA was especially rough for me because of my slow reading - I read probably around around 1200 pages for that exam at 8 pges an hour and did endless labbing, then topped it off with the Boson practice exams. A lot of time slugging through. I feel as if I need to increase my rate of absorbing info if I want to continue to advance in the field.

TheFORCE

Deathmage, seriously I need the info too now. You sound like the guy from Limitless lol. Do you feel like that sometimes?

techfiend

I've tried Focus+ which made a difference. Currently trying Acetyl L-Carnitine which is more effective. Most recently have added R ALA but I haven't really noticed anything from it. I plan to go off of them slowly by the end of the year. Might pick them up again when I get back to cert studying.

aderon

Deathmage wrote: »

What odd though is lately I'm having dreams about switches and routers like are the circuit board level, like I'm actually in them like living a dream in Tron land.

lmfao this is hillarious.

Your post kind of has my interested in trying them again. I feel like I never really took them long enough to notice the effect. I think once I pay off this last bit of CC debt, I might poke around with them again and try to stick to it this time.

Good life choices by the way. I'm trying to live a more balanced life such as yourself, with non-IT hobbies, more gym time, eating better, etc along with all the studying I normally do. You got me motivated man

alan2308

A very interesting question, I've never kept track. And now that I do a good portion of my reading on Books 24/7 which doesn't present the book with standard pages, I don't know if I'll be able to answer it now.

JockVSJock

Deathmage wrote: »

before nootropics it was like 30.

Yes, I'm interested in hearing more about nootropics. However I see on amazon its spelled NootropX.

NetworkNewb

JockVSJock wrote: »

Yes, I'm interested in hearing more about nootropics. However I see on amazon its spelled NootropX.

Nootropics isn't a brand, it is a category of supplements. NootropX is just a brand. I just looked at that NootropX and I would be skeptic about it since it doesn't actually go into detail of how much of each ingredient is actually in there.

JockVSJock

NetworkNewb wrote: »

Nootropics isn't a brand, it is a category of supplements. NootropX is just a brand. I just looked at that NootropX and I would be skeptic about it since it doesn't actually go into detail of how much of each ingredient is actually in there.

I'm quite skeptical when it comes to these. Alot of these don't fall under FDA guidelines when they are manufactured, so I don't want to be putting pills made in Communist China with slave labor where industrial waste and lead is produced.

OctalDump

JockVSJock wrote: »

I'm quite skeptical when it comes to these. Alot of these don't fall under FDA guidelines when they are manufactured, so I don't want to be putting pills made in Communist China with slave labor where industrial waste and lead is produced.

Deathmage is also doing other sensible things that help with learning and just feeling better. Eating well, getting regular exercise and keeping your weight under control. But that's pretty boring stuff I'll go out on a limb and say that those probably make 90%+ of the difference, and the supplements less than 10%. It'd probably not be worth the expense taking these, if you were still eating crap, not exercising and 80lbs overweight - there's cheaper and more effective alternative to do first.

The weight thing is actually quite interesting, being only a little overweight can give you sleep apnoea which if it is bad will stop you breathing long enough at night to give you mild brain damage (hypoxic brain injury). It also puts you at risk of vascular dementia which can start as early as your 30s - although it gets pretty bad before it is really noticeable since your brain is great at compensating.

Exercise encourages neuro-genesis, I think so far it is the best thing you can do to promote neuro-genesis. Neuro-genesis is the creation of more brain cells. Brain cells are needed to create the structures in the brain that are the physical manifestation of learning. If there aren't "spare" cells, then other structures are destroyed and those are used. So, maybe (not sure what the evidence says) exercise can help you learn better.

A sensible diet is always good advice, not just to keep your weight under control, but to ensure that you aren't yo-yoing in energy levels, that you have the nutrition that your body and your brain needs.

TWX

It really depends on how difficult the material is and how well the textbook is written. I read a book before job interview that was basically a lot of rubber-meets-the-road network theory with a fair dose of comparisons of tech particulars (Token Ring was still discussed from a strengths/weaknesses perspective) and it was a breeze. Went through it in a weekend. Thought the Cisco books would be the same, but they honestly were both snoozers and covered topics in ways that did not lend to reading quickly if one wanted to absorb details.

JockVSJock

I agree with what your saying, working out, eating healthy and getting 8 hours of sleep. Basic stuff that we are all capable off.

HOWEVER, when you mix in working more then 8 hours a day, being on call, and studying for certs and for others social life and/or family life, the things that I've listed above are going to slide and your probably going to need something to help make up the difference.

Deathmage

These nootropics aren't the best thing to happen to me but they do help; my fiance might hold that stop. I like to keep my life balanced, as others mentioned above, but I take them cause I have high expectations and goals upon myself over the next 5 years and I'm really going to work my butt off to get them. Like I really want at-least one CCIE and VCDX in 5 years. What these nootropics allow on-top of my a understanding of the overall benefits of proper eating and exercise (already knew this my body has changed drastically in 3 years) is they allow me to 'keep going' certifications after certification and more importantly retain the knowledge learned.

The feeling of well being and focus is something that is hard to explain. These past few months on these natural supplements sourced from reputable health-oriented establishments (I won't put something in my body without ample research on my own) have been positive thus far. Do I think there like NZT, probably not but do they help, without a doubt.

Last night for instance, I've been adding a different kind of studying to my routine and that's passive learning. Basically I play a video game like Fallout 4 or World of Warships or World of Warcraft and on my 3rd screen I have INE.com videos open on CCNA. I'm able to retain the information by passively listening to the videos while enjoying a video game. See when you play a video game you engage certain parts of the brain that are responsible for enjoyment and relaxation, also in the same location is the part of the brain that learns. By using the video game as a channel into my pleasure part of my brain I'm able to passively learn matter. After I get done with a dungeon or a quick game I do about 45 minutes of labbing and then take another passive learning session. The same concept applied to people that need background noise when they are studying.

My sister is a Neurologist so I get into long conversations about the brain and how it works, and I'm always trying out new things and ways to learn. Since I'm a avid video gamer and love playing games and I feel I'm relaxed and I learn better when I just play game I figured what the heck let me do passive learning and see what is does....

My 4th and final exam on the CCENT prep I used passive learning for a weekend on stuff that messed me up the previous three exams and when exam day came the concepts just flowed from my mind. Been using the same concept for my current ICDN2 studies.

Lastly I'm also developing my own in-the-car studying where I listen to videos in my car, again passive learning.

I may-be in IT now but my 1st two degree's were a BA in Forestry and a BA in Biology, so scientific thought is already a part of my thinking. I just never could find employment with those degree's so I went back to school for Computer Science and here I am today.

NetworkNewb

Deathmage wrote: »

Do I think there like NZT, probably not but do they help, without a doubt.

Dang it! Tell me they at least turn my eyes bright blue??

JockVSJock

Deathmage wrote: »

These past few months on these natural supplements sourced from reputable health-oriented establishments (I won't put something in my body without ample research on my own) have been positive thus far. Do I think there like NZT, probably not but do they help, without a doubt.

I've seen Reddit has a channel dedicated to to nootropics and their discussions.

I don't trust the reviews on Amazon, since some are fake.

How do you define reputable health-oriented establishments?

Deathmage

JockVSJock wrote: »

I've seen Reddit has a channel dedicated to to nootropics and their discussions.

I don't trust the reviews on Amazon, since some are fake.

How do you define reputable health-oriented establishments?

My doctors and health food stores in my area. I go to events at the local food store and dietitians are normally there about super foods and I ask them. I'm about the only person that is 30 that goes to the doctors regularly, I ask them things all the time. If they don't know they research it through their medical channels.

techfiend

Most supplements are placebo at best and dangerous at worse. Focus+ and acetyl l carnitine are the only supplements I've taken that I notice a little effect. They aren't going to do amazing things like amazon reviews lead you to believe but they do help me study. If I miss a few days I can tell a difference, which is kind of worrisome.

R-ALA I don't know, I think I might stop taking it as I've had regular headaches since starting them. It might not be the R-ALA related but I haven't really noticed a positive effect either.

LionelTeo

About 4 weeks for a 1200 pages SANS course book. Its equivalent to a 500 page book. My speed is about 500 page for a month or so, but it depends on the content sometimes.

Deathmage

techfiend wrote: »

Most supplements are placebo at best and dangerous at worse. Focus+ and acetyl l carnitine are the only supplements I've taken that I notice a little effect. They aren't going to do amazing things like amazon reviews lead you to believe but they do help me study. If I miss a few days I can tell a difference, which is kind of worrisome.

R-ALA I don't know, I think I might stop taking it as I've had regular headaches since starting them. It might not be the R-ALA related but I haven't really noticed a positive effect either.

If you read the label on Focus+, all the supplements in it are what I take just in large amounts. ...I too started on Focus+ but it was too weak.

techfiend

The reason I switched from Focus+ to ALC is the price as I'm barely paying bills currently. When I bought Focus+ I think it was $12 for 60 days, next time I checked it was $40 and still is. ALC was $13 for 90 days and I think it's one of, if not the most, effective supplements in Focus+. Have you ever tried going off of them for a few days? Feel any different?