Hello, I’m Mr Smith.

And today we’re speed reading to find information super fast.

If you’re reading a great story, you want to enjoy every word.

But what if you open a non-fiction book looking for specific information?

Or a website, or news report?

You don’t have to read it all.

You can skim or scan to get the details you need super quickly.

Skimming and scanning are two kinds of speedy reading.

And I’ll show you how to do them with two speed testing games.

When you skim a piece of writing, you do not need to read it all.

Your aim is to get a rough idea of what it’s all about.

We call that “getting the gist”.

So, how do you do it?

Here are my top tips.

Read the first paragraph and the last paragraph.

And the opening words and closing words of the paragraphs in between.

Leave out the rest.

Other things to look out for are headings and subheadings.

Visual clues, such as bullet points.

And keywords shown in bold or in italics, in capitals or underlined.

OK, let’s give it a go.

Coming up is a long piece of writing.

Paragraphs will show for sure periods of time, so you won’t have to read every word.

But can you get the gist in under just 30 seconds?

I think so.

Remember to read beginnings and ends, titles, subtitles, and look out for keywords.

Ready, steady, go!

Time’s up.

Whoo-hoo!

Did you work out the writing was about blue whales, the largest animal on earth?

Did you see it gave details about them such as their size, where they live and the food they eat?

And did you see that the blue whale is endangered?

But the numbers of blue whales are rising again.

Well done.

You skimmed the writing and got the gist.

When you scan a piece of writing, again, you do not read every word.

You run your eyes over the writing searching just for the information you want.

And again, titles, subtitles, keywords and bullet points are your friends.

Let’s try it with the blue whale report you’ve just skimmed.

Your mission?

Scan the report for three key facts.

One, how heavy is a blue whale?

Two, how much food does a blue whale eat every day?

And three, how long can a blue whale live?

You’ve got just 20 seconds.

Ready?

Steady…

Go!

OK, and time’s up.

How did you do?

Let’s have a test.

Shout out your answers as I ask.

How heavy is a blue whale?

That’s right.

It’s up to 200 tonnes.

How much food does it eat in a day?

Four tonnes.

That’s a lot.

How long can it live?

Yes, up to 90 years.

If you found all that information, then you are a super scanner.

So, remember, when you’re reading for information, skimming and scanning can help you find it super fast.

For more help, challenges and games on this subject, visit bbc.co.uk/bitesize.