The Exercises - More Detail
The exercises
are designed to train you to easily locate word groups in text on the
written page. The RocketReader exercises use smart shadows that turn into
words to develop your ability to read large chunks of text directly from
the written page. You can choose text from any of the 100 built-in readings
for the exercises. You can also use your own text files.
When you
enter the Exercises window you will see a series of shadows on the screen.
When you press the down arrow on the keyboard you will see these shadows
turn into text. You can adjust the size of the shadows by dragging the
slider left (smaller) or right (longer) at the bottom of the Exercises
screen. You should choose a shadow size that is large enough that you
are pushing yourself to read the words behind each shadow with a SINGLE
glance of the eyes.
The following
screen illustrates shadows of medium length. When you press the down arrow,
the next shadow disappears to reveal the word or words behind it. The
wider the shadow, the harder it is.
The following
window illustrates another text with wider shadows. Note that each shadow
is a half of a line in length. This trains you to read half of a line
in a single glance. The RocketReader exercises can use shadow sizes ranging
from a single word to an entire line. RocketReader trains you to read
with larger shadow sizes. This improves your reading efficiency as you
take in more information with each glance of the eye. And you can set
the level of difficulty at any time by dragging the slider at the bottom
of the screen. Even half way through a reading!
The "Font" menu
allows you to increase or decrease the size of the font used in the exercises.
When you change the font size, the size of the shadows also change to
match.
The "Scrolling" menu
allows you to set the smoothness of the scrolling from one line to the
next in the exercises.
When you
hold down the down-arrow key on the keyboard, the shadows automatically
reveal themselves one by one at a constant rate. The "Speed" menu
allows you to set this speed. You can set a very challenging speed that
only the fastest readers are able to manage, right through to more modest
speeds.
The "View" menu
allows you to select a new text file for the exercises. You can use the
built in text files, or specify your own text file for the exercises.