Skimming and Scanning
Two fast reading rates, and the tasks each one is actually for.
Skimming and scanning are fast reading rates used for different jobs. Skimming moves over a text to build a general sense of what it covers. Scanning moves through a text hunting for one specific item, ignoring everything else. Neither replaces close reading, and confusing them is the most common reason students lose marks on timed reading tasks.
How they differ
| Skimming | Scanning | |
|---|---|---|
| Question it answers | What is this text about? | Where is this one fact? |
| Eye movement | Broad sweep, top to bottom | Targeted search for a form or word |
| What you read | Title, headings, first sentences, last paragraph | Only what surrounds the target |
| What you end with | The gist and structure | One data point |
Teaching skimming
Give a short time limit and a gist question that cannot be answered by any single sentence. Students read the title, the first sentence of each paragraph and the final paragraph, then state the argument in one line. The time limit is the instruction: with unlimited time students default to reading every word.
Teaching scanning
Scanning is a pattern-matching task, not a comprehension task. Tell students what form the answer takes before they start: a year is four digits, a name is capitalised, a quantity carries a unit. Readers who know the shape of the target find it several times faster than readers hunting for meaning.
Where these appear on tests
Timed reading sections assume both rates. Passage-matching and heading-matching items reward skimming; detail, date and figure questions reward scanning. Students who apply close reading to all of them run out of time.