Speed reading takes time, and its not that useful. Reading speed isn't an issue with MCAT verbal, it's how long you take answering the questions. I read at 250 wpm when reading mcat passages (3 min per passage) leaving me 4 min to answer questions. But a good read means that you can get inference questions and prevents you from having to go back. Of course...my AAMC average verbal has been at 8, and my EK at 11 =/.
NY Times and Economist are good. They're both free online (that's how you'll be reading on MCAT). Read far ahead. NY Times and Economist will hit the nail on the head for social science passages (I get 90%+ on these on AAMC) - I read economist for fun. For humanities it's a bit trickier, that's reading books on philosophy/literature/art. For natural science, probably something like scientific american/nature/science would do it. Those are the three types of articles you'll encounter on the MCAT. If you want specifics, get access to an AAMC verbal test and grab their reference at the bottom. It's not just reading btw, you have to analyze what the author's stance/main point is. Once you have done that you have to see what arguments he used to form that argument and how he conveyed them. So read actively. It helps to take something liberal and something conservative just so you can see their slants. My mistake was reading all right wing/centerist stuff. Anyway this is long range prep. If you're within 3 months of an exam start doing verbal practice itself. The reading outside the 3 months will help your essay as well...that section matters if you're Canadian.
