Reading Speed Test
Before you can improve your reading speed, you have to take a reading speed test to find out how much work you need to do and which speed reading classes can help you best. A reading speed test identifies your word-per-minute (WPM) rate in order to check out long it takes you to read something. The average reading speed test score of an adult is 300 WPM but a speed reader can read up to 1,500 words a minute. As a speed reading student, you should aim to have an 800 WPM rate, then slowly improve as you go along.
There are several ways of taking a reading speed test. You can try doing a reading speed test by yourself by grabbing something easy to read – a fiction book or a news article – a stopwatch, and a pointer. First, you need to count how many words are there in your article. You can do this by counting the number of words in the first line, and divide this by three. This is the average words per line. Multiply this number by the number of lines in the article. Then get your stopwatch and start the reading speed test. Once you’re done reading the article, stop the timer. Count the number of lines you’ve read and multiply this by the average words per line. Then divide this number by the number of seconds it took you to read the article. This is your reading speed test score. If you scored less than 300 WPM, then you have a lot of work ahead of you. But if you got a 300 WPM count or higher, then you’re well on your way to becoming a speed reading champ.
Another way you can take a reading speed test is to go online and to look for websites that offer a free reading speed test. These tests automatically calculate how many words you’ve read in a minute. All you need to do is click on the start button to begin the reading speed test. Below the start button is a short text that you have to read. Read it at your regular pace. Once you reach the end of the test, you’ll see a button labeled “Finish”. Click on this button to obtain your reading speed test score. The website will instantly calculate how long it took you to finish reading the article and divide this by the number of words in the article.
Some speed reading computer programs have a reading speed test at the start. You can use this to find out your WPM rate before starting the speed reading lessons.
While you take your speed reading classes, you will have to take a reading speed test after every lesson to see how much you’ve improved. Don’t worry if your reading speed test score is lower than you expected. Speed reading is a skill that gets better with practice, and a reading speed test is just there to guide you. So keep on taking a reading speed test and use this as an opportunity to apply the skills that you’ve just learned.
John E Laing is an Speed Reading expert. For more great articles click here!
