Reading level assessment tool

Assessing a Student's Level | Reading A-Z

Digital

With our online running record tool, Raz-Plus or Raz-Kids members can:

• Assign a Benchmark Book from Levels aa-J
• Assign a Benchmark Passage from Levels aa-Z2
• Listen to students' recordings from reading aloud a book or passage.
• Score all student recordings using an online running-record tool.
• Listen to students' recordings of retellings.
• Score retellings using an online rubric.
• See quiz questions missed and a report on which comprehension skills to support or re-teach with each student.
• Reward students' progress through awarding stars to spend in the RAZ Rocket.
• Track your students' progress over time.

Reading A-Z provides a three-part assessment process to help you place students in instructionally appropriate level texts.

• Find out at which level to start a student.
• Determine when a student is ready to move to the next level.

Part 1: Students read Benchmark Passages or Benchmark Books (Levels aa-J), and you capture their reading behavior on Running Records.

Part 2: Students retell the text, and you use Retelling Rubrics to score their comprehension.

Part 3: Students take an oral or written Comprehension Quick Check Quiz, and each question's answer tells what skill it assessed to help you identify comprehension skills for additional practice.

Review About Running Records to learn about the details of taking, marking and scoring a running record.

Parts 2 & 3: Retelling Rubrics and Comprehension Quick Check Quizzes provide details about a student's understanding and comprehension of the Benchmark Passage or Book.

• Retelling Rubrics provide details that identify strengths and weaknesses students might have comprehending fiction or nonfiction texts; including analysis of text structures.
• Benchmark Passages and Benchmark Books (Levels aa-J) have multiple-choice Comprehension Quick Check Quizzes and answer keys. Use the skill tags on the answer key to see comprehension strengths and opportunities for additional instruction.

How Do I Monitor Students' Reading Progress?
Use Benchmark Books or Benchmark Passages and their associated resources for progress monitoring as students' reading at their instructional levels improves.

Assessment Schedule

Students who are not progressing at the expected rate should be assessed even more frequently than the Assessment Schedule suggests.

The scores your students achieve on running records, retellings, and comprehension quizzes give you valuable information about their reading behavior and comprehension. Use it to inform your instruction in addition to placing students and monitoring their progress.

Use the chart below along with the other information you learn from the three-part assessment process to determine if students are ready to move up a level.

Scores

How Do I Match Learning A-Z Levels to Other Leveling Systems?
For your convenience, Learning A-Z correlates its levels to other leveling systems. If you've already placed students in levels according to another system, please reference the Level Correlation Chart to determine how another system's levels best match Learning A-Z's levels.

The correlations are not official levels assigned by the other leveling systems, but rather an approximate correlation based on a comparison of attributes in books assigned official levels by both the other leveling system and Learning A-Z.

How To Determine Your Child’s Reading Level And Choose The Best Books

When you sit down to read a book, you want to enjoy the story in front of you. The same is true for your child. That’s why uncovering your child’s reading level is an important step in fostering their love of words from a young age!

Consider the different factors that allow kids to enjoy the books they read. For example, does it tie into their interests, and is it slated as an appropriate option for their level? By answering these questions, you can make sure they’re reading books that are just right for them!

If your child is in school, you’re probably no stranger to jargon like “reading level.” But what exactly does Lexile Framework, Guided Reading Levels (GRL), or Developmental Reading Assessment (DRA) actually mean?

Additionally, if your child is just starting to read on their own (or already reading independently) and is learning from home, how can you figure out what reading level is right for them? If any of these thoughts have crossed your mind, you’ve come to the right place.

We’re here to answer your questions so you and your child can sit down and enjoy a good book together!

What Is A Reading Level?

A reading level is simply a measure of your child’s ability to read text. It reflects how well your little one can read independently. Importantly, reading levels help you choose books that are a good match for your child while still presenting a challenge.

Keep in mind these levels are meant to be helpful, not stressful. They don’t limit your child, but, rather, help them blossom into a fluent, excited reader.

When your child reads books that are appropriate for their current reading level, it boosts their confidence so they can truly enjoy reading! Also, knowing what level your child is at allows you to work with them to improve their skills.

That being said, it’s important to remember that children are unique and develop differently. Comparing your child to their peers isn’t necessarily the best approach when trying to assess their reading ability.

Why Is Determining Reading Level Important?

It’s helpful to determine your child’s reading level so you can find books that are appropriate for them to read on their own: not too difficult but challenging enough to encourage growth.

Reading level classification is a convenient tool you can use when searching online or at the library. And when you provide books that are on your child’s level, you create excitement and build their confidence, which can lead to a lifetime love of learning and reading!

If you’re looking for ways to help your little one read at the best level for them, Our new app HOMER Learn & Grow has a Stories section that gives age-appropriate story recommendations!

This is a great resource that takes your child’s specific interests and recommends stories just for them. What’s more, your child can choose to read along or read on their own.

How Is Your Child’s Reading Level Measured?

Your child’s reading level is usually measured at their school in first or second grade, and we’ll show you how that’s done. Here’s a tip: since your child’s teacher knows their reading level, consider asking the teacher (or the school librarian) for books your child can read at home.

Don’t worry if your child isn’t in school yet or if they’re homeschooled. We’ll show you how you can measure their reading level at home, too!

Before we dive in, it’s important to note that we think of books for kids at three levels: independent reading, instructional reading, and frustrating to read.

As the names indicate, independent reading books are ones a child can read with ease and without support from an adult.

Instructional ones are the books just above independent that teachers might use to stretch a child’s reading as they offer support while the child makes that next step. Finally, frustrating books are too hard for a child to read even with adult guidance.

Now that you have an idea of how to think of the different books your child might encounter, let’s talk about the tools used for determining or describing reading levels.

Lexile Framework For Reading

Lexile Framework For Reading is an educational tool that ranks books by order of their difficulty using a scale called a Lexile. Usually, your child’s teacher will determine their Lexile reading level and then choose books that have a matching score.

The Lexile score, or measure, describes your child’s reading ability and matches them with books and other reading materials. This measure ranges anywhere from 0L to 2000L.

Kids are encouraged to read within their Lexile “range” — 50L above to 100L below their actual level. For instance, if your little one is reading with a Lexile measure of 500L, they would read books ranging anywhere from 400L to 550L.

Using standardized assessments, schools will often measure a child’s reading level several times a year to help them select books that are appropriate for independent reading.

Guided Reading Levels (GRL)

GRL is a guided reading system used in some schools.

To determine reading levels using GRL, children sit one-on-one with their teacher and read from a book that’s considered standard for their grade level — a “benchmark” book. GRL books range from A to Z with A being the easiest.

While reading these books, the teacher will take notes on any missed words and ask comprehension questions, such as, “When did the story take place?” or, “What was the problem in the story?”.

Through guided instruction, the teacher will gradually move children into more difficult books.

Developmental Reading Assessment (DRA)

DRA is a standardized reading test given by teachers or reading specialists. As with GRL, children sit individually with the test administrator and read a book.

Several factors are taken into consideration to determine reading level, including:

• Reading comprehension
• Phonemic awareness
• Fluency

DRA books are labeled with an A for the easiest books and then move into a numerical grading system. The levels range from 1 to 80 with 1-3 representing a kindergarten reading level and 80 representing an eighth-grade reading level.

Once a child has a DRA or a GRL level, a teacher or parent can search for the reading level of any particular book and can usually discover either the Lexile, DRA, or GRL of that particular text. Here’s a chart for your reference.

At-Home Reading Levels

If you’re looking for a way to find out your child’s reading level without using any of the methods listed above, you might try the five-finger rule.

For the five-finger rule, choose a book and flip to any page. If your child seems to have trouble reading more than five words on the page, it’s a good indicator that the book is too advanced for them.

To be sure, though, you can have your child try another page, especially if they seem eager to read a particular book.

This can be a helpful strategy, but it’s OK to let your child try a book and see how the reading goes. If a book is too hard, most kids will figure that out — and there is nothing wrong with reading books that are too easy!

Sometimes a child may be interested in a book that’s a little too hard for them. If this happens, we encourage you to read aloud to your child. You can also read together by alternating pages, paragraphs, or sentences.

It’s important not to completely avoid books that may be a little above your child’s reading level.

Even if your child struggles a bit to read them without assistance, these books can still be beneficial in helping build their vocabulary, improve comprehension, and increase general knowledge — not to mention, encourage their love of reading!

When your emerging reader seems overwhelmed by one book, you can always give the five-finger rule a try with other books until you find the right match. And if your child is particularly interested in a topic, you can always read the book to them and stop on words you know they can read.

Also remember that when a child is really enjoying a book and highly motivated to read it, they will read at a higher level than if the material is not as interesting to them.

Tip: Most libraries and bookstores have books arranged by reading level so you can easily choose the best one for your emerging reader!

Feel free to ask librarians and knowledgeable staff at bookstores to offer suggestions. You could even say something like, “My child happily read a Clifford book; can you suggest others at the same level?”

How To Help Your Child Become A Stronger Reader

As we mentioned earlier, you can easily determine your child’s reading level at home so that you can help them choose books that are just right! We suggest incorporating some of the tips below to help your child become a stronger reader.

Start With Clues

• Is your child using “sounding out” techniques to figure out unknown words?
• When your child reads, are they getting tripped up by sight words — common words that are hard to sound out?
• Is your child using pictures to help them understand what is written on the page?
• Is your child using context clues to figure out what word makes sense to come next as they read sentences?

Check Vocabulary

• Play games with your child to see what words they know. For example, say a sentence and point out one word in the sentence. Then ask them if they can come up with a different word (synonym).
• Play synonym games to see what words your child knows. For example, challenge yourselves to think of 10 or more ways to describe speaking (shout, whisper, mumble).

While you’re talking with your child, describe something specific from your day. Make sure to use interesting adjectives, and don’t hold back from using sophisticated vocabulary when talking with your child.

You can help your child’s vocabulary grow through day-to-day conversations and activities!

Ask Comprehension Questions

Understanding what they read is an important part of your child’s reading journey.

• To check for reading comprehension, we suggest pausing every other page to talk about what you’ve just read. Make this a natural reaction to the story, like you’re thinking aloud about the story or characters, so that it doesn’t feel like a test.
• Consider encouraging your child to act out and retell the story (for younger children).
• Try discussing themes/lessons with your child (for older children). Remember: this isn’t a test, but a conversation between book lovers!

Talk To Your Child

When most people implement strategies to help their children improve their reading skills, they often forget about the importance of verbal communication. It’s essential to talk to your child frequently in short and simple sentences.

This includes singing songs, telling them wonderful stories, reciting fun nursery rhymes, and describing the world around them. All of this exposes children to lots of different words. It also helps them learn that language is a powerful tool for communication.

Discover Your Child’s Favorite Books

• Children often choose books that are a little below their actual reading level. At home, this is a good thing. It keeps reading fun and exciting!
• We recommend choosing books that interest your child — with a certain character or activity they like — so they’re curious and excited about reading.

Reading books your child enjoys together can encourage their love of reading. And letting them read those same books to you can boost their confidence over time.

Together, these two activities increase your child’s fluency and reading enjoyment!

Create A Reading Corner

Establishing a reading corner in your house can benefit your child. The setup doesn’t need to be elaborate. This can be a simple, quiet, private area where your child can confidently read independently or with you. 

It’s also great for the spot to be well-lit and filled with lots of books your child enjoys reading. 

Is Reading The Same Book Over And Over OK?

Just like you might pick up an old favorite book to read, your child may do the same, and that’s OK! At least you know they’re enjoying a good book and the process of reading!

Rereading books can have many benefits for a child, including:

It allows children to get more from the text. Have you ever developed a deeper understanding of a story after rereading it? That’s because the more you engage with a story, the more you can take away from it.

You can pick up on new information, establish connections between yourself and some of the characters, and even improve your understanding of the overall story.

Similarly, allowing your child to read their favorite books for the second, third, fourth (or more) time will enable them to get more from the story.

It also allows for bonding. Did you know that rereading books can help bring your family closer together?

Many of us remember a couple of books that our family read together regularly. This can be a holiday book or a favorite story. Rereading is a great way to get the whole family involved, as everyone can take turns reading and connecting on the same story.

What’s more, reading familiar books can actually help develop a young reader’s fluency. It allows them to learn the words and helps them become familiar with narrative structure or storylines (i.e. beginning, middle, and end), which builds reading comprehension later on.

So feel free to let your child choose the same book over and over!

FAQs About Reading Levels

What Reading Level Should My Child Be In Each Grade?

It’s challenging to answer this question because each child is different and will naturally develop at their own pace. For example, just because your child’s friend has started reading fluently doesn’t mean your child will be able to do that yet.

While no parent wants their own child to be a little behind compared to their peers, putting too much pressure on them to “catch up” might actually have an adverse effect. In fact, they might feel overwhelmed by the pressure and develop a negative attitude toward reading.

It’s also important to note that there’s no direct link between a certain Lexile measure and a specific grade level. When using any of the reading level measures we mentioned, remember that they are an estimate of a child’s performance and shouldn’t be interpreted literally.

Also, if you’re really concerned about your young learner’s development, you can always address those concerns with their teacher or another professional. They can offer tips and advice on how to best work with your child.

Finally, remember to be patient and positive no matter what. With lots of time and effort, your child will develop a lifetime love of reading!

Who Can Help Me Choose Books That Match My Child’s Reading Level?

The best place to start is to consult your child’s teacher. They will have the expertise to guide you in buying the right books for your child.

It’s also possible for you to look up most books online and find their reading levels. Furthermore, for beginner readers, there are publishers who label books in stages with age and/or grade suggestions attached.

If you’re homeschooling, you can also reach out to your local librarian or bookstores. As people who spend each day surrounded by books, they often have knowledge on this topic and may be able to recommend a few relevant books in your child’s reading level.

What If My Child Is Reading At A Lower Level?

The last thing a parent wants to hear is that their child’s reading level isn’t on par with their peers. But what can you do if, from the assessment used at your child’s school, you find out that your young learner is reading below the average grade level?

Firstly, it’s important not to panic. As mentioned earlier, kids develop reading skills at different stages of their development. Some children might be early readers, while others may take time to get there.

The most effective way to help your child improve their reading level is by continuing to encourage reading at home. While reading, remember to discuss the content to ensure comprehension.

Reading For Fun

From assessments to the five-finger rule, determining reading levels varies across the board. No matter which method you choose, remember these measurements are meant to be helpful and encouraging, not stressful and limiting.

Keep this in mind when assessing your young learner. You don’t want your child to sense any stress about their abilities, as this might overwhelm them and have an adverse effect on how they view reading.

While reading is an essential early learning (and lifelong) skill, you want your child to LOVE reading and not only view it as a test of their intelligence.

At the end of the day, the way reading makes your child feel is more important than their reading level. Each child learns in a way that’s special and unique to them.

The HOMER Road To Reading

The road to discovering how to read can be a fun ride, but sometimes it’s bumpy. This is why we’re more than a learning program. We’re your learning partner.

If you’re looking for a resource to help develop your child’s love of reading and learning, consider taking a look at the HOMER Learn & Grow app. It’s full of stories curated based on your child’s interests!

When your child develops a love for reading, they’ll move up to the next level before you can say “Developmental Reading Assessment”!

Author

Online text complexity analysis - Textometer

Textometer helps to determine the level of complexity and readability of the text for free, count the number of words and characters, find the average length of a word and sentence, keywords of the text, calculate the coefficient of lexical diversity of the text, get a list of words of the text and calculate its time reading.

Russian as a foreign language

Russian as a native language

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About the project

Textometer helps to determine the level of complexity of the text in Russian for free, calculate readability indices, find out the level of text on the CEFR scale, calculate the number of words and characters, find the key words of the text, calculate the coefficient of lexical diversity of the text, get a list of words from the text and calculate the time reading it, as well as to determine the statistics on the occurrence of words in lexical minima.

Level of CEFR and TORFL/TORFL

Determining the level of complexity of the text on the CEFR scale from A1 to C2 is done automatically, using a regression model trained on a corpus of 800 texts from RFL manuals. In the Publications section, you can find articles with more detailed information about how the automatic detection of text complexity works in our service [2], about the corpus of texts from RuFoLa textbooks [3], and about how to use the Textometer in a Russian language lesson [1 ]. nine0003

ACTFL Level

The ACTFL Level of Difficulty of a text is suggested using the CEFR and ACTFL Correspondence Table in the Receptive Skills section. Read more about matches here.

Can she be wrong? Experiments show that the model tends to slightly overestimate the level of complexity of the text, since it makes calculations based on given lexical minimums. Practice shows that students usually know (or guess from the context) more words than in the minimums. This is especially true for internationalisms and words that sound similar in the student's native language. This should be taken into account when preparing texts for Slavic or English-speaking students. You can read more about the experiment with comparing the work of the program, the opinions of expert teachers and the students themselves here [4]. nine0003

Evaluation of the difficulty level of the text for schoolchildren

The difficulty levels of the text for foreigners are well standardized and documented. In texts for native speakers, the concept of text complexity is more multifaceted: the text is written in short words and phrases, which allows standard readability formulas to classify it as simple, but it is difficult to “break through” unfamiliar words or stylistic features.

Therefore, our system evaluates text for readability by native speakers according to two criteria: structural complexity and lexical complexity. Structural complexity takes into account the classic Flesh readability formula adapted for the Russian language, as well as the presence of parts of speech and turns that make reading difficult (participles, passive forms, etc.) Lexical complexity is calculated based on the occurrence of text words in specialized frequency lists. The average score for these two complexity vectors allows us to assess the level of the text by age and grade. You can read more about this technology here [5]. nine0003

Length of text in words, characters and sentences

Length of text in words, characters and sentences are basic characteristics of the text, especially useful for calculating the time it will take to master it, or when preparing test materials, where the length of the text is usually strictly defined state standard for RCT. For example, the recommended text length for reading A1 is 250-300 words, A2 is 600-700 words, and so on.

Average word and sentence length

Calculation of the average length of a word and a sentence is used to determine the complexity of a text or its individual fragments. Thus, a large number of readability formulas use these indicators as the main ones (DuBay, 2004).

Lexical diversity coefficient

The lexical diversity coefficient is calculated as the ratio of the number of unique words in the text to the number of all words in the text and is indicated by a value close to 0 to 1 (when all words in the text are unique and have only been encountered once). This measure is useful for assessing the repetition, reproducibility of the vocabulary of the text and is also able to signal its difficulty. For example, the coefficient of lexical diversity of a fragment of an authentic journalistic text is on average 0.8, and of an educational text of level B1 - 0. 5. However, this coefficient should be used with caution on short educational texts: in one paragraph, most likely, almost all significant words will be unique, while in the whole text, the main names, locations, concepts and actions are more likely to be repeated. nine0003

Search for text keywords

Search for text keywords is calculated as the ratio of the number of times a word occurs in the analyzed text to the frequency of the word according to the Russian National Corpus (TF/IDF measure with a correction factor). The highest rating is given to words that are often found in this text, but rarely in all other texts of the corpus, that is, the most typical for this particular text. For example, in the text of an interview with a musician, the words music and rap appear three times each. But at the same time, music occurs in the National Corpus 45,000 times, and rap - 270. From this point of view, the word rap is more characteristic and necessary for understanding this text. At the same time, the appearance of a word in the list of keywords does not mean at all that it should remain in the text during adaptation: the word can be replaced with a synonym or provided with an interpretation. Its presence in the list only indicates that it plays an important role in the understanding of this text and should be given special attention when rewriting the text. nine0003

Difficulty level of text words according to the CEFR scale

Statistics on lexical minimums includes information on how many percent of the text is covered by lexical minimums of one or another level, and below is a list of words that are not included in the official lexical minimum of the TORFL standards of this level. The amount of unfamiliar vocabulary is the most important indicator of the language accessibility of a text: numerous studies show the closest relationship between the familiarity of the vocabulary of a text and the success of its understanding (Nation, 2006; Qian, 2002). The state standard for Russian as a foreign language also contains information on the recommended amount of unfamiliar vocabulary, which gradually increases from 2–3% for the A1 level to 10% for the C1 level. nine0003

Frequency analysis of text

Frequency analysis of text allows, firstly, to obtain a complete frequency list of words in the text, and secondly, statistics on the proportion of words in the text from the list of 5,000 most frequent words in the Russian language. To calculate the statistics on the frequency of words, we used the New Frequency Dictionary of the Modern Russian Language.

Estimated text reading time

The calculation of text reading time is based on information from the state standard on Russian as a foreign language and offers an estimated reading time for a text by a foreign student depending on the task of reading - studying or viewing. Such information appears in RFL standards starting from level B1 and amounts to 50 words per minute for learning reading and 100 words per minute for viewing for this level. For levels below B1, we have taken the liberty of continuing this scale of estimated reading speed based on pedagogical experience. nine0003

Viktoria Maksimova

Russian as a foreign language teacher, founder of the FB community “Storytelling in Russian as a Foreign Language”

Now that the Textometer has appeared, it’s hard for me to imagine how I would prepare texts without it. It is an indispensable tool for my work: strict objective evaluation parameters, simple and intuitive design. Thanks to the developers of the project!

Anna Golubeva

editor-in-chief of the Zlatoust publishing house

The service helps a lot in working and communicating with authors! The frequency list is especially useful, it objectifies what is expedient to leave in the text, and what to adapt or train. Thanks to colleagues from the Pushkin Institute! nine0003

Yulia Nekrasova

Lecturer of Russian as a Foreign Language University of Salerno

A very valuable methodological find! Huge potential for preparing assignments for levels B1 - C1, dictations, assignments for exams, etc. I apologize for the slang, but huge respect to the developers!

Publications

When referring to the resource, we ask you to cite this work:

[1] Laposhina A. N., Lebedeva M. Yu. 2021. Vol. 19. No. 3. C. 331-345

More publications about the program:

[2] Laposhina A. N., Veselovskaya T. S., Lebedeva M. U., Kupreshchenko O. F. Automated Text Readability Assessment For Russian Second Language Learners // Komp'juternaja Lingvistika i Intellektual'nye Tehnologii Ser. "Computational Linguistics and Intellectual Technologies: Proceedings of the International Conference "Dialogue 2018". Issue 17 (24), 2018

[3] Laposhina A.N. Corpus of RFL textbooks as a tool for analyzing educational materials // Russian language abroad. 2020 No. 6 (283), pp. 22-28

[4] Laposhina AN Experimental study of the complexity of texts in Russian as a foreign language // Dynamics of language and cultural processes in modern Russia [Electronic resource]. - Issue. 6. Materials of the VI Congress of ROPRYAL (Ufa, October 11–14, 2018). - St. Petersburg: ROPRYAL, 2018. S. 1154-1179

[5] Laposhina A.N., Lebedeva M.Yu., Berlin Henis A.A. Influence of word frequency of a text on its complexity: an experimental study of readers of primary school age using the eyetracking method // Russian Journal of Linguistics. - 2022. - T. 26. - No. 2. - C. 493-514.

Contacts

Project curator — Antonina Laposhina

If you have a question, found a bug or think that some function is missing, be sure to write to me marked "Textometer". We love and appreciate feedback!

[email protected]
antonina.laposhina

Reading speed test. Online simulator for developing reading speed and awareness skills in 2021!

Reading speed is an important indicator not only for schoolchildren, who regularly check it. It is very important for an adult in the modern world to be able to navigate in huge flows of information. A reading speed test will help you determine your current level and see if you need to work on improving this skill or if you are reading fluently enough. nine0003

Contents

1. How to check reading speed?
2. How can I check my reading speed myself?
3. How to test a child's reading speed?
4. What reading speed is considered normal for adults and children?
5. How to choose the right text to test reading speed?
6. The book "Everything you wanted to know about speed reading, but were afraid to ask"

How to check reading speed?

The easiest way is to take a stopwatch (you can use the application on your phone), a text to check your reading speed and read it at a normal pace for one minute. It is important that the text is non-technical, does not contain highly specialized terms and concepts, and is not familiar to the reader. The text should not be too primitive. The testee must see the text for the first time so that the results are not artificially inflated.

But what do you care about speed, if you don't understand with what awareness you absorb the text? :) nine0003

A much better way to find out your reading speed is to take a free online test. To do this, sit back, enter your name in the form above, press the button and you will immediately see the text that you need to read, slowly, trying to understand everything that is written.

When the entire text is read - click on the button at the very bottom. The program will automatically determine the reading speed and prompt you to answer a few questions to understand the degree of assimilation of the material. As a result of testing, you will receive not only the result of your reading speed and awareness, but also recommendations for improving your reading technique in the format of the book "Everything you wanted to know about speed reading, but were afraid to ask." Enter a name. Click the button and find out your real reading speed. Have a good day. nine0003

How can I test my reading speed myself?

We have prepared for you a tool with which you can independently check the speed of reading. Our tool include a certain amount of text that you need to read as quickly as possible. You will then have the opportunity to answer a series of questions about the text, allowing the program to determine your level of understanding. Based on the data received, a result and a certificate are issued. This certificate can be shared with your friends on social networks and challenge them to a battle to test the speed and awareness of reading :). nine0003

If you want to do it yourself, you can do it according to the following scenario. A text of medium complexity is taken, located on one sheet. You will need an assistant who will keep track of the time and will be able to test the level of your understanding of the information. Check algorithm:

Simultaneously with the start command and the start of the stopwatch, you begin to silently read the text.

When the text is finished, you say stop - time stops.

Then you need to answer a few questions regarding the content (reading speed implies a full reading comprehension). nine0003

The last step is to count the words in the text and determine the average number of words per minute (words in the text can be counted before reading).

How to check the reading speed of a child?

A child's reading speed can be tested in a similar way. The child should read aloud, at least in elementary school. Then you can switch to the usual way of checking for adults. nine0003

Schools often test reading skills by counting the number of words read per minute. This gives a small error, since words come in different sizes, but a similar verification method can also be used.

What is the normal reading speed for adults and children?

The average reading speed for an adult is 200-230 words per minute. Below average, but an acceptable rate is 150-200 words per minute. Adults who read more than 230 words per minute are considered fast readers. For the speed reading technique, the optimal speed is 350-400 words per minute. nine0003

In children, the indicators are dynamic and change depending on age. Approximate norms used in elementary school:

20-30 words per minute for first grade;
45-60 wpm second grade;
70-85 words per minute for third grade;
90-125 words per minute for fourth grade.

How to choose the right text to test reading speed?

The criteria for selecting text to test reading speed are identical for adults and children. The only difference is the volume and complexity of the information. The text must match the following parameters: nine0003

medium difficulty appropriate for age;
the absence of specific unfamiliar words or their minimum number;
no dialogs;
location on one page;
large, easy-to-read font;
lack of pictures and other distracting elements.

In our tool for testing reading speed and comprehension, we tried to take into account all these factors so that the resulting tool would be convenient for both adults and children. At the same time, he gave a fairly clear answer to the question about the real reading speed. nine0003

It should be remembered that reading speed is a variable parameter, which decreases if a person rarely sits down at a book, and increases with constant reading. There are many special techniques aimed at significantly increasing the speed of reading text information.

Everything you wanted to know about speed reading but were afraid to ask test. So don't waste a second,

Online reading speed test is simple, convenient and fast

We have already written so much here about how to measure your reading speed correctly, achieve awareness and interpret the results, that every second of delay before you pass the online reading speed test and receive a personal certificate is just like death. Return to the very beginning of the page, enter your name in the field under the video and go to the enchanting world of unfamiliar texts and tricky questions :). nine0003

📖 Reading speed Q&A section

📕 What formula is used to calculate reading speed?

If it’s very short, then the formula for calculating the reading speed is as follows: V = (Q / T) x K. This formula allows you to get a real figure for reading speed with a correlation to the coefficient of meaningfulness. You can read more about the formula in this article .

📗 What books do you recommend reading for developing speed reading? nine0109