How to Test Your Reading Speed

Do you want to now how fast reader you are? Average? Above average? Slow as a turtle? Better than the rest? What is your reading speed?

If the answer is to the first question is "Yes" then you have to test your reading speed. It is no rocket-science; everyone can perform that kind of test.

Reading speed is usually measured in words per minute (wpm). It shows the number of words you can read in one minute. 270 wpm indicates that you can read 270 words per minute, which is 4.5 words per second.

You can perform a reading speed test at home. Find a text and a stopwatch for doing it. Then proceed as follows.

1. Choose a text 2. Calculate the number of words in text 3. Read the text and take time 4. Find out your reading speed

Choose a text, which is 1-2 pages long. The text should be non-fiction, so do not take it from a novel. The difficult of the text will also affect the results. The more difficult text you choose, the slower you're your speed will be. An article from newspaper is a good choice for performing the test

Next, calculate the number of words in the text. You do not have to count the words in the entire text. Instead of it you can estimate it. For doing it: 1. Count the number of lines in the text 2. Pick a line from the text and count the number of words in it. 3. Multiply these numbers and you get the number of words in the text

Now you are ready for the test. Start the stopwatch and read. If you have completed the text, stop the stopwatch and check the time.

For estimating you reading speed you have to divide the number of words in the text by your reading time. For example, if you complete a 600 word text in 3 minutes then your speed will be 200 wpm. You have to treat minutes as decimals in that calculation. It means that if your time is 2 minutes and 45 seconds then it is 2.75 minutes.

The average reading speed ranges from 180 to 250 words per minute. Faster than 350 words per minute is great. If you can do 500 wpm or more then you are a speed reader. Very few people can read that fast with out learning speed reading techniques.

But there is always room for increasing your reading speed. Even if you can read at 1300 wpm then you can improve to 1400 wpm. If you are an average person then learning speed reading techniques will allow you to double your reading rate.