This is inspired by another thread regarding average reading speeds. I know we had a thread about this ages ago, so I thought I’d start a new one.
What do you think the “average” reading speed is, and what is your reading speed? I have always considered myself “above average,” (meaning that I wasn’t remarkable, but still faster than average). I took this reading test and when I was reading comfortably slowly (I thought), I came out with a speed of 518 wpm. (On the “study reading” I came in with a speed of 450 or something like that.) This, according to that site, is above average and not bad. The average reading speed is 250 wpm, the above site says. This site says that some think that the average college student reads 250-300 wpm.
Do you agree with this? Do you consider your reading speed “average” or “above average” or slow, or what? What do you consider the “average” reading speed? I personally can buy the average speed of 250 wpm but it isn’t like I’m keeping track of how fast everyone around me reads.
They said that on the light reading section my score was -13.7339. Either I don’t understand how they are scoring or I travelled somehow back in reading time. Can someone explain this to me?
On those tests, I got 774.14 for the light reading and 674.15 for the study reading.
See, I read really fast, but that isn’t necessarily a good thing. I read in chunks rather than one word at a time and I’ll glean the meaning from a whole paragraph sometimes without reading some of the words. That means that I often miss out on small details and is one of the reasons I read books multiple times. I always catch things I miss when I reread something.
I got 413 on the study reading. I think that’s because I tend to skim when I am not interested in the subject but this one I was concentrating on because I knew the comprehension test was coming up next.
luluBahrain, I can’t explain what the problem might be! Perhaps a browser issue?
mlerose: while I don’t read as fast as you, I sometimes “absorb” things in chunks. Yes, sometimes I miss details, but it isn’t too bad. I’ll tell you, though—I couldn’t remember all the nuts and bolts details on those “comprehension” tests (though they never gave me a score—either it’s my browser or the damned thing’s broken). I read it slowly enough, it’s just that I don’t memorize numbers and stuff like that when I read.
Frankly, I am skeptical of people who speed read. How could they enjoy a novel if they finish it in a few minutes? I am pretty satisfied with my speed when it comes to novels. (I suppose I wouldn’t mind it being a little faster.) But, I can finish a “light” 180 page novel in a little over 2 hours. That’s about the length of a feature film. I think that’s about the right amount of time to finish a book of that type.
I also want there to be no misunderstanding—I don’t think there’s any “shame” in being a slow reader. I know plenty of people who are naturally slow readers and they do fine in comprehension and they enjoy reading, which is the most important thing of all. However, I daresay that some people (probably a lot more than “some”) read slowly simply because they don’t read enough, and that’s a different kettle of fish.
I’m well into the 700+ range. Light reading would probably run upwards of 1000. I attribute this to having been reading for over 55 years. I don’t read words or sentences, I read paragraphs; as soon as I have seen a block of text it is read.
I enjoy reading immensely.
However, for certain things, I slow way, way down: technical things, for example. Also I often consciously read excellent prose very slowly (for me) so that I can savor the skills of the writer.
I’ve always felt like I was a slow reader but usually very good at comprehension. On this test it was reversed, fairly fast but poor on the comprehension. This may well have been because about half way through I started to pay more attention to the style of writing (which was horrible and seemed intentionally stilted) than to the actual story. I even was rereading some sections with the little voice in my head saying, “They didn’t actually write this awful on purpose, did they?”
That was on the Light reading part, I’m procrastinating work right now so probably won’t bother with the study part.
What s/he said, more or less, except I got an even 1000 on the light reading and a 666.6̅ on the study reading. Numbers slow me down pretty bad, I suppose.
I found it off-putting too, for some reason. I didn’t even finish the first text.
I know I read relatively fast because it’s been commented on all my life by other people. I tend to read in chunks like a couple of people noted; and I think I was partly put off by trying to slow down my reading to catch stuff that might be on a comprehension test - and partly put off by what I felt was a clunky writing style.
Ditto on every single thing you said. I read voraciously, and most people are surprised by how quickly I read, but I got the same scores as you, give or take 3 words per minute.
And I find anything about the Titanic boring, especially when it’s that poorly written.
Idlewild, yes, that reading test had “chunky” writing indeed!
It has been commented to me all my life how fast I read, and yet I’ve always known I wasn’t the fastest (and here we have people reading almost twice as fast as I do!). But still, I think people who read that fast are not all that common—at least not when compared to the average person on the street. In Real Life, I only know of a few people who read substantially faster than I do.
Most everyone I knew in school read much slower. In fact (I always bring this story up), in High School I took a “Reading for Enjoyment” class, and the teacher kept a graphical chart on the wall where she kept track of how many pages each student read. Out of about (I’m guessing) 20-30 students in the class, three of us (including me) read so many pages that the teacher had to extend the chart to mark our progress. Everyone else in the class were trailing far, far behind. And one of the three was an exchange student! She wasn’t even reading her native tongue! Presumably everyone else in the class was there because they didn’t mind reading, but so many of them read (apparently) much slower.
I’ve always considered myself a very slow reader. On the Light Reading section I got a 289, with 90% comprehension. I’m not sure how, but on the Study section I got 120,000 wpm. Obviously an error. Anyway, I got 80% comprehension on that even though I wasn’t very interested in what I was reading.
I think part of the reason I read so slowly is because part of my job entails proofreading. It doesn’t bother me though. I think people should read at whatever speed they enjoy and not worry about whether they’re too fast or too slow!
I don’t think you should consider yourself “very slow,” because it looks like your speed is average or slightly higher than average. That’s not “very slow.” And yes, the most important thing is the enjoying part!
I’m not going to bother with the test. I know I read slowly, much of the time. I don’t usually go out of my way to read quickly, but I suppose I can do if I want.
Usually, when I sit down to read something I want to enjoy it, so I read at the same pace I speak.
Honestly, I’m just coming in to brag that I got 100% comp. on the first one. Woohoo!
I got through that one pretty fast–781. But for the study one I got antsy and it dropped all the way to 287 and 80%. I tried too hard to focus on all those numbers, I think.
Well, I guess I’m the first “average” reader to admit to being average. I got a speed of 287 on the “light reading” and a comprehension score of 90%. I think it might have been a little faster than that, except I was trying to commit numbers to memory (over 25 icebergs, the date, the minutes lapsed between the warning and action, etc.), because I knew there would be a test at the end! I agree that the writing style of the article was very bad. But I’m not sure how much faster I read when reading something I enjoy (and I do love to read). Also, my reading has slowed down some what with my 4-year-old needing my attention for stuff. So, factor in: slow down because I’m trying to memorize numbers; slight slow down because the writing style was bad; slow down on account of the demands of a child. With all of that, my “true” reading speed might come out a little above average.
I got a speed of 287 on the “light reading” and a comprehension score of 90%. I think it might have been a little faster than that, except I was trying to commit numbers to memory (over 25 icebergs, the date, the minutes lapsed between the warning and action, etc.), because I knew there would be a test at the end! I agree that the writing style of the article was very bad. But I’m not sure how much faster I read when reading something I enjoy (and I do love to read). Also, my reading has slowed down some what with my 4-year-old needing my attention for stuff. So, factor in: slow down because I’m trying to memorize numbers; slight slow down because the writing style was bad; slow down on account of the demands of a child. With all of that, my “true” reading speed might come out a little above average.