# Test how fast you read and comprehend. **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [September 24, 2014, 2:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/test-how-fast-you-read-and-comprehend/699430 "2014-09-24T14:10:47Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2014, 2:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/test-how-fast-you-read-and-comprehend/699430/1 "2014-09-24T14:10:47Z")
Fun reading and comprehension test. Then it ranks you among other readers and estimates how long it would take to finish a book like Game of Thrones. My score. I deliberately slowed down to make sure I could answer the questions afterward. > [@](#): > > Your reading speed is 236 words per minute. [https://blog.blinkboxbooks.com/how-long-would-it-take-you-to-read-game-of-thrones/](https://blog.blinkboxbooks.com/how-long-would-it-take-you-to-read-game-of-thrones/) ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2014, 2:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/test-how-fast-you-read-and-comprehend/699430/2 "2014-09-24T14:50:43Z")
I experimented to see how it responds to wrong answers. It ignores one wrong answer and doesn’t tell the person they made an error. Two errors or three errors it asks you if you took your time and read more carefully. 😉 Then it tests again with a different paragraph too read. ---
**Author:** ![Frylock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ce7236/32.png) [@Frylock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frylock)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2014, 2:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/test-how-fast-you-read-and-comprehend/699430/3 "2014-09-24T14:59:54Z")
TBH I don’t have a lot of confidence in the reliability of this test but FWIW I got 260 WPM. ---
**Author:** ![Inner\_Stickler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inner_stickler/32/318_2.png) [@Inner\_Stickler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inner_Stickler)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2014, 3:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/test-how-fast-you-read-and-comprehend/699430/4 "2014-09-24T15:00:04Z")
586 words per minute which looking at the list of books and how long it would take to read them at an hour and a half a day which is a generous estimate of how much I read a day, I think it’s about right. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2014, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/test-how-fast-you-read-and-comprehend/699430/5 "2014-09-24T15:01:09Z")
557 words per minute, 27 days at 2 hours per day. If I got that right, going back to the page reset it. If I’m reading a book I like I’ll spend a couple of hours a day at it. I’ll also get bored with something that long and lose comprehension fast, and never finish the book, so actually an infinite number of days to finish. I don’t think I can maintain that pace for a whole two hours easily. It was a pretty simple though crowded paragraph to read, and easy to recall the key points used in the questions. My effective time with an actual book, that I actually finish reading, is probably around what the OP got. ---
**Author:** ![Frylock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ce7236/32.png) [@Frylock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frylock)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2014, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/test-how-fast-you-read-and-comprehend/699430/6 "2014-09-24T15:01:25Z")
> [@Inner\_Stickler](#): > > 586 words per minute which looking at the list of books and how long it would take to read them at an hour and a half a day which is a generous estimate of how much I read a day, I think it’s about right. See that’s what I’m talking about–I actually think I would have gotten a score close to that had I not taken seriously the admonition to read carefully. You don’t need to read carefully to answer the questions correctly. Skimming or speed-reading would have totally sufficed. ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2014, 3:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/test-how-fast-you-read-and-comprehend/699430/7 "2014-09-24T15:11:15Z")
There is a lot of information in that paragraph to digest. I normally wouldn’t care much about the descriptions of his hair,coat, and shoes. I skim over that stuff because I don’t find it interesting. But, I knew a comprehension test was next and I had to slow down and pay attention to the details. ---
**Author:** ![Inner\_Stickler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inner_stickler/32/318_2.png) [@Inner\_Stickler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inner_Stickler)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2014, 3:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/test-how-fast-you-read-and-comprehend/699430/8 "2014-09-24T15:30:40Z")
> [@Frylock](#): > > See that’s what I’m talking about–I actually think I would have gotten a score close to that had I not taken seriously the admonition to read carefully. You don’t need to read carefully to answer the questions correctly. Skimming or speed-reading would have totally sufficed. Yeah, I had one about a boy behind a door and some Madame Bovary-esque paragraph. You didn’t need to read carefully to guess that the boy behind the door probably wasn’t wearing slippers or that the man’s cap was a grey woolen cap. The right answers fit the feel much more. ---
**Author:** ![zweisamkeit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zweisamkeit/32/4360_2.png) [@zweisamkeit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zweisamkeit)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2014, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/test-how-fast-you-read-and-comprehend/699430/9 "2014-09-24T15:51:10Z")
I don’t read particularly fast, but it doesn’t bother me. I have severe ADHD (Inattentive type), so I need to force my brain to actually read.each.word. My mind will wander/jump around even when I do that, but it’s 1000times worse when I try to skim. I _will_ process the words, but they remain in short term memory and get dumped quickly. And for fiction, I prefer reading slowly, anyway. It’s like sipping a quality bourbon instead of downing a shot of it - savor it! 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![picunurse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7bcc69/32.png) [@picunurse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/picunurse)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2014, 4:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/test-how-fast-you-read-and-comprehend/699430/10 "2014-09-24T16:32:40Z")
> [@zweisamkeit](#): > > I don’t read particularly fast, but it doesn’t bother me. I have severe ADHD (Inattentive type), so I need to force my brain to actually read.each.word. My mind will wander/jump around even when I do that, but it’s 1000times worse when I try to skim. I _will_ process the words, but they remain in short term memory and get dumped quickly. > > And for fiction, I prefer reading slowly, anyway. It’s like sipping a quality bourbon instead of downing a shot of it - savor it! 🙂 I came here to say nearly the exact same thing! I do take Adderall, so, my attention span is longer than it once was. I do, or did, have a very good memory… for things I was interested in. I don’t want to do the test, because it will just make a point of my sub-normal reading speed. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2014, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/test-how-fast-you-read-and-comprehend/699430/11 "2014-09-24T16:37:27Z")
600 wpm, and I slowed down because I knew I would be tested on the material. It would take me a shitload longer to read GoT then they said, because I gave up on the turgid mess after the third book and refuse to go back to it. ---
**Author:** ![phouka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c5a1d2/32.png) [@phouka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/phouka)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2014, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/test-how-fast-you-read-and-comprehend/699430/12 "2014-09-24T16:38:49Z")
371 words minutes, and that was with my eyeballs jumping all over the page. I have ADHD-PI, but I’ve read all my life. ---
**Author:** ![zweisamkeit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zweisamkeit/32/4360_2.png) [@zweisamkeit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zweisamkeit)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2014, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/test-how-fast-you-read-and-comprehend/699430/13 "2014-09-24T16:57:44Z")
I love reading (to myself) in an almost audio-book way. I was in forensics competitions as a teen and it’s great fun to read a story with the stresses, pauses and cadences of a storyteller, even if it’s just inside your head. > [@aceplace57](#): > > There is a lot of information in that paragraph to digest. I normally wouldn’t care much about the descriptions of his hair,coat, and shoes. I skim over that stuff because I don’t find it interesting. But, I knew a comprehension test was next and I had to slow down and pay attention to the details. I find this fascinating. For me, I don’t skip over anything descriptive\*, because details like that are what makes a story really rich and full. I think I have different goals than you when it comes to reading novels (nothing wrong with that! I’m sure there are many other ways/goals, too :)). Sure, I want to read the actions and see what happens, but I value _how_ the story is told extremely strongly. Word choices, sentence structure, evocative metaphors, the rhythm of syllables (not just for poetry!)… It’s all part of the author’s style and is there for a reason(s). I love reading, _feeling_, language as a tool for endless creativity, as something to experiment and play with. Often, I’ll love a story because of \*how \*it is told more than _what_ is told. - I WILL confess to skipping through large chunks of poetry or song lyrics. Sorry, JRRT. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Living\_Well\_Is\_Best\_Revenge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/6bbea6/32.png) [@Living\_Well\_Is\_Best\_Revenge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Living_Well_Is_Best_Revenge)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2014, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/test-how-fast-you-read-and-comprehend/699430/14 "2014-09-24T18:34:50Z")
I got 371 words a minute. It’s probably higher because I re-read a couple sentences twice thinking that I’d have to answer questions about minor details. ---
**Author:** ![Macca26](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/13edae/32.png) [@Macca26](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Macca26)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2014, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/test-how-fast-you-read-and-comprehend/699430/15 "2014-09-24T18:52:08Z")
1. Normally I would have skimmed through a paragraph as detailed as the one I was given, though. I don’t particularly care about all those details in a normal book, especially if it’s going to be written as dry and uninteresting as that (give me imagery, not description, and I will hang on every word). The test seems a bit flawed in that after telling you it will ask questions, it then gives you a paragraph stuffed full of inconsequential details you think you’ll need to know to answer the questions. By nature you will want to read even more carefully than normal. ---
**Author:** ![Fretful\_Porpentine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fretful_porpentine/32/2873_2.png) [@Fretful\_Porpentine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fretful_Porpentine)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2014, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/test-how-fast-you-read-and-comprehend/699430/16 "2014-09-24T19:13:19Z")
554 words per minute, but I’m amused that they thought it would take me 54 days to read the GoT series at that rate. (It took much, _much_ less time than that.) But then, I did only commit to an hour a day. ---
**Author:** ![Eonwe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eonwe/32/240_2.png) [@Eonwe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eonwe)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2014, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/test-how-fast-you-read-and-comprehend/699430/17 "2014-09-24T19:37:36Z")
Wow. 173 per minute, at the pace I typically read at (ie, I wasn’t going for speed). You all are crazy fast! ---
**Author:** ![jtur88](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e9c0ed/32.png) [@jtur88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jtur88)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2014, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/test-how-fast-you-read-and-comprehend/699430/18 "2014-09-24T20:03:39Z")
I read at talking speed. It takes me two weeks to read a novel, about an hour a day. I never learned to speed-read, and I don’t want to, so I won’t bother taking the test. There was once a joke about a guy who took a speed-reading course, went home and read Huckleberry Finn in an hour, and never laughed once. There is so much more to be gotten out of a great novel than just the color of a guy’s pajamas. ---
**Author:** ![Amberlei](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e56c9b/32.png) [@Amberlei](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amberlei)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2014, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/test-how-fast-you-read-and-comprehend/699430/19 "2014-09-24T20:33:40Z")
I took the test with all three paragraphs, to try to get as accurate an assessment as I could. I read 559 wpm here from the first, 553 from the second, and 542 from the third, getting an average of 551 wpm. I’ve always been a fast reader, especially when I’m reading something I find interesting. If I’m reading something I’m not interested in, though, reading stops being fun and starts being work and I have to force myself to focus. ---
**Author:** ![Slash1972](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slash1972/32/6461_2.png) [@Slash1972](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slash1972)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2014, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/test-how-fast-you-read-and-comprehend/699430/20 "2014-09-24T20:36:39Z")
I got “NaN words per minute” I declare myself the winner! (actually, i’m sure my IE security settings screwed up the test, because I couldn’t check any of the answers) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/test-how-fast-you-read-and-comprehend/699430.md?page=2)