How it works
You read one short passage at your normal pace, stop the timer when you finish, and then answer a few multiple-choice questions about it. Your result combines how fast you read with how much you took in.
Taking the test
- Choose a passage. Pick Easy, Medium or Hard and press Start test for a passage at that level, or press Today's passage for the daily one.
- Get ready. The next screen shows the difficulty and word count. Nothing is timed yet.
- Read. The timer starts when you press Start reading.
- Stop. Press I'm done reading as soon as you reach the end. The passage then disappears, so you cannot look back.
- Answer. There are three or four questions, and you need to answer them all to see your results.
The timer pauses if you leave the page or switch tabs, and picks up again when you return.
Passages and difficulty
There are 30 passages, 10 at each level, and each runs to somewhere between 170 and 194 words. Easy passages are simple stories and plain explanations. Medium passages are mostly explanations of how things work. Hard passages take on more abstract ideas with denser sentences.
Start test prefers passages you have not read yet. Once you have read every passage at a level, it brings back the one you read longest ago.
Today's passage changes with your device's local date and can come from any difficulty, so the level you have selected does not affect it. If you repeat it, your first result of the day is the one kept for that day.
How your score is calculated
- Speed is words in the passage divided by your reading time in minutes.
- Comprehension is the percentage of questions you answered correctly.
- Effective speed is your speed multiplied by the share of questions you got right. It is the main number on the results page.
For example, if you read a 180-word passage in exactly one minute, your speed is 180 WPM. With three of four questions correct, your comprehension is 75% and your effective speed is 135 WPM. Skimming quickly and missing questions can leave you with a lower effective speed than reading steadily and remembering it.
The results page also shows the correct answer to each question.
Bands
Your effective speed falls into a rough band:
- Deliberate: under 150 WPM
- Steady: 150 to 199 WPM
- Typical: 200 to 299 WPM
- Quick: 300 to 449 WPM
- Very quick: 450 WPM and up
These bands are approximate, are meant only for rough comparison and do not come from a published study. This test is a casual exercise. It does not measure or diagnose any reading difficulty or medical condition, and a single result says little about how you read in general.
Personal bests and history
Your best effective speed is kept separately for each difficulty. Two kinds of result do not count toward a best: a passage you have read before, and a run faster than 1,500 WPM, which is too fast to be real reading. Both still appear in your history, and the results page tells you when this has happened.
Getting a fair result
- Read the way you normally would. Racing tends to lower comprehension, and a slower effective speed is the usual result.
- Find a quiet moment. Interruptions you do not step away from still count as reading time.
- Stop the moment you finish. Time spent going back over the text is counted.
- Compare like with like. A Hard passage will usually take longer than an Easy one, so track each level on its own.
- Take several readings. Topics vary, and one you already know something about may go faster.
Questions
Why is effective speed lower than my speed?
The two only match if you get every question right. Each missed question reduces effective speed in proportion.
Can I go back to the passage during the questions?
No. It is removed from the page when you stop the timer, so the questions test what you remember.
Why didn't my result become a personal best?
It may not have beaten your best at that level. Otherwise you may have read the passage before, or the time was implausibly fast. A note on the results page explains which.
Will my history follow me to another device?
No. It is stored only in the browser you used.
Does the share text include the answers?
No. It has your speed, comprehension and effective speed, without the passage title, text or questions.