How can my reading speed be accurately tested?

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Although speed reading is an important skill for students around the world, it is particularly imperative for non-native speakers of English who are studying at universities. The faster a person can read, the more likely they are to succeed in timed writings, proficiency tests, lectures and seminars and in assignments that require vast amounts of research such as dissertations of more than 10,000 words. For some people, speed reading is a competitive sport that takes focus and training, practising multiple times a day. For others, being able to read more quickly is a benefit of reading for pleasure or is a necessity of receiving higher grades – and so shortcuts are more welcomed.

While competitive speed readers might be machine-like in their ability to read 2,000 words per minute or more, they confess to only being able to comprehend around half of what they read. The average reading speed, however, is around 200 to 400 words per minute for university students with a roughly 80% comprehension rate – a score that most should be happy with. In truth, reading speed really depends on the type of reading you’re doing. An average of 100 words per minute is common when reading intensively, while 200 words per minute is a recommended average when studying. High speeds such as 400 words per minute are usually only common when scanning for particular pieces of information.

The reason that reading speed is limited in humans is purely biological. Every person requires a combination of functional eyes and an alert brain to be able to read. In the animal kingdom, there are ten different types of eyes which can each be divided into simple or compound categories. Humans, however, are the only animal that can read. The eye detects light and converts it into electro-chemical impulses which it then sends to your brain. Interestingly, it was the French ophthalmologist Louis Javal that in the late 19th century reported that humans do not move their eyes continuously along a line of text but instead make short, rapid movements called saccades and short stops known as fixations.

Thinking about the statistics of these saccades and fixations, well-practised readers are able to move their eyes when reading roughly every quarter of a second, with the average fixation length being 200 to 250 thousandths of a second. The distance the eye moves during each saccade is somewhere between 1 and 20 characters, although the average is more commonly around 7 to 9. People with dyslexia, however, which is a general term that describes multiple reading disorders, tend to suffer from a decreased reading speed – although thankfully there are many remedies nowadays to help with this issue.

There are five main reasons that people should read which have been studied carefully by scientists. These five reasons are (1) reading reduces stress, (2) reading increases lifespan, (3) reading improves general knowledge and language skills, (4) reading enhances a person’s empathy and understanding of others, and (5) reading increases creativity. Next time you pick up a textbook or a journal article to study for an assessed assignment at university, remember to think of the valuable skills you’re practising at the same time as increasing your reading speed.

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What’s your reading speed?