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How fast do you read?

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TissueBox

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On the Staples test I got about 350 wpm after taking it twice. Yeah I'm no speed-reader, least not today, I gotta bunch of distractions 'round lol. Got 2/3 right on the first excerpt and 3/3 on the second one (Alice in Wonderland). It's a cool measurement I hadn't really taken before -- that said, it was only a small portion of words, though you could extend it if you like. It also tells you how you compare to the average US reader and other metrics, like how long it would take you to read the Bible in that speed (think it was like 27 hours for me).

'Nyways what about the rest of GAF, any reading roadrunners?
 
Speed isn't everything in all situations.

Maybe you want to think about what is being said before moving on.

-edit: yes, I read at the pace of an ape.
 
According to that test, 536 wpm with 3/3 questions right. To be fair, I was trying to read it as fast as possible, and do not normally read at that speed.
 
You read 417 words per minute.
That makes you 67% faster than the national average.



I got all the questions right too. Always been a fast reader, or so I thought.
 
I feel like I tend to read faster the longer I read in a sitting. Obviously what's actually going on in the narrative has an effect as well.
 
576, 130% faster than average.

Though obviously reading faster since its a test. I dont read that fast at all. Books arent a race.

Oh well. Still nice to know i guess.
 
Speed isn't everything in all situations.

Maybe you want to think about what is being said before moving on.

Definitely not, the ratio between comprehension and speed is more important. There's just certainly those who can do both in high numbers which I think is quite fascinating. I mean, there's a difference between reading a novel (for leisure) and and an article (for knowledge), but in terms of just the collection of information it's interesting to see how quickly a person can process it.
 
Really slow. The problem is that I often space out, so I have to go back and read most paragraphs twice.

Oddly, I find it much easier to pay attention to audiobooks.
 
312, but German and not native. This is just gonna be a thread where people try to high score, isn't it.
 
Definitely not, the ratio between comprehension and speed is more important. There's just certainly those who can do both in high numbers which I think is quite fascinating. I mean, there's a difference between reading a novel (for leisure) and and an article (for knowledge), but in terms of just the collection of information it's interesting to see how quickly a person can process it.

Comprehension is individual to a large extent, especially when it comes to leisure - understanding vs considering what is being said...

Some people like to day dream (too much). Some like to do accounting.
 
Not fast enough. Thank God for DVR. At the end of movies or a show or during a documentary they love to zip* through text with vital information.

*imo
 
I tried going at a natural pace and got 469 with all the questions correct. My problem isn't reading slowly but reading the same line over and over again.
 
575, but I rarely read quickly. Usually I read sentences "aloud" in my head and re-read dense paragraphs. In fact, I can only ever recall speed reading during timed tests.
 
547 with 2/3. But trying to read fast isn't fun for me. I'm used to read meticulously because I debug a lot of code.
 
398 and 2/3 haha. I'm below the average for college students apparently (
I topped my class though so it's probably not that meaningful
).
 
345 3/3, normal pace
575 3/3, speed read

size of text and sentence structure matters.

College textbooks tend to have writings in multiple small paragraphs that are easier to speed through
 
312, but German and not native. This is just gonna be a thread where people try to high score, isn't it.

Haha yeah I tried to title the thread 'how fast do you read' instead of 'how fast can you read' but this is a cutthroat world. o_o Also framing it as a test is kind of disingenuous as most people don't treat reading as a race in general, but it's kind of like typing in that regard I guess.

Comprehension is individual to a large extent, especially when it comes to leisure - understanding vs considering what is being said...

Some people like to day dream (too much). Some like to do accounting.

Fair enough, when it comes to things like spacing out you kind of have to take it on a case by case basis. For some it's not about being unable to read fast, but just the way they read. And hey for those who do just prefer to take their time that's fine too, lol.

I think fact/detail recollection was a better term than comprehension on second thought. Even then some folks can come out of a page after half a minute with half the details recalled and others in half that time with all of 'em...the brain is a doozy.
 
272 wpm. I'm not sure what that selection is from, but the sentence flow is questionable.

Oh, The War of the Worlds. Okay.
 
550, 3/3.

Interesting to see how high high scoring College Students are on the scale.

As a somewhat recent college grad with a high GPA, I've always been a slow reader, mostly because I would go off on tangents or sit their weighing the implications of the reading and make connections with other readings to synthesize material.

I think the slow reading pace and continuously linking it to other material helped in recall.
 
If I'm really trying like 500-545.

Normal is like 250-300.


I feel like speed is far less important than comprehension. Anyone can learn to barrel through shit and not really notice what they are reading.

Far better to read slower but really understand I think.


I feel like this test is a bit of a shame, as the goal is to show you the value of an ereader and how many things you can read on a single charge, but ends up making people feel like dumbasses cause who booy a college person or high level executive can read this fast!

Fuck off with that shit.

Just read folks. Even if you read 1 page a day, you are going to be millions of pages ahead of most people who never ever read.
 
Got 3/3: 640 and 646 with the way I read really boring stuff, like school exam material. I just scan and memorize the obvious important parts.

Then 3/3: 473 with my normal speed. Actually this way it felt harder to remember the answers. I guess it's because I focused on everything so the minor details overwrote the important ones somewhat?

And lul at 4700. Looks like Barry Allen took this test as well...
 
This is a pretty neat.

Got 497 at a regular pace, 667 at my fastest. Seeing that there's someone out there who reads at 4700 wpm is insane.
 
I got 931 wpm from this test with 3/3 answered correctly. I have done some speed reading training and have always read quickly.
 
If I'm really trying like 500-545.

Normal is like 250-300.


I feel like speed is far less important than comprehension. Anyone can learn to barrel through shit and not really notice what they are reading.

Far better to read slower but really understand I think.


I feel like this test is a bit of a shame, as the goal is to show you the value of an ereader and how many things you can read on a single charge, but ends up making people feel like dumbasses cause who booy a college person or high level executive can read this fast!

Fuck off with that shit.

Just read folks. Even if you read 1 page a day, you are going to be millions of pages ahead of most people who never ever read.

Agree with everything here. It's cool to know your reading speed and all, but fully comprehending what you're reading is way more important.
 
Haha tests like these make me feel so dumb and slow. I got 256wpm and 3/3 and that was honest to god my normal reading speed. I made extra effort to not skim or try harder than normal to bolster up my result. I have a friend who reads really fast and I was always jealous because it made me feel somehow less smart. But then it came to light that his comprehension takes a massive hit. He can read a chapter and instantly forget what it was about when asked about it. If he reads more slowly then he comprehends of course.

Btw, how much does language and nativity affect reading speed? I always try to comprehend what I read as much as possible but I'm Finnish and even though my english is good it is an additional process to the whole thing to translate it in my mind, right?
 
If I'm really trying like 500-545.

Normal is like 250-300.


I feel like speed is far less important than comprehension. Anyone can learn to barrel through shit and not really notice what they are reading.

Far better to read slower but really understand I think.


I feel like this test is a bit of a shame, as the goal is to show you the value of an ereader and how many things you can read on a single charge, but ends up making people feel like dumbasses cause who booy a college person or high level executive can read this fast!

Fuck off with that shit.

Just read folks. Even if you read 1 page a day, you are going to be millions of pages ahead of most people who never ever read.

Yeah hear-hear, one thing you shouldn't be is discouraged to read just 'cause of some numbers. What matters is you read because of all the things it allows you to do, feel, and learn, and that's a gift you have and can share people.

That said, I do think the measurement of speed works better in the context of an informational text rather than literature, and was more the idea here, lol. The Staples test was the most intuitive one, though, so I went with that, despite its using novels as reference.

Generally when one says 'reading' they can be referring to either just the act of going over each word in a string of them or actually taking in each word and the subtext and the themes and the details, etc. Hopefully people will treat it more as the latter, because speed is not priority there, understanding is, which is what reading is all about -- this is just a lil' extra thing, :p

Also I wouldn't be surprised if the stats, even the 8th grader ones, are derived from speed-reading attempts from the given demographics, rather than normal reading, so they probably don't even represent the actual 'normal-reading' average -- though I can't speak for it.

Haha tests like these make me feel so dumb and slow. I got 256wpm and 3/3 and that was honest to god my normal reading speed. I made extra effort to not skim or try harder than normal to bolster up my result. I have a friend who reads really fast and I was always jealous because it made me feel somehow less smart. But then it came to light that his comprehension takes a massive hit. He can read a chapter and instantly forget what it was about when asked about it. If he reads more slowly then he comprehends of course.

Btw, how much does language and nativity affect reading speed? I always try to comprehend what I read as much as possible but I'm Finnish and even though my english is good it is an additional process to the whole thing to translate it in my mind, right?

I'd imagine a lot tbh. xD Depending on your fluency, of course, reading in a non-native language is similar to speaking in it, as you are going over the words in your head and interpreting them through a reference point first. The trickier deals are the novels that go bonkers on prose, lol, as a lot of writers like to take liberties with sentence structure.

That said, because it doesn't require you to generate any new words or sentences yourself you can arguably execute it more fluidly than speaking. Of course the main question is how well you comprehend the text, which depends on how versed you are in the language.

I'd say 256 and with all questions right as a non-native English speaker's a pretty good rate. :o
 
Way too slow. When I'm reading a book, I usually only get around 20 pages per hour, someone less, depending on the material. I'd like to read faster, but I don't know what I can do to get faster.
 
You read 344 words per minute. That makes you 38% faster than the national average. 3/3 questions correct.

I read slow. I like to take everything in before I move on.
 
Website doesn't display correctly on my phone, just like about 20% of mobile websites. Stuff. On the right is cut off. Problem with my phone?
 
Website doesn't display correctly on my phone, just like about 20% of mobile websites. Stuff. On the right is cut off. Problem with my phone?

No, yeah, just tried it myself and a portion of the page is indeed MIA on mobile. The desktop bias is real. >_<
 
309 and all three right. Im a slow reader, but I do read about 60 books per year. Don't mind. What does speed matter for immersion?
 
Slowly, by intention. I think a lot while I'm reading. Immersion is everything for me. The results of that test wouldn't tell you much.

I can scan through something quickly and retain the gist of the text if I have to, but I reserve that for dry practical stuff, not personal reading.
 
595 with 3/3. English is technically my fourth language but I consider it my third since my French is rusty as hell.

It's a bit faster than I expected but I think my reading speed is highly dependent on the text being read. I can churn through literature that I enjoy in no time whereas some stuff takes me ages to go through.
 
543 here. I started reading too fast (because tryhard), then ended up rereading the first paragraph. After a retake at what's my actual reading pace, I still got 560.
 
You read 665 words per minute.
That makes you 166% faster than the national average.

3/3 Correct

Edit: Did it again since the passage repeated
You read 11,059 words per minute.
That makes you 4,324% faster than the national average.

Im the Champion!!!
 
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