Wednesday, May 23, 2012

How Quickly Can You Speed Read? (Take the Test!)

I recently read an article published on the Huffington Post website titled How Quickly Can You Speed Read? (TEST) and was intrigued by the post because I've always wanted to learn how to speed read ever since college. I've never actually learned how to speed read though. In the article, the following statistics about speed reading were given:
 According to Staples (the producer of the test), 3rd grade students read about 150 words per minute, average adults read about 300 words per minute, and college students read about 450 words per minute.

These numbers pale in comparison to the speediest reader ever, Anne Jones, who has won the World Speed Reading Championship six times! She apparently reads around 4700 words per minute!
Click on the above link to test your speed reading skills! Let us know how you scored on the speed reading test.

5 comments:

  1. I'm not taking the test here, though I am curious. I actually took a speed-reading course during my freshman year of hogh school. It was disheartening, in a way. A lot of it is skimming, and letting your eye travel over the page to pick out the crucial words. But I'm the type of reader who likes to sound out each word in my head. When I read, I hear the words. So speed-reading was disappointing to me.

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    1. I enjoy sounding out each word too instead of skimming the page to pick out crucial words... However, I'd still like to learn how to speed read to be able to review important material I've already thoroughly read.

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  2. I took the test; and I can read 346 words per minute. That's 36% faster than the national average... wow! I didn't know I could read that fast! But then again, I have read the book that was up there already; so I may have had the advantage of knowing where it was up to already by the 3rd sentence. :)

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    1. Wow, great job!! You so read fast.

      Sadly, I am embarrassed to report that I averaged 200 words per minute when I took the speed reading test last night at midnight... So, lol, I read only slightly better than a 3rd grader. I'm sure my low score had something to do with being tired and taking the test after being up for almost 18 hours.

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    2. I became a speed-reader in high school when I skipped over the smaller words like 'and', 'but' and 'the' and really got into the bigger words that mattered.

      When I proofread my books, it's the only time I read every word, to make sure I have spelled everything correctly. Otherwise, the small words just get in the way; but that's just my opinion. :D

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