# Reading Speed Test

> Free reading speed test with a comprehension check. Read a short text, answer 5 questions and see your words per minute next to adult norms from 190 studies.

Tool page: https://speedreadingo.fastemy.com/reading-speed-test/ · Updated: 2026-11-02 · By: Abdullah Yılmaz · Speed Readingo

Read a short text at your normal pace, answer five questions, and see your words per minute next to what research says about adult readers. Your speed only counts if you understood what you read.

The tool runs in the browser, free, with no sign-up.

## The short answer

A reading speed test times how long you take to read a passage and divides its word count by the minutes: words per minute (WPM). A fair test also checks comprehension. Across 190 studies, adults read non-fiction silently at about 238 WPM, and most fall between 175 and 300 (Brysbaert, 2019).

## How the test works

1. **Pick a text.** Each is a few paragraphs long (about 330–370 words); single paragraphs make reading speed look higher than it is.
2. **Read at your normal pace**, the way you read something you need to understand. The clock starts when the text appears.
3. **Press "I'm done"** the moment you reach the last line.
4. **Answer five questions.** The text is hidden by then, so you answer from memory.

You get four numbers: your **words per minute**, your **comprehension** (questions right), your **comprehension-adjusted speed** (speed × share of correct answers) and, on later tries, the change since last time. Guessing alone gets about one question in four right, which is why the adjusted speed is shown next to the raw speed and never on its own.

## What your result means

| Words per minute | What it means | Source |
|---|---|---|
| under 175 | Below the typical adult range for non-fiction | Brysbaert, 2019 |
| 175–300 | The typical adult range; the average is about 238 | Brysbaert, 2019 |
| 300–400 | Faster than most adults; good college-educated readers read about 200–400 | Rayner et al., 2016 |
| 400–600 | Fast; in one study a speed-reading course took readers from about 280 to 400 while comprehension slipped from 81% to 74% | Rayner et al., 2016 |
| 600 and up | Skimming speed; comprehension tends to collapse, even for trained speed readers | Carver, 1985, reported in Rayner et al., 2016 |

These norms come from English-language studies. If you read Turkish, use the [Turkish test](https://speedreadingo.fastemy.com/tr/okuma-hizi-testi/): the same content takes fewer, longer words in Turkish, so Turkish speeds are naturally lower.

## Why your speed changes from text to text

Your result is your speed on this text, today. It moves with:

- **Difficulty and word length.** Texts with longer words are read more slowly; word length alone explains much of the gap between fiction and non-fiction (Brysbaert, 2019).
- **What you already know.** Readers who know the topic understand and remember more of the same text.
- **Why you are reading.** Reading to memorise is far slower than reading to understand: around 100 words per minute is typical when people study for a test (Brysbaert, 2019).

## How to raise your score

Practice and vocabulary are the reliable routes, and the gains come slowly (Rayner et al., 2016). The [lessons](https://speedreadingo.fastemy.com/lessons/) teach the Speed Readingo method step by step, and the [exercises](https://speedreadingo.fastemy.com/speed-reading-exercises/) take about 10 minutes a day. Come back in a few weeks, take the other text, and compare both numbers: speed *and* comprehension.

## About the texts

Both passages come from the practice set of Abdullah Yılmaz's speed reading course, adapted for the web. They are reading exercises, not reference articles.

## FAQ

### What is a good reading speed?

For adults reading non-fiction silently, 175–300 words per minute is typical and about 238 is the average (Brysbaert, 2019). Above roughly 400, check that your comprehension holds: in studies, faster reading usually costs some understanding (Rayner et al., 2016).

### How is reading speed calculated?

Words in the passage × 60 ÷ the seconds you took. This test times you automatically, from the moment the text appears to the moment you press done, because timing by hand overstates speed on short texts by about 10% (Brysbaert, 2019).

### Why are there questions after the text?

Because speed without understanding is skimming. A classic study of more than 12,000 readers only counted a reading rate when at least 70% of the questions were answered correctly. This test uses the same gate.

### Can I take the test again?

Yes, but pick the other text when you do. Reading the same text twice makes your progress look bigger than it is.

## Sources

1. Brysbaert, M. (2019). How many words do we read per minute? A review and meta-analysis of reading rate. Journal of Memory and Language, 109, 104047. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jml.2019.104047
2. Rayner, K., Schotter, E. R., Masson, M. E. J., Potter, M. C., & Treiman, R. (2016). So much to read, so little time: How do we read, and can speed reading help?. Psychological Science in the Public Interest, 17(1), 4–34. https://doi.org/10.1177/1529100615623267
3. Carver, R. P. (1985). How good are some of the world’s best readers?. Reading Research Quarterly, 20(4), 389–419. https://eric.ed.gov/?id=EJ319724