Your Starting Point: - How to Calculate Your Reading Speed

If you know your reading speed or know how to calculate your reading speed, you can jump directly to action steps below. In this lesson we are going to find out what your reading speed is and how to calculate it. Here are the steps:

1. First select a book to read. I suggest you pick a simple non-fiction book. Technical or study material will be covered in future lessons.

2. Set the timer for 2 minutes.

3. Start with first chapter and read for 2 minutes.

4. Once you finish reading, write summary of what you have read without looking at the book. This will let us know how well you have understood the material

5. Calculating your reading speed:

Step 1: Count the number of lines you read.

Step 2: Count the number of words on 1^st line.

Step 3: Multiply step 1 by step 2. (You will get the number of words you have read).

Step 4: Divide step 3 by 2 (number of minutes you have read).

This is your reading speed.  Average reading speed is between 150- 250 words per minute.  

Important points:

1. Remember that this is just your starting point. Your reading speed will be completely different at the end of the coaching.
2. I personally don’t give lot of importance to your reading speed. I give more importance to how much time it takes to finish entire book.
3. I ask my students to calculate their reading speed because it acts a good reference point for future lessons and to know how much they have improved.

    Action items:

1. Calculate your reading speed.
2. Share your reading speed below.

~Srinivas Reddy