How fast do you read?
I got an email the other day from James at Distilled Creative telling me about this new app he created in partnership with Staples. The app calculates how fast you read, and “highlights how long you could use an eReader on a single charge base your reading ability.” How long I could use an e-reader on a single charge is interesting, but how fast I read? Fascinating! I’ve always thought I read kinda slow — I’m certainly no Jessica. But finding out how I measure up against all these other readers? YES PLEASE.
Here’s the app:
Source: Staples eReader Department
Myself? Here’s my score:
I didn’t capture my score from yesterday, but it was pretty close. You might want to try taking all three tests, because I think reading is something that you get faster at once you get in a groove.
I know this test is specifically for e-books, but I’m wondering how this translates to print books. It seems to take me about two minutes to read one page of a print book. A book that has me engrossed has me reading even faster, because I tend to do what’s probably more speed reading. If I’m savoring a book, loving the writing, etc, then I’m sure my reading slows down even more.
Take the test and feel free to share your score in the comments!
March 16th, 2012 at 12:33 pm
This is super interesting; however, I would think that your score might be a bit different if it was a book you were actually reading (as opposed to an individual page). I scored 449, which is apparently 80% faster than the national average, but I only got 2 out of 3 of their questions right (and I may have guessed for two of the questions!). Did you score a perfect 3?
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March 16th, 2012 at 12:36 pm
I just did the test again (with a different page in a different book) and only scored 388. However, I was much more interested in what I was reading this time around!
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trish Reply:
March 16th, 2012 at 12:43 pm
Interesting!
To your previous question, I scored a perfect 3 on the first test, 2 out of 3 on the second, and a perfect 3 on the third. One asked for a small detail that I just seemed to gloss over. I think it was the Alice in Wonderland one — who she was having the picnic with.
And you’re probably right, your score might be a bit different if it was a book you were actually reading…kind of like when you take typing tests.
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March 16th, 2012 at 12:43 pm
This is so cool, Trish! I need to check this out and try to report back!
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trish Reply:
March 16th, 2012 at 12:43 pm
Please do!
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March 16th, 2012 at 3:10 pm
I decided to do it twice. The first time I only read 14% faster than the national average. When I did it again, I read 34% faster! I got all 3 questions correct on each, but the second one was in a style that seemed to flow better for me. So I guess it really depends on the style of book you’re reading, not just the reader.
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trish Reply:
March 17th, 2012 at 2:40 pm
Interesting! I totally agree that a big part of how fast you read is how engaged you are with the material.
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March 16th, 2012 at 7:12 pm
The first time my score was a 400, with 2 of 3 questions right. Then I went for a longer sample and scored 498 w/ all 6 questions right! My conclusion? The Wizard of Oz is much more interesting than War of the Worlds.
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trish Reply:
March 17th, 2012 at 2:38 pm
Dude, I totally agree. My eyes were already glazing over when I read the smallest sample possible from War of the Worlds.
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avisannschild Reply:
March 19th, 2012 at 9:23 pm
I went back to check and it was The War of the Worlds that I was reading the first time — I skimmed it, I guess, because it seemed pretty boring. I agree that The Wizard of Oz is way more interesting!
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March 16th, 2012 at 8:59 pm
This is so awesome! I only took it once, but I got 271…8% faster than the national average. Much better than I expected. I had to share it on my blog. thanks so much for giving us a heads up about it!
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trish Reply:
March 17th, 2012 at 2:39 pm
HA! It’s funny when we think we’re slower than we really are.
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March 17th, 2012 at 9:17 am
Wow. this is so cool. I knew I read fast, but my first score was 503 with 2 of3 questions correct and second score was 532 with 3 of 3 correct. I can’t wait to pass this on to others. Thanks!
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trish Reply:
March 17th, 2012 at 2:39 pm
Dang! You’re amazing!
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March 17th, 2012 at 12:53 pm
That was interesting. I always considered myself a slow reader but I scored 493 words per minute. So, faster than I thought. However… that was a very short sample and I know I could never sustain that pace.
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trish Reply:
March 17th, 2012 at 2:40 pm
I didn’t realize it until after I posted this, Leslie, but you can make the samples longer — there’s an option to the that in the upper right corner of the e-reader.
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March 18th, 2012 at 8:04 pm
I always think that I’m reading fairly slowly compared to what I perceive to be the speed that others are reading at. But I generally get about 30 pages read out of a fiction book with average-sized text during my lunch break which is an hour. So I guess that puts me about right where you are. All of that just means that when I’m not getting as much read, I guess, it’s because there are too many distractions around me in the evenings!
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March 20th, 2012 at 10:09 pm
“You read 633 words per minute. That makes you 153% faster than the national average.” Felt better about that before I read the part where the “high scoring college students” hit 800… Sigh.
I actually think that reading in actual print material, or on an e-reader you can go faster. Right now I’m using my laptop, and I find it much harder to track when the text is that far away – even though it’s plenty large enough for me to see. Fun! Thanks for sharing this!
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March 28th, 2012 at 8:03 pm
This was fun. 1st time I got 492 words, 97% higher and 3/3. The second time 469, 88% and 3/3.
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April 15th, 2012 at 10:22 am
I took all three tests, and got between 700-850 wpm, 3/3 on all questions. I think that I read faster on my e-reader than I do when reading print books, but this was fun, and a definite ego boost for the day!
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April 19th, 2012 at 12:05 pm
[...] app is designed to show you how fast you can read. I got the link from a fellow blogger Hey Lady? Whatcha Readin? and I thought I would share. It’s rather interesting. Source: Staples eReader [...]
April 30th, 2012 at 8:50 am
Wow, this was prett cool! I got 417 wpm, 67% faster than the national average. Not bad! Thanks for sharing.
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May 10th, 2012 at 10:00 am
[...] and crime fiction, as well as riffs on life and cool things she’s discovered (like this cool app)! She is a self-described chatty person, “funnier than some and not as funny as [...]
May 23rd, 2012 at 10:53 pm
[...] app is designed to show you how fast you can read. I got the link from a fellow blogger Hey Lady? Whatcha Readin? and I thought I would share. It’s rather interesting. Source: Staples eReader [...]
May 24th, 2012 at 5:05 pm
[...] app is designed to show you how fast you can read. I got the link from a fellow blogger Hey Lady? Whatcha Readin? and I thought I would share. It’s rather interesting. Source: Staples eReader [...]
June 5th, 2012 at 11:20 am
856 words per minute.
That makes you 242% faster than the national average.
whew. And I didn’t think that was all that rushed….crazy. No wonder there was a lot of ‘downtime” in my school experiences….waiting for others to catch up.
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June 7th, 2012 at 5:42 am
This was fun!
I did the test 3 times, the first I scored 670, the second 1,140-something and the third (while holding the baby!) was 1,147. I think the second was my highest score. Neat!
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