Pages

Monday, October 22, 2012

Now I Know

How he goes through books so quickly.

ereader test
Source: Staples eReader Department

Check out this fun little reading speed test. My score on the War and Peace selection wasn’t very impressive. It is difficult for me to read without any context or involvement in the story or topic. It drives me crazy not to read every word or understand what I’m reading. Apparently the average adult reads 300 words per minute. I wasn’t much above that.

I had Levi try the Alice in Wonderland selection. He scored 693 words per minute with all 3 questions correct! Good grief! He scored even higher on the Wizard of Oz selection, but he missed one of the questions so I told him it didn’t count. {grin} At least our scores were a little closer on the War and Peace selection.

Luke surprised me by scoring 426 on the Alice in Wonderland selection! I won’t comment on Leif’s scores as he SPEED reads, but then has trouble answering the questions. Ha!

Do you read every single word? Do you re-read passages if you feel you aren’t understanding what is happening in a book? Or do you skim and catch the highlights?

9 comments:

Christie said...

Haha, I took that test this morning and must have sped-read and missed the option of changing the reading selection. I think I got 490 or something like that ... also sped through that so I can't even remember enough! Obviously, I don't read every word. One of my voracious readers is like me, reading too quickly and then rereading the book to enjoy it again. My other good reader reads much slower and enjoys the flow and language. Its only been through reading aloud to my kids that I've really enjoyed the art of the language. I slow down now when I read to myself because I know now how much I miss when I speed-read.

Now that I know that Alice was a reading selection, I'll have my kids try it!

Rebecca said...

Holy LEVI. That is some serious wordage!

Well THAT was fun! I did it and then had my 9 year old Corynn do it and she won. But that is no surprise because she finishes huge books in days and I *know* I am a slow reader. I like to think, though, that my slowness helps me to RETAIN things.

Have you ever read the Well Educated Mind by SWB? I am sure you have heard about it, what with meeting SWB personally and all that. I borrowed it from the library and am going to follow through with her timeline for reading the Great Books and her suggestions for keeping a reading journal. As I was reading, I thought of you for some reason, like that would sound up your alley too.

I might even consider opening it up for a sort of online book club. I doubt anyone on my blog would want to do it with me though! The only problem is....I am a slow reader! :-)

Sarah said...

I like to read, reread sections, stop and ponder, and savor every word. I'm in no hurry.

Amy @ Hope Is the Word said...

My eldest is like this. I know because when I have her read aloud, I notice how she skips over words, slurs words, etc. I have to make her slow down. I'll have to give her this test, too, because I'm curious to see how well she'd score since she, too, usually gets most comprehension questions right.

I, on the other hand, have to REALLY concentrate to catch everything. This, of course, has nothing to do with having a two year old distraction climbing on me all the time. ;-)

Amy @ Hope Is the Word said...

A ha! Just as I suspected. 316 wpm with 100% on the questions for me.

Have you read this article by Andrew Pudewa? I thought it was interesting that he mentions the way really good, fast readers absorb the material without really "hearing" it, thus the importance of reading aloud to them. I think my daughter falls into this category.

Here's the link: http://www.homegrownlearners.com/home/2012/10/22/andrew-pudewa-on-reading-aloud-with-free-downloads-and-a-giv.html

Heidi said...

Rebecca~ I have that book. :) But my reading time is almost non-existant right now, and I'm in 3 book clubs. I have no idea how I'd get those books read. I'm thinking (wishful, I'm sure) that life will be more reading-list-friendly in a couple years. I would LOVE to be making serious progress on a books-every-educated-person-should-read list. Luckily, my book clubs usually choose quality selections.

Amy~ My mom and I were talking about that. She reads the same silently as she does out loud. I think she is one who has to 'hear' every word. I love that article by Andrew Pudewa. I seriously should be reading aloud to Levi. Maybe I should have him read aloud to me!

The Prudent Homemaker said...

I'm sick (flu), and I'm very tired, and it's late. I got 518 words and 2 out of 3 correct for an Orson Wells book. It just chose the book for me; I wonder how it would be on another book (Orson Wells isn't my cup of tea).

I'm trying again in the morning. I want to see if Winter is faster than Levi :) Cyrus is pretty fast, too. My husband is a pretty slow reader. Oh, we're so going to have to do this tomorrow!

The Prudent Homemaker said...

Oh, and because my husband is sick today, he had Winter read Percy Jackson's book 4 today to him :)

The Prudent Homemaker said...

Ahh, I see the options choice now. I didn't even pay attention! Ha!