Seeing Where You Stand

as a Speed Reader

After you know your WPM rate and your ERR, you may be curious

to know how you compare to others in the speed-reading depart-

ment. (And who wouldn’t be?)

Roughly speaking, readers fall into these categories where speed is

concerned:

 ✓ 1 to 200 WPM: You’re a talker. You read one word at a time

at about the same speed as you talk and you may move your

lips when you read. Most talkers are held back because they

engage in vocalization while they read — they speak the

words silently to themselves as they read them. Unless you’re

an especially fast talker, reading at the speed you talk slows

you down.

 ✓ 200 to 300 WPM: You’re an average reader, one who probably

doesn’t enjoy reading as a hobby. You engage in some vocal-

ization as you read, but you can read several words at once.

Most people read at this speed.

 ✓ 300 to 700 WPM: You’re an above average reader who can

read groups of words in a single glance, recognizing and read-

ing phrases in sentences quickly. You vocalize a little when

you read. You very likely have a large vocabulary.

 ✓ 700+ WPM: You’re a speed reader. You’re adept at reading 10

to 16 words at a glance, both horizontally and vertically on the

page. You read with a great degree of confidence and agility.

So if your ERR (established in the previous section) is 700 or

above, take the rest of the day off and give yourself a raise while

you’re at it. You don’t need speed-reading lessons — you’re

already a fast reader. If your ERR isn’t as high as you want, keep

reading.