Reading speed test: method

What it measures

Silent reading rate (words per minute, or characters per minute in languages written without spaces) for a short narrative text, counted only with adequate comprehension.

Procedure

One of 3 original short stories is chosen at random per run (English: 259 to 294 words). The text appears and the clock starts; there is no visible timer. The player presses 'Done reading', the text is hidden, and 4 multiple-choice questions about the story follow, one at a time, without going back. Each question has 4 options, shuffled per run by a seeded generator; the right answers never reach the page. Leaving the page while reading ends the run.

Parameters

Scoring

Rate = passage length / reading time in minutes, rounded; words are runs of non-space characters containing at least one letter or digit, and characters (for languages without spaces) are letters and digits only. The rate counts only if reading time is at least 5 s, the rate is at most 1,200 words (2,500 characters) per minute, and at least 3 of 4 answers are right; otherwise it is 'not counted' (too fast, or comprehension). Also reported: number of right answers. For English only, the result is shown next to published adult averages (fiction 260 wpm, usual range 200-320; non-fiction 238 wpm, range 175-300). Rates are not compared across languages.

Valid-run rules

The passage must match the seed, with one answer per question. Leaving the page while reading ends the run. Every scored run is stored with its input device class (touch, mouse, keyboard), page language, scorer version and runner-config hash. Quality flags (for example many runs from one connection within an hour, a missing visitor id, an automated browser, impossibly fast answers) and earlier attempts by the same visitor, account or connection are recorded with the row. Such runs are kept, but they are left out of any comparison with other players. Flags never change the player's own result.

Differences from the classic task

Research measures of reading rate use several texts, eye tracking or controlled timing, and varied comprehension tests. This is one short story, timed by a button press in the browser, with 4 questions as a check.

Limitations

One short text is a small sample, and the 3 stories differ slightly in length and difficulty. Pressing 'Done' late or early changes the rate. Four questions are a coarse comprehension check. Screen size and font affect reading. Languages need different numbers of words for the same content, so rates cannot be compared across languages. It does not detect reading difficulties such as dyslexia; no clinical use.

Languages and review status

Original passages written for each language from Helibrain's English stories (not taken from other sources) in 54 languages: English plus Albanian, Arabic, Armenian, Assamese, Azerbaijani, Bengali, Bulgarian, Chinese (Simplified and Traditional), Czech, Dutch, Filipino, French, Georgian, German, Greek, Gujarati, Hausa, Hebrew, Hindi, Hungarian, Indonesian, Italian, Japanese, Kannada, Kazakh, Korean, Kyrgyz, Macedonian, Malayalam, Marathi, Mongolian, Nepali, Pashto, Persian, Polish, Portuguese, Punjabi, Russian, Serbian, Somali, Spanish, Swahili, Tajik, Tamil, Telugu, Thai, Turkish, Turkmen, Ukrainian, Urdu, Uzbek and Vietnamese. Languages written without spaces (such as Japanese) count characters per minute. The page is offered only in these languages.