Reading Time Calculator
Work out how long any book will take to read from its page count and your reading speed, how many days at your daily pace, and minutes per day to meet a deadline.
Free reading tool
Reading Speed Test
Read a short original passage at your normal pace, then answer three quick questions. You'll get your words per minute, your comprehension score, and how you compare with the research average.
Free tool · 305-word passage
Read at your normal pace, as if you were reading for pleasure. The timer starts when you press the button.
The first thing most people notice about a bookshop at closing time is the quiet. The music has stopped, the till has been counted, and the only sound is the soft scrape of a trolley as someone returns the day's strays to their shelves. It is the best time to see what a shop really is: not a place that sells objects, but a place that stores attention.
Every book on those shelves is a promise of a few hours of someone's focus. A thriller asks for an evening. A history of the sea asks for a month of evenings. A slim book of poems might ask for ten minutes, then return to you years later and ask again. What a reader is really choosing, when they pick one up, is how they would like to spend a small part of their life.
That is why bookshop staff talk about books in terms of time as much as plot. They will tell you that a novel is a weekend read, or that a biography is best taken a chapter at a time, or that a mystery is impossible to put down after page fifty. They are helping you match a book to the shape of your days.
Readers who finish many books are rarely the fastest. Most of them have simply learned to make that match well. They keep a short book for busy weeks and a long one for holidays. They give up on books that are not working, without guilt. And they protect a small slot each day, often in the evening, when reading is the only thing they are asked to do.
The quiet bookshop at closing time is a reminder that attention is the most valuable thing a book can be given, and the most valuable thing a reader can give.
Quick comprehension check
Please answer all three questions.
–words per minute
–comprehension
–reading time
0Averages: 238–260 wpm500+ wpm
Runs in your browser. Nothing you enter is stored or sent anywhere.
How the test works
- Press Start reading and read the passage at your normal, comfortable pace. Don’t skim, and don’t race.
- Press I’ve finished as soon as you reach the end.
- Answer three short questions about what you read.
Your reading speed is the number of words in the passage divided by the time you took. Your comprehension score is the share of questions you got right. A fast time with low comprehension isn’t real reading speed, so we show both.
How do you compare?
The best current estimate of average adult reading speed comes from a 2019 meta-analysis by psychologist Marc Brysbaert, which combined 190 studies and more than 17,000 readers:
| Reading speed (silent, English) | What it means |
|---|---|
| Under 175 wpm | Slower than most adults. Often careful reading of difficult text, or reading in a second language |
| 175–235 wpm | Typical range for nonfiction |
| About 238 wpm | Average for nonfiction |
| About 260 wpm | Average for fiction |
| 260–320 wpm | Faster than average |
| Over 400 wpm | Very fast. Check that comprehension is still high |
These are averages for adults reading in their first language. Speed naturally varies with the difficulty of the text, your familiarity with the topic and how tired you are.
Can you improve your reading speed?
Yes, but not in the way speed-reading courses usually promise. Research reviewed in our article Does speed reading work? suggests that dramatic jumps come at the cost of understanding. What reliably helps is reading more often, which builds vocabulary and background knowledge, and reducing distractions.
Use your result with our reading time calculator to find out how long any book will take you.
Frequently asked questions
What is a good reading speed?
For adults reading silently in English, around 238 words per minute is average for nonfiction and 260 for fiction. Anything between about 200 and 300 wpm with good comprehension is a healthy reading speed.
How accurate is an online reading speed test?
It gives a good estimate for this kind of text. Your speed will vary with difficulty, familiarity and fatigue, so take the test a couple of times on different days for a more reliable number.
Is the test passage copyrighted text from a book?
No. The passage was written specifically for this test and is not taken from any book.
Should I read faster to improve my score?
No. Read at your normal pace. Racing through the passage usually lowers comprehension, which makes the result less useful.
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