I am a slow reader. I have known this for a while now. I have even tried to do something about it at one point, but a recent post by my cousin made me realize just how much potential reading speed I’m missing out on. She took the staples reading test that has been going around recently and found that she reads at 748 words per minute.

By comparison, I took some tests and found that I read somewhere between 250 and 300 words per minute. And my reading comprehension is not always so good…

I took tests both at the staples website and at freereadingtest.com (I did the Level 9 test). I want to improve my reading speed considerably. I figure that there are two ways to read more: spend more time reading and read faster. I’ll start with reading faster, since that allows for reading more no matter the time spent reading.

I plan on posting weekly on my progress and what I’ve learned and practiced. As a sneak peek for next week, here is a screenshot from a reading test I took when I was reading out loud. Tune in next week for my progress report. Hopefully I will be over 300 words per minute, but I guess we’ll see!