The formula
words per minute = words ÷ minutes taken
Where it comes from
An average adult reads between 200 and 250 words a minute silently. Aloud it drops to about 130, because speech rather than sight sets the limit. Technical or study reading falls to 100 or 150, since it needs rereading and pauses.
How to work it out by hand
- Pick a text whose word count you know
- Read it at your normal pace, timing yourself
- Divide the words by the minutes taken
What is worth knowing
Speed-reading methods promising 1,000 words a minute run into a physical limit: above about 500 comprehension collapses, because the eye stops fixing on every word and the brain fills in the gaps. What does work, demonstrably, is cutting subvocalisation — pronouncing each word in your head — and reducing regressions, those involuntary jumps back.