How fast is your reading comprehension?

[fredkawig]

Exams are given to check the ability of students to read and understand statements for a period of time. Reading comprehension generally means the ability of an individual to read and understand the statements provided for. There are some people who have the ability to zoom through the text and give an answer to the choices provided for quickly and there are some who take time reading and understanding the situation given to the. How about you how do you think you compare to the general populace?

[Rosa]

I have a pretty good ability in reading and answering comprehension questions. I have always had this ability since primary school and so was never afraid to take on the task . At present I am assisting someone who has an exam in another month from now to get a good grasp of comprehension skill.

[diprod]

I have learned the art of skimming and browsing really fast and at the same time really understanding the words that I was reading. It's a skill that could take some practice. But it's worth it. Saves me time.

[zabina12]

I could also say that I did well on those exams with reading comprehension questions. I usually got passed grades and I could finish those questions on time. You have to read fast and know which part of it could most probably give the answers to the questions.

[Baburra]

I usually do okay with this part of the exams and I generally get an average to an above average score but I admit that I am not really a fast reader so I tend to take my time to really understand the paragraph first prior to moving on to the questionnaires. Thankfully I'm not that slow so I'm able to keep up with the timer, though.

[AExAVF]

When I was still in high school, I had to say that I wasn't very good at reading comprehension questions.  In fact, I always got the feeling that I was left behind and when I took the state college entrance exam, I fared very poorly in reading comprehension.  Even as my skills grew to this day, I honestly felt that my level of comprehension was still insufficient compared to my peers.  I have always felt that I'm lacking something, and still do up to this day.

[Krrizal]

I find that when I skim, I can much better understand and accurately answer comprehension questions that when I force myself to focus on every single word.

[takibari]

I believe my reading comprehension has improved over the years. Studying in a university where we were required to read a lot of books, journals, and publications helped improved my comprehension level. Exposure to so many reading materials in some way forced me to understand my readings well, otherwise, I won't be able to write good reports. It improved more when I landed a job where writing our own TOEFL, TOEIC, and other standardized exam review materials is the main task. Through these exposures, I could say that my comprehension is fast enough.

However, there was also a point where most of our tasks were writing for children, for beginners essentially. During that time, I believe my comprehension also deteriorated as we were forced to expose ourselves to simple language and had to tone down our level to suit our target audience.

[g2narat]

For me, it depends on my current state of mind. If I'm a bit distracted, or not feeling well, either emotionally or physically, I tend to have a hard time focusing on what I'm reading. When that happens, I have to read something over and over before the message sticks. When I'm able to concentrate though, I can focus pretty easily and can grasp things pretty quickly.

[NikkiDesrosiers]

It really depends on the language I am reading. Obviously if I am reading in English I can read more than 100 pages in an hour and retain the information (depending on the complexity of the material.) In Spanish  -- I can read maybe 10 to fifteen pages -- with resources and sometimes will need to review to make sure that I am getting all of the intended meaning.

[TheJamal]

In English, my reading comprehension has always been very strong, since I started school essentially. I was a book worm when I was younger and always had books with me pretty much everywhere I went. So those sort of tests in high school and some college classes have always been pretty easy for me and I never have had to study for them.

In Spanish though, which I'm currently studying, I'm absolutely atrocious. I take forever to get through any passage as I'm not confident in my translations at all. Reading is probably my biggest weakness with learning a new language.

[RedRose]

I guess it's pretty good, at least average. I got around a 620 out of 800 on the SAT for the reading section, if that means anything. I like to read a lot, too, so I would hope that my reading skills are somewhat decent. However, I tend to read very quickly, and sometimes I end up missing vital information, and then I have to read over a few paragraphs again. I'm learning Spanish, though, and my reading skills are much better than my speaking skills.

[gegegeno]

Compared to the general population? Probably pretty well, but who knows?

I like to strike a balance between reading quickly and taking enough time to understand just what I'm reading. For my study and work (teaching), I have to read a lot, so I'm in the habit of moving quickly through a text, finding the important parts to focus on and reading those parts more carefully.

As an aside, I find sometimes that my reading speed can be dependent on the skill of the author. I remember a research paper I read recently that was very poorly laid out, wasn't very well written and contained a few errors. The author's poor style made it hard to read and ultimately quite confusing; the errors were extremely difficult to find as a result. On the other hand, I've had papers with "harder" content that took me a lot less time to read because they were laid out in a very accessible way.

[elenamarie]

I have no problems with reading comprehension. We take comprehension tests at school from grade school to college. I actually prefer reading than analyzing symbols and most specially math. Math seems like a foreign language to me while others who are good in math are having difficulties with comprehension. Maybe it depends on one’s brain development.

[gmckee1985]

I'm actually a pretty fast reader. I do a good job picking up on what I'm reading very quickly regardless of whether or not it's in Spanish or English. I've become very good at reading spanish. Not quite as good on the verbal side but am working on it on a daily basis. Been practicing having normal conversations with friends and family. They've been good sports about it and have generally played along. Though they don't really have in depth knowledge of Spanish either. But back to my main point, I learned to comprehend spanish pretty early on. It's the other parts that I find more difficult.

[picklefingers]

With Spanish, I am pretty good. At least, I was pretty good. I haven't been practicing lately, though I'm sure I'll go right back once I start practicing again next school semester. I'd say I was about 65-75% of my English reading speed. It just takes learning how to read the sentence instead of the word. Focusing on each word is dreadfully slow. You need to learn how to take the entire sentence into context.

[Chris4Davi]

I think I am pretty fast at this as I love to read and read a lot, very fast too. Since you have made mention of this I think I would love to do a test, too see if my skills are still in tact. I do hope there is a website there somewhere that I can find to test my levels on.

[Verba]

I am not aware how fast I understand what I read. I just know that I accurately comprehend what I read. When I just browse a letter for instance and I'm engrossed with something else, I get the gist but I forget what it is about. Then when somebody reminds me, I remember that it's how I also understood it. So in terms of accuracy level, I know I can understand 100% but as to how quick or slow, I don't know. 

[Dora M]

Reading comprehension comes relatively easy to me. It only gets more complicated if I have to create language by myself. I often fall into the trap of trying to structure sentences in my native language, which doesn't really work that well. I can read an entire short story and understand everything in it, only afterwards I often have trouble to freely and fluently recount the story.

[hanseung]

I think I'm quite good at reading comprehension, but if there is a word I don't know, I end up staring at it for much too long. Sometimes I try to break down the word to see if I am able to understand it, but other times it is difficult. I do try to improve my reading comprehension by reading scripts and children's books, etc. I hope it will get better soon!