Reading Time Calculator NZ
This calculator estimates how long it will take to read a piece of text from its word count and your reading speed, useful for students sizing up study, writers and speakers timing a presentation, or anyone deciding whether an article fits the time they have. Reading time is simple in principle, the word count divided by how many words you read in a minute, but the right speed depends a lot on the situation, and that is where people go wrong. Silent reading for comprehension averages around two hundred and thirty words a minute for an adult, but dense or technical material is slower, skimming is faster, and reading aloud, as you would for a speech, drops to roughly one hundred and thirty to one hundred and fifty words a minute. You enter the number of words and choose or enter a reading speed, and the calculator returns the estimated reading time in minutes, and in hours and minutes for longer pieces. Use it to plan a study session around a chapter, to check a speech will fit its slot, or to set realistic expectations for how long a report will take to get through. Because everyone reads at a different pace and texts vary in difficulty, treat the figure as a guide. A quick, practical reading-time estimate.
Silent reading averages about 230 words a minute; reading aloud is slower. Difficulty and skimming change the pace. An estimate only.
How it works
The reading time in minutes is the word count divided by your reading speed in words per minute. The calculator also shows the time in hours and minutes for longer texts, and an estimate for reading aloud at about 140 words a minute, handy for speeches.
Worked example
A 5,000 word document at 230 words a minute takes about 21.7 minutes to read silently, or around 35.7 minutes read aloud at 140 words a minute.
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