Reading Speed Test (Words Per Minute)

Test your reading speed

This simply times how fast you read — no microphone. Tap start, read the passage at your normal pace, then tap stop to get your words-per-minute. IELTS, TOEFL and GRE reward 200+ wpm with good comprehension.

About this tool

Measure your reading speed in words per minute and build the pace you need to finish IELTS, TOEFL and GRE reading on time. LandingPrep is a 100% free platform for IELTS, TOEFL, PTE, CELPIP, Duolingo, GRE and GMAT preparation. Use this tool alongside our free full-length mock tests and speaking & writing practice to plan exactly what score you need and how to reach it.

What your words-per-minute score means

These are the bands this tool scores you against. They assume you actually read the passage for comprehension — skimming inflates the number without helping you answer questions.

Reading speed only matters alongside comprehension. A 400 wpm skim that misses the writer's argument is worth less than a careful 200 wpm read.

Why reading speed decides timed reading sections

• IELTS Academic Reading gives you 60 minutes for three passages and 40 questions — including the time to find and check each answer, not just to read.
• The bottleneck is usually re-reading, not raw speed. Every time you lose the thread and go back to the top of a paragraph, you pay twice.
• Build speed by reading more, not faster. Twenty minutes a day of real academic prose (news analysis, journal abstracts, long-form features) moves your pace far more reliably than speed-reading drills.
• Practise reading for structure first — what each paragraph does, not just what it says. Knowing where an answer lives is faster than re-scanning the whole passage.
• Retest every couple of weeks rather than daily; this tool rotates passages so you're not just re-reading a text you already know.

How to read the result — and where it stops being reliable

Use the output as a planning figure and verify it at the point it matters. Everything here is built on published scales and official tables, and those change without notice. The version on the awarding body's own page is the only one that counts when you are committing money or a deadline to it.

If this points you toward more preparation, there are 181 free IELTS practice tests here covering 3,850 questions — counted from the test files, not estimated — across Reading, Listening, Writing, Speaking. Take a full timed IELTS mock →

Before you rely on this figure

Check the date on the source. Scales, fees and requirements are revised on their own schedules and rarely announce themselves. Anything you are committing money or a deadline to should be confirmed against the awarding body's current page on the day you commit, not the day you planned.

Keep a record of what you checked and when. If a requirement changes between your application and a decision, having the version you relied on — with its date — is occasionally worth a great deal and costs you a screenshot.

Reading Speed Test (Words Per Minute) is free and the calculation runs entirely in your browser: the values you type are not transmitted to us and are not saved — they disappear when you close the tab. (Like every page here, this one loads Google Analytics, which records the page visit itself; it does not receive what you enter.) The tool is provided for planning — confirm any figure you rely on with the test maker, university or lender directly.