ONE MINUTE READING TEST
Instructions to child
"Read the words for me across the page out loud. When you finish a line, go down to the next one. Read carefully
but as quickly as you can. I'll stop you in a minute. Off you go."
Score
Number of words read correctly in one minute.
Norms
The norms, though of unknown provenance, are for English speaking children and offer "reading age" equivalents for
reading speeds ranging from 2 to 0.5 seconds per word. These 158 words are all of one syllable and, not being
connected in sentences, impose a strategy of one fixation per word. Though artificial, this provides a useful
standard format for measurement purposes.
See, also, the norms appended for university students based on data collected by Michael Lock, consulting
psychologist, and contributed by him to the Dyslexia Institute Psychologists e-group. They remain unpublished.
Source
Transvaal Education Department, April 1987.
Martin Turner
Head of Psychology
Dyslexia Institute
14th March 2001
page 1
One-Minute Reading Test
Score Score Score
31 6:6 61 8:7 91 10:11
32 6:7 62 8:7 92 11:0
33 6:9 63 8:8 93 11:1
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34 6:11 64 8:8 94 11:2
35 7:0 65 8:9 95 11:4
36 7:2 66 8:10 96 11:5
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37 7:4 67 8:10 97 11:6
38 7:5 68 8:11 98 11:7
39 7:6 69 8:11 99 11:8
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40 7:6 70 9:0 100 11:10
41 7:7 71 9:1 101 11:11
42 7:7 72 9:2 102 12:0
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43 7:8 73 9:4 103 12:1
44 7:8 74 9:5 104 12:2
45 7:9 75 9:6 105 12:3
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46 7:10 76 9:7 106 12:4
47 7:10 77 9:8 107 12:5
48 7:11 78 9:10 108 12:6
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49 7:11 79 9:11 109 12:7
50 8:0 80 10:1 110 12:8
51 8:1 81 10:1 111 12:8
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52 8:1 82 10:2 112 12:9
53 8:2 83 10:3 113 12:10
54 8:2 84 10:4 114 12:11
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55 8:3 85 10:5 115 13:0
56 8:4 86 10:6 116 13:2
57 8:4 87 10:7 117 13:4
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58 8:5 88 10:8 118 13:6
59 8:5 89 10:9 119 13:8
60 8:6 90 10:10 120 13:10
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ONE-MINUTE READING T EST
is me on at by so us 7
an it or be to as he 14
of in go up am if no 21
we my ox do the and for 28
but him are can she dog let 35
you not was out try see mix 42
cat now boy saw bit met top 49
run man pet lot get dig van 56
bad red cup bee lit pin had 63
ran pen nut big old yet rob 70
gun leg fun lip new fog has 77
sit sly wig mud box ink sat 84
end cut pay fed who six lad 91
met dry cow his peg tin say 98
eat any far set bud kid pup 105
fox ask egg cab ill use jam 112
all pit got sad tea sky one 119
yes fur act toe her own ten 126
arm rock gone feel that rich 132
till long flat this part foot 138
maid upon came mile back 143
sand time said then wall 148
into were done walk much 153
loss seen went with come 158
page 3
Performance norms on the One Minute Reading Test1 derived from 192 University referrals for
dyslexia assessment age 18 – 29 (Mn 119.2 wpm, SD 28.5). Michael Lock, February 2001.
WPM Percentile WPM Percentile WPM Percentile WPM Percentile WPM Percentile
200 99.7 164 95 128 62 92 16 56 1
199 99.7 163 93 127 62 91 16 55 1
198 99.7 162 93 126 58 90 16 54 1
197 99.7 161 93 125 58 89 14 53 1
196 99.7 160 92 124 58 88 14 52 0.8
195 99.7 159 92 123 54 87 14 51 0.8
194 99.5 158 92 122 54 86 12 50 0.8
193 99.5 157 90 121 54 85 12 49 0.6
192 99.5 156 90 120 50 84 12 48 0.6
191 99.4 155 90 119 50 83 10 47 0.6
190 99.4 154 88 118 50 82 10 46 0.5
189 99.2 153 88 117 46 81 10 45 0.5
188 99.2 152 88 116 46 80 8 44 0.5
187 99.2 151 86 115 46 79 8 43 0.4
186 99 150 86 114 42 78 8 42 0.4
185 99 149 84 113 42 77 7 41 0.4
184 99 148 84 112 38 76 7 40 0.3
183 99 147 84 111 38 75 5 39 0.3
182 99 146 82 110 38 74 5 38 0.3
181 99 145 82 109 34 73 5 37 0.2
180 98 144 82 108 34 72 4 36 0.2
179 98 143 79 107 34 71 4 35 0.1
178 98 142 79 106 31 70 4 34 0.1
177 98 141 79 105 31 69 4 33 0.1
176 98 140 76 104 31 68 4 32 0.1
175 98 139 76 103 27 67 4 31 0.1
174 97 138 76 102 27 66 3 30 0.1
173 97 137 73 101 27 65 3 29 0.07
172 97 136 73 100 24 64 3 28 0.07
171 96 135 73 99 24 63 2 27 0.07
170 96 134 69 98 24 62 2 26 0.05
169 96 133 69 97 21 61 2 25 0.05
168 96 132 66 96 21 60 2 24 0.05
167 96 131 66 95 21 59 2 23 0.03
166 95 130 66 94 18 58 2 22 0.03
165 95 129 62 93 18 57 1 21 0.03
20 0.02
1
Transvaal Education Department. One Minute Reading Test. Transvaal Education Department, South Africa, April 1987.
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