There have been some modifications in recent versions to account for modern vocabulary but if anything I would say that the word list in today’s reading tests have become simplified compared to 70 years ago.
Here is a video of a modern corrective reading test in action – decide for yourself if standards have dropped :
A reading age test is given to representative groups of children of different ages. The average score for each group is calculated and this corresponds to the standard we set – the score we would ‘expect’ for a child of that age. Other chioldrens reading age test results are compared to these. Detail info on reading test results is is available on request.
There is a clear link between reading age a pupil’s attainment at GCSE – not surpirising really since written papers require reading and a higher reading age will help pupils understand the questions.
I thought it was about time for me to test my son’s reading age so I went ahead and gave him a reading age test – the results of his reading age test were quite pleasing – he is 9 but was coming out with a reading age of 11.3 . I think his high reading age is down to the school giving him lots of fresh reading material and us reading with him at night.
Reading is something we do from a young age but often give little thought to the reading process. Reading should be an enjoyable process and the imagination should flow. There tends to be a trend of increased enjoyment with increased reading age so finding your reading age can be quite important. I am trying to put together this site as an information portal all about the process of reading and more information about reading – in particluar reading ages should appear soon.
