How to Find Out the Reading Level of a Book

Knowing the reading level of a book is critical for reading comprehension. There are multiple ways to find out the reading level of a book. Often, the reading level, or an age range, is provided on the book itself. You could also contact the publisher to find out what the reading level is. However, if you are trying to select a book for your child to read or a book for your classroom to read, then you might need to figure the reading level yourself. There are a few ways to do this, but these steps are probably the easiest and to follow. They are called the SMOG formula. The SMOG formula looks at both sentence length and vocabulary level to determine the reading level. The result of the SMOG formula will give you the independent reading level of the book. That is the level at which the book could be read independently, or without any instruction or help.

Instructions

1. To find out the reading level of a book, start by counting the first ten sentences of the book, ten in the middle of the book, and the last ten sentences of the book. Those are the sentences that you are going to analyze.

2. Count how many words in those thirty sentences have three or more syllables. If a three syllable word is repeated, then it would be counted each time. The total number you count is your polysyllabic word count.

3. Take the square root of the polysyllabic word count. The easiest way to do this is to put the total number into a calculator and then hit the square root symbol. The number you get is the square root. If the number is a decimal number (such as 7.29), then round it up or down to the nearest whole number. That is your number (in this case, 7).

4. Now, add three to the square root of the number you got. If the square root was 4, then you would add three to it to get 7. The new number (the square root of the total number of polysyllabic words plus three) is the estimated independent reading level of that book.

Tips & Warnings

• It is important to find out the reading level of a book because it may be higher or lower than it seems.

• Textbooks are not always written on the grade level that they are supposed to be used for. That can make reading comprehension difficult.