I thought the discussion of the
WSJ elsewhere in OT might be enhanced if one could compare reading levels needed to comprehend various publications. A web search turned up the Lexile analyzer. Of course it must be used with caution for reasons too numerous to list. Still, some might find it of interest for comparing relative difficulty / estimated reading levels of different publications.
My
first test was the passage
linked elsewhere from the
WSJ regarding money flows into inflation-protected bonds / bond funds. It came back at a level of 1410-1600. I’m unable to provide a link, but my reading suggests that 1300 - 1500 represents the approximate level of a well prepared college junior or senior. Another source put a high school graduate’s expected level in the 1,000-1200 range.
I’ll run a couple more tests and add the results here.
The
second test used the passage from the
NYT (linked thru a secondary source) about the WSJ. It too came back at the 1410-1600 reading level - identical to what the WSJ scored.
My
third test used a passage from
The Motly Fool appearing on the discussion board recently. It came back with a 1,000-1200 Lexile reading level, commensurate with a high school graduate’s expected reading level, but lower than what the WSJ and NYT scored.
Tests
four and
five used text from
USA Today and
CNBC. Both scored 1410-1600 on the Lexile analyzer. That surprised me, as I consider the NYT and WSJ to read at a noticeably higher level.
Here’s a link to the text analyzer:
https://hub.lexile.com/analyzer
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