Nelson-Denny Reading Test

The Nelson-Denny Reading Test aims to measure the reading abilities of high school and college students. It is primarily used to screen reading problems which is correlated with academic performance and efficiency of educational interventions. However, the Nelson-Denny Reading Test cannot be utilized in diagnosing reading disorders.

It has two subtests: vocabulary and comprehension; both are multiple-choice items with five response options.

The vocabulary subtest has 80 items while the comprehension subtest requires the student to read five passages and answer 38 items. The questions were drawn from textbooks being used in high school and college levels. The duration of the test administration is about 45 minutes. The vocabulary portion is timed for 15 minutes while the reading comprehension portion is timed for 20 minutes. The other minutes are spent for the instructions. This tool was created by M.S. Nelson and E.C. Denny in 1929. This has been revised several times with the most recent update in 2018.