ReadCalc Blog

// Articles on reading, writing, speaking and content strategy

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• 27 Feb 2026 7 min read Reading
  How to Improve Your Reading Speed
  Speed readers claim 400+ WPM. For most people, anything above 400 sacrifices comprehension. Here's what actually works — and what's realistic.
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• 27 Feb 2026 6 min read Reading
  Reading Speed by Age: Benchmarks and What They Mean
  Children read slower. Teenagers read faster. Adults plateau. Older adults read slower again. Here's where you fit on the spectrum — and why the numbers change.
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• 27 Feb 2026 6 min read Reading
  Reading Speed by Profession: What You Actually Need
  Does a lawyer need to read faster than a journalist? Not really. They need different things. Here's how optimal reading speed varies across actual work — and what to do if you're reading at the wrong pace.
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• 06 Mar 2026 6 min read Writing
  How to Cut Word Count Without Losing Meaning
  Most writing can be cut by 20–30% without losing anything. Here are six editing passes — filler phrases, redundant pairs, weak qualifiers, nominalisations, throat-clearing openers, and whole sentences — with before/after examples for each.
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• 14 Feb 2026 5 min read Writing
  Active Voice vs Passive Voice: What's the Difference?
  Active voice is shorter, clearer, and more direct. Passive voice has its place too. Here's how to tell the difference — and the zombie test that makes spotting passive voice instant.
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• 14 Feb 2026 5 min read Writing
  How to Write Better Sentences
  Most weak writing comes down to six fixable sentence problems: filler openers, weak verbs, nominalisations, vague qualifiers, redundant pairs, and buried subjects. Here's how to diagnose and fix each one.
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• 14 Feb 2026 5 min read Readability
  How to Write for a Lower Reading Level
  Your grade level score came back too high. Here's how to bring it down without dumbing your content down — practical edits, word swaps, and before/after examples.
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• 14 Feb 2026 5 min read Readability
  Plain Language Writing Guide
  Plain language is the legal standard for government communication in the US, UK, Australia, and New Zealand — and good practice everywhere else. A practical guide to writing it well.
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• 14 Feb 2026 4 min read Readability
  Why Shorter Sentences Are Better
  Sentences under 8 words are understood 100% of the time. At 43 words, that drops to 10%. Here's the research behind sentence length — and how to use it deliberately.
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• 06 Mar 2026 5 min read Content Strategy
  How Long Should an Email Be?
  Most workplace emails should be 50–125 words. Cold outreach peaks at 75–100. Newsletters at ~200. Here's the research behind each number — and a checklist for trimming any email before you send.
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• 13 Feb 2026 5 min read Content Strategy
  How Long Should a Blog Post Be in 2026?
  The answer depends entirely on what you're trying to achieve. SEO-focused posts, social content, and long-form guides all have different ideal lengths — and the data might surprise you.
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• 14 Feb 2026 4 min read Content Strategy
  How Long Should a LinkedIn Post Be?
  LinkedIn gives you 3,000 characters but the optimal length is much shorter. Here's what actually performs on the platform — and why the first 210 characters matter more than everything else.
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• 10 Feb 2026 4 min read Reading
  Average Reading Speed: What the Research Actually Says
  225 words per minute is the figure you'll see everywhere — including on this site. But where does it come from, how does it vary by age and content type, and does it even matter?
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• 06 Feb 2026 4 min read Readability
  Flesch-Kincaid Explained: What Your Grade Level Score Actually Means
  Most content tools show you a grade level and leave you to figure it out. Here's what the score means, how it's calculated, and what level you should actually be writing at.
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• 19 Mar 2026 3 min read Speaking
  How Many Words Is a 3 Minute Speech?
  A 3 minute speech is roughly 420 words at average speaking pace. Here's the complete reference table for every common speech length — from a 1-minute elevator pitch to a 60-minute keynote.
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• 14 Feb 2026 3 min read Speaking
  How Many Words Is a 5 Minute Speech?
  A 5 minute speech is roughly 700 words at average speaking pace. Here's the complete reference table for every common speech length — from a 1-minute elevator pitch to a 60-minute keynote.
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• 19 Mar 2026 4 min read Speaking
  How Many Words Is a 10 Minute Speech?
  A 10 minute speech is roughly 1,400 words at average speaking pace. Here's the complete reference table for every common speech length — from a 1-minute elevator pitch to a 60-minute keynote.
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• 13 Mar 2026 6 min read Tools Writing
  How to Use a Mind Map (And Actually Think Clearer)
  Mind maps let you dump everything out first and organise it second — matching how you actually think. A practical guide to building maps from scratch, including every keyboard shortcut in the ReadCalc mind map tool.
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• 28 Jan 2026 4 min read Speaking
  Speaking Time vs Reading Time: Why They're So Different
  Reading time and speaking time use completely different averages — 225 WPM vs 140 WPM. Why the gap? And which one should you use when planning your content?
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• 28 Feb 2026 6 min read Reading
  Are Audiobooks Really Books? What the Research Actually Says
  Yes, audiobooks are books. And no, they're not the same thing. Both are true at once. Here's what the research says about comprehension, speed, and when each modality actually wins.
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• 31 Mar 2026 5 min read Content Strategy
  Readability vs. SEO: Finding the Right Balance
  Readable content and SEO-optimised content are mostly the same thing. Here's where they overlap, where they diverge, and how to stop optimising against yourself.
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