Can anyone explain to me what a reading level is supposed to be?

I keep hearing that phrase. Reading level. Like her reading level is like a12th grader or his is at grade 6th and this makes utterly no sense to me. How exactly does this work? I mean you can either read or you can't. What does reading level mean. Is it the amount of words you can't understand or something? How does it work and how is it measured?

A 1st grader and a 4th grader are generally at different reading levels. 1st graders are working on short chapter books but 4th graders for the most part have mastered it and can read longer books.

A 7 year old can't understand a high school or college textbook. There are too many words and it's too complicated for them.

I'm not sure what decides each reading level but it's basically what that grade or age group should be able to understand. Sometimes people are above or below that.

Huh? How exactly is these supposed to work. I can get how a kid may get bored and stop reading but this isn't preventing him from actually reading longer books
And I can get how younger kids wouldn't understand say some biology or chemical terms but so wouldn't most older people who forgot the stuff the learned in high school

So I still don't get. Is it basically a measurement of how fast you get bored while reading?

I don't really know how else to explain it. It doesn't have to do with boredom. It's about how much they can understand and process.

Can you give me an example maybe?

Like Les Misérables . I am guessing this books is studied in a higher grade. if someone younger reads it what exactly won't they understand? Some of the more obscure terms or something? Is it about reading speed maybe?

If you give a 1st grader Les Mis and tell her to read it, she'll give it a shot and then look at you like what the fuck is this.

Give Les Mis to a college student and she can probably understand most of it, if not all of it.

Or give a 1st grader a book meant for kids about that age and she'll read it in a decent pace and understand most of it, maybe have a few questions. Give that book to a senior in high school and it'll take them like 3 minutes to read and they'll understand it all.

Does that make sense?

maggiemay wrote:If you give a 1st grader Les Mis and tell her to read it, she'll give it a shot and then look at you like what the fuck is this.

Give Les Mis to a college student and she can probably understand most of it, if not all of it.

Or give a 1st grader a book meant for kids about that age and she'll read it in a decent pace and understand most of it, maybe have a few questions. Give that book to a senior in high school and it'll take them like 3 minutes to read and they'll understand it all.

Does that make sense?

Hmm kinda. Do you mean the more obscure terms? Words they haven't learned yet? Is that what they don't understand? Or is it about the pace? Kinda like you read Les Mis in two days at the highest level, five days and the lower one and so on?

That's part of it. It's mostly just that they don't understand everything right away.

reading level is about reading comprehension. They can read the words, or at least to some degree but it doesn't mean they are able to fully comprehend what they are reading.

It goes beyond the simple act of reading the words. The higher the 'reading level' the better one can read and understand more complex sentences. Children's books use simple words and simple sentence structure. Even the plots are very simple. It's all very basic stuff.

But as the reading level goes up, just like in a video game, everything becomes a bit more complex. Plots are no longer quite as simple. The sentence structure becomes... well more complex(unlike this post. HA!) Also metaphors and symbolism are more present.

The higher ones reading level, the better the person has to catch on to the fact that there is symbolism. I mean sometimes a red ball is just a red ball... other times it...

well right now I wish I knew a story where a red ball had some symbolism. I can only think of the American Dad episode where Steve trains himself to lucid dream and his sign is a well bouncing red ball.

Anyways. Reading Level is more about being able to comprehend what you are reading then actually being able to read the words or not.

Just my two cents.

Oh and I guess this is more or less how I understand and well define Reading Levels.

UNIIIIIIIIIIIIIIITTTTTTTTT YOU CAME BACK TO US!!!!!!!

Hmm interesting...yeah I guess I can get the leveling up thing. Like how you can kinda of instinctively expect when the new enemies come and which levels have traps and ambushes based on the design.......

Still seems like a silly concept to have since some people just don't care about reading but I guess it is nice for those who put the effort to officially know that they have achieved some kind of a new level