Cloze readability

Cloze Readability

The Cloze test dates back to 1953. Cloze was a psychologist who developed this easy method to simulate reader comprehension of a piece of text. You want your most important parts of your document to be understandable. In other words, you do not want your readers guessing at what you are saying. This test is a fast way to get an idea of how effectively you are conveying your message.

Take a paragraph of text
Blank out every fifth word
Have a reader fill in the blanks (This is buy your roommate a pizza time!)
Count the number of correct words - these must match exactly the words that were in the original text - synonyms do not count
Use the following formula to arrive at a percentage:

# of correct words/# of total blanks = ___%

Anything under 40% needs to be re-written. Readers are guessing far too much at what you are saying. 40-60% is OK, but you may want to revisit certain words that you use. Over 60% is the target that you want to achieve to ensure that you text is as comprehensible as it can be.