I have a vague memory from my childhood—I was likely five or six years old. It was in a random room with other kids and an unnamed adult who read us a book. Most of the context has been lost to time, but I’m pretty sure the book was a Harold and the Purple Crayon title.

After the book was read, we kids were separated back into other rooms with other adults and asked a series of questions about the book: Who was the main character? What was he doing? What color was his shirt? Etcetera, etcetera. At the time, this seemed redundant to me. I knew the right answers because the book had just been read. Did these random adults need me, a child, to give them the answers to these simple questions?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hcS66tkuNPE

In hindsight, this memory makes much more sense. Now as one of those random adults myself, it dawned on me that this was some reading comprehension test. My parents had shipped me off to some secret laboratory to be evaluated to ensure I could retain the information once it was read from a book.

What would have baffled my young mind even more would have been to realize that some of the kids in that room didn’t fully comprehend everything they heard. They likely didn’t answer all of the questions correctly. Not trying to pass judgment—that’s just the statistical likelihood and the reason why that test was being administered in the first place.

Reading comprehension is how well we understand and retain the material. It varies depending on the person, circumstances, and the reading material. The average person will retain more from shorter or simpler work and while reading in a distraction-free environment. Add in a reading disability, a complex textbook, or an annoying child, and reading comprehension

Reading without comprehension is just looking at meaningless symbols on a page.

Reading comprehension goes hand-in-hand with its sibling concept: reading retention.