RUDOLF FLESCH FORMULA: SKILLS TO WRITE NEWS

Rudolf Franz Flesch was an Austrian American readability expert. He was author,
writer and consultant with the Associated Press who helped improve the readability of
newspaper. He developed the Flesch formula which made it easy to enhance the
readability of English newspapers. He said if you want to learn how to write you need
the exact information and the right kind of language for your audience.

Flesch Reading Ease

In the Flesch reading-ease test, higher scores indicate material that is easier to read;
lower numbers mark passages that are more difficult to read. The formula for the
Flesch reading-ease score (FRES) test is
𝑻𝒐𝒕𝒂𝒍 𝑾𝒐𝒓𝒅𝒔 𝑻𝒐𝒕𝒂𝒍 𝑺𝒚𝒍𝒍𝒂𝒃𝒍𝒆𝒔
( )-( )
𝑻𝒐𝒕𝒂𝒍 𝑺𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒆𝒄𝒆𝒔 𝑻𝒐𝒕𝒂𝒍 𝑾𝒐𝒓𝒅𝒔

Scores can be interpreted as shown in the

table below.

Score School level Notes

Very easy to read. Easily understood byan average 11-

100.00-90.00 5th grade
year-old student.

Easy to read. Conversational English forconsumers.

90.0–80.0 6th grade

80.0–70.0 7th grade Fairly easy to read.

Plain English. Easily understood by 13-to 15-year-old
70.0–60.0 8th & 9th grade
students.
10th to 12th
60.0–50.0 Fairly difficult to read.
grade
50.0–30.0 College Difficult to read.
College Very difficult to read. Best understood byuniversity
30.0–0.0
graduate graduates.
Flesch Formula – a readability index
The Flesch Formula is a readability index. Its score range from zero to 100. The
higher the score, the easier the text is to read and understand.

 100 = The passage is extremely easy to read and understand.

 65 = The passage is relatively easy to read and understand.
 30 = The passage is difficult to read and understand.
 0 = The passage is extremely difficult to read and understand.
According to Flesch, shorter words and sentences are easier to read and understand
than long ones.