SMOG READING ANALYSIS AND RYGOR READING ESTIMATES

SMOG
Readability
Formula
The SMOG formula is a recommended and tested method for grading
the readability of written materials. The method is quick, simple to
use and particularly useful for shorter materials, e.g., a study's
information pamphlet or consent form.
Harry McLaughin Ph. D

1. Count 10 consecutive sentences
near the beginning, middle, and
end of your material (30 total
sentences).
Using the SMOG Formula:

2. Count every word with three or
more syllables in the 30
sentences, even if the same word
appears more than once

3. Add the total number of words
counted. Use the SMOG
Conversion Table to find the
grade level.

4. If your material has fewer than 30
sentences, follow the instructions for
“SMOG on Shorter Passages” and
use SMOG Conversion Table II.

 A sentence is any string or words ending in a period,
exclamation point or question mark.
 Words with hyphens count as one word.
 Proper nouns are counted.
 Read numbers out loud to decide the number of
syllables.
Word Counting Rules:

 In long sentences with colons or semicolons followed by a list,
count each part of the list with the beginning phrase of the
sentence as an individual sentence.
 Count abbreviations as if they were not abbreviated.
 Do not count verbs ending in “ed” or “es” that make the word
have a third syllable.

(for longer materials) Word Count Grade Level
0 - 2 4
3 – 6 5
7 – 12 6
13 – 20 7
21 – 30 8
31 – 42 9
43 – 56 10
57 – 72 11
73 – 90 12
91 – 110 13
111 – 132 14
133 – 156 15
157 – 182 16
183 – 210 17
211 – 240 18
SMOG Conversion Table I

 Use this formula and SMOG Conversion Table II for
material containing less than 30 sentences, but no less
than 10 sentences.
 Count the total number of sentences in the material.
 Count the number of words with 3 or more syllables.
SMOG for Shorter Passages (<30
sentences)

 Find the total number of sentences and the
corresponding conversion number in SMOG
Conversion Table II.
 Multiply the total number of words with 3 or more
syllables by the conversion number. Use this number
as the word count to find the correct grade level from
Table I.

(for use with less than 30 sentences) Number of Sentences Conversion #
29 1.03
28 1.07
27 1.1
26 1.15
25 1.2
24 1.25
23 1.3
22 1.36
21 1.43
20 1.5
19 1.58
18 1.67
17 1.76
16 1.87
15 2.0
14 2.14
13 2.3
12 2.5
11 2.7
SMOG Conversion Table II

 A sentence is defined as a string of words punctuated with
a period, an exclamation mark, or a question mark.
Consider long sentences with a semi-colon as two
sentences.
 Hyphenated words are considered as one word.
 Numbers which are written should be counted. If written
in numeric form, they should be pronounced to determine
if they are polysyllabic.
 Proper nouns, if polysyllabic, should be counted.
 Abbreviations should be read as though unabbreviated to
determine if they are polysyllabic. However, abbreviations
should be avoided unless commonly known.
When using the SMOG formula:

 If the written piece being graded is shorter than 30
sentences, approach it as follows:
 Count all of the polysyllabic words in the test.
 Count the number of sentences.
 Find the average number of polysyllabic words per
sentence, i.e.:
Total # of polysyllabic words
Average = Total # of sentences
 Multiply that average by the average number of
sentences short of 30.
 Add that figure on to the total number of
polysyllabic words.
 Compare the number of polysyllabic words in the
SMOG conversion table.

The Raygor
Readability Estimate
this readability formula is designed specifically for
middle/secondary level reading material. More reliable
than formulas like the Fry Readability Graph (1977) that
include syllable counts, the Raygor count is also easer to
determine.
Alton Raygor (1977)

Step 1
The Raygor is really a lot simpler than it appears at first.
The first step is to count out three 100-word passages,
from the beginning, middle, and end of a book. The
results of the Raygor are averaged out over these three
passages. Don't count any numerals unless written out
as numbers – i.e., do not count “43” but do count
“forty-three”.
STEPS in conducting The Raygor
Readability

Step 2
Next, count how many sentences you have. If the 100-
word limit breaks a sentence in two, count all the words
in that sentence, then estimate how many tenths of the
sentence are used in your 100-word count. For instance,
if you had 15 words in the entire sentence and only
seven were part of your 100-word
count, you would estimate .5 (15/7 = 2 1/7 = .5).

Step 3
Now take the 100-word passage and underline the
words with 6 or more letters. Count how many
words are in the passage.

Step 4
To plot the results on the Raygor, find the total number
of sentences in your passage on the vertical axis (left
column) of the Raygor scale and place a dot on the
margin closest to your number. Next find the number of
words having six (6) or more letters on the horizontal
axis (bottom scale) and again place a dot closest to that
number. Now find the place where the dots intersect on
the graph to arrive at your grade level. Remember that
the grade level is only valid within the “parallel” lines. If
your plot is in the top left area of the grid or the bottom
right (outside of the parallel lines) your total is invalid
for the purposes of the estimate.

SMOG READING ANALYSIS AND RYGOR READING ESTIMATES

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SMOG READING ANALYSIS AND RYGOR READING ESTIMATES

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