Candidates will be given an unpublished novel and permitted two hours to read it. They will then have 30 minutes to answer comprehension questions.

Candidates finishing before the two-hour cut-off point raise a hand, so that the arbiter can note their finishing time: they then hand in their books, duly marked with their names. Candidates who do not finish by the cut-off point, mark the point to which they have read, put their names on their books, and hand them in.

To find their effective reading speed, the candidates will be marked as follows: Number of pages read times the number of words on page, divided by time. This gives reading speed words per minute. The arbiter then awards marks out of 100 for each comprehension paper. The resultant percentage is applied to the reading speed to give effective reading speed (the final result for each candidate).
Examples:

• if the candidate reads at 500 words per minute and comprehension is 50%, then the effective reading speed is 250 words per minute.
• if the candidate reads at 1000 words per minute and comprehension is 51%, then effective reading speed is 510 words per minute.