How Much of What You Read Do You Actually Keep? The Reading Effectiveness Scorecard
A lead-capture scorecard for reading and learning coaches, book-club hosts and L&D teams. 12 behavioural questions — what the taker last did, not how they'd describe themselves — produce a score out of 100 and a radar across Selection & Intent, Focus & Conditions, Active Engagement and Retention & Use. Because the four stages run in sequence, the report tells people to fix the earliest weak bar, not the lowest. Built as a complete funnel: every band has a share CTA, the result page carries a 30-…
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About this template
How Much of What You Read Do You Actually Keep? The Reading Effectiveness Scorecard is a free quiz template with 16 questions. Take the live preview above, then copy it into your own RooQuiz account — the questions, results and follow-up are all yours to edit before you publish.
What's inside: 16 questions
Every question below comes with the template, in this order. After you copy it, you can reword, reorder or remove any of them.
- Think of the last book or long piece you started. How did you end up with that one?I had a specific question and went looking for something that would answer it · It was on a running list of things I'd decided I needed to learn · Someone I trust recommended it · It was just in front of me — a feed, a shelf, a bestseller table
- Before opening a non-fiction book, how often do you write down what you want out of it?Almost always — a question or two, in writing · Often, though usually only in my head · Occasionally, for the more serious ones · Never — I just start at page one
- You're sixty pages in and the book clearly isn't useful. What actually happens?I stop, and note in one line why it didn't work · I skim the remaining chapter headings, then stop · I keep going out of obligation, more and more slowly · It joins the pile of half-read books and I feel vaguely guilty
- In a typical 30-minute reading session, how many times do you pick up your phone?Zero — it's off, or in another room · Once or twice · Three to five times · I couldn't count — I read in the gaps between notifications
- When did you last read for 45 minutes without switching to something else?Within the last few days · Within the last couple of weeks · I can think of one in the last few months · I'm not sure I've done that this year
- Where and when does most of your reading actually happen?A protected slot I've set aside, same place most days · Most evenings before bed, fairly reliably · Commutes and waiting rooms — whenever a gap appears · Scattered — wherever I am, whenever I remember
- What does your copy of a book look like once you've finished it?Marked up, with my own words in the margins and on the endpapers · Highlighted, with a few notes of my own · Some highlights, nothing written · Exactly as it looked when I got it
- An author makes a claim you're not sure about. What do you usually do?Stop and write down what would have to be true for it to hold · Push back mentally and read on watching for the evidence · Register that I'm sceptical and carry on · Take it as given — they wrote the book, after all
- How often do you stop mid-chapter and put what you just read into your own words?Deliberately, at the end of most chapters · Sometimes, when the material is hard · Rarely — only once I notice I've lost the thread · Never; I read straight through to the end
- Pick a non-fiction book you finished about a year ago. What can you produce right now?Its core argument, how it was built, and where I disagreed · The main argument and two or three supporting points · The general topic, plus a feeling about whether it was good · The title — and that I enjoyed it
- What happens to your notes and highlights after you close the book?They go somewhere I actually revisit, and I have reread them · They're saved somewhere organised, though I rarely go back · They stay in the book or the app, untouched · I don't keep notes
- In the last three months, how often has something you read changed what you actually did?Several times — I can name the change and roughly when I made it · Once or twice, concretely · It's shifted how I think, but nothing changed in practice · Honestly, not once
- Which of these is closest to you?I read for my job and almost none of it is translating into anything · I'm studying for something specific — an exam, a qualification, a role · I read a lot for pleasure and want more of it to stick · I'm trying to rebuild a reading habit from close to zero · I coach, teach or run a book club — I'm assessing this for other people
- How many books or long-form pieces do you actually finish in a typical month?None most months · About one · Two or three · Four or more
- Book club, team or course name (optional)
- If you could change one thing about how you read, what would it be? (optional)
What it measures
Answers are scored across 4 dimensions. Each respondent gets a score for every one, shown side by side on a radar chart.
Selection & Intent
Whether a book gets chosen against a question you actually have — and whether you can put it down when the answer isn't in there.
Focus & Conditions
Whether you are genuinely present while reading, and whether the time and place are protected rather than borrowed from gaps.
Active Engagement
Whether you argue with the text, restate it in your own words and leave marks behind — or simply let the sentences pass by.
Retention & Use
Whether anything survives a year later, whether your notes get reopened, and whether reading ever changes what you do.
Result levels
The total score places each respondent in one of 4 levels, each with its own message on the result page.
Consuming, Not Reading
Score below 35Right now reading is something that happens to you — books arrive, get consumed, and leave almost nothing behind. That isn't a discipline problem and it isn't about speed.
Reading Without a System
Score 35–58You read genuinely well in the moment — you focus, you follow the argument, you enjoy it. What's missing is anything that carries the book past the last page, which is why a year later you can name the topic but not the argument.
Deliberate Reader
Score 58–78You choose on purpose, you argue with the text, and you keep something. You're already doing what most people only intend to do. The remaining gap is almost always a single dimension, and usually not the one you'd guess — strong readers…
Compounding Reader
Score 78+This is where reading starts to compound: what you read this year makes next year's reading faster, because you have a structure to hang it on and you actually return to it. Two risks at this level.
How scoring works
There are no wrong answers: every option carries its own points. The points add up to an overall score — and, where the template defines dimensions, to a score for each one — so respondents get a personal breakdown instead of a pass or fail.
How to use this template
- Answer the live preview yourself to see exactly what a respondent sees, question by question.
- Copy it into your account — the questions, scoring logic and result pages all come with it.
- Rewrite the copy, add your own branding and call to action, then publish it on your own link or embed it on your site.