Features Set:  

Ultimate Speed Reader has over 200 reading passages for their Eye Movement, Newspaper Reading, Paced Reading and Timed Reading exercises. You can choose the Training Program, which will guide you through each of the exercises. After each exercise, you are given a comprehension test about the reading passage.

Reading Warm–ups and the Eye Max Game will test your peripheral vision. Stare at the center of your computer screen and words or letters are flashed around the periphery of your vision.

Children and adults can use Ultimate Speed Reader. The program doesn’t have specific grade levels, but users can manually adjust the words per minute (WPM) rate, which will benefit all ages.

The program doesn’t flash words or groups of words like some of the other products we reviewed; instead, the full text is displayed while groups of words are bolded as you follow along.

Ease of Use:  

Ultimate Speed Reader has a homepage (main screen), which identifies each section of the program. From each page, users can click on the main screen button to return to the homepage.

When you click on each section, a woman’s voice will briefly explain what the exercise does and how to begin.

The program doesn’t have a Back or Forward browsing button or menu toolbar for easier navigation, so some users may become annoyed if they want to change the settings of an exercise after they begin. To do this, you must return to the main screen and start the exercise again.

In addition, the program chooses the reading passages for you. You can manually choose another reading passage, but you can’t scroll through a list to choose a passage, you must continually click on the “New Passage” button to find a specific text.

Ease of Installation/Setup:  

Ultimate Speed Reader will work on Windows 2000, XP and Vista. You can order the program from the Knowledge Adventure website or call their customer service number. You will receive an installation CD in the mail. Installation takes about three minutes and you’re ready to go.

Help/Support:  

You can contact Knowledge Adventure’s customer service by phone or email. We sent them an email with several questions and they provided helpful answers within a couple of days.

Ultimate Speed Reader is a good program with a collection of 200 stories and essays as well as a variety of speed reading exercises. Each user is tested to establish their reading speed, so beginner to advanced readers can use the speed reading software. Ultimate Speed Reader doesn't allow users to manually adjust the reading speed and it can be tedious to manually select a preferred text.

Check out the top three rated programs in speed reading software: The Reader's Edge, Ace Reader Pro and RocketReader.