5 Reading Apps for Teenagers

Acceleread Speed Reading Trainer

This speed reading app from BananaBox Inc. is free with $9.99 upgrades for the iPad and iPhone

This app isn't just about speed, kids. It's about effectiveness. This app is designed to help you read and comprehend passages faster and more accurately. It also helps you curb that mind-wandering in the middle of complex passages and focus on the content. The only thing it doesn't do? Put your socks in the laundry hamper.

It's a no-brainer. If you can increase the retention and comprehension of info that you're reading even minutely, why not give it a shot?

Goodreads

What a dream! The free Goodreads app is full of features for readers. You know how you're always getting book recommendations from your friends but then you read the books and think, "I would NOT have picked that?" Well, this reading app is perfect for you. Here, you can get personalized recommendations and discover new books based on your own tastes in reading. Rate and review books to share with others. Scan barcodes of books in which you're interested and find reviews in a snap before you buy. Join online book clubs and find literary events near you. This app is perfect for reluctant readers, too, because it zones in on things they like to make recommendations that they may never have found elsewhere.

Think of all the cashola you'll save by reading the reviews before you download the books!

QuotEd Reading Comprehension

QuotEd costs $9.99. Use it to increase your reading comprehension in bits and pieces. This method is a pretty smart way to go at it. Why? Reading is a skill that's mastered by repetition. This reading app is all about repetition! The app gives you one quotation and reading comprehension question each weekday with explanations of each answer choice. It's simple and perfect for on the go reading training.

If you hate reading or really can't stand the thought of sitting down and reading passage after passage of information in which you have zero interest, then this is a quick, easy way to work on your skills without even knowing you're doing it. 

Complete Nelson Denny Study Guide

Complete Test Prep costs $14.99. Although this app is specifically geared toward the Nelson Denny Reading Comprehension Test, an exam designed to test the reading ability of high school and college students, this app can help students understand more of what they read no matter what it is. It includes in-depth tutorials for various reading skills (main idea, inferences, author's purpose, etc.), along with reading tricks to help you make the most of your time on any standardized test. There are two complete practice exams with detailed explanations, so you can get a lot of practicing done at once! 

Kaplan's ACT Quiz U

Arcadia Prep, Inc. is free with $5.99 in-app purchases for all the questions. You get more than you bargain for with this download. Sure, you probably don't want to prep for math when you're looking for reading apps but the reading portion of this app makes the download completely worth it. Take a free timed diagnostic quiz to tell you which topic to focus on in your reading so you can forego the main idea questions, for instance, in lieu of the vocabulary in context questions if you keep missing those. Get immediate feedback on your overall progress as you move through the tests and detailed explanations so you know what you're missing. 

It's the ACT in a nutshell. Since the ACT tests reading in every single subject area, you'll only get better if you complete all the sections.