Another Readability Option
The Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level Index
While the SMOG Readability Formula is an easy way to determine readability, another
option is the Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level Index. This test is automatically calculated on
your Microsoft Word documents. After Microsoft Word completes a grammar check
(under tools in the tool bar), readability statistics are displayed.
One of the formulas that is similar to the SMOG formula is the Flesch-Kincaid formula.
This index computes readability based on the average number of syllables per word and
the average number of words per sentence. The score in this case indicates a grade-school
level. For example, a score of 8.0 means that an eighth grader would understand the
document. Standard writing approximately equates to the seventh- to eighth-grade level.