Schulte Tables: What They Train and What They Don’t
A simple grid of numbers from psychology, now a popular focus warm-up among people practising speed reading.
A Schulte table is a grid of randomly placed numbers that you find in order as fast as you can. It's a visual search and attention task, and a nice short warm-up. There's no good evidence that it improves reading speed, because getting better at the grid doesn't seem to carry over to reading (Rayner et al., 2016).
Where Schulte Tables Come From
The tables are named after the German psychiatrist Walter Schulte, and were used in psychology as a simple test of attention and mental work rate.
Speed reading courses later adopted them, claiming that the grid trains the same skills as fast reading. That claim is the weak part: finding numbers scattered on a grid is a different task from following language along a line, and the research doesn’t show that practising one improves the other.
Rough 5×5 Practice Times
Rough times for a 25-cell grid. These are our own practice guidelines, not research norms, and they don't measure reading speed:
| Rough guide | 5×5 time | Avg Cell Latency | What it usually means |
|---|---|---|---|
| Very quick | < 25.0 seconds | < 1,000 ms | You've practised this task a lot |
| Advanced | 25.0 – 35.0 seconds | 1,000 – 1,400 ms | Quick and steady search |
| Typical | 35.0 – 50.0 seconds | 1,400 – 2,000 ms | Normal for most people |
| Getting started | > 50.0 seconds | > 2,000 ms | Normal when you're new to it |
⚡ Test Your Visual Search Speed
Free Interactive GridPractice on SpeedReadTest's interactive Schulte Table Trainer. Features customizable 3x3 to 7x7 grid sizes, a center focus marker, a timer and sound effects.
Launch Schulte Table Trainer→How To Do It
Look at the center and take in as much of the grid as you can.
Tap 1, then 2, and so on. Try to keep your eyes near the center, but don't worry if they move.
Note your time and try to beat it. You'll improve at the grid quickly, which is a good feeling, but it won't tell you about your reading speed.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is a Schulte table and how does it work?▼
A Schulte table is a grid of randomly placed numbers, usually 1 to 25 in a 5×5 grid, named after the German psychiatrist Walter Schulte. You find the numbers in order as quickly as you can. It is a visual search and attention task.
Should you keep your eyes on the center of the table?▼
That’s the usual advice, and it makes the task harder, so it’s a good focus challenge. In practice you can’t read small numbers far from where you’re looking, so your eyes will move a little. That’s fine.
Do Schulte tables improve reading speed?▼
There is no good evidence that they do. They give you practice at visual search, and you’ll get faster at the grid itself, but that hasn’t been shown to carry over to reading (Rayner et al., 2016). Use them as a short focus warm-up.
What are the benefits of Schulte tables?▼
They give you practice at visual search and at holding attention on a simple task, and you will get faster at the grid itself. Many people use them as a short focus warm-up. Those gains have not been shown to carry over to reading speed (Rayner et al., 2016), so measure your reading separately.