How to Use the Flesch-Kincaid Reading Level Indix

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. However, for most documents, the recommended reading level is around the sixth grade.