At what level is a student reading if they misread 35 words in a 500-word text?

The student reading level can be assessed based on the number of words they misread in a given text. In this case, misreading 35 words in a 500-word text indicates a significant challenge. The instructional level typically refers to the level at which a student can read with some support, which is generally characterized by misreading approximately 1 in 10 words, or around 10% of the text.

In this scenario, the student's misreading percentage is 7% (35 out of 500 words), suggesting they are somewhat close to being able to handle the text with appropriate guidance. Therefore, the instructional level is appropriate, as the student is not yet proficient enough to read independently without errors but can still benefit from support and instruction.

The independent level would imply that the student can read the text with minimal or no errors, which is not the case here. The other terms, unsatisfactory and merit level, are less commonly used in this specific context of reading assessments and do not accurately reflect the reading difficulties presented by this student.