Typing test: words per minute and accuracy
A 1, 2 or 5 minute English typing test with exam-style passages: gross and net words per minute, accuracy, the words you got wrong, and your best score kept on this device.
Pick a length, click in the box and start typing the passage. Your speed is shown when the time is up or when you press Finish.
How the score is worked out
Typing speed is measured in words per minute, where a "word" is five characters including spaces and punctuation. That convention means a long word counts for more than a short one, which is fair, and it lets tests with different passages be compared. The page counts everything you typed, compares it character by character with the passage, and reports:
gross WPM = characters typed ÷ 5 ÷ minutes net WPM = gross WPM − (uncorrected errors ÷ minutes) accuracy = correct characters ÷ characters typed × 100
Net words per minute is the number that matters; it is what most tests and most employers mean by typing speed. An error you go back and fix with Backspace does not count against net speed, but the time you spent fixing it does, which is how it works in an exam too.
Reading your result
- Under 25 net WPM: you are looking at the keys. Learn the home row (A S D F for the left hand, J K L ; for the right) and practise ten minutes a day without looking; speed follows accuracy, never the other way round.
- 25 to 40: the working range for most office jobs and the bar many clerical exams set. Accuracy above 95% matters more than another five words of speed.
- 40 to 60: comfortable. Errors now cost more than slowness; slow down slightly on the words you typically miss.
- Above 60: fast. At this level the passage's punctuation and capital letters are where the errors hide.
Exam typing tests
Government recruitment tests (SSC, state PSCs, high courts, banks, railway clerical posts) state their bar in the notification, and two conventions exist. Some give words per minute over a set passage and time. Others give key depressions per hour: a key depression is one character, so 8,000 key depressions an hour is 8,000 ÷ 5 ÷ 60, about 27 words a minute, and 10,500 an hour is 35. Read your own notification for the figure, the time, whether mistakes are penalised as a percentage of the passage, and whether the test is on a plain text editor or a typing program. This page uses the five-character word and net speed, the most common pair.
Practising well
- Sit square to the keyboard, wrists floating, eyes on the screen. The passage panel scrolls with you so you never need to look down.
- Start with the 1 minute test to warm up, then do the length your exam uses. Two 5 minute tests a day beat one 20 minute session.
- After each test read the list of wrong words. The same few words come back every time; type those ten times slowly.
- Your best net speed for each length is kept on this device (in the browser's local storage, nothing is sent to us). Clearing the browser's data clears it.
About the passages
The passages are plain English on everyday subjects, written for this page, with ordinary punctuation and a few capital letters and numbers, because those are what slow people down in a real test. New passages are added over time; if a passage runs out before the clock does, the next one continues automatically. On a phone the test works, but the numbers will be a touchscreen's numbers, not a keyboard's.