How to take the WPM test
Pick a mode in the bar above the text. Time gives you a fixed window — 15 seconds for a quick sprint, 60 seconds for the classic 1 minute typing test most job adverts mean, 120 seconds if you want a number that is less affected by one good or bad sentence, and 5 or 10 minutes to rehearse the longer tests many employers and agencies set. Words ends when you have typed 10, 25, 50 or 100 words, which is better for comparing accuracy because everyone types the same amount. Quote gives you a real sentence or paragraph with capitals and punctuation, closer to what you actually type at work; there are 165 original passages and the test avoids repeating one you have seen recently. Custom lets you paste your own passage — a practice text from an employer, say — and type it word for word, or shuffle its words into a drill.
Click the text (or just start typing) and the clock begins on your first keystroke, not before, so there is no penalty for reading the first line. Type each word and press space. A letter you get wrong turns red and stays red until you fix it; letters you add beyond the end of a word appear as extras. If you leave a word wrong and press space, it gets a wavy underline and you can still backspace into it — but you cannot backspace into a word you typed correctly, which keeps you moving forward the way a real document does.
To restart at any point press Tab then Enter, or Esc while you are typing. The Punctuation and Numbers switches add capital letters after full stops, commas, question marks, quotation marks, contractions and digits — expect your speed to drop by 10 to 20 per cent the first few times. Advanced words swaps the common-word list for longer, awkward words, and Stop on error refuses a wrong key altogether, so you have to hit the right one before the cursor moves — slower, but brutal on bad habits. On a phone, tap the text to bring up your keyboard. The page asks the keyboard not to autocorrect, but many keyboards ignore that, so the test is forgiving where it fairly can be: curly quotes and apostrophes from iPhone smart punctuation, long dashes and non-breaking spaces count as their plain equivalents, and Android keyboards that compose each word are scored letter by letter as you type.
What WPM, raw speed, accuracy and consistency mean
Speed is measured in words per minute, where a “word” is standardised as five characters including the space. That makes results comparable between tests with long and short words.
| Figure | How it is worked out | What it tells you |
|---|---|---|
| WPM (net) | Characters in correctly typed words, plus their spaces, ÷ 5 ÷ minutes | Your usable speed. Words left wrong earn nothing. |
| Raw WPM | Every character left on screen when the test ends (or when you moved past a word), right or wrong, ÷ 5 ÷ minutes. Characters you deleted with backspace are not counted. | How fast your fingers move. The gap to net WPM is the cost of errors. |
| Accuracy | Correct keystrokes ÷ all keystrokes, including ones you later corrected | How often you hit the right key first time. |
| Consistency | How much your per-second raw speed varies, scaled 0–100% | Evenness of rhythm. High means you type steadily rather than in bursts. |
| Gross − errors/min | Raw WPM minus the number of words left wrong per minute | The traditional "net" figure many employer and agency typing tests quote. It is usually a little higher than our net WPM, which gives no credit at all for a wrong word. |
The characters line splits your final text into correct, incorrect (wrong letter in the right place), extra (letters beyond the end of a word) and missed (letters skipped when you pressed space too early). The graph plots your running average WPM against your raw speed in each second, with red crosses where mistakes happened — useful for spotting whether you fade towards the end or stumble at the start.
What is a good typing speed?
Figures below are for a one-minute test of common words without punctuation, typed by adults. Quote mode and punctuation tests typically come out 10–20% lower.
- Under 30 WPM — hunting for keys or typing with two fingers. Learning touch typing is the single biggest improvement available.
- 30–45 WPM — typical for people who type every day without formal training.
- 45–60 WPM — comfortably fast; the level most office jobs that list a typing speed are asking for.
- 60–80 WPM — a proficient touch typist. Transcription and data-entry roles often want 65 or more with 95%+ accuracy.
- 80–100 WPM — very fast, usually years of practice.
- Over 100 WPM — competitive territory; the fastest typists sustain 150+ on short tests.
Accuracy matters as much as the number: 60 WPM at 98% beats 75 WPM at 88%, because every error has to be found and fixed later. For practice sessions, aim to stay above 95% and let the speed follow. If you are checking whether your keyboard is dropping or doubling letters rather than your own technique, run the keyboard tester first.
How to type faster
- Use all ten fingers from the home row. Rest your index fingers on F and J (the keys with bumps) and let each finger own a column. It will feel slower for a week or two.
- Stop looking at the keyboard. Glancing down breaks your place in the text and costs more time than a wrong letter.
- Slow down to speed up. If raw speed is well above net speed on your results, you are losing more time to mistakes than you gain from pace.
- Drill your problem keys. The problem-keys list shows which characters you miss most. Punctuation and number rows are the usual culprits, so practise with those switches on.
- Practise little and often. Ten minutes a day of 60-second tests beats an hour at the weekend. Use Repeat this text to see a direct before-and-after on the same words.
Privacy and fairness
The test runs entirely in your browser. Nothing you type is uploaded; your history and personal bests are saved in this browser's local storage and you can clear them at any time. Pasting is blocked, and a result is not counted towards your personal best if you switch to another tab or window during the test, leave the keyboard alone for more than half of a timed test, or finish below 75% accuracy — so the best score you see is one you actually typed. Timing uses the browser's high-resolution clock from your first keystroke, so a slow page or a background tab cannot stretch or shrink the test.
Frequently asked questions
How is words per minute calculated?
A word is counted as five characters, including spaces, so long and short words even out. Net WPM counts only the characters in words you typed correctly plus the space after each, divided by five and by the minutes elapsed. Raw WPM counts every character left on screen, right or wrong; characters you deleted are not included. The clock starts on your first keystroke.
What is the difference between net WPM and raw WPM?
Raw WPM is how fast you pressed keys. Net WPM is how fast you produced correct words. If your raw speed is far higher than your net speed, you are typing faster than you can type accurately, and slowing down slightly will usually raise your net score because fewer words are thrown away.
How is consistency worked out?
The test measures your raw speed in every one-second slice, then looks at how much those values vary compared with their average (the coefficient of variation). That is mapped onto a 0–100% scale, where 100% would be exactly the same speed every second. Scores above 80% indicate a steady touch-typing rhythm; below 65% usually means bursts and pauses.
Why was my result not saved as a personal best?
Personal bests are only recorded for fair runs. A result is excluded if you switched tab or window during the test, if a timed test had no typing for more than half its length, if accuracy fell below 75%, or if no correct words were typed. The result still appears in your history, greyed out, so you can see it.
Does the typing test work on a phone or tablet?
Yes. Tap the text to open your on-screen keyboard. The field asks for no autocorrect or auto-capitals, though some keyboards ignore that. Curly quotes and dashes from iPhone smart punctuation count as the plain characters, and Android keyboards that compose words are scored letter by letter. Swipe typing inserts whole words at once, which works but gives unusual per-second figures.
Is a 1 minute typing test long enough to measure typing speed?
It is the standard used by most employers and typing sites, and it is a fair snapshot. Because one awkward sentence can move a short result by several WPM, take the average of three one-minute tests, or use the 120-second mode, if you need a figure for a CV or job application.
Are my results or keystrokes uploaded anywhere?
No. Everything happens in your browser, and results, history and personal bests are kept in this browser's local storage only. Clearing your history on this page, or clearing site data in your browser, removes them for good.
Can I take a 5 or 10 minute typing test, or use my own text?
Yes. Time mode goes up to 5 and 10 minutes, the lengths many employer and agency tests use, and the result shows both our net WPM and the traditional gross-minus-errors figure those tests often quote. Custom mode lets you paste any passage and type it word for word or shuffled. Custom results are kept in your history but never count as a personal best.