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CALCPARK

Typing Speed Test

Type random words or a short passage for 30, 60 or 120 s and get gross and net WPM, accuracy and error highlighting. Last 10 runs and best score kept in your browser.

No ticket needed
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How to use it

  1. Choose “Random words” or “Sentences” and a duration. The settings are kept in the link so you can bookmark your favourite mode.
  2. Click the text box (or press Tab until it is focused). The first key you press starts the clock.
  3. Type what you see; a space moves to the next word. Wrong letters turn red, surplus letters are shown in red after the word, a skipped letter leaves the word underlined. Backspace corrects, also back across a space.
  4. Watch the live net WPM if you like, or ignore it. When the time runs out the input locks and the result panel shows gross and net WPM, accuracy and the error counts.
  5. Press Tab then Enter (or Esc, or the Try again button) for a new text. Your run is already saved in the history list.

Example

In a 60-second test you type 312 characters, make 6 wrong keystrokes and correct 3 of them, so 3 errors remain in the text. Gross speed is 312 ÷ 5 ÷ 1 = 62.4 WPM; net speed is 62.4 − 3 ÷ 1 = 59.4 WPM; accuracy is 309 correct keystrokes ÷ 315 keystrokes (the 312 characters plus the 3 you deleted) = 98.1%. The same 312 characters in a 30-second test would be 124.8 gross WPM, and in 2 minutes 31.2.

How speed and accuracy are calculated

gross WPM = typed characters ÷ 5 ÷ minutes
net WPM   = gross WPM − uncorrected errors ÷ minutes   (not below 0)
accuracy  = correct keystrokes ÷ all character keystrokes

Typed charactersare everything you entered that is still in the text when the time ends, spaces included (the “all typed entries” of the standard definition). Uncorrected errors are counted by comparing each finished word with its target: a wrong letter, a surplus letter and a missing letter each count one; a word with two wrong letters counts two. Letters you fixed with Backspace are corrected errors: they still reduce accuracy (you pressed the wrong key) but not net WPM, because the text is right. The live figure during the run uses the elapsed time; the final figure uses the full duration, so pausing before the end lowers your score as it would on paper.

The five-character word is the convention established for typewriter speed contests in the early 20th century and formalised in the text-entry research literature (Yamada 1980; Arif & Stuerzlinger 2009), which also defines net speed as gross speed minus one word per uncorrected error per minute. Both figures are therefore comparable with other tests that follow the same rules, though the text itself matters: random lowercase words run faster than sentences with capitals and punctuation.

What the text looks like

  • Random words: drawn from a list of 365 common English words (2–9 letters, lowercase) with no word repeated back to back; more words are added as you go, so the test never runs out.
  • Sentences: fourteen plain passages about everyday subjects (weather, cooking, travel, work), 22–27 words each with normal punctuation, joined in random order.
  • Typing is limited to 8 surplus characters per word, and a space is ignored on an empty word, so a stuck key cannot run away from the text.

Sources: Arif, A. S. & Stuerzlinger, W. (2009). Analysis of text entry performance metrics. IEEE TIC-STH, Yamada, H. (1980). A historical study of typewriters and typing methods. Journal of Information Processing 2(4), Wikipedia – Words per minute (5-character word, average speeds), Dhakal et al. (2018). Observations on Typing from 136 Million Keystrokes. CHI 2018 (average 52 WPM among 168,000 online volunteers).

Tips for a higher score

  • Accuracy first: at 40 WPM each uncorrected error costs a full word, and each correction costs the time of two keystrokes.
  • Keep your eyes on the text, not the keyboard; the caret and the colours tell you where you are.
  • Do several 60-second runs in a row and compare the history list – the second or third run is usually the best.
  • Run the test on a physical keyboard; on-screen phone keyboards with autocorrect off typically give 20–35 WPM.

Questions

What is a good typing speed?
About 40 WPM is the average for adults on a computer keyboard; a 2018 study of 168,000 online volunteers found an average of 52 WPM. Above 60 WPM you type faster than you can handwrite by a wide margin, 80+ is professional level, and 100+ is rare without touch-typing training.
Why is my net WPM lower than my gross WPM?
Every error you left in the text costs one word per minute of test. If you typed 60 gross WPM in one minute with 4 wrong or missing letters still in the text, your net speed is 56. Fix mistakes with Backspace while typing and the penalty disappears, at the cost of a little time.
Do capitals and punctuation count?
Yes – every character typed counts towards the five-character word, and a wrong case or a missing comma is an error like any other. That is why the sentence mode usually gives a slightly lower speed than random words.
Is my typing sent anywhere?
No. The words, your keystrokes and the results stay in the page; only the mode and duration are placed in the link, and the history of your last ten runs lives in this browser’s local storage until you clear it.