Test your typing speed and accuracy — measure your WPM
Our typing speed test measures how fast and accurately you type. WPM (Words Per Minute) is the standard measure of typing speed. The test highlights correct characters in green and incorrect ones in red so you can see exactly where you made mistakes.
| Net WPM | Level | What it looks like |
|---|---|---|
| Under 20 | Beginner | Hunt and peck, eyes on the keyboard |
| 20–35 | Below average | Some touch typing, frequent glances down |
| 35–45 | Average adult | Roughly the population median |
| 45–60 | Above average | Comfortable touch typing, thinking outpaces hands rarely |
| 60–80 | Professional | Typical requirement for data entry and secretarial roles |
| 80–100 | Fast | Transcription and live-note territory |
| 100–120 | Very fast | Top few percent of test-takers |
| 120+ | Elite | Competitive typing; the recorded peak is Barbara Blackburn at 212 WPM |
Gross WPM counts everything you typed. Net WPM subtracts your mistakes, and it is the only number worth quoting. The standard penalty is one word per uncorrected error:
A five-minute test, 1,650 characters typed, 12 uncorrected errors
Gross WPM = (1650 ÷ 5) ÷ 5 = 66
Net WPM = 66 − (12 ÷ 5) = 66 − 2.4
Accuracy = (1650 − 12) ÷ 1650 = 99.3 %
Net 63.6 WPM at 99.3 % accuracy. A test that reports only gross WPM is flattering you.
| Exam / role | Requirement |
|---|---|
| SSC CHSL — Lower Division Clerk | 35 WPM English or 30 WPM Hindi (Krutidev / Mangal) |
| SSC CGL — Tax Assistant | 2,000 key depressions in 15 minutes, roughly 27 WPM |
| SSC Stenographer Grade C | Shorthand at 100 WPM, transcription within a set time |
| SSC Stenographer Grade D | Shorthand at 80 WPM |
| Court and state clerical posts | Commonly 30–40 WPM, varying by state |
th, ion, ould and anything involving the right pinky.Counting actual words would make every test incomparable — a passage of short words would inflate your score against a passage of long ones. Standardising a "word" as five keystrokes including the following space removes the vocabulary from the measurement, so a WPM figure means the same thing whether the text is legal prose or a children’s story. The convention dates to typewriter-era secretarial certification and is still what every serious test uses.
Around 40 WPM is average for an adult. 60 to 80 WPM is professional-grade and is what most data entry and secretarial roles ask for. Above 100 WPM puts you in the top few percent of test-takers.
A word is defined as five characters including spaces. Divide the total characters you typed by five, then divide by the number of minutes. Net WPM subtracts one word for every five uncorrected characters of error.
97 % or higher. Below that, the time lost to correcting mistakes usually outweighs the raw speed, and net WPM falls even as gross WPM rises.
Barbara Blackburn was recorded at 212 WPM on a Dvorak keyboard in 2005, sustaining 150 WPM over long stretches. On modern online tests the top competitive typists sustain 200 WPM or more on short bursts.
Most people reach comfortable touch typing at 40 WPM in four to six weeks of fifteen minutes of daily practice, provided they stop looking at the keyboard from day one. Speed beyond 70 WPM usually takes several months of deliberate drilling.
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