Typing Speed Calculator

Characters typed

In how many minutes

Errors

Result

Net speed, words a minute57.6
Gross speed, words a minute60
Characters a minute300
Accuracy, %99.2%
Levelconfident touch typing
Characters an hour18,000

A word in typing tests is five characters

Works out typing speed in characters and words a minute, adjusted for errors, and reports accuracy.

Typing speed is quoted in words a minute, but a word means exactly five characters including the following space. The convention exists for comparability: otherwise a text of short words would flatter the result.

The second figure that matters is net speed. It deducts five characters for each error, because fixing a typo costs about as much time as typing a whole word. Fast but careless typing loses heavily on this measure.

What this calculator shows

Gross and net speed in words a minute
Speed in characters a minute and an hour
Accuracy and where the result sits

What to keep in mind

A word is five characters, the convention every typing test uses.
Net speed deducts five characters per error; other tests use different penalties, so results are not always comparable between services.

FAQs

What typing speed is good?

Forty words a minute is competent, sixty is fast, and eighty and above belongs to professional typists. The average user manages about 35.

Why is a word five characters?

It is a convention that levels out languages and texts. Without it the result would depend on which words happened to appear in the test.

What is net speed?

Speed after an error penalty: five characters are deducted for each typo. It reflects real productivity more honestly.

How fast does typing speed improve?

With fifteen minutes of practice a day, touch typing takes a month or two to learn, and speed plateaus around 60 to 70 words a minute after six months.

Worked example

A five-minute test

Input: 1,500 characters in 5 minutes with 12 errors

Output: 57.6 words a minute at 99.2% accuracy

Note: Gross speed here is 60 words a minute and net is 57.6. Twelve errors cost two and a half words a minute, which puts a price on carelessness.

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Typing Speed Calculator

Result

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