10 Minute Typing Test

Ten minutes is a genuine stamina test. Most people lose speed somewhere between minutes six and eight as their hands tire and attention drifts. Transcriptionists, captioners and writers who type for hours at a time use it to measure their sustainable pace.

Train for it with one full ten-minute test a day. The speed chart and the stamina score on your result show exactly when you start to slow down.

How many words is that?

What a 10 minute typing test measures

Ten minutes measures endurance. Fatigue, posture and concentration all affect the result, which makes it the closest test to a real working session.

What your result means

Your result shows a grade, the share of typists you beat and a full diagnosis. Here is how the grades map to the amount you will type in this test:

How your score is calculated

• WPM (net words per minute) counts only correctly typed characters, divided by five (the standard length of a word, including spaces), divided by the minutes taken. Mistakes you leave in the text do not add to your speed.
• Raw WPM counts every keystroke, right or wrong. A large gap between raw and net WPM means accuracy is holding you back.
• Accuracy is the share of keystrokes that were correct when you typed them. Fixing a mistake with Backspace still counts the original error, which is how most employer tests work too.
• Consistency shows how steady your speed was from second to second. Above 80% means a smooth rhythm; below 60% usually means you pause on certain words or keys.
• Percentile and grade compare your net WPM with the 168,000 typists measured in the largest published typing study (average 51.56 WPM).

Tips for a better 10 minute typing test

1. Warm up first. Take one short test to wake up your fingers. First attempts are almost always the slowest.
2. Sit up and relax your shoulders. Keep wrists level and let your fingers hover over the home row.
3. Read one word ahead. Your eyes should be on the next word while your fingers finish the current one.
4. Do not chase mistakes. A wrong letter costs less than stopping. Fix errors only if they are in the current word.
5. Repeat three times and take the average. One result can be lucky or unlucky. Three results give an honest picture.

How to improve over the next month

Measure again after four weeks with the same test length so your numbers are directly comparable.

Every way to practice on Typeri

Add punctuation or numbers to time and words tests, switch between 12 languages, and open the settings to change text size, show an on-screen keyboard, add a pace caret or stop on errors.

More questions

How many words is a 10 minute typing test? At the average speed of 52 WPM you will type about 520 words. At 40 WPM about 400 words, and at 80 WPM about 800 words.

How accurate is the 10 minute typing test? It counts only correctly typed characters and uses the standard five-characters-per-word formula, the same method employers and typing schools use. For a reliable number, take the test three times and average the results.

Why is my score lower than on other sites? Many sites report raw speed or round up. Typeri reports net speed, so uncorrected mistakes do not count. Text difficulty also matters: punctuation, capitals and numbers all slow everyone down.

Does the test work on a phone? Yes. Tap the text to open your keyboard. Phone typing is usually slower than a physical keyboard, so compare phone results with other phone results.

How often should I test? Once or twice a day is plenty. Spend the rest of your practice time on drills for your weakest keys and letter pairs, which is where improvement comes from.

Other test lengths

Frequently asked questions