Typing speed test

A 15-second test measures your burst speed. It is fun and it flatters you, because nobody fatigues in fifteen seconds and the text rarely gets hard.

A 60-second test is the standard for comparison, and it is long enough that rhythm and recovery from mistakes start to matter.

A 5-minute test measures endurance, and it is the only one that predicts what you can hold during actual work. Most people lose 10 to 20 percent of their one-minute speed over five minutes - usually because of posture drift, not because their fingers get tired.

Typing speed is not a single fixed number. It moves with the text, your fatigue, the keyboard, and whether the words happen to contain your weak keys. A ten percent swing between attempts is completely normal.

If you want a reliable figure, take three 60-second tests on different days and use the median. If you want to improve, ignore the figure entirely and look at which keys you missed.

Speed is a by-product of two things: not having to think about where keys are, and not having to fix mistakes. Practising speed directly, before either of those is solid, mostly practises making mistakes faster.

The order that works is accuracy first, then rhythm, then speed. Once accuracy is above 97 percent and consistent, short bursts above your comfortable pace followed by controlled recovery runs will move the ceiling.