5 minute typing test

In a study of 168,960 volunteers who copied English sentences on computer keyboards, the average speed was 51.56 words per minute^[1]. This test is the same kind of task, so a run in English on a computer keyboard is placed among those people: we say about how many in ten you were faster than. People typing on phones averaged 36.2 words per minute in a study of 37,370 volunteers^[2].

On a screen keyboard the comparison is only rough, and a run the keyboard helped with is saved but not compared. Most people type a little slower over five minutes than over one, so compare your result with your own earlier runs of the same length.

The text was written for this site. It tells a simple story in ordinary words, with some longer ones and plenty of punctuation, so it reads like a real page rather than a word list.

Every letter is read from the text box as it arrives, not from the keys, so any layout works. We also measure how even your speed was across the run: a steady typist keeps roughly the same number of letters every second.

Over five minutes concentration matters as much as finger speed. Many people start fast and lose a few words per minute after the second or third minute, often because they begin to fix mistakes or lose their place in the text. The per-second figures under How we measured this show where that happens for you.

• Sit comfortably before you start: five minutes is long enough for a bad position to slow you down.
• Keep your eyes on the text, not your hands.
• Let a finished mistake go and keep your rhythm.
• Practise at this length a few times a week rather than one long session.