Human performance · Typing
Typing Speed Test
This typing speed test measures how fast and how accurately you type over a fixed sixty seconds. It runs entirely in your browser: start typing the passage shown on screen and the clock starts with your first character.
At the end you get your words per minute, your accuracy, how many mistakes you made, and how many characters you entered. Your best WPM is kept on this browser so you can see whether you are improving.
- 60-second session
- WPM and accuracy
- No permissions required
60-second typing test
Passage to type: The kitchen at the back of the house faced east, which meant the first hour of every day arrived through a single window above the sink. Anna had learned to work around it. She filled the kettle, opened the notebook she kept beside the bread tin, and wrote down the three things she intended to finish before noon. The list was never ambitious, and that was the point. A short list she could actually complete left her calmer than a long one that promised more than the day could hold. By the time the water boiled, the street outside had started to move: a delivery van, a neighbour with a folding bicycle, two children arguing quietly about whose turn it was to carry the bag. Anna poured the tea, sat down, and read her own handwriting as if someone else had left it for her. Later she would forget most of the morning, but the habit would remain, and the habit was the only part that mattered.
The timer starts with your first typed character, not when this field is focused. Backspace corrects the end of what you have typed. Editing text further back is not possible, and pasting is disabled, because neither would be typing.
Session in progress
Start typing the passage — the 60-second timer begins with your first character.- WPM
- —
- Accuracy
- —
- Mistakes
- 0
- Characters
- 0
- Duration
- 60s
- Personal best
- —
Saved in this browser after your first completed session
Mistakes are cumulative: correcting a character with Backspace does not remove the mistake it caused.
Your result
What your result means
Words per minute is a character-based measure, not a count of English words. Testpartout uses the standard convention of five characters per word: your correctly typed characters are divided by five, then divided by the elapsed minutes. Typing quickly but incorrectly therefore does not raise your WPM, because incorrect characters never count towards it.
Accuracy is a separate number: the share of your printable keystrokes that matched the expected character on the first attempt. Because it is measured per keystroke rather than per finished word, correcting a character with Backspace repairs the text but does not repair the accuracy figure.
- WPM and accuracy have to be read together. A high WPM with a low accuracy leaves corrections to make afterwards, so the two numbers describe different things and neither is the whole picture.
- One session is a sample, not a verdict. Passage difficulty, punctuation density, keyboard layout and how awake you are can all move the number.
- Comparisons are only meaningful against yourself, on the same keyboard and layout. Results from a laptop keyboard, a mechanical keyboard and a phone screen are not directly comparable.
- Testpartout shows no percentile and no global average, because no real aggregated data exists yet. When it does, it will come from measured results — never from estimates.
Procedure
How the test works
- 01
Read the passage
An original English passage is shown above the input field. It is deliberately longer than anyone can finish in a minute, so the session ends on the clock rather than on running out of text.
- 02
Start typing
The sixty-second timer starts on your first printable character, not when you focus the field. Nothing is running while you read.
- 03
Follow the highlighting
Correct characters are shown solid, incorrect ones are marked and underlined, and the character you are on is boxed. Spaces typed incorrectly are shown explicitly.
- 04
Correct if you want to
Backspace removes the last character you typed and fixes the text. The mistake it corrects still counts, because it already happened. Earlier text cannot be edited: the field is a controlled typing surface, not an editor.
- 05
Let the clock run out
At sixty seconds the session closes itself and the input field is disabled. Keystrokes that arrive at or after the deadline are not scored.
- 06
Read your result
WPM, accuracy, mistakes, characters and session length are shown together, along with your best WPM on this browser.
Methodology
How Testpartout measures this
The method below is exactly what the code on this page does — nothing is described that is not implemented.
What the implementation does
- A session is a fixed sixty seconds. The duration is never extended and never shortened.
- Timing starts at the timestamp of your first accepted printable character and uses the browser's monotonic clock (performance.now()), which does not jump if the system clock changes.
- WPM = correctly typed characters / 5 / elapsed minutes. Incorrect characters are excluded from the numerator.
- Accuracy = printable keystrokes that matched the expected character / all printable keystrokes. Backspace is not a keystroke for this purpose.
- Mistakes are cumulative: a mistake is recorded when it is made and is never subtracted by a later correction.
- Keystrokes are read from the committed value of the input field rather than from raw key codes: committed text from hardware and virtual keyboards is scored through the same engine rules, while browser and keyboard input behaviour can differ.
- Composition input, used by IMEs and predictive keyboards, is scored when the browser commits it. Intermediate composition states are never scored as separate attempts. Browsers and keyboards implement composition differently, so this is a commit rule rather than a claim that every keyboard behaves identically.
- Typing acts on the end of what you have typed: characters are appended and Backspace removes the last one. The caret is kept at the end, and a change that is neither an append nor a trailing delete is rejected instead of being scored, so editing earlier text cannot invent keystrokes.
- Pasting and dropping text into the field is blocked. Pasted text is not typing, so it cannot produce a score.
- The deadline is authoritative. An input at or after sixty seconds closes the session instead of being counted.
- If the page becomes hidden the session is cancelled and no result is produced, because a background tab cannot be timed honestly.
Limits of a browser measurement
- The elapsed time is measured by your browser. Heavy background load, battery-saver modes and frame-rate throttling all add noise.
- Only the passage on screen is measured. Typing prose you understand is not the same task as typing code, numbers or a language you do not read fluently.
- There is no anti-cheat system beyond blocking paste. A local result you did not type yourself is meaningless, but it is your own browser storage.
- Accuracy counts characters, not intent. A single mis-typed key that shifts your position through a word can register several mistakes.
Privacy
What happens to your data
This section describes the behaviour of the code on this page, not an intention.
- The passage, your keystrokes and the text you typed stay in the memory of this page. Nothing you type is sent anywhere.
- No account, sign-in or permission is required to run the test.
- Only your best result is written to this browser's local storage: whole WPM, its accuracy, its mistake count and a timestamp. Never the text you typed and never a keystroke log.
- Clearing your browser storage removes the personal best. There is no copy of it anywhere else.
- Results are not uploaded, aggregated or ranked. If Testpartout ever offers aggregated comparisons, it will be explicit and based on real measured data.
Troubleshooting
If the test does not behave as expected
The timer did not start
It starts on your first printable character. Clicking or focusing the field is not enough — that is deliberate, so reading the passage costs you nothing.
My paste did not work
Pasting and dropping text is blocked on purpose. The test measures typing, so text you did not type produces no score.
I cannot edit text further back
That is deliberate. Typing and Backspace act on the end of what you have typed, and the caret stays there, so an edit inside earlier text cannot create keystrokes you never made.
The session was cancelled
Switching tabs or minimising the window hides the page, and a hidden page cannot be timed honestly. The session is discarded and your personal best is untouched.
My WPM looks lower than on other sites
Conventions differ. Testpartout counts only correctly typed characters, five characters to a word, over the full sixty seconds. Tests that count all characters, or that stop the clock when you finish a passage, report higher numbers for the same typing.
Autocorrect is changing my words on mobile
The field disables spell-check, autocorrect and autocapitalisation where the browser honours those hints. Some mobile keyboards still predict text; turning off predictive input gives a cleaner measurement.
The result did not save
Only a completed session that beats your stored best is saved. Private browsing and storage-blocking settings can also prevent writing to local storage.
Factors
Common factors that affect typing-speed results
Typing speed is a physical skill measured through hardware and software. These factors move the number without your ability changing.
Keyboard and switch type
Key travel, actuation force and spacing can change your rhythm. Familiarity matters too: a keyboard you use daily may give a different result from an unfamiliar one.
Layout and language habits
QWERTY, AZERTY, QWERTZ and Dvorak place punctuation differently. Typing English on a layout tuned for another language costs accuracy first, then speed.
Touchscreen versus hardware keys
On-screen keyboards have no tactile feedback and a smaller target area, and they rely on prediction and correction. Results from a touchscreen and from a hardware keyboard are not directly comparable.
Passage content
Common words flow; unusual names, numbers, capitals and punctuation break your rhythm. Testpartout uses plain modern English to keep passages comparable.
Correction habits
Correcting every error as it happens and pushing on through errors distribute the same keystrokes differently between the speed and the accuracy figure.
Fatigue, posture and attention
Wrist position, screen distance and how long you have been at the machine all show up in the result — usually as accuracy, before speed.
FAQ
Frequently asked questions
- How is WPM calculated?
- Correctly typed characters are divided by five to give words, then divided by the elapsed minutes. Five characters per word is the standard typing convention, and incorrect characters are not counted towards your speed.
- Why is my accuracy lower than I expected?
- Accuracy is measured per keystroke and mistakes are cumulative. If you mis-type a character and fix it with Backspace, the text becomes correct but the mistake still counts, because it was made.
- Does the timer start when I click the box?
- No. The sixty-second timer starts with your first printable character, so you can read the passage for as long as you like before starting.
- Can I paste the passage to get a high score?
- No. Pasting and dropping text into the field is blocked, and only typed characters are scored. A pasted paragraph would not measure typing.
- Is my typed text sent to Testpartout?
- No. What you type stays in the memory of this page. Only your best WPM, together with that result's accuracy, mistake count and a timestamp, is stored in this browser.
- Can I take the test on a phone or tablet?
- Yes. Mobile keyboards are supported, and composition input from an IME or a predictive keyboard is scored when the browser commits it. Results from a touchscreen and from a hardware keyboard are not directly comparable, so compare like with like.
- What happens if I switch tabs mid-session?
- The session is cancelled and no result is recorded, because a hidden page cannot be timed honestly. Your stored personal best is unaffected.
- How does my result compare to other people?
- Testpartout does not show that yet. Percentiles and averages will only appear when they can be built from real measured results, so no invented benchmark is displayed in the meantime.