Typing Speed Test: What Your WPM Really Means
How words per minute is calculated, what accuracy means, and typical speeds by age.
How WPM is calculated
One 'word' is counted as five characters, including spaces. KELO SkillRacer counts only correctly typed characters, so mistakes don't inflate your score. Accuracy is the percentage of keystrokes that matched the text.
Rough speed guide
- Ages 7–9: 5–15 WPM is a great start.
- Ages 10–13: 15–30 WPM.
- Teens: 25–45 WPM.
- Adults: 40 WPM is comfortable; 60+ is fast; 80+ is excellent.
Accuracy first
A typist at 40 WPM with 98% accuracy usually finishes work faster than one at 55 WPM with 88% accuracy, because fixing errors takes time.
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