Typing
What is a good typing speed?
5 min read · Updated 1 August 2026
Typing speed is measured in words per minute (WPM), where one 'word' is standardised as five characters including spaces. That standard is why a test can compare you fairly against someone typing a completely different passage.
Typing speed benchmarks
- Below 25 WPM: still hunting for keys — worth practising touch typing.
- 25–40 WPM: typical for casual, self-taught typists.
- 40–55 WPM: around average for adults, and fine for most coursework.
- 55–75 WPM: good. You can write as fast as you think in an exam or lecture.
- 75–95 WPM: fast, typical of people who type professionally all day.
- 95+ WPM: expert territory, usually with deliberate practice behind it.
Accuracy matters more than raw speed
A 90 WPM run at 85% accuracy is slower in practice than a 70 WPM run at 99%, because every error costs you a backspace and a re-read. Aim to keep accuracy above 96% and let speed rise on its own. Our typing test reports raw and adjusted results side by side so you can see the trade-off.
What speed do students actually need?
For essays, note-taking and typed exams, anything above roughly 50 WPM with high accuracy stops typing from being the bottleneck. Beyond that, extra speed is a nice-to-have rather than a grade changer.
How to improve
- Learn home-row touch typing and stop looking at the keyboard.
- Practise 10 minutes a day rather than an hour once a week.
- Slow down deliberately until accuracy is consistently above 97%.
- Practise the vocabulary you actually type — try our academic, science or medical passages.
- Retest weekly and track your personal best so progress is visible.