5 Minute Typing Test

What a 5 minute typing test measures

Five minutes of continuous typing tests endurance as much as speed. Your fingers tire, your attention drifts, and you meet hundreds of different words. The result is a realistic picture of how fast you type when writing something long: a report, meeting notes or a school essay.

Some employers and training programs use tests of around five minutes for exactly this reason. If a listing names a test length, practice at that length.

Net WPM on longer tests

This test scores net WPM from correct characters: only letters typed right, in the right place, count toward your speed. Some traditional tests use a different formula instead: gross WPM minus one word per minute for each uncorrected error. The two methods give similar but not identical numbers. You can try both with the WPM calculator.

How to pace a long typing test

1. Take the first minute steady. Find a rhythm you could keep up for the whole test.
2. Watch for the mid-test slump. Around minutes two to three, many typists slow down or start making more errors. Expect it, and keep your eyes on the next word.
3. Recover from mistakes quickly. A single typo costs a second. Getting flustered costs far more.
4. Finish strong. The last minute counts as much as the first.

Building stamina takes regular practice. Short daily sessions with the typing games or the Marathon challenge help more than one long session a week.