How is Typing Speed Measured?
If you’re trying to increase your productivity by improving the speed at which you type, this is probably one of the first questions that you’re going to ask yourself.
Typing speed is measured in words per minute (WPM).
Basically, you measure how fast you can type by measuring how many words you can accurately type in a 60 second time frame.
Obviously, different words have different amounts of letters and some may be more difficult to type than others.
In order to handle this difficulty in measuring typing speed, users are often asked to type a couple paragraphs of text that contain a variety of words with different lengths and difficulties.
Once the user feels as though their typing speed has improved, they attempt to type the same set of paragraphs and can compare their previous speed to their new speed.
There are a number of online tools available for you to try out to measure your typing speed and gain a baseline of where you’re at.
The typing speed test that I recommend is at GoodTyping.com.
It is important to note that when you’re taking a typing test, you will be penalized for misspelled words or “typos”. The trick is to find a good balance between accuracy and speed.