How WPM is calculated
Words per minute is the number of correctly typed characters divided by five, scaled to one minute. A standard word is five characters, spaces included, so long and short words are scored fairly.
2 min read · Updated · By whytyping
Your speed in words per minute comes from one short formula: count the characters you typed correctly, divide by five, and scale the result to a minute. Everything else on the result screen is a variation on that count.
The formulas
| Figure | How it is worked out |
|---|---|
| Speed (WPM) | Correct characters ÷ 5, scaled to one minute |
| Raw speed | Everything you typed ÷ 5, scaled to one minute |
| Accuracy | Correct keystrokes ÷ all keystrokes |
| Consistency | How even your per-second speed was, from 0 to 100% |
A worked example
Say you type for 30 seconds and 210 of the characters you leave on screen are correct.
- Divide by five: 210 ÷ 5 = 42 standard words.
- Scale to a minute: 30 seconds is half a minute, so 42 × 2 = 84 wpm.
If you also typed 15 characters that ended up wrong, your raw speed uses all 225: 225 ÷ 5 × 2 = 90. The gap between 90 and 84 is the cost of the errors.
What counts as a correct character
A character is correct when it matches the text in the same position at the moment the test ends. A space counts as correct when the word before it was typed fully and correctly. Extra letters past the end of a word, and letters you skipped by pressing space early, never count as correct.
Accuracy counts every keystroke
Accuracy is measured differently from speed. It looks at every key you pressed, not at the final text. Press a wrong key and fix it with Backspace, and the final text is clean, so your speed is unaffected by that slip. Your accuracy still records one wrong keystroke. In short: corrected errors count against accuracy but not against WPM. This matches how typists compare scores across the major test sites.
Consistency
Consistency describes rhythm. whytyping records your raw speed for each second of the test and measures how much those values vary around their average. Even pacing gives a high figure, bursts and stalls give a low one. The full explanation is in what is typing consistency.
Runs that are not counted
A run needs at least five seconds of typing and some correct characters to be scored at all. A run under 50% accuracy, or faster than 350 wpm raw, is shown but sets no personal best and earns no tier.
Where to go next
For more on the two speed figures, read raw WPM vs net WPM. To see what the speed and accuracy minimums add up to, see typing tiers explained.
Questions
Why is a word counted as five characters?
It is the long-standing convention for typing tests. It makes scores comparable whether the text is full of short words or long ones.
Do spaces count toward my WPM?
Yes. A space after a correctly typed word counts as one correct character.
Why does my accuracy drop even though the final text is correct?
Accuracy counts every keystroke. A wrong key that you then fix still counts as a wrong keystroke.