How we measure speed, accuracy and certificates

This page explains how we measure speed, accuracy and everything that decides a diploma or certificate at typando. The rules are all here. Every number on this page comes straight from the same program that scores your exercises.

Speed

A word counts as five characters, including spaces and punctuation. Speed in WPM (words per minute) times five gives characters per minute. Gross speed is the number of characters typed, divided by five and by the minutes. For net speed we subtract the errors still left in the text, converted to a per-minute rate; it never drops below zero.

In an exercise, the clock runs from the first to the last keystroke, and pauses in the trainer do not count. A test always runs for its full length.

Accuracy

Accuracy is the share of correct keystrokes among all character keystrokes. A corrected error still counts as an error, while the backspace key itself does not count. We always round down, so no result just below a threshold ever looks like a pass. A lesson is complete at 97%, a speed sprint at 90%.

The typing test and the certificate test are different

The typing test lasts 1, 3, or 5 minutes and uses simple everyday sentences. It shows gross speed and, below it, how much of that counts as net speed. Diplomas and certificates always use net speed and always last 5 minutes, with natural texts including punctuation and without the on-screen keyboard. The diploma also requires every lesson in the course and 40 WPM at 97% accuracy in the final test. The certificate levels:

Rhythm and rollover

Rhythm describes how evenly you type. We take the gaps between two correct keystrokes in a row and divide their standard deviation by their mean. Pauses longer than 2 seconds are left out, and a value only appears after 20 such gaps.

Rollover is the share of keystrokes where the previous key was still held down. We place it using a large online study by Dhakal and colleagues: below 10% there is hardly any overlap, and from 40% it matches most fast typists. It is information, not a goal.

When a result does not count

Some results are not typed by hand. An exercise does not count if gross speed is above 200 WPM, if keystrokes are on average less than 40 milliseconds apart, or if more than 20 characters arrive in under 3 seconds. If more than 30% of keystrokes follow the previous one within 10 milliseconds, that looks like a macro; this rule applies from 10 gaps. Pasted text never counts.

For diplomas and certificates we also check your history. Net speed may be at most 2 times the average of your last 5 exercises. A flawless test does not fit exercises that averaged below 90% accuracy. You can repeat a test that did not count at any time.

Why results differ between tests

Many typing tests show lists of the most common words, without punctuation or capital letters. Those are noticeably faster to type than full sentences. A result from such a test is not wrong, but it is not comparable with ours. Only compare results from the same test.

Verifiable documents

Every diploma and certificate carries a number in the form TY-YYYY-XXXXXX. A public verification page shows what was issued under that number, and the QR code on the document leads straight to it. When issuing, the database checks the same limits again, as far as that is possible without individual keystrokes.

What we store

We only store summary values for each exercise: speed, accuracy, errors per key, average times per letter pair, and the values for rhythm and rollover. Individual keystrokes never leave your browser. The speed chart after a test is calculated by the browser for display only. Details are in the privacy policy.

The typing test shows how fast you type right now. The typing certificate page explains what Bronze through Platinum require.