How to test our keyboarding speed

If you ever want to check your keyboarding speed, there is one simple site I use regularly for clients to assess their own speed on the keys.

This site - Good Typing at https://www.goodtyping.com/test.php - seems to provide a pretty consistent results: well, I certainly got roughly the same score each time I did the test, even though it is the same paragraph which is copy-typed.

While old fashioned in look, goodtyping.com's Good Typing Test (2021) is fairly easy to sit. We don't have to register. It also gives us a pdf certificate, which might be useful to take to an employer as evidence when applying for work that requires a specified keyboard speed.

The image above shows a chunk of text which we copy, keyboarding into the field below. While the the density of the text to be copied is a little off-putting, and it is in something like Courier (an old fashioned serif font), it does what it says on the tin. This test also reports our accuracy (gulp).

Instructions:

1. Click into the text box (highlighted in yellow in the image accompanying this post), then start copying the text which appears immediately above the field (highlighted in blue).
2. We can see that the next letter to be typed will be highlighted (e.g., the “r” in the image).
3. NB: this is in US English. Kiwi typists beware.
4. Do the test, enter your name, then click the “Download certificate”.
5. Doing this will open another window in your browser, so you can click the download button at the top right-hand side of the window).
6. Repeat the test three times, downloading the certificates each time.
7. Take an average of the three scores. This is likely to be your keyboarding speed.

One note to remember, of course, is that this is only copy typing speed, not creating 'new text' speed. When we have to engage our creativity, it slows us down.

I hope you find this useful.

Sam

• Reference: Good Typing (2021). Typing speed test. https://www.goodtyping.com/test.php