# How fast do you type?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-fast-do-you-type/616513
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion
**Created:** [March 22, 2012, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-fast-do-you-type/616513 "2012-03-22T16:55:05Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Sicks\_Ate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sicks_Ate)
#### Post date: [March 22, 2012, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-fast-do-you-type/616513/1 "2012-03-22T16:55:05Z")
Inspired by [this thread about touch typing.](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=645960)
How fast do you type using [this test](http://speedtest.10fastfingers.com/)?
Some tests may produce different results; I like this one because it’s purely testing word input and eliminates the temptation to comprehend a document.
And, are you touch-typing or hunt-and-peck?
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### Author:  [@ryan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ryan)
#### Post date: [March 22, 2012, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-fast-do-you-type/616513/2 "2012-03-22T17:26:24Z")
30 h/p. I used to (probably still could) touch type faster but I’m using a smaller than normal gaming-style keyboard that doesn’t fit my fairly large, stubby-fingered hands all that well.
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### Author:  [@CrazyCatLady](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CrazyCatLady)
#### Post date: [March 22, 2012, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-fast-do-you-type/616513/3 "2012-03-22T17:30:12Z")
Using a different test, one with some really weird spacing conventions and such, I got 45 wpm. On the one you linked, 70.
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### Author:  [@The\_wind\_of\_my\_soul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_wind_of_my_soul)
#### Post date: [March 22, 2012, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-fast-do-you-type/616513/4 "2012-03-22T17:31:23Z")
80 wpm.
I became a much faster typist when IMing became popular in high school. The faster you typed, the more you got to talk, and I love talking!
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### Author:  [@robardin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robardin)
#### Post date: [March 22, 2012, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-fast-do-you-type/616513/5 "2012-03-22T17:33:08Z")
I took it once and hesitated for a few seconds in confusion about what I was supposed to do about mistakes when a word turned red - backspace and correct, or ignore and go on? I backspaced and retyped the word, which turned red, evidently because I’d typed on and the mistake was from two words ago and I should have ignored it. I lost both time and an points for an extra correction and scored 97 WPM.
I could live with that since typically I score 95-100 on these types of tests, but when I saw the poll result grouped me in at 70-99 I got pissed off (70 WPM is like really slow to me), took it again with more concentration and scored 102. So there. I’m going with that. 😃
By the way, the random word thing helps with accuracy. Otherwise I tend to read ahead and then to supply what I expect to be the next word or even phrase instead of what is actually on the page, and have to backspace to correct for it. To be accurate as a (fast) typist requires turning off the “reading” part of the brain and just make operate as a buffer of letters.
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### Author:  [@Lord\_Il\_Palazzo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lord_Il_Palazzo)
#### Post date: [March 22, 2012, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-fast-do-you-type/616513/6 "2012-03-22T17:34:37Z")
I got 45 on the test you linked by touch-typing. It’s a little slower than I’ve tested before but not by far.
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### Author:  [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)
#### Post date: [March 22, 2012, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-fast-do-you-type/616513/7 "2012-03-22T17:38:01Z")
1. Yeah, I suck at typing.
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### Author:  [@hogarth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hogarth)
#### Post date: [March 22, 2012, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-fast-do-you-type/616513/8 "2012-03-22T17:46:11Z")
The first time I took it, it (incorrectly) claimed I got every word but one wrong, for an average of 0 wpm. The second time I got 85 wpm.
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### Author:  [@Rhythmdvl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhythmdvl)
#### Post date: [March 22, 2012, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-fast-do-you-type/616513/9 "2012-03-22T17:48:59Z")
76 WPM. [Microsoft Natural Keyboard](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsoft_Natural_keyboard)(the split, curvy and incredibly comfortable kind).
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### Author:  [@MsWhatsit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MsWhatsit)
#### Post date: [March 22, 2012, 5:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-fast-do-you-type/616513/10 "2012-03-22T17:49:48Z")
134 wpm using that test.
Usually I score somewhere in the 90s, though. I think this test was faster because it was all short, common words with no punctuation, numbers, or symbols.
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### Author:  [@breaking-reality](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/breaking-reality)
#### Post date: [March 22, 2012, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-fast-do-you-type/616513/11 "2012-03-22T17:58:15Z")
Touch typing, 85wpm. Usually I test somewhere between 70-75wpm on 5 minute tests.
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### Author:  [@Machine\_Elf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Machine_Elf)
#### Post date: [March 22, 2012, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-fast-do-you-type/616513/12 "2012-03-22T18:03:20Z")
Test results:
\*\*Words per minute (WPM) 159
Keystrokes 846
Correct words 155
Wrong words 5
You reached 796 Points so you achieved position 3 of 74169 on the ranking list (last 24 hours)\*\*
My freshman year of high school back in '84-'85, I had signed up for French language class. I endured that for about two weeks, then dropped it in favor of a semester of woodworking shop followed by a semester of typing. I’m really glad I made that switch. I enjoyed woodworking _(28 years later, I still have the cedar-lined pine chest that I made back then)_, and the typing class has been absolutely indispensible. We learned on IBM Selectrics, and IIRC my fastest typing test at that time was 88 WPM; I think I was bumping up against the speed limit of the typewriter itself there. Now, with computer keyboards, I can truly haul ass.
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### Author:  [@SenorBeef](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SenorBeef)
#### Post date: [March 22, 2012, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-fast-do-you-type/616513/13 "2012-03-22T18:15:49Z")
128 WPM, 638 keystrokes, 0 errors, 121 correct words.
I think I can do a little faster when typing up what’s in my head rather than copying something.
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### Author:  [@Silver\_Tyger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Silver_Tyger)
#### Post date: [March 22, 2012, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-fast-do-you-type/616513/14 "2012-03-22T18:24:42Z")
As I said on the other thread, I can get up to 75wpm on QWERTY and about 30 on Dvorak.
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### Author:  [@Panurge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Panurge)
#### Post date: [March 22, 2012, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-fast-do-you-type/616513/15 "2012-03-22T18:37:28Z")
icrnebidly fat
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### Author:  [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)
#### Post date: [March 22, 2012, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-fast-do-you-type/616513/16 "2012-03-22T18:54:34Z")
Words per minute (WPM) 60
Keystrokes 307
Correct words 57
Wrong words 1
I voted “hunt and peck” because I don’t hold my fingers over the home keys like you’re meant to, but I tend to just glance down at the keyboard once in a while. I used to be faster back when I did lots of chatting online.
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### Author:  [@Hbns](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hbns)
#### Post date: [March 22, 2012, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-fast-do-you-type/616513/17 "2012-03-22T18:57:29Z")
50’s on Qwerty
20’s on Qwertz
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### Author:  [@Heart\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Heart_of_Dorkness)
#### Post date: [March 22, 2012, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-fast-do-you-type/616513/18 "2012-03-22T19:14:13Z")
> [@Panurge](#):
>
> icrnebidly fat
This just made me laugh and laugh and laugh. I’m probably going to get in trouble, but it was worth it.
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### Author:  [@RandMcnally](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RandMcnally)
#### Post date: [March 22, 2012, 7:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-fast-do-you-type/616513/19 "2012-03-22T19:17:37Z")
86 wpm. Woo!
I touch type. In all honestly, I should be much faster.
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### Author:  [@Infovore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Infovore)
#### Post date: [March 22, 2012, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-fast-do-you-type/616513/20 "2012-03-22T19:26:54Z")
77 on the first try. I think I could do better now that I see how it works and what to do with missed words.
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