Measuring Typing Speed

“It is impossible to improve something that is not measured”. Lesson 39 is an opportunity to calculate one\’s typing speed. Typing speed is an important factor when considering the parameters set by different examination boards (like SSC or High Court), so it is good to be aware of it when setting an aim to achieve an objective. Typing speed is one of the reasons for discouragement in the students. They see a \”Gross WPM\” of 45 and a \”Net WPM\” of 30 and think that they are not doing good. It’s because of the lack of understanding of the gap that exists because of mistakes. Understanding the gap is a big factor in achieving success.

Gross WPM & Net WPM: the 5-word Penalty

Most government exam boards and other different boards implement a \”Net Speed\” policy. A typical net speed policy is calculating [(Total Characters/ 5) – (Errors \u00d7 5)]/ Time. Therefore, every mistake made will result in a lower accuracy/ net speed and will also remove 5 typed (correctly) words from your total. For example, you typed 200 words, made 10 mistakes, and so your score is not 190, your score is 150. This is one of the reasons why it understood that \”Accuracy is King\”. In this lesson, you have to analyze your results by the \”top speed\” you reached and check the \”stability\” of your speed.

Different errors require different adjustments. Are you making Substitution' errors (wrong key),Omission’ errors (skipped characters) or `Transposition’ errors (keys out of order)?

Considering substitution errors, it suggests you need to improve your `Mental Map’ for the keyboard.

If you make transposition errors, then the suggestion is that you are dictating too quickly for your brain to keep up, and you need to improve your timing.

Your practice will be most effective based on what type of error you’ve made the most of over the two minutes. If you find that you’re consistently missing keys on the top row over the course of a few practice sessions, plan to focus your next few practice sessions on `Vertical Reach’ exercises.

Establishing clear level’s of achievement is essential.

Having a clear goal for a two minute test is to shoot for the Flatline Graph' example. If your speed is graphed out it should not look like a mountain range, with lots of peaks and dips, instead it should look like one consistent line. You should be aiming forConsistent WPM’ in this lesson. If you can tap away at a constant 35 WPM, error free, then you are in a much better situation than your counterparts who bounce between 20 and 50 WPM. What will ultimately give you the most confidence to pass the government exam on your first attempt is the ability to perform consistently.