Frequently Asked Questions

There is no single "good" WPM — it depends on what you need typing for. Here is a practical breakdown:

For context: most administrative assistant roles require 50–70 WPM. Legal secretaries are often expected to reach 80–90 WPM. Medical transcriptionists typically need 80–100+ WPM.

The world record for sustained English typing on a standard keyboard is approximately 212 WPM. For most people, 80 WPM with 98%+ accuracy is the point at which typing ceases to be a bottleneck in their work.

Your current speed matters less than your improvement trajectory. Consistent daily practice produces measurable gains within weeks — see how to improve your typing speed.

Net WPM is calculated using this formula:

Net WPM = (all correct characters ÷ 5 ÷ minutes) − (errors ÷ minutes)

For a 1-minute test, this simplifies to:

Net WPM = Gross WPM − total errors

So if you type at 75 gross WPM with 5 errors in one minute, your net WPM is 70.

Why errors are penalised

In real typing tasks, errors don't disappear — they must be noticed and corrected. The net WPM formula approximates the real cost of errors: the time spent detecting the mistake, pressing backspace, and retyping. A typist producing 80 gross WPM with 10 errors per minute is not delivering 80 WPM of useful output.

Why sites report different WPM scores

Different typing sites use different formulas. Some show gross WPM (no penalty). Some calculate 'word' as exactly 5 characters; others use actual word count. TypingTest.now uses the standard net WPM formula with all characters counted in groups of 5, which tends to produce conservative but honest scores.

Gross WPM vs Net WPM

Your results page shows both gross WPM (raw speed) and net WPM (productive speed). The gap between them reveals your error cost — a large gap means accuracy improvement will have a bigger impact than pushing raw speed.

There are three main reasons your score may look lower here than elsewhere:

1. Gross vs net WPM

Many typing sites display gross WPM — your raw speed with no error penalty. TypingTest.now displays net WPM as your headline score: gross speed minus an error deduction. If you're making even a few errors per test, your net score will be noticeably lower than your gross score.

2. Character counting method

Some sites count "words" as the literal number of space-separated words typed. Others (including this site) use the 5-character-per-word standard. Tests with longer-than-average words will produce a lower WPM on character-based counting systems.

3. Error handling

Some sites forgive certain errors (backspaced corrections, short typos) or allow them to pass through. TypingTest.now applies a strict error count — every uncorrected mistake reduces your net WPM.

Which method is more accurate?

Net WPM with the 5-character standard is the most widely used professional measure and the closest to real-world typing productivity. Gross WPM scores feel better but overstate your actual output. If you're preparing for an employer typing test, the score you earn here is a more honest predictor of how you'll perform.

Typing speed varies widely by age because it tracks keyboard exposure time. These figures are practical benchmarks, not pass/fail cutoffs:

A note on Gen Z typists

Younger users who grew up with touchscreens sometimes start slower on physical keyboards than older millennial cohorts did at the same age. The gap narrows quickly with regular keyboard use.

Students specifically

For school and university work, 40 WPM is a functional baseline. At that speed you can keep up with lecture note-taking and complete assignments without typing being a bottleneck. 60+ WPM is comfortable for heavy writing workloads.

Speed matters less than consistency. A 13-year-old typing 25 WPM with 97% accuracy is better positioned than one typing 45 WPM with 80% accuracy. Practise accuracy first — speed follows.

Based on large-sample typing test data, here is how WPM scores distribute across the general typing population. The average typing speed page has more context on how these numbers are calculated.

Is 70 WPM fast?

Yes. 70 WPM puts you in the top 20–25% of typists and is fast enough for any office or professional requirement. The jump from 70 to 100 WPM takes significant dedicated practice and yields diminishing practical returns for most jobs. Check the WPM requirements by job role to see where you stand.

Is 100 WPM fast?

100 WPM is top 5% globally. For reference, professional stenographers reach 200+ WPM on specialised stenotype machines, but on a standard QWERTY keyboard 100 WPM is expert level.

Is 120 WPM good?

Exceptional. At this speed you are typing roughly two characters per second with high accuracy. Most professional typists (court reporters, transcriptionists) operate in the 80–120 WPM range.

The world record

The verified sustained English typing record on a standard keyboard is approximately 212 WPM. This is achieved by a tiny number of people through years of deliberate practice and is not a realistic personal target for nearly anyone. If you want to push your own ceiling, the typing speed improvement guide and the leaderboard are good starting points.

Typing accuracy is the percentage of keystrokes that are correct on the first attempt, before any corrections.

The formula

Accuracy = (correct characters ÷ total characters typed) × 100

On TypingTest.now, accuracy counts every character including spaces. A word typed wrong counts all its characters as errors regardless of which key was wrong. See how net WPM is calculated for how accuracy feeds into your final score.

What the percentages mean

Accuracy vs speed trade-off

At 92% accuracy you are making roughly 8 errors per 100 keystrokes. At 70 WPM that is about 5–6 errors per minute, each requiring detection and correction. Slowing down 5–10 WPM to reach 98% accuracy usually delivers faster net output.

If your accuracy is below 95%, prioritise accuracy over speed. Run shorter tests (15 seconds or 30 seconds) at a speed where you can stay above 97%, then gradually increase pace. See the full guide on improving accuracy for step-by-step drills.

Accuracy is a habit, and habits are built by repetition at the right speed, not the fastest speed you can manage.

Step 1: Find your accuracy floor

Drop your typing speed until you can maintain 98%+ accuracy comfortably. This is your starting point. If 98% only happens at 20 WPM, start there — speed will come.

Step 2: Identify your problem keys

After each test, check which words you missed most. Common culprits are pinky-finger keys (P, Q, A, Z, semicolon), number row symbols, and reach combinations like "tion", "qu", and "wr".

Step 3: Deliberate practice on weak spots

Use the custom practice feature on TypingTest.now to drill only the words or key combinations that cause you trouble. 10 minutes of focused practice on weak keys beats an hour of full-speed tests. The weak keys drill is also useful for targeting specific fingers.

Step 4: Don't look at the keyboard

If you glance down to find a key, you break the feedback loop between eye and finger. Cover your hands or use a blank keyboard if you have to. The discomfort fades within a week of consistent practice.

Step 5: Gradually increase speed

Once you hold 98% for several consecutive tests at a given speed, push your target up by 5 WPM. Never sacrifice accuracy to chase speed — the net WPM formula penalises errors either way.

1. Learn touch typing if you haven't

Touch typing — all ten fingers, no looking at the keyboard — is the single biggest improvement most self-taught typists can make. The transition feels slower at first, but the long-term speed ceiling is 40–60% higher. Start with the touch typing guide.

2. Accuracy before speed

When you type faster than your current technique allows, you're practising mistakes. Slow down until you can maintain 95%+ accuracy consistently, then gradually push speed. Speed built on clean movements scales. Speed built on errors plateaus.

3. Short daily practice, not weekend binges

Motor memory consolidates during sleep. 15–20 minutes every day produces faster improvement than 2 hours on Saturday. This isn't an opinion — it's how the brain builds procedural skills.

4. Target your weak spots

Random practice produces random improvement. After a few tests, you'll know which keys, letter combinations, or word patterns consistently slow you down. Use the weak keys practice guide to drill those specifically.

5. Increase difficulty gradually

Move from shorter tests to longer ones. Add punctuation mode once your base speed is stable. Introduce the number row. Try the advanced test once you pass 70 WPM. Each step should be slightly uncomfortable but achievable.

6. Track your progress

Create a free account to see your WPM history chart over time. Visible progress is the best motivator, and the chart helps identify when you've hit a plateau.

The timeline varies significantly based on your starting speed, practice consistency, and whether you've had keyboard training before. Here is a realistic breakdown:

The dip is real and temporary

Almost everyone experiences a significant speed drop in the first 2–4 weeks of touch typing practice. This is normal and expected — you're rewiring motor programs that took years to build. The dip is temporary. The ceiling you can reach with touch typing is substantially higher than what hunt-and-peck allows.

What makes the biggest difference

• Daily practice — even 10–15 minutes per day beats one long session per week
• Accuracy first — learning the correct movement slowly is faster than learning it wrong and retraining
• Don't look at the keyboard — every glance down reinforces the habit you're trying to break

Start with the touch typing guide and home row practice.

Touch typing is a technique where you type by feel rather than sight. Each finger is assigned a fixed set of keys, and you keep your eyes on the screen while all ten fingers handle the full keyboard.

Home row keys

Touch typing starts from the home row: ASDF for the left hand, JKL; for the right. Your index fingers rest on F and J — the keys with raised bumps for orientation. Every other key is reached by moving from this base position and returning.

Other names for it

You may see it called "10-finger typing", "blind typing", or "touch method". They all describe the same technique: no looking, all fingers, fixed key assignments.

Is it worth learning?

Yes, for anyone who types regularly. Hunt-and-peck typists plateau around 40–50 WPM because two-finger movement can only go so fast. Touch typists regularly reach 70–100+ WPM because the movements are shorter and run in parallel. The learning phase is typically 3–8 weeks — see how long it takes to learn touch typing for a realistic timeline.

How to learn it

Start with the home row keys only. Add one new row at a time using the touch typing practice module. Expect your speed to drop significantly for the first few weeks — that is normal and temporary. Most people return to their previous speed within a month and surpass it within three.

Most typing errors fall into a small number of categories. Identifying which category your errors belong to tells you exactly what to practise.

Transpositions (teh instead of the)

One finger fires before another finishes. Usually caused by rhythm mismatch — you are typing faster than your slower fingers can keep up. Fix: slow down to the speed where transpositions stop, then rebuild pace gradually.

Wrong-finger reaches

Using the wrong finger for a key — for example, hitting B with the right hand or using the index finger for a middle-finger key. Fix: identify the specific problem key from your missed-words list and drill it in isolation with correct finger placement.

Pinky key errors (P, Q, A, Z, semicolons)

The pinky is the weakest finger and its keys require the longest reaches. Deliberate pinky-only drills for 5 minutes daily produce one of the fastest accuracy gains available to intermediate typists. The weak keys drill on TypingTest.now targets exactly this.

Capitalisation errors

Pressing shift with the same hand as the capital letter instead of the opposite hand. Always use the opposite hand: for a capital T, the right hand holds shift while the left hand hits T.

Repeated corrections in the same word

Some words trip you up consistently due to an unusual letter combination. Add these words to the custom practice list on TypingTest.now and type them 20–30 times at reduced speed before testing at full pace.

End-of-word rushing

Error rate spikes at word endings because anticipation causes you to start the next keystroke too early. Fix: read one word ahead in the text, not one character ahead. Let the current word fully complete before starting the next.

Looking at the keyboard is a self-reinforcing habit: glancing down to find a key feels faster in the moment, but it prevents your fingers from learning the positions through muscle memory. The only way to break it is deliberate practice where looking is not available as a fallback.

Cover your hands

The fastest method: drape a cloth over your hands or place a piece of cardboard over your keyboard. You cannot look at what you cannot see. The discomfort of typing blind forces your fingers to find keys by feel, which is exactly what you need. One week of this accelerates the habit change more than months of occasional practice.

Start on the home row only

If you are still learning positions, do not try to type full words yet. Practise home row keys (ASDF, JKL;) until they are automatic, then add one row at a time. Trying to memorise the whole keyboard at once is the main reason people keep glancing down — there are too many positions to hold in working memory simultaneously.

Use short timed tests

A 15-second test requires enough focus that you will naturally keep your eyes on the screen. Set a rule: if you look down, restart the test. After a few sessions the urge to look down reduces significantly.

Learn your personal problem keys

Most typists only look down for 3–5 keys — usually the number row, symbols, or pinky-finger keys like P, Q, and semicolons. Identify which keys trip you up using the weak keys drill, then practise those specifically until they no longer need visual confirmation.

Is typing without looking a skill?

Yes — it is the foundation of touch typing. It is not a natural ability; it is a trained reflex. Most people can break the looking habit within 1–2 weeks if they practise deliberately for 10–15 minutes per day. The initial speed drop is temporary and recovers quickly once the muscle memory is established.

Typing speed requirements vary widely by role. Here are the most common professional benchmarks:

Accuracy requirements

Most professional typing assessments require 95%+ accuracy to count your WPM at all. A test submitted at below 95% accuracy may not even be scored, regardless of your WPM. Some roles require 98%+ accuracy, particularly legal and medical fields where errors have real consequences.

Test format for job applications

Employment typing tests typically run 3–5 minutes. A 3-minute test is the most common format in the US. These tests use net WPM — errors are penalised. The 5-minute test on this site closely approximates the format and difficulty of professional hiring tests.

How to prepare

Take the 5-minute test repeatedly until you consistently hit your target WPM with 95%+ accuracy. The consistency matters as much as the peak score — employers want to see that you can sustain the speed across a full test, not just for 30 seconds.

Coding is not transcription. A programmer types maybe 5,000–8,000 characters per hour of active work, but a large fraction of that hour is spent reading, thinking, and debugging. Raw typing speed rarely bottlenecks a developer's output.

What speed do you actually need?

What matters more than raw WPM

• Accuracy on symbols: brackets, underscore, pipe, semicolons, and braces are high-frequency in code — the coding test measures exactly this
• Editor shortcuts: keyboard navigation in your IDE reduces more time than raw WPM
• Consistency: reliable 65 WPM beats erratic 90 WPM with frequent backspace use — see what good typing accuracy looks like

Is 100 WPM good for coding?

100 WPM is a strong general typing speed, but it does not translate to twice the coding output of a 50 WPM typist. Code structure, architecture, and debugging time dominate. Fast typists find rapid prototyping and pair programming sessions more fluid, but the gains above 70 WPM are marginal for most developers. The programmer typing guide covers this in more depth.

Gamers tend to type faster than the general adult average. Regular use of chat, voice commands, and keyboard inputs builds familiarity faster than occasional office use.

Average typing speed for gamers

Large-sample typing test data consistently puts active gamers in the 55–70 WPM range, compared to the 38–45 WPM general adult average. Competitive gamers who use in-game chat heavily often reach 70–90 WPM — see where that ranks globally.

Does typing speed matter for gaming?

• MMOs and strategy games: Chat, guild commands, and macro input benefit from faster typing
• FPS games: In-game typing is minimal — reaction time and mechanical keyboard response matter more
• Text-heavy games (MUDs, some RPGs): Typing speed is a direct performance factor

For streamers and content creators

If you moderate your own stream chat or respond to audience questions live, 70+ WPM is genuinely useful. Below 50 WPM makes real-time chat engagement feel slow.

Gaming builds incidental typing speed through sheer keyboard hours. If you want to formalise the improvement, 15 minutes of structured typing practice per day will accelerate what gaming exposure does gradually over months. The speed improvement guide has a structured plan.

A typing certificate documents your speed and accuracy at a specific point in time. Whether it is worth pursuing depends on what you are using it for.

Do employers recognise online typing certificates?

Most hiring managers accept results from well-known testing sites as sufficient evidence. What matters is meeting the stated WPM requirement — the source of the certificate is rarely the deciding factor. Government and legal roles may require a proctored test, but most office, administrative, and remote jobs do not.

Can I get a free typing certificate?

Yes. TypingTest.now lets you take timed tests and save your results to your profile at no cost. For a formal certificate suitable for job applications, take a 5-minute test — longer tests are the industry standard for employment certification because they demonstrate sustained accuracy, not just a short burst of speed.

What qualifications does a typist need?

Most roles that require fast typing (administrative assistant, data entry clerk, legal secretary, transcriptionist) state a WPM requirement rather than a formal typing qualification. The benchmark varies — see WPM requirements by job role. A demonstrated speed of 60+ WPM with 98% accuracy is sufficient for the majority of positions.

When a certificate actually matters

• Court reporter and stenographer roles (these require formal certification from a specific body)
• Government positions that specify an approved testing provider
• Staffing agencies that use standardised pre-employment screening

For most other roles, a screenshot of your results or a link to your leaderboard profile is sufficient.

Transcription and data entry roles have some of the highest typing speed requirements of any profession. Unlike general office work, these roles involve continuous typed output for hours at a time, so sustained accuracy matters as much as raw speed.

Medical transcription

Medical transcriptionists typically need 65–75 WPM as a baseline, with 98%+ accuracy — errors in medical records have serious consequences. Experienced professionals often reach 80–100 WPM. Most employer listings specify 65 WPM minimum; freelance medical transcription platforms commonly require 80+ WPM.

General transcription

General transcription (interviews, podcasts, legal proceedings) typically requires 60–80 WPM. Platforms like Rev and Scribie have their own accuracy tests you must pass before being accepted, regardless of raw speed.

Legal secretary

Legal secretaries are commonly expected to type 80–90 WPM with high accuracy. Legal documents are long, precise, and frequently time-sensitive. Some firms set the bar at 70 WPM, but 80+ WPM is competitive. See typing speed requirements by job role for a full breakdown.

Data entry

Data entry clerk roles typically require 45–60 WPM, with some positions stating 10,000 keystrokes per hour (roughly 40 WPM in standard words). Accuracy is prioritised over speed — a single wrong digit in a database record causes rework. The 1-minute test is a reliable self-check before applying.

Secretary / administrative assistant

General secretarial roles typically require 50–70 WPM. Executive assistant positions often expect 70–80 WPM. A 5-minute test is the most useful format for demonstrating sustained typing ability to employers.

What job requires the fastest typing?

Court reporters and stenographers top the list — they must capture spoken testimony in real time, which requires 200+ WPM on specialised stenotype machines. On a standard QWERTY keyboard, broadcast captioners and real-time transcriptionists who use re-speak software typically work fastest. For regular keyboards, medical transcription and legal work demand the most from a typist.

Most job typing tests are straightforward 3- to 5-minute timed tests that measure net WPM and accuracy. Passing them is a matter of preparation, not luck.

Know your target speed first

Find out what WPM the role requires before you practise. Drilling at 60 WPM when the job requires 40 WPM is wasted effort, and drilling at 40 WPM when the job requires 70 WPM sets you up to fail. Check the WPM requirements by job role if the listing does not state it explicitly.

Practise at the test duration

Most employment typing tests are 3 or 5 minutes. If you only ever practise on 1-minute tests, your speed may drop over longer durations due to fatigue and loss of focus. Run several 5-minute tests in the week before your assessment so the duration feels routine.

Prioritise accuracy, not raw speed

Employment tests almost always score on net WPM — errors reduce your final score. Typing at 65 WPM with 99% accuracy will outscore typing at 80 WPM with 88% accuracy. Slow down by 5–10 WPM if it means keeping errors below 1–2 per minute.

Use a keyboard you know

If the test is in-person, arrive a few minutes early and spend 30 seconds typing on the provided keyboard before the test starts. Unfamiliar key travel or layout can drop your speed by 10–15 WPM in the first minute. If the test is online, use your own keyboard at a desk — not a laptop on a sofa.

Warm up beforehand

Run two or three short 30-second tests immediately before the assessment. This gets your fingers moving and settles your rhythm before the scored test begins.

Manage nerves

Test anxiety causes typists to rush, which increases errors. If you feel yourself speeding up, deliberately slow down to your comfortable practice pace. Your accuracy will hold and the net WPM score will be higher than if you race and make mistakes.

Keyboard choice has a real but small effect on typing speed. The factors that matter most — in order — are:

1. Technique (touch typing, finger placement, home row discipline)
2. Practice (hours of deliberate repetition)
3. Keyboard layout (QWERTY, Dvorak, Colemak)
4. Keyboard hardware (membrane vs mechanical, switch type)

Does a mechanical keyboard make you faster?

Some typists report small gains on mechanical keyboards due to the consistent actuation force and tactile feedback. The more significant benefit is ergonomic: mechanical switches require less bottoming-out force, which reduces finger fatigue over long sessions. Whether this translates to higher WPM depends on the individual.

Switch types

Linear switches (like Cherry MX Red) are smooth and quiet — popular for fast typing. Tactile switches (like Cherry MX Brown) have a bump at the actuation point — useful feedback for accuracy. Clicky switches (like Cherry MX Blue) are loud but provide clear auditory confirmation.

Layout: QWERTY vs alternatives

Switching to Dvorak or Colemak costs 2–4 months of productivity during the transition. Top typists exist on all layouts. For most people, improving QWERTY technique is a better investment than switching layouts. See Dvorak and Colemak explained.

The practical advice

Don't buy a new keyboard to improve your WPM. Fix your technique first. If you're already typing 80+ WPM and want to reduce fatigue during long sessions, a mechanical keyboard with tactile or linear switches is a reasonable investment.

This is one of the most debated topics in the typing community. The short answer: for most people who already type at a reasonable speed, the switch is not worth it.

The case for switching

Dvorak and Colemak place the most common English letters on the home row, requiring less total finger movement. Proponents argue this reduces fatigue, lowers RSI risk, and is more comfortable for extended typing sessions. These claims have some research support, especially for RSI reduction.

The case against switching

• Transition time is real. Expect 2–4 months of significantly reduced productivity while relearning.
• Speed gains are small or absent. Top typists exist on QWERTY, Dvorak, and Colemak at similar peak speeds.
• Shared keyboards become a problem. You'll struggle on any keyboard that isn't configured to your layout.
• Most shortcuts break. Ctrl+Z/X/C/V are in completely different positions on Dvorak.

When switching makes sense

If you have early repetitive strain injury symptoms and type heavily, Colemak (which moves only 17 keys and preserves most shortcuts) is worth considering. The reduced finger travel may genuinely help. In this case, see a physical therapist first and consider Colemak as one part of a broader ergonomics adjustment.

The verdict

If you type under 70 WPM on QWERTY, the path to improvement is technique and practice — not switching layouts. If you type over 70 WPM on QWERTY and want to go further, continuing to improve QWERTY technique will produce faster gains than switching. Only switch if you have RSI concerns and are willing to accept the transition cost.

Yes. Select Custom mode from the test toolbar and paste any text into the input field. The test will use exactly what you pasted as the target text.

What custom text is useful for

• Domain-specific vocabulary — medical terms, legal language, programming keywords, or industry jargon that doesn't appear in standard word banks.
• Specific documents — if you regularly type from a template or recurring document, practice it directly to build muscle memory for that specific content.
• Speeches or scripts — type the exact words you'll need to transcribe or produce quickly.
• Foreign language text — if you type in a language other than English, paste text in that language.

Tips for custom mode

Repeat the same custom text across several sessions. Familiarity with the content lets you focus on technique rather than comprehension, and your speed on that material will improve measurably. The second and third pass through the same text is typically 5–10 WPM faster than the first.

Access custom mode directly via the custom text test.

This is completely normal, and there's a straightforward reason for it.

Context and prediction

When you type an email, message, or document, your brain knows roughly what it's going to say. Context cues let you anticipate the next word before you've finished the current one. This predictive pre-loading speeds up your fingers — you're executing a plan, not reacting to each new word.

In a randomized word test, every word is unpredictable. Your brain must read the word, recognise it, retrieve the motor program, and execute it — all without any predictive shortcut. This extra cognitive step slows most typists down by 10–20%.

Unfamiliar words

Standard word banks contain common English words, but not words you necessarily type often. A marketing writer might type "strategy" many times a day and have a very fast motor program for it — but encounter "glib" or "wren" in a word test and slow right down. Your test score reflects general vocabulary coverage, not your specific professional vocabulary.

What this means for improvement

Improving your test score improves your real-world typing, because you're expanding and reinforcing the motor programs for a wider range of words. Your real-world typing speed is an easier ceiling to hit — improving your test score lifts both.

If you want to specifically improve speed for your actual work vocabulary, use custom text mode with your own documents.

Every test submission records a timestamp for each keystroke. After submission, this timing data is analysed before any score is posted to a leaderboard.

What the system detects

• Macro/auto-typers — programs that generate uniform inter-key intervals no human can produce
• Copy-paste events — large batches of text entered in a single instant
• Statistically impossible speeds — bursts that exceed verified human capability
• Implausible timing distributions — human typing has natural variance; automation lacks it

What happens to flagged results

Flagged scores are excluded from the leaderboard and weekly competition rankings. They remain visible in your personal test history. The system is designed to err on the side of inclusion for genuine outlier scores — false positives happen occasionally, but the threshold is calibrated to exclude only clearly non-human results.

Known limitations

The system is not perfect. Sophisticated automation that mimics human timing variance can sometimes pass. Very fast human typists occasionally get false-flagged and should contact support. No anti-cheat system on a web platform provides absolute certainty, but the filtering provides meaningful protection against casual cheating.

TypingTest.now collects only what is necessary to provide the service. Here is a plain-language summary:

What we store

• Your account email and username (for login and identification)
• Your test results: WPM, accuracy, test mode, and timestamp
• Keystroke timing data used for anti-cheat analysis (not stored long-term)
• Your theme preference and settings (stored locally in your browser)

What we don't do

• We don't sell your data to third parties
• We don't use advertising tracking pixels or third-party ad networks
• We don't share your email with anyone

Guest users

If you use the site without an account, no personal data is stored. Your test results are shown immediately but are not saved to any database.

Your rights

You can request deletion of your account and all associated data at any time via the contact form. We will action deletion requests within 7 days. Full details are in our privacy policy.

To request account deletion:

1. Go to the contact form
2. Include your username and the email address associated with your account
3. Request account deletion in your message

We will delete your account and all associated data — test results, profile information, and leaderboard entries — within 7 days. You'll receive a confirmation email when deletion is complete.

Before you delete

If you're having a specific issue rather than wanting to leave permanently, you may want to first:

• Check account settings to adjust privacy preferences
• Review the data privacy FAQ
• Contact support if you're experiencing a technical problem

What happens after deletion

Your account, email, username, and all test results are permanently removed. Leaderboard entries attributed to your account are removed. This action is irreversible — we cannot restore deleted accounts.

Getting on the leaderboard is straightforward:

1. Create a free account — takes under a minute
2. Take any timed or word-count test while logged in
3. Your result is automatically validated and posted if it passes anti-cheat filtering

Which tests count for the leaderboard

The main leaderboard tracks scores for the 1-minute words test. This is the most widely practiced format and the standard for most competitive typing communities. There are also separate boards for 30-second, 5-minute, daily, weekly, and accuracy rankings — see the full leaderboard.

What score do you need?

The leaderboard shows the top scores submitted by registered users. On a new site, any score above 30–40 WPM may appear. On a well-populated leaderboard, the top 25 may require 80–100+ WPM. Focus on improving your own score first — the leaderboard position follows naturally.

Tips for a high leaderboard score

• Warm up with a 15-second or 30-second test before your serious attempt
• Take the 1-minute test multiple times — only your best score is shown
• Accuracy above 98% maximises your net WPM advantage over faster but sloppier typists
• Take your attempt at a time of day when you're alert and not fatigued

See the leaderboard or read about the weekly competition.