What WPM do I need for a job?
Most office jobs require 40–60 WPM. Legal and medical roles often require 80+ WPM. Data entry typically requires 8,000–10,000 keystrokes per hour.
Typing speed requirements vary widely by role. Here are the most common professional benchmarks:
| Role | Typical requirement |
|---|---|
| General administrative / office | 40–60 WPM |
| Administrative assistant / PA | 60–75 WPM |
| Data entry clerk | 8,000–10,000 KPH (≈ 27–33 WPM) |
| Legal secretary / paralegal | 70–90 WPM |
| Medical transcriptionist | 80–100 WPM |
| Court reporter (keyboard) | 100–120 WPM |
| Police / government clerk | 40–60 WPM |
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.
Related tests: 5-Minute Test, 3-Minute Test, Accuracy Test