15-Second Typing Test
Fifteen seconds measures your burst speed: how fast you can type when there is no time to get tired and no time to lose focus.
Click here to start — the clock starts on your first keystroke
Pasting is disabled during a test.
What a 15 seconds test does and does not tell you
It is the least reliable length there is. A single lucky or unlucky word swings the result by several WPM, and almost nobody types at their 15-second pace for a whole email. Treat it as a warm-up, not a score worth quoting.
- Run it three times and take the middle result, not the best one.
- If your 15-second speed is far above your 1-minute speed, stamina is your limit, not technique.
What one mistake and one pause cost in 15 seconds
A typing score is an average over a sample, and the length of the test is the size of that sample. At 50 WPM, 15 seconds is about 63 characters. One wrong keystroke therefore moves your accuracy by 1.6 points, and a single one-second hesitation removes 3.3 WPM from the result. Over five minutes the same slip costs 0.08 points and the same pause 0.17 WPM, which is why longer tests are steadier and harder to get lucky on.
| Your speed | Characters typed | One error costs | A 1-second pause costs |
|---|---|---|---|
| 30 WPM | 38 | 2.6 accuracy points | 2.0 WPM |
| 50 WPM | 63 | 1.6 accuracy points | 3.3 WPM |
| 70 WPM | 88 | 1.1 accuracy points | 4.7 WPM |
Calculated with the formulas on the methodology page: WPM counts correct characters divided by five per minute, and accuracy counts every keystroke, so a corrected error still counts against it.
How to practise with a 15 seconds test
- Use it as the first thing you do in a session: three runs, middle result, then move on to longer work.
- Pick one word that tripped you and type it ten times slowly before the next run. At this length a single word is a large share of the score, so fixing one word shows up immediately.
- Do not track it over weeks. The swing between attempts is larger than the improvement a week of practice produces, so the trend line is mostly noise.
Other test lengths
Once you know your speed, the useful next step is finding out which keys are costing you time.
Turn the score into progress
A timed result is only useful if something changes afterwards.
- How to improve typing speedWhy speed plateaus, and the specific habits that raise a ceiling.
- WPM calculatorWork out words per minute from characters typed and time taken.
- Typing games16 free games that drill speed, accuracy and weak keys.
- Typing speed requirements for jobsWPM by country and role, and which certificates employers actually accept.