2-Minute Typing Test
Two minutes starts to show decay. If your accuracy drops in the second minute, that is real information about how you type under sustained load, and it is invisible in a shorter test.
Click here to start — the clock starts on your first keystroke
Pasting is disabled during a test.
What a 2 minutes test does and does not tell you
It is still short of the length used for most formal assessments, which usually run three to five minutes.
- Compare your first and second minute. A large gap means you are typing above your sustainable pace.
- Useful preparation for data-entry and clerical tests, which rarely stop at a minute.
What one mistake and one pause cost in 2 minutes
A typing score is an average over a sample, and the length of the test is the size of that sample. At 50 WPM, 2 minutes is about 500 characters. One wrong keystroke therefore moves your accuracy by 0.20 points, and a single one-second hesitation removes 0.42 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 | 300 | 0.33 accuracy points | 0.25 WPM |
| 50 WPM | 500 | 0.20 accuracy points | 0.42 WPM |
| 70 WPM | 700 | 0.14 accuracy points | 0.58 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 2 minutes test
- Note where in the run your errors cluster. Errors spread evenly mean a technique problem; errors bunched at the end mean pacing.
- Try one run deliberately five WPM slower than your 1-minute score. If accuracy and consistency rise and the final WPM barely drops, that slower pace is your real working speed.
- Use the Prose mode. Real sentences, with their capitals and commas, are what a two-minute assessment usually contains.
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.
- Data entry typing testMeasure keystrokes per hour on real record data, not prose.
- Government job typing testsSSC CHSL and DEO requirements, and a 10 minute practice test.
- WPM calculatorWork out words per minute from characters typed and time taken.
- Typing speed requirements for jobsWPM by country and role, and which certificates employers actually accept.