Typing tests commonly report words per minute (WPM), raw speed, and accuracy, but implementations do not all use the same rules. Below are the formulas used by Typerkeys so you can interpret this site's results. These are practice measurements, not a certification or a promise that another service will calculate the same score.
Words per minute (WPM)
Typerkeys uses the five-character convention: each five correct characters count as one standardized word, rather than counting spaces between dictionary words. Its net WPM is the number of correct characters divided by five and by elapsed minutes. This makes word length less influential, but does not make scores identical across different languages, passages, or keyboards.
For example, if a one-minute run contains 240 correct characters, the five-character convention gives 48 WPM (240 ÷ 5 ÷ 1). In a two-minute run with the same number of correct characters, the rate would be 24 WPM. This is a normalized character rate, not a count of dictionary words.
Raw speed
Typerkeys calculates raw WPM from all recorded key attempts divided by five and by elapsed minutes. Net WPM uses correct characters instead. The difference can help show how errors affected a run, but it is not a direct estimate of how many seconds corrections cost.
Accuracy
Typerkeys accuracy is calculated as (attempts − wrong attempts) ÷ attempts × 100, rounded to a whole percent. A wrong attempt remains counted even if you later correct the character, so accuracy reflects the typing attempts rather than only the final text. If there are no attempts yet, the displayed accuracy is zero.
Characters per minute (CPM)
Typerkeys CPM is correct characters divided by elapsed minutes. Keystrokes per hour (KPH) is recorded attempts divided by elapsed minutes and multiplied by 60. Because one standardized WPM represents five characters, 1 WPM corresponds mathematically to 300 characters per hour under that convention; this is not necessarily a real-world work-rate comparison.
Consistency
Consistency is a Typerkeys-specific score, not a standardized credential. It summarizes variation in sampled typing pace; the app needs at least three usable speed intervals before it reports a value. A high score does not by itself tell you whether the passage was difficult, the text was error-free, or your technique was comfortable.
Why results differ between tests
A score can change when you switch language, passage, keyboard layout, mode, duration, or device. Familiar words may feel easier than punctuation or numbers. Comparisons are most useful when you keep the test settings and equipment consistent and consider more than one run.
How to use the measurements
Use net WPM as a simple rate of correct text entry, raw WPM to see the pace of all attempts, and accuracy to understand the share of attempts that were not marked wrong. Read consistency as a separate indicator of pace variation. No single value captures every aspect of typing skill, so pick the measure that matches your practice goal.