Paragraph Typing Test

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Random word tests are great for drilling, but real typing means full sentences. The paragraph typing test gives you natural, readable passages about typing, learning and work, complete with capitals and punctuation.

120s left

0 wpm

100% acc

Many jobs list typing speed as a requirement. Customer support agents, writers, programmers, data entry clerks and assistants all spend hours at a keyboard each day. Improving from forty to sixty words per minute can save an hour of work every single week. A good typing posture starts with your feet flat on the floor and your back straight against the chair. Keep your wrists level and relaxed, and let your fingers curve gently over the keys. Take short breaks every half hour to stretch your hands, roll your shoulders and rest your eyes. Learning any new skill follows a similar curve. In the beginning, progress comes quickly as you learn the basics. Later, gains become smaller and require more deliberate practice. The learners who keep improving are the ones who measure their results, notice their weak spots and practice them on purpose. Accuracy is more important than speed. When you make an error, you lose the time it takes to notice it, delete it and type it again. Focus on hitting the right key every time, and your speed will rise naturally as your fingers learn the patterns of common words. Touch typing is the skill of typing without looking at the keyboard. Instead of hunting for each key, your fingers rest on the home row and reach for every letter from memory. It feels slow at first, but within a few weeks most learners type faster and with fewer mistakes than they ever did before. The keyboard layout we use today was designed for mechanical typewriters more than a century ago. Although many alternative layouts exist, most people still learn on the familiar arrangement of keys. The good news is that the same techniques apply to every layout: keep your hands anchored, use all ten fingers and practice a little every day.

Click here or press any key to focus

Press Tab to restart. The timer starts with your first keystroke.

Because the text makes sense, you can read ahead in phrases rather than single words. That's exactly the skill that makes experienced typists fast.

Why practice with paragraphs?

Typing tests for jobs usually use passages, not word lists. Paragraphs also teach you to keep a steady rhythm through long words, commas and sentence breaks. If your paragraph speed is much lower than your word-list speed, practice punctuation and capital letters.

Read ahead, don't spell

Beginners look at one letter at a time. Fluent typists look at the next word, or even the next few, while their fingers finish the current one. Try keeping your eyes one word ahead of the caret - it feels strange at first and then suddenly clicks.

Frequently asked questions

Can I type my own paragraph?

Yes. Choose Custom above the test and paste any text you like.

Is a paragraph test harder than a word test?

Slightly, because of punctuation and capitals. Many people find it more enjoyable though, since the text reads naturally.

How long should a paragraph test be?

Two to five minutes gives the most realistic measure of your everyday typing speed.