Typing
Is typing speed our goal?
Increase in typing speed it is just one factor
contributing to a marked increase in productivity.
Speed & accuracy
Given that touch typing is an automatic skill it is logical to associate an
expert typist with fast typing but a better description might be accurate typing. The
principal benefit of touch typing, for the student typist, is that data input
via a keyboard no longer requires conscious thought, or, visual confirmation.
- While
composing a letter or essay it is no longer necessary for the writer to
interrupt their train of thought to scan the keyboard for the location of
a particular key, or, to correct a typing mistake.
- A touch
typist copying from a source text doesn't need to divide their attention
between the source, screen and keyboard as an untrained typist would but
can turn their full attention to the source text, confident that their
touch typing skill will translate thought into data input without error.
These are attainable benefits resulting from constant practice. The end
result can be demonstrated as an impressive display of typing speed, where the
typist's fingers keep pace with thought, but the underlying demonstration is
one of reliable accuracy that typing practice has elevated to speed.
What is WPM?
WPM is an abbreviation of Words-Per-Minute. Confusingly this does not
literally mean whole words, as one might find in a dictionary, but rather
word-units.
For speed to be comparable, it must be measured in standard units. In the
case of typing speed if we used actual words for the WPM measurement then
typing speed test results would not be comparable unless everyone used the same
texts for their respective typing speed tests - which would give us the
additional factor of memorisation so, the word-units we use are artificial.
One word-unit is five keystrokes. Thus, "typed"
is one word-unit, "type
on it" is two word-units (spaces count as keystrokes too).
Typing technique
Before you begin the typing speed test make sure you are sitting up
straight, your feet flat on the floor. Keep your elbows close to your body,
your wrists straight and your forearms level, and remember to
Measuring typing skill
Typing tests measure two things, speed and mistakes, so when you take our
typing speed test, do not look only at your speed, look also at the number of
your mistakes and concentrate on reducing your mistakes in future tests rather
than increasing your typing speed. The end result will be increased productivity.
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8
Steps to Calculating Words Per Minute (WPM) |
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1. Open up the computer calculator (it should be on
the desktop, if not, ask the teacher to place it there). |
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2. Type the timed lesson when the teacher tells you. |
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3. Click on Tools on the Menu bar. |
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4. Click on Word Count and the Word Count dialog box
will pop up. |
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5. Use the number for "characters with
spaces" on the Word Count dialog box. Remember that 5
keystrokes equal 1 word. |
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6. Type the number of "characters with
spaces" into the calculator. |
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7. Divide by 5 which is the number of keystrokes per
word. |
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8. Divide by the number of minutes that you
typed. This will be your WPM |
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Figure
out how many words were typed in 10 minutes using the "characters with
spaces" from the Word Count dialog box above. |
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created by Jo Black (09.06.03) |
Calculating Your Reading
FICTION READING RATE
- Count the number of words in three lines and divide by three. This figure is your WPL or Words Per Line.
- Count the number of lines on a page. This figure is your LPP or Lines Per Page.
- Multiply the WPL by the LPP. This figure is your WPP or Words Per Page.
- Count the number of full, half, and quarter pages.
- Multiply the number of pages by the WPP. This figure is your TOTAL NUMBER OF WORDS.
- Divide the number of minutes you read into the TOTAL NUMBER OF WORDS. This figure is your WPM or Words Per Minute.
Example:
WPL 10
LPP 40
10 pages x 40 LPP = 400 WPP
8.5 pages x 400 WPP = 3400 words
3400 words -:- (divided by) 10 minutes reading time = 340 WPM
RATE 340 WPM
NON FICTION READING RATE
Number of words are known, minute and second score are unknown
- Convert minute score to seconds
- Divide number of seconds into number of words. This figure is your WPS or your Words Per Second (carry to one decimal place)
- Multiply WPS by 60. This figure is your WPM or Words Per Minute (carry to one decimal place)
Example:
9 minutes 30 seconds to read 2178 words
60 seconds in minute x 9 minutes reading = 540 seconds
540 seconds + 30 seconds = 570 seconds of reading time
2178 words -:- (divided by) 570 seconds = 3.8 WPS
3.8 WPS x 60 seconds = 228 WPM
RATE 228 WPM