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Curious how efficient of a communicator y'all are? Words per minute (WPM for curt) is a measurement that defines how apace y'all are able to form and recognize words in your communication with others. Whether you're looking to figure out how rapidly you lot type, speak, or read, the basic formula for finding your WPM is the aforementioned: (# words)/(# minutes).

  1. 1

    For the quickest results, apply an online typing tester. Today, the easiest fashion to figure out how many words you can type per minute is usually to employ a programme online specifically made to test this. It'southward easy to detect dozens of these programs with a search engine term similar "words per minute typing test." Though at that place are many of these types of programs available, most work the aforementioned way: you blazon a list of words within a sure fourth dimension limit and the plan uses your performance to summate your WPM.

    • One bully program for this is available at 10fastfingers.com.[1] The test on this folio is simple: only type each give-and-take on the screen, putting a space between each, until the minute timer counts down.
    • In addition to learning your WPM, this typing examination will too tell you the number of mistakes you lot fabricated and tell you which percent of test-takers y'all scored in.

  2. 2

    Alternatively, open a give-and-take processor and set up a timer. You tin also determine your typed WPM manually — for this, you'll need a computer program you lot can type in (similar a give-and-take processor or notepad program), a timer or stopwatch, and a source of text you can copy.

    • Set the timer for any length of time (in general, the longer you test yourself for, the less vulnerable you'll be to fluke performances.)
    • Your text should exist long enough that you won't reach the end before your timer finishes.
    • If you don't have a word processor installed on your device, you tin can access one for free with a Google account at drive.google.com.[ii]

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  3. 3

    Start the timer and start typing. When you're all ready to go, starting time the timer, then begin copying the text. Attempt to exist as accurate as you tin — if you lot notice a fault while yous're typing a word, set up information technology, but you don't demand to fix mistakes in words that you've already finished. Keep copying the text until the timer goes off, then stop immediately.

  4. iv

    Divide the number of words by the number of minutes. Now, finding your WPM is easy. Split up the number of words you typed by the number of minutes that y'all originally gear up your timer for. The final answer you lot get is your WPM.

    • Note that well-nigh all modern word processors have a "discussion count" feature, so you don't need to count your words manually.
    • For example, let's say that we blazon 102 words in one minute and 30 seconds. To detect our WPM, we would divide 102 words/1.5 minutes to get 68 WPM.

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  1. ane

    Employ an online exam. If you're trying to effigy out how many words per minute you can read, in one case again, your all-time bet is more often than not to use an online speed reading examination program. These are a little less mutual than typing speed tests but plenty of good ones can even so be found with search engine queries similar "reading words per minute."

    • One great programme is bachelor at readingsoft.com.[3] In this program, you time yourself while yous read a text of predetermined length. In one case you finish, the plan calculates your WPM based on how speedily y'all reached the cease.

  2. two

    Alternatively, grab a stopwatch and copy a long stretch of text into a word processor. As in a higher place, it's also possible to find the WPM yous read manually. To practice this, yous'll want to open a discussion processor, paste a page or two of text into information technology (preferably something you haven't read before), then get set up to start a stopwatch.

    • Earlier you begin, use your word processor'southward "word count" characteristic to determine how many words are in your text selection. Tape this number — you'll demand it at the stop.
    • A good place to observe long text selections you haven't read earlier is on your favorite news website. Since the news is constantly updated, you won't have to look long to find something you oasis't read yet.

  3. 3

    Start the stopwatch and start reading. When you're ready, start timing yourself and begin reading the text at your normal reading speed. Unless you're specifically trying to see your maximum reading speed, you shouldn't rush yourself — this won't give you an accurate picture of how fast you read in your twenty-four hours-to-solar day life.

  4. iv

    Divide the number of words by the time it took you lot to read the text. Finish the stopwatch as soon equally you lot read the very last word in the text. Now, just utilize the aforementioned formula as in a higher place to find your WPM: # words/# minutes.

    • For example, if it took us iii minutes to read a one,100-word news article, we would discover our WPM past dividing 1,100/3 = 366.7 WPM.

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  1. ane

    Catch a stopwatch and find a speech with a known number of words. Figuring out your WPM while speaking is a little more difficult than the 2 methods above. Nigh noticeably, there aren't whatever good online programs that can make the calculations for you. However, with a niggling attempt, you can still notice your speaking WPM manually. Start by copying a spoken language (preferably a reasonably brusk i that you oasis't read before) into your give-and-take processor, and then finding the number of words in it with the processor'southward "discussion count" feature. You'll besides demand a stopwatch for this test.

    • A list of major historical speeches is available at historyplace.com.[4] Many of these speeches (like, for instance, George Graham Vest's "Tribute to the Canis familiaris") aren't well-known by the general public, making them slap-up for this exam.

  2. 2

    Time yourself every bit you evangelize the speech. Start the stopwatch and begin reading the text out loud. Talk at your normal speaking charge per unit — again, unless you're trying to figure out your maximum speaking rate, going chop-chop has no purpose. Speak with a moderate, conversational pace, pausing whenever feels natural.

  3. three

    Divide the number of words in the speech by the minutes it took to deliver. When you terminate the speech, stop the stopwatch. Once again, your WPM is given by dividing the number of words in the speech past the number of minutes information technology took for you to speak it.

    • For instance, if information technology took us five minutes to deliver a 1,000-discussion speech, we would notice our WPM by dividing 1,000/5 = 200 WPM.

  4. iv

    Use a recording of a natural chat for a more than accurate WPM. The test in a higher place is alright for determining your WPM, but it'south not perfectly accurate. The fashion we speak when delivering a speech is a little different than the manner we speak when nosotros're actually talking in our mean solar day-to-day life — many people, for case, deliberately talk more than slowly and clearly when reading aloud. In addition, since you're reading from a written text, the test is also partly a test of your reading speed and non your natural speaking speed.

    • To get the near accurate results, you'll want to record yourself speaking to someone else in a semi-coincidental setting for a long, uninterrupted stretch of time, count the words manually, and divide by the number of words by the number of minutes. This is fairly painstaking, but it'southward the nigh accurate measure of your actual speaking speed.
    • One skillful fashion to become yourself talking for a long stretch of time is to gather a group of friends and tell them a long, detailed story that you know well and have told before. This way, you won't demand to pause to call up how the story goes — you'll only exist limited by your natural speaking speed.

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  • Question

    I am having trouble with a homework assignment. My teacher wants me to read 106 words at l wpm, how practice I calculate this and then that I tin can complete this project?

    Community Answer

    Maybe this will answer your question: 106 words read at 50 wpm should take you but over 2 minutes (about two.1 minutes or most 2 minutes and vi seconds). If it were simply 100 words (not 106), it would take exactly 2 minutes.

  • Question

    What if I took less than a mintue to speak the text I was given? How do I calculate from seconds to mintues?

    Community Answer

    You should divide the number of words read past 60 to get wps (words per second). Or instead, you could summate your wpm like this: Split up the words read by the fraction of a minute it took. For example, 6 seconds is 0.1 of a minute. If it took 48 seconds to read your words, that would exist 8/x or 0.8 minutes. In that case, split up your number of words by 0.8 to get your wpm.

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  • Once you lot discover your words per infinitesimal, multiply by lx to find your words per 60 minutes (WPH).

  • Keep in listen that the text you utilise for your test tin affect your results. Texts with lots of long, complicated words will dull yous down and give you a lower WPM, while texts with mostly short, easier words will give you a higher WPM.

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