Advanced typing test

Why your score drops here

Common-word tests use short words you have typed thousands of times, so your fingers run them on autopilot. Long words such as "accommodate" or "infrastructure" must be read, held in memory and typed letter by letter. Expect a lower score than on the standard test; the gap shows how much of your speed depends on familiar words.

Getting faster on hard words

• Read the whole word before you start it. Starting too early leads to stops halfway through.
• Break long words into syllables in your head: in-fra-struc-ture.
• Practise the letter pairs that slow you down; the results list them after each test.
• Try the tricky spellings lesson for words that are often misspelled.

How the score is calculated

A "word" is five characters, spaces and punctuation included. Net WPM is your gross speed minus one word per minute for every error you leave uncorrected, and accuracy is the share of all your keystrokes that were right, including mistakes you fixed. The timer starts on your first key. Read the full formulas.