What is the Average wpm

The abbreviation wpm stands for words per minute, which is a measure of input and output speed of a person punching words, be it on a computer or typewriter. It is one of the commonly used measure in recruitment. For standardization purposes, a word is standardized to five characters or keystrokes. Hence, "fifth" counts as one word, whereas "fifteenth" counts as two words. There are benefits of standardization of measurement for input speed. Standardization enables comparison across language as well as hardware boundaries. Therefore, the speed of an Afrikaans speaking person in Cape Town can be compared with the speed of a German speaking person in Frankfurt.

How Many WPM does the Average Person Type

There was a study conducted to how many words per minute can an average person type. The results of this study showed that the average wpm for typing was 33. Another study was conducted within the same group to find what is considered an above average wpm, if the group was divided into 'fast', moderate' and 'slow'. The average wpm in case of the fast group was 40, while that of moderate was 35 and slow was 23 wpm. With the typing lessons, a person can increase his/her speed. There are also various free typing practice software available, which you can make use of.

People have become aware of what is the average wpm, due to the various typing jobs, that have hit the market. It is seen that an average professional typist reaches the speed of 30 to 40 wpm. However, there are some positions, which may require as much as 80 to 95 wpm. This is often the speed required for dispatch positions and some time-sensitive typing jobs. In some cases, an advanced typist may be required to have the speed of 120 wpm.

This was the average wpm for typist, who use multiple fingers to type. However, the average wpm in case of typists, who use two fingers (also referred to as 'hunt and peck' typists), is 37 wpm for memorized text, while the average wpm for copying text was 27 wpm. However, in bursts, they were also able to reach as much as 60 to 70 wpm.

There is also another method used to measure the speed of a typist. It is called CPM and stands for characters typed per minute, but it not a commonly used measure. It is a common measurement used for typing programs or for typing tutors, as it is said to give a more accurate measure of a person's typing speed without having to type for an extended period of time. Occasionally, this measure is also used to identify the speed of a reader with the amount they have read. This measure was also used in the 20th century printers, but the modern faster printers use the common pages per minute (PPM) measure.

When we are taking notes, it is not possible for an average person to note down everything said by the speaker. Hence, shorthand was invented. Shorthand is used for taking notes in lectures or also by assistants, etc. There are three kinds of shorthand, which have come into being. They are symbol shorthand, alphabetic shorthand and hybrid shorthand. At the same time, different types of shorthand methodologies came into existence, in different parts of the world. The average wpm for shorthand is about 200 to 250 wpm, however, most people struggle to reach the speed of 100 wpm. Practice of about six months to one year is required to better the speed.

To sum it up the average wpm is about 30 to 40 wpm. An office worker writes anywhere between 40 to 60 words. However, people in certain specific professions may also reach the speed of 80 wpm.