When measuring keyboard performance, you will frequently encounter two terms: Gross WPM (also known as Raw WPM) and Net WPM (Adjusted WPM). While both numbers offer insight into your typing capabilities, confusing the two can give you a false sense of efficiency or lead to unexpected failures on job pre-employment typing assessments.
Defining Gross WPM
Gross WPM measures the raw velocity of your fingers across the keyboard. It counts every single character you type during a test—including correct letters, incorrect letters, and spaces—divided by 5 (the standard word length unit) and normalized per minute.
Gross WPM = (Total Typed Characters / 5) / Time in Minutes
Gross WPM shows your maximum motor speed capacity, but it completely ignores whether the resulting text makes sense or is full of typos.
Defining Net WPM
Net WPM measures your net productive typing speed. It takes your Gross WPM and subtracts a penalty for every uncorrected mistake remaining in the text at the end of the test duration.
Net WPM = Gross WPM - (Uncorrected Errors / Time in Minutes)
Side-by-Side Comparison Table
The Heavy Hidden Cost of the Backspace Key
Even if you fix your errors while typing, typos severely impact your Net score. Consider what happens when you make a mistake:
- You hit the wrong letter key (1 keystroke spent).
- You realize the error and pause (time delay).
- You hit Backspace to erase it (1 extra keystroke spent).
- You hit the correct letter key (1 keystroke spent).
Instead of 1 keystroke taking 0.1 seconds, you just spent 3 keystrokes plus hesitation time taking 1.2 seconds. A typist who types at 70 Gross WPM with 88% accuracy will often score lower Net WPM than a typist who types at 55 Gross WPM with 99% accuracy!
Which Metric Should You Focus On?
If you are a beginner or intermediate typist, focus 90% of your energy on Net WPM. Aim to keep your accuracy above 95%. High accuracy ensures that your finger speed directly translates into real-world efficiency.
Track both metrics simultaneously on Tyspingo's free typing speed test to see how clean typing elevates your true score.