Below are 20 typing test paragraphs you can use right away, all taken from books and speeches that are in the public domain, so you can copy them into any practice tool, a classroom worksheet or a document of your own. They are sorted by length into three groups: short paragraphs for a 1 minute test, medium ones for a 3 minute test and long ones for a 5 minute test. Each paragraph lists its character and word count so you can work out what a finished run means in WPM. If you would rather have the timing, scoring and mistakes tracked for you, the free typing test here uses the same kind of plain English text.
How long should a typing test paragraph be?
Long enough that you cannot finish early. Typing tests count a "word" as five characters, including spaces and punctuation, so a typist at 40 WPM produces about 200 characters a minute, and a typist at 60 WPM about 300. A paragraph for a 1 minute test therefore needs at least 200 to 300 characters, and a 5 minute test needs five times that.
The table shows how many characters each test length uses up at common speeds, so you can pick a group that will keep you busy for the whole clock.
| Test length | 40 WPM | 60 WPM | 80 WPM |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 minute | 200 characters | 300 characters | 400 characters |
| 3 minutes | 600 characters | 900 characters | 1,200 characters |
| 5 minutes | 1,000 characters | 1,500 characters | 2,000 characters |
The short paragraphs below run from about 220 to 270 characters, the medium ones from about 550 to 820, and the long ones from about 1,100 to 1,650. If you finish a paragraph before time runs out, start the next one in the same group without stopping the clock. The guide on how WPM is calculated explains the five-character rule in more detail.
How do I score a typing test on paper?
If you are typing these paragraphs outside a scoring tool, you need three numbers: the characters you typed, the minutes you typed for, and the mistakes you left in.
- Set a timer for 1, 3 or 5 minutes and type the paragraph until the timer stops.
- Count the characters you typed, spaces included. Most word processors show this in the word count dialog.
- Divide by 5, then divide by the minutes. That is your gross WPM.
- Count the words with an error in them and subtract that number from the gross WPM for a rough net WPM.
The character and word counts under each paragraph let you skip step 2 when you finish a whole paragraph: if you typed all 612 characters of the first medium paragraph in 3 minutes, that is 612 ÷ 5 ÷ 3, or about 41 WPM. Counting by hand is tedious, which is why most people use the 3 minute typing test or 5 minute typing test instead and let the page count for them.
Short paragraphs for a 1 minute test
Each of these is a single paragraph of 220 to 270 characters. At 40 WPM they take just over a minute; at 60 WPM you will finish with time to spare, so line up two.
1. The Raven by Edgar Allan Poe
241 characters, 42 words
Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered, weak and weary, over many a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore, while I nodded, nearly napping, suddenly there came a tapping, as of some one gently rapping, rapping at my chamber door.
2. Self-Reliance by Ralph Waldo Emerson
237 characters, 43 words
To believe your own thought, to believe that what is true for you in your private heart is true for all men, that is genius. A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds. Trust thyself: every heart vibrates to that iron string.
3. Poor Richard's Almanack by Benjamin Franklin
222 characters, 40 words
Early to bed and early to rise, makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise. Well done is better than well said. Lost time is never found again. Little strokes fell great oaks. An investment in knowledge pays the best interest.
4. Heidi by Johanna Spyri
224 characters, 39 words
From the old and pleasantly situated village of Mayenfeld, a footpath winds through green and shady meadows to the foot of the mountains, which on this side look down from their stern and lofty heights upon the valley below.
5. Emma by Jane Austen
239 characters, 40 words
Emma Woodhouse, handsome, clever, and rich, with a comfortable home and happy disposition, seemed to unite some of the best blessings of existence; and had lived nearly twenty-one years in the world with very little to distress or vex her.
6. The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett
249 characters, 45 words
When Mary Lennox was sent to Misselthwaite Manor to live with her uncle everybody said she was the most disagreeable-looking child ever seen. It was true, too. She had a little thin face and a little thin body, thin light hair and a sour expression.
7. The Invisible Man by H. G. Wells
251 characters, 42 words
The stranger came early in February, one wintry day, through a biting wind and a driving snow, the last snowfall of the year, over the down, walking from Bramblehurst railway station, and carrying a little black portmanteau in his thickly gloved hand.
8. The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde
243 characters, 44 words
The studio was filled with the rich odour of roses, and when the light summer wind stirred amidst the trees of the garden, there came through the open door the heavy scent of the lilac, or the more delicate perfume of the pink-flowering thorn.
9. Gulliver's Travels by Jonathan Swift
240 characters, 46 words
My father now and then sending me small sums of money, I laid them out in learning navigation, and other parts of the mathematics, useful to those who intend to travel, as I always believed it would be, some time or other, my fortune to do.
10. The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne
269 characters, 43 words
A throng of bearded men, in sad-colored garments, and gray, steeple-crowned hats, intermixed with women, some wearing hoods and others bareheaded, was assembled in front of a wooden edifice, the door of which was heavily timbered with oak, and studded with iron spikes.
Medium paragraphs for a 3 minute test
These run from about 550 to 820 characters, which is roughly 3 minutes of typing at 40 WPM and about 2 minutes at 60 WPM. The longer ones are the openings of well known novels, so expect some unusual names and older spellings. That is good practice: real documents are not made of common words only.
11. A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens
612 characters, 119 words
It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way. In short, the period was so far like the present period, that some of its noisiest authorities insisted on its being received, for good or for evil, in the superlative degree of comparison only.
12. Peter Pan by J. M. Barrie
554 characters, 108 words
All children, except one, grow up. They soon know that they will grow up, and the way Wendy knew was this. One day when she was two years old she was playing in a garden, and she plucked another flower and ran with it to her mother. I suppose she must have looked rather delightful, for Mrs. Darling put her hand to her heart and cried, "Oh, why can't you remain like this for ever!" This was all that passed between them on the subject, but henceforth Wendy knew that she must grow up. You always know after you are two. Two is the beginning of the end.
13. Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë
613 characters, 109 words
There was no possibility of taking a walk that day. We had been wandering, indeed, in the leafless shrubbery an hour in the morning; but since dinner the cold winter wind had brought with it clouds so sombre, and a rain so penetrating, that further out-door exercise was now out of the question. I was glad of it: I never liked long walks, especially on chilly afternoons: dreadful to me was the coming home in the raw twilight, with nipped fingers and toes, and a heart saddened by the chidings of Bessie, the nurse, and humbled by the consciousness of my physical inferiority to Eliza, John, and Georgiana Reed.
14. A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens
756 characters, 137 words
Marley was dead: to begin with. There is no doubt whatever about that. The register of his burial was signed by the clergyman, the clerk, the undertaker, and the chief mourner. Scrooge signed it: and Scrooge's name was good upon 'Change, for anything he chose to put his hand to. Old Marley was as dead as a door-nail. Mind! I don't mean to say that I know, of my own knowledge, what there is particularly dead about a door-nail. I might have been inclined, myself, to regard a coffin-nail as the deadest piece of ironmongery in the trade. But the wisdom of our ancestors is in the simile; and my unhallowed hands shall not disturb it, or the Country's done for. You will therefore permit me to repeat, emphatically, that Marley was as dead as a door-nail.
15. Walden by Henry David Thoreau
818 characters, 169 words
I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived. I did not wish to live what was not life, living is so dear; nor did I wish to practise resignation, unless it was quite necessary. I wanted to live deep and suck out all the marrow of life, to live so sturdily and Spartan-like as to put to rout all that was not life, to cut a broad swath and shave close, to drive life into a corner, and reduce it to its lowest terms, and, if it proved to be mean, why then to get the whole and genuine meanness of it, and publish its meanness to the world; or if it were sublime, to know it by experience, and be able to give a true account of it in my next excursion.
16. The Call of the Wild by Jack London
555 characters, 96 words
Buck did not read the newspapers, or he would have known that trouble was brewing, not alone for himself, but for every tide-water dog, strong of muscle and with warm, long hair, from Puget Sound to San Diego. Because men, groping in the Arctic darkness, had found a yellow metal, and because steamship and transportation companies were booming the find, thousands of men were rushing into the Northland. These men wanted dogs, and the dogs they wanted were heavy dogs, with strong muscles by which to toil, and furry coats to protect them from the frost.
Long paragraphs for a 5 minute test
These four are the longest, from about 1,100 to 1,650 characters, and are the right size for the 5 minute tests many employers use. At 40 WPM you will not reach the end before the timer, which is fine: the score depends on how much you typed in the time, not on finishing. For what employers actually ask for, see typing speed for jobs.
17. The Gettysburg Address by Abraham Lincoln
1,458 characters, 271 words
Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal. Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battle-field of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this. But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate, we can not consecrate, we can not hallow this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us, that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion, that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain, that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom, and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.
18. The Declaration of Independence by Thomas Jefferson
1,633 characters, 273 words
When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation. We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.
19. Moby-Dick by Herman Melville
1,110 characters, 201 words
Call me Ishmael. Some years ago, never mind how long precisely, having little or no money in my purse, and nothing particular to interest me on shore, I thought I would sail about a little and see the watery part of the world. It is a way I have of driving off the spleen and regulating the circulation. Whenever I find myself growing grim about the mouth; whenever it is a damp, drizzly November in my soul; whenever I find myself involuntarily pausing before coffin warehouses, and bringing up the rear of every funeral I meet; and especially whenever my hypos get such an upper hand of me, that it requires a strong moral principle to prevent me from deliberately stepping into the street, and methodically knocking people's hats off, then, I account it high time to get to sea as soon as I can. This is my substitute for pistol and ball. With a philosophical flourish Cato throws himself upon his sword; I quietly take to the ship. There is nothing surprising in this. If they but knew it, almost all men in their degree, some time or other, cherish very nearly the same feelings towards the ocean with me.
20. Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll
1,327 characters, 253 words
Alice was beginning to get very tired of sitting by her sister on the bank, and of having nothing to do: once or twice she had peeped into the book her sister was reading, but it had no pictures or conversations in it, "and what is the use of a book," thought Alice, "without pictures or conversations?" So she was considering in her own mind (as well as she could, for the hot day made her feel very sleepy and stupid), whether the pleasure of making a daisy-chain would be worth the trouble of getting up and picking the daisies, when suddenly a White Rabbit with pink eyes ran close by her. There was nothing so very remarkable in that; nor did Alice think it so very much out of the way to hear the Rabbit say to itself, "Oh dear! Oh dear! I shall be late!" (when she thought it over afterwards, it occurred to her that she ought to have wondered at this, but at the time it all seemed quite natural); but when the Rabbit actually took a watch out of its waistcoat-pocket, and looked at it, and then hurried on, Alice started to her feet, for it flashed across her mind that she had never before seen a rabbit with either a waistcoat-pocket, or a watch to take out of it, and burning with curiosity, she ran across the field after it, and fortunately was just in time to see it pop down a large rabbit-hole under the hedge.
What makes a good typing test paragraph?
The paragraphs above were chosen with a few rules in mind, and the same rules apply if you want to write your own.
- Plain prose, not lists. Sentences with normal punctuation test the typing you do every day. Word lists and random strings are drills, not tests.
- A mix of common and uncommon words. Short function words like "the" and "and" let you build rhythm; names and longer words show where you hesitate. A paragraph made only of easy words inflates your score.
- Standard characters only. A few passages above had long dashes or curly quotes in the original. Those have been replaced with commas and straight quotes so that every character can be typed on an ordinary keyboard without hunting for a symbol.
- No copyright problems. Everything here was published before 1930 or is a United States government text, so it can be shared freely. Lines from the same kind of classic books also scroll past you in the Typing Challenge game.
- Enough length for the clock. A paragraph that ends at 40 seconds in a 1 minute test leaves you either idle or retyping, and both distort the result.
How should I practice with these paragraphs?
Typing the same paragraph again and again will raise your score on that paragraph, not your typing speed. A better routine looks like this:
- Warm up on a short paragraph without timing. Cold fingers make mistakes you would not normally make.
- Take one timed run on a paragraph you have not typed before, and note WPM and accuracy.
- Look at the mistakes. If accuracy is under 95%, slow down on the next run until it climbs back. The guide on how to improve typing accuracy has drills for the keys you keep missing.
- Repeat weekly, not hourly. Speed gains come from regular practice over weeks. One session of ten tests mostly produces tired hands.
If you need a result to show someone, take the timed run on the site and download the free typing certificate, which records your WPM, accuracy and the test date.
Frequently asked questions
Can I use these typing test paragraphs for free?
Yes. All 20 texts are in the public domain in the United States, so you can copy them into worksheets, practice apps or your own documents without permission. Keep the author's name next to each one as a courtesy.
How many words are in a 1 minute typing test?
Enough that a fast typist cannot run out. Since a typing "word" is five characters, a 1 minute test should offer at least 300 characters, or about 60 real words, to cover typists up to 60 WPM. The short paragraphs above are a little under that, so pair two if you type faster than 50 WPM.
Is it better to practice with paragraphs or with random words?
Both have a place. Paragraphs train the punctuation, capital letters and rhythm of real writing, which is what a job test measures. Random word lists isolate finger movement and are useful for drilling weak keys. Test with paragraphs and drill with words.
Why is my WPM lower on these paragraphs than on other typing tests?
Many online tests use only short, common words, which are faster to type than the names, commas and older spellings in classic prose. A 10 WPM gap between the two is normal. Compare your score only with results from the same kind of text, and see average typing speed for where typical scores fall.
Sources
- Wikipedia. Words per minute. Definition of the standard five-character word used in typing tests.
- Project Gutenberg. A Tale of Two Cities, Peter Pan, Jane Eyre, A Christmas Carol, Walden, The Call of the Wild, Moby-Dick and Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. Public domain texts used for the medium and long paragraphs.
- Abraham Lincoln Online. The Gettysburg Address, Bliss copy.
- National Archives. Declaration of Independence: A Transcription.