A pre employment typing test is any typing assessment an employer asks you to take before making an offer. It might be a two-minute screening exercise attached to an online application, a supervised test at an assessment centre, or one module inside a longer battery of aptitude tests. Whatever the format, the purpose is the same: to replace an unverifiable claim on your CV with a measured number.
The five-minute test above is a reasonable general rehearsal. If you know which role you are applying for, the job-specific pages linked at the foot of this article are closer to the real thing.
Where and how these tests happen
- Inside the application form. A short timed test before you can submit, used to filter high volumes of applicants automatically.
- Sent as a link. A test you complete at home within a deadline, sometimes with the webcam on.
- At an assessment centre. Supervised, on the employer’s equipment, usually alongside other exercises.
- At interview. Least common now, but still used for administrative and clerical roles, and usually the most nerve-racking version.
The format changes the experience far more than the difficulty. An unfamiliar keyboard at an assessment centre will cost most people several words per minute compared with their own desk, which is worth planning for rather than discovering on the day.
What speed passes?
It depends entirely on the role, which is why a single answer to “what is a good typing speed” is unhelpful. As a rough guide across the roles that test most often:
- 35 to 40 WPM: call centre, reception, junior clerical, many dispatcher minimums.
- 45 to 50 WPM: office and administrative assistant, general clerical, insurance administration.
- 55 to 65 WPM: legal secretary, medical secretary, executive assistant, chat-based support.
- 65 WPM and above: transcription and specialist high-volume roles.
Whatever the figure, expect an accuracy requirement of 95 per cent or better, and understand that most employers score net WPM, where errors are deducted. Typing quickly and messily is the most common way to fail a test you had the speed to pass.
How to prepare in the week before
- Find out the format. Ask the recruiter how long the test is and whether it is supervised. Almost everyone can find this out and almost nobody asks.
- Practise at the right length. If the test is five minutes, do not prepare with one-minute runs. Endurance and accuracy behave differently.
- Rehearse under test conditions. Use exam mode: fixed duration, no pausing, no pasting, nothing else on screen.
- Fix accuracy before speed. A week is not long enough to gain fifteen words per minute, but it is easily long enough to halve your error rate, and on a net-scored test that is worth more.
- Work on your weakest keys. The result screen shows which keys you miss. Three targeted fixes beat a week of general typing.
On the day
Warm up for five minutes before the test if you can, because a cold start typically costs several words per minute. Sit properly, with the keyboard close enough that your wrists are not stretched. Take one deliberate breath before the timer starts, then begin at a pace you can hold rather than sprinting the first fifteen seconds. If you make a mistake, do not stop to agonise over it; correct it if the test allows and keep the rhythm. Candidates who lose their place after an error lose far more than the error cost.
If you are offered a practice attempt, take it. It is not a trick, and the difference between a first and second attempt is real.
Being honest about your speed
Put a real number on your CV. Employers who test will find out, and being caught overstating a measurable skill damages the rest of your application in a way a modest figure never would. Test yourself several times across different days, use a figure you can reproduce rather than your best-ever result, and quote accuracy alongside it. “48 WPM at 98 per cent” reads as someone who understands the work; “fast typist” reads as someone who does not.
Adjustments and accessibility
If a health condition, disability or injury affects your typing, you are usually entitled to ask for reasonable adjustments to the assessment, and employers are generally obliged to consider the request. Adjustments that are commonly granted include extra time, a different keyboard or input device, breaks during a longer test, or an alternative method of demonstrating the same skill.
Two practical points. Ask early, ideally when the test is scheduled rather than on the day, because arrangements take time to organise. And ask for something specific, since a concrete request such as an ergonomic keyboard and twenty-five per cent extra time is far easier for an employer to action than a general statement that typing is difficult for you.
Requesting an adjustment is not an admission of weakness and does not form part of your score. It exists so that the test measures your ability to do the job rather than your ability to sit that particular test.
What to do if you fail
A failed typing test is one of the least damaging ways to be rejected, because the gap is measurable and closeable. Almost nobody is turned down for being fundamentally incapable of typing; they are turned down for being eight words per minute short on the day.
- Ask for your score. Many employers will share it. Knowing whether you missed by two words or twenty changes what you do next.
- Ask about the retake policy. Waiting periods are common but not universal, and some employers will retest for a different vacancy sooner.
- Work out whether it was speed or accuracy. On a net-scored test these look identical in the result and need completely different fixes.
- Apply elsewhere while you practise. Requirements vary widely between employers for what is effectively the same job, and the speed you have today clears somebody’s bar.
Set a target, practise for twenty minutes a day, and retest yourself weekly. Most people who are close gain the words per minute they need within a month, and the improvement is permanent in a way that cramming for an interview is not.
Other job typing tests
Preparing for a different role? These tests are set up the same way: 911 Dispatcher Typing Test · Data Entry Typing Test Practice · Clerical Typing Test · Office Assistant Typing Test.
Start practising now
Scroll back up and take the test on this page as many times as you like. When you want a structured plan rather than repeated attempts, our personalised practice plan builds a schedule around your current speed and the keys that slow you down, and the full lesson library covers everything from the home row to numbers and punctuation.