Understanding WPM and CPM

When measuring typing speed, we use two main metrics: WPM (Words Per Minute) and CPM (Characters Per Minute).

WPM (Words Per Minute)

A “word” is standardized as 5 characters, regardless of actual word length. This makes it fair when typing complex code versus simple text. Formula: (Total Characters / 5) / Minutes

CPM (Characters Per Minute)

This is exactly how many individual keystrokes you made correctly in one minute.

Example

If you type this code in exactly 60 seconds:

.container { margin: 0; }

That is 25 characters.

• CPM: 25
• WPM: 5