How to Calculate Keystrokes Per Hour

Your typing speed, measured in keystrokes per hour (KPH), may come up as a question when you apply for jobs that require a lot of data entry. This number tells employers how fast you can enter data and, therefore, how proficient you are as a typist. Fortunately, you don't have to sit and type furiously at top speed for an hour to arrive at your KPH. You can calculate your KPH using a couple of different methods.

You need to know either your words per minute (WPM) or your characters per minute (CPM) rate to calculate your keystrokes per hour rate. The easiest way to calculate your CPM is to use an online tool. Online tools display a paragraph or more of text and ask you to type it. The site grades your accuracy and tracks how long it takes you to type the text. With this information, the site figures a CPM rate that is usually reliable. You can use sites like KeyHero.com, LiveChatInc.com, OmniCalculator.com and SpeedTypingOnline.com to test and calculate your CPM. The speed at which you type depends on your familiarity with the keyboard you are using, so use a keyboard you are familiar with when you take the test to type quickly and accurately.

You can also calculate keystrokes per minute rate by first getting your WPM rate. This method isn't as accurate as CPM because word length varies, but some employers may ask you for both your WPM and KPH. You can use the same sites mentioned previously to obtain the WPM rate, or you can manually calculate WPM by finding a script online, opening a Word Processor and a timer app, and typing that script for 60 seconds. Look at the number of words typed; this is your WPM.

The number of keystrokes per hour is estimated from the CPM calculation. You can calculate keystrokes per minute either manually or automatically. Then, calculate KPM by taking the CPM rate and multiplying it by 60. The resulting number represents your average keystrokes per hour number.

You can also calculate KPH from WPM. Take the WPM number you obtained previously and multiply it by 300. The number you get is your KPM. Note that the KPM number is only approximate because how fast you type every hour depends on other factors such as how tired you are, whether you are familiar with the text that you are typing and how long the words are, among other factors. It is best to do multiple KPH tests and average these to get the most accurate KPH number.