Typing speed starts from key depressions: every character in your typed text, spaces included. Five key depressions count as one word, so gross WPM is key depressions ÷ 5 ÷ minutes, net WPM takes your mistakes off first, and KDPH is the number of key depressions you would type in an hour.
The four measures
- Key depressions: the characters in your final text, spaces included. Keys you pressed and then deleted do not add to this count.
- Gross WPM: (key depressions ÷ 5) ÷ minutes. It shows raw speed and ignores mistakes.
- Net WPM: (key depressions ÷ 5 − mistakes) ÷ minutes. Each full mistake removes one word and each half mistake removes half a word.
- KDPH: key depressions ÷ minutes × 60. This is the unit SSC uses for data entry posts.
This is how our typing tests work out your result, and it follows SSC's practice of 5 key depressions to a word. The SSC CHSL 2026 notice, for example, equates 35 WPM with about 10,500 key depressions an hour.
A worked example
Say you type for 10 minutes. Your final text has 2100 key depressions and the checker finds 6 mistakes.
| Measure | Working | Result |
|---|---|---|
| Words | 2100 ÷ 5 | 420 |
| Gross WPM | 420 ÷ 10 | 42 |
| Net WPM | (420 − 6) ÷ 10 | 41.4 |
| KDPH | 2100 ÷ 10 × 60 | 12600 |
Notice the cost of a mistake: in a 10-minute test, every full mistake takes 0.1 off your net WPM. Ten careless words cost you a whole word per minute.
Exams that count speed their own way
Not every exam uses the SSC method. Read your own notice, because the same typing can pass one test and fail another.
- CPCT (2026): net words are the correct words typed, and net speed is net words ÷ the minutes taken up to your final submission.
- Punjab Clerk, High Court SSSC (2026): speed = (words typed − mistakes) ÷ 10.
- Delhi High Court JJA (2026): at least 35 WPM on a "characters with space" basis, with mistakes allowed up to 3% of the words typed.
- BSSC LDC (2026): 250 words in 10 minutes in each language, counting actual words, with at most 1.5% errors.
- RSSB Clerk Grade-II (2026): no WPM at all. You get 0.05 mark for each correct English word and 0.0625 for each correct Hindi word, and need at least 9 of 25 in each paper.
Gross or net: which one matters
When a notice gives a WPM figure without saying gross or net, the safe target is net speed. If your net speed clears the bar, your gross speed clears it too. Our SSC CHSL test judges the WPM requirement on net speed for this reason, since the notice states the speed but not this detail.
What to do next
Turn any speed into KDPH or key depressions with the WPM to KDPH converter. Then take a timed test in English typing, or pick your exam from the exam typing tests to be scored its way.