A quick test to know your handwriting speed

Note: This test is designed to be taken only by adults including high school students.

Download this test in printable PDF format.

What you will need for this test?

Get an A4 lined paper or one that is large enough to have room for the passage below (should be a lined paper) and a pen of your choice. Download my paper template that you can print easily.

A separate phone to set up the timer when you begin writing.

The extract is given below which has 135 words. Why 135 words? Because it’s long enough to challenge your hand and not so long that it takes forever to complete.

Around noon, I walked out of the conference room to my cubicle and saw huge flakes of snow floating onto the downtown Boise landscape. In my mind, I could imagine the squeals of delight from my two little boys at home as they dreamed of their presents and candy and played from sunrise to sunset. Rather than feeling sad, something in me snapped. There were two boxes of papers between me and my family. Suddenly, I realized I was missing one of the most important moments of my life—Christmas Eve with my wife and two boys. From that instant on, I promised myself I was going to be in the driver’s seat when it came to my career. There was no way I would allow work or poverty to control my family any longer.” – from the book Work Energy by Jim Harmer.

Beginning the test

Rules

Rules are important if you want to derive fair conclusions. Neatness and speed are both important for good handwriting. Write how you write normally. Relax your hand for a couple of seconds in between if you really need to. The condition is it has to be at least legible by others, otherwise scribbling out would be the fastest.

Now coming back to the test, get someone to help you with timing the test. It’s not a must, but I feel our mind just keeps diverting to the stopwatch instead of concentrating solely on writing.

If you’re doing it yourself, start the timer and let go the first 10 seconds so you are ready to begin. At the sharp 11th second, begin to write. After finishing writing the extract, reduce the first 10 seconds from whatever numbers you’ve got on the stopwatch.

Get on your table and chair, or something feasible to write on. If you feel that your hand can perform more if you warm it up by writing something before the test, then do it. (Please don’t do it so much so that it affect your performance in the test).

Begin writing and start the timer with it. Keep in mind, it’s not worth it if your handwriting is not legible.

Result

The expected results on this test would be on the higher side mainly because this is a short paragraph. Yo