Gross Speed Versus Net Speed: Choosing a Strategy for the Ten-Minute Typing Test
You are a junior assistant in a district office and have been nominated for the departmental typewriting proficiency test, which requires a net speed of 30 words per minute over a ten-minute passage. The rule book states that ten words are deducted from the gross total for every error. Your last five timed attempts produced these figures - gross words and errors: 470/11, 455/6, 480/14, 460/5, 465/9. A colleague advises you to type flat out, because 'words typed count and errors don't slow you down that much'. In the same week your section head asks you to type a three-page confidential report in triplicate - top copy plus two carbon copies - on the office's electronic typewriter, whose letter 'e' key has begun repeating intermittently. The report must reach the section head by 4 p.m. today, with all three copies legible and no visible corrections.
1. Using the ten-words-per-error rule, work out which of your five attempts gives the best net speed, and state what strategy you should adopt in the test.
Read the worked answer
Apply the rule to each attempt: net words = gross − (10 × errors); net speed = net words ÷ 10 minutes.
| Gross | Errors | Net words | Net wpm |
|---|---|---|---|
| 470 | 11 | 470 − 110 = 360 | 36.0 |
| 455 | 6 | 455 − 60 = 395 | 39.5 |
| 480 | 14 | 480 − 140 = 340 | 34.0 |
| 460 | 5 | 460 − 50 = 410 | 41.0 |
| 465 | 9 | 465 − 90 = 375 | 37.5 |
The highest gross (480) gives the lowest net. The 460/5 attempt gives the best net, 41 wpm. Note also that 470/11 (36.0) is beaten by 455/6 (39.5) - 25 fewer words typed but 72 more net words.
Strategy: each error costs ten words, which at your pace is about 25–30 seconds of typing over a ten-minute test. Avoiding one error gains as much as typing ten extra words, and is far cheaper in effort and nerve. Type at a controlled, even rhythm slightly below your flat-out pace, keep the eyes on the copy rather than the keyboard, and refuse to chase speed in the last two minutes. Target the 455–460 gross band with under six errors.
2. How do you handle the triplicate confidential report and the faulty typewriter so that the 4 p.m. deadline is met?
Read the worked answer
Test the machine before loading the document. Type a full line containing several 'e's on a scrap sheet with the carbons in place. If the key repeats, the fault will reproduce on all three copies, and on a confidential report a repeated letter can corrupt a name or a figure. A machine cannot be trusted with the fair copy until the key is freed or the machine is replaced.
Options in priority order: (1) get the machine attended to or swapped by the office's maintenance section immediately; (2) type on a computer and print three copies - the cleanest route if the section head accepts computer print-out; (3) borrow a machine from an adjacent section. If none of these is possible by 2 p.m., tell the section head at once with a revised time - do not let the deadline pass in silence.
Carbon discipline: align the sheets and carbons with a backing sheet, use the card holder, and check the third copy after the first paragraph. If an error occurs, correct every copy individually with a hard eraser and a slip-sheet behind each - never correct only the top copy. Keep carbons and spoiled sheets locked away; shred spoiled copies rather than binning them, since the report is confidential.