Final Five Minutes: Pushing Speed or Holding Accuracy
You are 25 minutes into a 30-minute mock typewriting test. Your gross output is 1,050 words with 42 errors. The centre's practice rule deducts 10 words from the gross total for every error, so your net score is 630. The pass target for this mock is 800 net words. Your pace over the first 25 minutes works out to about 42 gross words per minute, and your error rate has been roughly one error every 25 words. In the last two minutes you tried to push harder: your instantaneous speed rose to 48 words per minute, but you made 9 errors in that short burst. You now have five minutes left. You must decide whether to keep the higher pace or settle into a steadier rhythm. The passage has about 210 words remaining.
1. Using the centre's deduction rule, calculate the net score you would reach at the end of the test under (a) a steady 40 gross words per minute with 3 errors in the final five minutes and (b) a pushed 48 gross words per minute with 9 errors. Which pace should you choose, and why?
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Option (a), steady pace: 40 wpm × 5 min = 200 gross words. With 3 errors, the deduction is 3 × 10 = 30 words, so net words from the final five minutes = 200 − 30 = 170. Total net = 630 + 170 = 800, exactly the target.
Option (b), pushed pace: 48 wpm × 5 min = 240 gross words. With 9 errors, the deduction is 9 × 10 = 90 words, so net words = 240 − 90 = 150. Total net = 630 + 150 = 780, which misses the target by 20 net words.
The pushed pace produces 40 more gross words than the steady pace, but it also produces 6 more errors, costing 60 extra words. The net result is worse. The recent burst is evidence that your error rate rises sharply when you push, so the safer choice is the steady 40 wpm pace. You should also note the break-even: at 48 wpm, you need no more than 6 errors in five minutes for the pushed pace to beat 170 net words. Since your last burst produced 9 errors, that margin is not realistic for you today.
2. A friend says: 'Any extra word is worth typing, even with errors, because gross speed is what examiners see.' How would you answer using the numbers in the setup?
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The statement is false under the centre's deduction rule. One error costs 10 words, so every error cancels the value of 10 gross words. At 48 wpm you are typing about 0.8 words per second, which means each error costs roughly 12.5 seconds of gross typing. In the final five minutes, the pushed pace gains 40 gross words over the steady pace, but the extra 6 errors cost 60 words. The net effect is a loss of 20 words.
The real comparison is not gross output but net output: gross words minus 10 times the number of errors. A candidate who types 240 words with 9 errors scores 150 net words, while a candidate who types 200 words with 3 errors scores 170 net words. The second candidate is 20 net words ahead despite typing 40 fewer words. In the exam, accuracy is not a cosmetic extra; it is part of the scoring arithmetic. The correct response is to protect accuracy when the error rate is high, especially near the end when fatigue makes errors more likely.