Typing Test Mistake Rules: Full and Half Mistakes

Most central government typing tests count mistakes using the DoPT scheme, which sorts every error into two weights. A full mistake is one of: leaving out a word or figure, typing a different or meaningless word, adding or repeating a word, or misspelling a word. A half mistake is one of: wrong spacing, wrong punctuation, wrong paragraphing, or wrong capitalisation.

The total is full mistakes plus half of the half mistakes, with no rounding at any stage. However many things are wrong inside one word, it is capped at one full mistake. Each full mistake costs 50 keystrokes, which is 10 words; a half mistake costs 25.

The consequence candidates underestimate: one careless omitted word costs you 10 words of speed. At a 35 WPM threshold over 10 minutes, four full mistakes eat more than a full minute of typing. Accuracy is not a virtue here, it is arithmetic.

Suppose you type 1,750 strokes in 10 minutes: gross speed 35 WPM. You omitted one word, misspelt two, and got three capitalisation errors. That is 3 full + 3 half = 4.5 total mistakes, a penalty of 225 strokes. Net speed: (1750 − 225) ÷ 5 ÷ 10 = 30.5 WPM. A 35 WPM requirement is now failed on what felt like a near-perfect attempt.

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