Clicking with your keyboard
This version swaps the mouse button for the keyboard. Instead of clicks, it counts key presses for five seconds. Any letter, any number and the Space bar all count, and you can mix them freely. The result is still shown as presses per second, with a rating, your total and your best, and keyboard runs keep a history of their own.
Hold a key down and nothing extra happens. Computers repeat a held key on their own, and the test ignores those repeats. Every point has to come from a real press and release.
Why alternating keys helps
When you press one key with one finger, that finger has to go down, come back up and go down again. Each press waits for the last one to finish. When two fingers take turns on two keys, one can lift while the other presses, so the gaps get shorter.
You can do this in a few ways:
- Two fingers, one hand. Index and middle finger on two letters next to each other, tapping in turn.
- Two hands. One finger from each hand on keys far apart, such as a letter on the left side and one on the right.
- Thumbs on Space and a letter. Some people find the thumb strong and quick, so mixing Space with a letter works well for them.
Find the pattern that feels most relaxed, then stick with it so your history stays comparable.
A note on keyboard rollover
Rollover describes how many keys a keyboard can register when they are pressed at the same time. Some keyboards handle many keys at once, while others can lose a press when too many are down together. When you alternate quickly, your presses overlap a little, so a keyboard with weak rollover may miss a few. Two keys is a modest load for most keyboards, but if your score seems oddly low, try a different pair of keys or a different keyboard.
Comparing with other tests
A keyboard score and a mouse score measure different movements, so keep them apart. If you only want to use the Space bar, the spacebar CPS test is built for that. For keyboard speed with real words, try the typing test.