SkillUnlock
Stoic typing test
Type a passage from Marcus Aurelius, Epictetus or Seneca. Your speed and accuracy update as you go.
Click the quote and start typing. The timer starts with your first key.
Esc for a new quote
Get one of these every time you unlock.
SkillUnlock’s Typing skill puts a short test like this between you and your desktop, then tracks your speed, accuracy and weakest keys over time.
Free download · Typing is free for 7 days, then $5.99 once
How the score works
Speed is words per minute, where a word is any five correct characters. It’s the standard most typing tests use, so your number compares with theirs. Accuracy is every correct keystroke over every keystroke, so a mistake you backspace over still counts. Raw speed counts everything you typed, mistakes included; a big gap between raw and real speed means slowing down a little would make you faster.
A run at 95% accuracy or better is clean. Below that, most of your time went into fixing mistakes.
What’s a good typing speed?
As a rough guide, around 40 wpm is common for everyday typing, 60 wpm and up feels quick, and 80 to 100 wpm is fast. Quotes run a little slower than lists of common words because of the capitals, commas and longer words, so compare quote scores with quote scores.
Accuracy matters more than top speed. Type cleanly at a steady pace and the speed comes later.
Why Stoic quotes?
Real sentences make you practice capitals, punctuation and the rhythm of actual prose, which lists of random words don’t. The Stoics wrote short, plain sentences, so they’re easy to type, and you get to read some Marcus Aurelius while you practice.
There are 1,418 passages here: 831 from Seneca, 361 from Marcus Aurelius and 226 from Epictetus, each kept whole so it never loses its sense. Pick Short for 10 to 20 words, Medium for 21 to 32 or Long for 33 to 50.
Where the quotes come from
All of them are from public-domain translations: Meditations by Marcus Aurelius and the Discourses and Enchiridion of Epictetus, translated by George Long (1862 and 1877), and Seneca’s Moral Letters to Lucilius, translated by Richard Mott Gummere (1917–1925). Most passages show their book and section, so you can find them again.
Questions
How is typing speed calculated?
Words per minute counts every five correct characters as one word, divided by the minutes you took, which is the convention most typing tests use. Raw WPM counts every character you typed, right or wrong.
How is accuracy calculated?
Accuracy is correct keystrokes divided by all keystrokes. A typo you fix with backspace still counts against you, so accuracy rewards typing it right the first time.
What counts as a clean run?
95% accuracy or better. In the SkillUnlock app, your streak goes on when you reach 80% of your recent average speed with 90% of words right.
Are the quotes real?
Yes. Every passage is a direct quote from a public-domain English translation: George Long’s Meditations (1862) and Epictetus (1877), and Richard Gummere’s Moral Letters of Seneca (1917–1925). Passages with editorial brackets were left out, and nothing was rewritten.
Does it work on a phone?
Yes. Tap the text to bring up the keyboard. Curly quotes from phone keyboards count as straight ones.
Is anything saved or sent?
No. The test runs in your browser and nothing you type leaves the page.