Pace test

Divide the number of words you spoke by your speaking time in minutes. Equivalently, multiply the word count by 60 and divide by elapsed seconds. Reading 260 words in two minutes gives 130 WPM. Include your natural delivery pauses if you want the result to represent your presentation pace.

Paste a passage and choose its script language, then select Measure my pace. Start the timer, read the complete passage aloud, and finish. Confirm that you read the whole passage before applying the result. The test needs at least ten seconds, but a longer representative passage gives a more useful sample. Your accepted pace is saved locally for that script language.

Use 130 WPM, the calculator’s English default, as a starting estimate rather than a target everyone must meet. Try a passage at your natural pace and check that listeners can follow it. Technical ideas, unfamiliar terms, and audience needs may call for a slower delivery. Your measured rehearsal pace is more useful than a single universal average.

No. Reading silently does not require you to pronounce the words or give an audience time to absorb them. Measure your speed aloud for speeches, narration, and presentations. Using a silent reading speed to estimate a spoken script can make the planned duration too short.

WPM means words per minute; CPM means characters per minute. ScriptTimerr uses CPM for Chinese, Japanese, and Other / mixed, where a word count may not be a useful timing unit. Measure your pace using the same language and counting method as the script. There is no single WPM-to-CPM conversion that works for every language.