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Fact · Typing and writing speed

43.8minutes

At the mean copying speed of 22.85 words per minute, copying 1,000 words by hand takes about 43.8 minutes.

Checked against its source on October 16, 2026

What it measures: Copying a given text, not writing your own.
How it is calculated: 1000 / 22.85 = 43.8 minutes
What it does not show: Uses one student sample's mean, and assumes a steady pace.

Calculated from

In a 2014 study of 300 university students in South Africa, the mean handwriting speed in a short copying task was 22.85 words per minute.

Cited on

Copying 1,000 words by hand takes about 44 minutes | Yap