How much is each mistake worth in a Brazilian typing test?

Five hundredths of a point, or 0.05, in the format FGV publishes. Twenty divergent characters therefore cost a full point out of a maximum of ten.

How many mistakes take the mark to zero?

Two hundred divergent characters, because two hundred times 0.05 is the whole ten-point scale. On a passage of about 1,800 characters that is a little over eleven per cent wrong.

Does an extra space count as a mistake?

It does, because it is one character more than the original. The same applies to a trailing space at the end of a line and to characters that autocorrect inserts without your having typed them.

What mark do I need to pass the typing test?

It depends on the edital, which is what sets that figure; the examining board's rules document does not. Find it in the official notification for your concurso before deciding how much margin you have.

Does leaving the passage unfinished count as mistakes?

It does, and it is the worst case: every character you did not type is one character fewer, so a missing paragraph can cost more marks than every typing error put together.

ANSWER

How many mistakes can I make in a Brazilian typing test?

In FGV's published format each divergent character deducts 0.05 from a mark out of ten, so twenty mistakes cost a full point and two hundred take the mark to zero. On a passage of about 1,800 characters, two hundred is a little over eleven per cent. The mark needed to pass, however, is not in that document: each concurso's edital sets it.

See the full format of the test →

The arithmetic, point by point

The deduction is 0.05 per divergent character, defined as one character more, one fewer, or one different from the passage given. Multiplication is all it takes: twenty divergences cost a point, forty cost two, a hundred cost five. To hold nine out of ten you may diverge twenty times in 1,800 characters, an accuracy of about 98.9 per cent. To hold eight, forty divergences, or 97.8 per cent. Two hundred divergences take the mark to zero. Notice what those numbers mean in practice: the margin is tight in absolute terms and generous in percentage terms, which is the opposite of what most candidates assume when they train.

The missing question: what mark do you need

Knowing what each error costs solves only half the problem. The other half is the mark required to pass, and that is not in the rules document: it is in the edital for the concurso you are sitting, and it varies. It is the figure you most need and the one preparation sites are least able to give you, precisely because it cannot be given in general. Before deciding whether twenty errors are many or few, find the pass mark in your own official notification. Twenty errors are comfortable if the pass mark is seven and fatal if it is nine and a half.

Why a missing accent counts

Because the rule says a different character, and an unaccented vowel is a different character from the accented one in the original. There is no spelling tolerance: the comparison is made character by character. In Portuguese prose this is usually the largest source of lost marks. A passage of 1,800 characters carries a great many accented vowels, cedillas and tildes, and each one missed costs as much as any other wrong letter. Training accents is worth more than training speed.

Correcting is almost always worth it

The mark comes from the text you hand in, not from the keystrokes you made along the way. A corrected error stops being a divergence and costs only the seconds spent correcting it. Since the format allows eleven minutes for a passage that takes about nine at a steady pace, there is room to correct. Decide this before the day rather than weighing it up mid-passage, and see how the test is marked for why the room exists.

Frequently asked questions

How much is each mistake worth in a Brazilian typing test?
+
Five hundredths of a point, or 0.05, in the format FGV publishes. Twenty divergent characters therefore cost a full point out of a maximum of ten.
How many mistakes take the mark to zero?
+
Two hundred divergent characters, because two hundred times 0.05 is the whole ten-point scale. On a passage of about 1,800 characters that is a little over eleven per cent wrong.
Does an extra space count as a mistake?
+
It does, because it is one character more than the original. The same applies to a trailing space at the end of a line and to characters that autocorrect inserts without your having typed them.
What mark do I need to pass the typing test?
+
It depends on the edital, which is what sets that figure; the examining board's rules document does not. Find it in the official notification for your concurso before deciding how much margin you have.
Does leaving the passage unfinished count as mistakes?
+
It does, and it is the worst case: every character you did not type is one character fewer, so a missing paragraph can cost more marks than every typing error put together.

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