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Cortes Generales Cuerpo Administrativo: the transcription exercise

This is the clearest surviving national typing exercise in the Spanish public sector, and the notification describes it precisely enough to practise against. The second exercise is eliminatory: ten minutes of transcription at a minimum of 250 net keystrokes a minute, followed by a second part in which the transcribed text is worked in Word and Excel. What makes it worth reading closely is not the speed but the penalty. Each wrong keystroke removes six from the total, and a separate ceiling excludes anyone more than two per cent wrong however fast they typed.

Requirements

Spanish
50 words per minute, being the 250 net keystrokes a minute the notification sets
Duration
10 min
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At a glance

Exercise
Second, eliminatory, in two parts
Transcription
10 minutes at 250 net keystrokes a minute (2,500 total)
Penalty
Each erroneous keystroke penalises six
Error ceiling
Maximum 2% of gross keystrokes
Second part
Word and Excel, Microsoft Office 2016 as named
Gross needed at the ceiling
About 284 a minute, if you type at 2% errors

Figures checked September 2026. Exam formats are revised between cycles, so confirm against your own notification.

What the notification sets out

The second exercise is eliminatory and comes in two parts. The first is a transcription lasting ten minutes at a minimum speed of 250 net keystrokes a minute, which the notification also states as a total: 2,500 net keystrokes over the exercise. The scoring is defined rather than left to be inferred. Each erroneous keystroke penalises six. Net keystrokes are obtained by subtracting the penalties from the gross. A maximum of two per cent errors on the gross figure is admitted. The second part takes the text just transcribed and requires it to be worked with a word processor and a spreadsheet, with Word and Excel from Microsoft Office 2016 named in the notification. That half is an office-software exercise rather than a typing one, and it is scored separately from the speed.

The penalty is the exercise

Almost every candidate reads 250 and starts practising for 250. The figure that decides results is the six. At six keystrokes an error, a one per cent error rate costs six per cent of everything you typed. At two per cent, which is the ceiling itself, the penalty removes twelve per cent - so a candidate typing at exactly the ceiling needs 284 gross keystrokes a minute to arrive at 250 net. The threshold is not 250 of anything you can feel while typing. Run it the other way and it is starker. Typing 2,700 keystrokes in the ten minutes with thirty wrong gives 2,520 net, which is 252 a minute and a pass by two points. The same run reported by a practice tool that deducts one keystroke per error reads 267, which would have felt safe. The conclusion candidates reach late is that the fastest route to a higher net figure is almost always to type slightly slower.

The two per cent ceiling is a separate exam

The speed and the error rate are two conditions, not one, and passing the first does not protect you from the second. Two per cent of a 2,700-keystroke run is fifty-four errors. Below that the ceiling is not in play and only the net figure matters. Above it, the exercise is failed on the ceiling regardless of the net figure - a candidate who typed 3,200 keystrokes with ninety-six wrong is comfortably past 250 net and still excluded. Because the two rules pull in the same direction, the practical advice is the same for both: hold accuracy first and let the speed follow. But they should be watched as two numbers, because a candidate who watches only the net figure can be well inside it and still on the wrong side of the ceiling.

Preparing for both halves

For the transcription, practise at the full ten minutes, in Spanish, on the layout the examination centre provides. Accuracy drifts in the last third of a long exercise and that is where the ceiling is breached; a candidate who only practises short runs has never seen their own drift. On Typetera, the ten-minute Spanish test matches the length, and the results page reports net keystrokes under the six-keystroke rule rather than the raw figure, so the number you train against is comparable to the one you would be given. For the second part, no typing site prepares you: it is a word processor and a spreadsheet exercise on a named version. Formatting, tables, basic formulas and the mechanics of the software are what carry marks there, and they need their own practice on the same version the notification names. A candidate who is fast, accurate and lost in Excel has prepared for half an exercise.

What we can and cannot tell you

Everything above is quoted from the notification, which we read end to end rather than through summaries. The one caveat is its date. This is the 2020 cycle for the Cuerpo Administrativo, and competitions are advertised on their own schedule; a later notification may set a different speed, a different penalty or a different Office version. We have not read a later one and do not claim there is not one. We also make no claim about the other cuerpos of the Cortes Generales, or about competitions that resemble this one. The figures here describe this exercise in this notification, and the honest instruction is the same one the notification implies: read your own.

Tips that actually help

  • Convert the threshold into a gross target

    250 net at a one per cent error rate needs about 266 gross a minute; at two per cent it needs about 284. Work out the gross figure your own error rate implies and practise against that, because it is the only one you can feel while typing.

  • Keep the error rate as its own dial

    Watch errors as a percentage rather than as a count. The ceiling is expressed that way, and a rising percentage warns you before the net figure moves, because the penalty lags behind the mistake that caused it.

  • Give the second part its own preparation

    The word processor and spreadsheet half is examined on a named version and carries its own marks. Typing practice does nothing for it, and candidates who are strong on the transcription routinely lose the exercise here.

  • Rehearse on the software version the notification names

    Menus and defaults move between releases, and an exercise timed to the minute is a poor place to hunt for a command. Practise on the version written into the bases rather than the one you happen to own.

  • Find where in the ten minutes you slip

    Most candidates hold accuracy for six or seven minutes and lose it after. Time your own crossing point and build practice around extending it, rather than around raising a peak speed you can only hold briefly.

What costs candidates marks

  • Practising against 250 as a gross figure

    The threshold is net. Typing 250 gross a minute with any errors at all lands under it, and the gap widens by six for every mistake. Candidates who practise to 250 on a tool that deducts one per error arrive well short.

  • Passing the speed and failing the ceiling

    The two per cent limit excludes independently of the net figure. Being comfortably fast is no protection, and a candidate can leave the room believing the exercise went well.

  • Correcting errors as they happen without counting the cost

    Backspacing takes time and the original mistake may already have been counted, depending on how the exercise is marked. Slowing enough not to make it is cheaper than either.

  • Ignoring the office half until the last fortnight

    Formatting and formulas on a specific release take practice, and they are examined in the same sitting. Leaving them late is how a strong typist loses an eliminatory exercise.

  • Assuming this notification describes the current one

    These figures are from the 2020 cycle. Competitions are advertised on their own schedule and the numbers can move, so the bases for the cycle you are sitting are the only authority on it.

A four-week plan

  1. Week 1

    Find your gross-to-net gap

    Run three ten-minute Spanish transcriptions and record gross, errors and net under the six-keystroke rule. The gap between the gross figure you feel and the net figure you would be given is the number this whole preparation is about closing.

  2. Weeks 2-4

    Get under one per cent errors

    Type below your comfortable pace until the error rate is consistently under one per cent over the full ten minutes. At this penalty that single change is usually worth more net keystrokes than any speed work, and it is what keeps you clear of the ceiling.

  3. Weeks 5-7

    Raise gross without raising errors

    Push the pace back up in small increments, abandoning any run whose error rate rises above one per cent. Use administrative Spanish prose so the vocabulary of the exercise stops costing you time.

  4. Weeks 8-10

    Add the office half

    Alternate transcription days with word processor and spreadsheet practice on the version the notification names. Formatting, tables and basic formulas, under time, so both halves of the exercise are rehearsed rather than only the one that is easier to practise.

Questions candidates ask

How fast do I need to type for the Cortes Generales exercise?
The notification sets a minimum of 250 net keystrokes a minute over ten minutes, which it also expresses as 2,500 net keystrokes in total. Net is the figure after penalties, so the gross speed you need to reach it depends on how many errors you make along the way.
What does one mistake actually cost me here?
Six keystrokes. The notification states that each erroneous keystroke penalises six, and that net keystrokes are obtained by subtracting the penalties from the gross. One error therefore undoes roughly a second and a half of typing at the required pace.
Can I fail this exercise even if I am fast enough?
Yes. A maximum of two per cent errors on the gross keystrokes is admitted, and that limit applies independently of the speed. A candidate above it does not pass the exercise however high the net figure was, which is why the error rate is worth watching as a number in its own right.
What happens in the second part of the exercise?
The text just transcribed is worked using a word processor and a spreadsheet, with Word and Excel from Microsoft Office 2016 named in the notification. It is assessed on the office work rather than on typing speed, and it needs preparation of its own that no typing practice provides.
Is this exercise eliminatory?
Yes, the notification describes the second exercise as eliminatory. That means the transcription is not a score contributed to a total but a gate, and a candidate who does not clear it does not continue in the process regardless of how the other exercises went.
How much gross speed do I need to hit 250 net?
It depends entirely on your error rate. At one per cent errors you need roughly 266 gross keystrokes a minute; at the two per cent ceiling you need about 284. Working out your own figure is more useful than practising against 250, which is a number you cannot observe while typing.
Does Typetera report the net figure this exercise uses?
Yes. On Spanish runs the results page shows gross keystrokes, errors, net under the six-keystroke rule and the error rate, and it flags the two per cent ceiling separately, so both conditions of the exercise are visible rather than only the speed.

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Common questions about this exam

Short, direct answers to what candidates ask most.

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Practice for another exam

Same locked 10-minute format, different exam corpus.