GUIDE
Gross and Net Keystrokes: How a Brazilian Typing Exam Is Marked
Brazilian public exams score typing in toques, not words per minute, and each notice sets its own penalty per error. What the formula looks like.
By the Typetera team · Updated
The unit is keystrokes, and there are two of them
A Brazilian practical typing test does not report words per minute. It reports toques, which are keystrokes: every letter, every space, every comma, every full stop and every paragraph break you produce. Two figures come out of that. Gross keystrokes, toques brutos, is simply everything you typed in the time allowed. Net keystrokes, toques liquidos, is that total after the errors have been charged against it. A candidate who knows only their words per minute figure cannot tell whether they clear a notice written in toques, and the conversion is not optional knowledge: the two numbers differ by a factor of five before any penalty is applied at all.
The formula is not one formula
The shape is always the same: take the gross keystrokes, subtract a penalty for each error, then divide by the time. What changes between one examination and the next is the size of that penalty. Notices exist that deduct one keystroke per error, others that deduct two, others that deduct three, and others again that express the whole thing per ten keystrokes rather than per keystroke. None of these is the standard version, because there is no standard version. The organising body writes the rule into the notice, and the notice is the only authority on it. Read that section before you decide what to practise, because the size of the penalty decides whether your effort belongs on speed or on accuracy.
Why the penalty changes what you should practise
Work an example through and the point becomes obvious. Suppose two candidates each produce three thousand gross keystrokes in ten minutes. The first makes ten errors, the second makes forty. Under a rule that charges one keystroke per error, they finish at two hundred and ninety nine and two hundred and ninety six net keystrokes a minute: the difference is negligible and speed is what matters. Under a rule that charges three keystrokes per error, they finish at two hundred and ninety seven and two hundred and eighty eight, and the gap has tripled. Under a rule that also disqualifies above a fixed error rate, the second candidate may not be marked at all. The same typing, the same test, three different conclusions about what to train.
Translating your practice figures
Typetera reports characters per minute alongside words per minute, and characters per minute is the closest thing on the results page to toques. Counted the way this site counts them, characters per minute is a net figure already: only correct characters are included, so it behaves like a net keystroke count under a rule that charges one keystroke per error. If your notice uses a heavier penalty, your real score will sit below the number you see here, and the gap widens with every mistake. To go the other way, multiply words per minute by five. Sixty words a minute is three hundred keystrokes a minute, which is a useful anchor to carry into a notice written entirely in toques.
How to prepare for the test you will actually sit
Practise on continuous prose with its punctuation rather than on word lists, because the examination hands you a passage with accents, commas and paragraph breaks and every one of those is a keystroke that counts. Practise for the duration the notice states rather than for one minute, since a ten minute test is a test of concentration as much as of speed and almost everyone slows in the second half. Type the passage as given, including its capitalisation, because a divergence from the supplied text is an error whatever it was in your head. And rehearse recovering from a mistake without stopping: the candidates who lose most are usually not the slow ones but the ones who freeze after a bad line.
What the score does not tell you
A keystroke count is a measure of production, not of usefulness. It says nothing about whether the text is readable, whether the accents are right or whether you would still be typing at that rate after an hour. The examination does not ask about any of that, and neither should your practice sessions try to answer it. What a keystroke count does do well is compare candidates on identical material under identical conditions, which is exactly what a public competition needs. Treat it as the entry requirement it is, clear it with a margin, and put the rest of your preparation into the parts of the job that the typing test was never able to measure.
FAQ
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between toques brutos and toques liquidos?
+Gross keystrokes are everything you typed, spaces and punctuation included. Net keystrokes are that total after the notice's penalty for each error has been subtracted, and the penalty varies from one examination to the next.
How many keystrokes a minute is sixty words a minute?
+Three hundred, because a standard word is five characters including its space. Multiply words per minute by five to read a notice written in keystrokes, and divide to go the other way.
Does every Brazilian examination use the same error penalty?
+No, and assuming otherwise is the common mistake. Deductions of one, two and three keystrokes per error all appear in different notices, so the rule that applies to you is the one printed in yours.
Is characters per minute the same as toques liquidos?
+It is the closest equivalent on this site, since only correct characters are counted. Under a notice that charges more than one keystroke per error your marked score will be lower than the figure shown here.
Should I practise for speed or for accuracy?
+Accuracy first whenever the notice charges more than one keystroke per error, which most of them do. Speed built on a high error rate is subtracted away, and some notices disqualify above a fixed proportion of mistakes.
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