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How to Improve Your Typing Speed

Take a deep breath, relax your fingers, and take it slow. You need to be focused and not annoyed when attempting the typing speed test. The best thing you can do to start typing faster is to type more. The more practice you get under your belt, the faster your ‘typing-fu’ will be. It’s all about developing muscle memory. Just make sure you are reinforcing good habits and not ones that will leave your fingers hurting after an intense typing session.

What Is the Best 10-Finger Typing Layout?

Of course, you should use ten fingers for typing, but you can start with a layout that’s the most comfortable for you. The small bumps on the F and J keys will help your fingers locate the correct position without looking. This setup should give you a full range of motion. The more you type, the faster you will get. There are a few alternative layouts that propose a more ergonomic approach to typing. You could also take the big leap and try out the Dvorak keyboard, but that’s a different story.

Who Invented the Qwerty Keyboard?

The QWERTY keyboard was invented in 1868 by Christopher Latham Sholes. He also designed the first successful typewriter. The order of the keys was decided by listing the most common letter combinations and making sure that they were not placed next to each other. He did this to avoid problems that often happened when two neighboring keys were pressed consecutively. The QWERTY keyboard is used to this day and is the most widely used keyboard available.

Word per Minute (WPM) Typing Test

What is the WPM typing test? There are different types of tests for typing. This one is a typing test that expresses your typing skills in words per minute. The more you practice typing, and the more you test your typing speed, the higher your WPM score will be. Some online typing tests and typing test games focus only on WPM typing. The disadvantage of the WPM typing test is that you are only learning how to type fast. WPM typing tests do not show your accuracy.

Is This Really a Free Typing Test You Can Use?

As the makers of LiveChat, customer service software for businesses, we wanted to provide the community of our customers and live chat agents with a free typing test. This way, they can consistently practice typing and improve their typing skills. We've also made this tool accessible to every visitor of our page. Our tool is a free typing speed test with a WPM score, but it can be also used as a typing speed test for kids.

How Can You Upgrade Your Typing Skills?

Practice typing as much as you can. Type a lot, type tests, and practice typing tests. Improve your words per minute typing results, and test your typing speed often. Our typing speed test will keep track of all typing tests that you’ve taken in the past so you will be able to see the improvements over time. You will be able to see how your speed typing has changed. If you can do a five-minute typing test every day, your typing skills will increase dramatically.

How Are the Words From the Test Chosen?

We’ve decided to use the 1,000 most common words in the English language. Additionally, we wanted to include words that you can find in our blog articles. You can think of it as a touch of LiveChat’s flavor to make the typing test a bit more interesting. This free typing speed test focuses on typing itself, so words appear randomly. Reading full sentences may influence your typing speed.

Why Have We Prepared This Typing Test?

We prepared this free typing test to give you a quick and easy way to test your typing speed. You can use it when practicing your typing skills to get an idea of how well you are progressing. Businesses can use this test to get an idea about the typing skills of potential hires or to help existing employees develop their typing speed. This typing speed test is one of our free tools, just like the UTM Builder or our Privacy Policy Generator.

Why Is Typing Speed Important to Everyone?

The faster you type, the faster you will be able to communicate with others. You will be able to save a ton of time on any kind of work that requires typing. At first, it will be a couple of extra minutes that you won’t really notice. Over time, the minutes will turn into hours of saved time that you can spend on other activities.

What Is the Average Typing Speed?

The average person types between 38 and 40 words per minute (WPM). That translates into between 190 and 200 characters per minute (CPM). However, professional typists type a lot faster, averaging between 65 and 75 WPM.

What Is CPM and How Can You Calculate It?

The CPM stands for the number of characters you type per minute, including all the mistakes. “Corrected” scores count only correctly typed words. WPM is just the corrected CPM divided by five. This is the de facto international standard.

How Many Words per Minute Is a Good Score?

An average professional typist usually types around 65 to 75 WPM. More advanced positions require 80 to 95 (this is typically the minimum required for dispatch positions and other time-sensitive typing jobs). There are also some advanced typists whose work requires speeds above 120 WPM.

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Incorrect words Characters marked red do not match the expected character. Greyed out characters were not typed at all. Hover over the word to see the expected word.

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About TypeFast.io

TypeFast.io was created by me, Casper Verswijvelt, with versatility and minimalism in mind. Many type-test sites have either cluttered/ugly user interfaces or skimp out on features.

With TypeFast.io I wanted to create something that had all the positives from other applicationsm, but none of the negatives. It's up to you to decide if I succeeded doing that, or not.

If you have any suggestions or feedback, be sure to check out the 'Feedback tab'.

TypeFast.io is a side project that I work on in my free time. Domain and hosting costs are paid for by myself and I do not plan on running ads (it would ruin the design). If you enjoy this site and would like to support it's future development, you can do so by donating via the button below.

If you have any feedback, want to report a bug or want to request a feature, please join the TypeFast.io discord page.

Here you will also find changelogs and other useful information about TypeFast.io!

You can also leave feedback by just filling in this Google form

This project is open-source!

If you have any issues or want to contribute to the project by fixing bugs, improving existing features or implementing new features, be sure to check out this project on GitHub!

TypeFast.io - Release notes

1.0.12 - 2022-12-21.

• Added Uyghur language, thanks Waris Ruzi !

1.0.11 - 2022-11-12

Improvements.

• Added sentences to Italian language, thanks nuzguy !

1.0.10 - 2022-03-06

• Updated to Angular 13
• Added sentences to Portuguese language, thanks N i k a o!

1.0.9 - 2021-11-06

• Added words and sentences to Portuguese language, thanks Lawliet!
• Add accented characters for 'Ignore accented characters' mode in Portuguese language

1.0.8 - 2021-10-30

• Added literature texts and tongue twisters to Russian sentences mode, thanks talkenson !
• Added Indonesian language
• Update dependencies

1.0.7 - 2021-06-07

• Add new 'English(200)' language with 200 most common English words (Thanks for the suggestion!)

1.0.6 - 2021-03-29

• Set default theme to dark
• Update Angular

1.0.5 - 2020-12-04

• Added sentences and 'ignore accents' characters for Spanish language, thanks guillemglez !
• Added Catalan language, thanks guillemglez !
• Remove incorrect words with special characters from all languages
• Fix error in German 'ignore accents' mode
• Fix small transition issue when closing preferences pane
• Fix small typo in README

1.0.4 - 2020-09-27

Add option to disable animations during text scrolling

Added sentences for French language, thanks RyFax !

Added Romanian language, currently only words

Added option to ignore accented characters in word validation: this is language sensitive. For example, in French, the letter 'á' can be typed as 'a' and still be counted as correct when this setting is enabled.

Currently this settings supports:

• Russian (ë)
• French (â,à,á,é,è,ë,ê,ì,î,ï,ù,û,ü,ç)
• Arabic (أ,إ,آ,ة,ؤ,ئ,ى)
• Romanian (â,ă,î,ș,ț)
• Dutch (é,è,ë,ê,ü,ç)
• German (ä,ö,ü,ß (typed as 's'))

Added option to ignore casing in word validation

• Disable backspace going to previous page on firefox when pressing after test finish
• Added placeholder sentence for the 'Programming' language
• No longer count an inbetween space character as a correct character if the word before was not correct
• Changed 'heer' to 'here' in American English, thanks fishstik !

1.0.3 - 2020-09-09

• Add changelog tab in info popup
• Added link to google feedback form in info window
• Removed words with accented characters from English language
• Improved preferences menu and loading of languages

1.0.2 - 2020-08-31

• Added a changelog file, check it out here
• Fixed typo in README.md ('screenshtos')
• Fixed bug where you FireFox users would need to tab twice to select the reset button
• Remove ugly tab outline on active reset, increase timer and decrease timer buttons (but keep focus outline for accesibility)
• Split up up the english language into British English and American English

1.0.1 - 2020-08-30

• Smooth scrolling is here! You can still change back to the old per-word scrolling in the preferences
• Added option to change text size between 3 levels in the preferences
• Fixed text not becoming smaller on mobile layouts larger than 400px wide
• Fixed japanese (full-width) space not completing a word
• Fixed height of uncollapsed preference groups not being exactly perfect
• Fix typo 'sententes' in Word mode preference

1.0.0 - 2020-08-09

• Officially released on reddit

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With our typing speed test you can easily determine your current typing speed online and free of charge. As a registered user you can even compare your typing test results with others and see how much potential you have left.

Why do I need a typing speed test?

Simply put: Our typing test helps you to better assess your current abilities and gives you the opportunity to compare your typing speed at different times. This is the basic prerequisite to tap your full potential and see how much time you should invest in your daily typing practice.

For example, it is recommended to test your typing speed before you switch to the 10 finger typing technique and begin practicing. This allows you to do more typing tests with all 10 fingers later and compare your progress in the 10 finger system to your old typing technique.

If you are already happy with your typing skills and did not practice for a long time, you can also use the typing test to check your typing speed regularly and see how you have evolved through daily usage.

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Significance

The progress bar underneath your test results shows how significant your typing test is. Since your results may vary depending on the practice time, you have to type at least 10 minutes to get significant results. Your error rate should not be higher than 5% - if the progress bar turns red, you have to improve your error rate.

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Here you can see all your test results. The green marked test is your currently active one. All others have already been completed. You can create a new test as soon as your currently active test is completed.

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Train Typing Skills

What if you could type as fluently as you speak? Typing Trainer web course will get you there!

Play Typing Games

Now the joy starts! Play our numerous fun typing games to become a true keyboard master.

TypeTastic for Schools

Discover 700+ typing activities for all grade levels - and unleash the joy of typing in your school.

Typing Certificate Now Online

A certificate has been one of the most requested features, and we're happy to announce that a test with a printable certificate is now available! The certification test consists of 5 minutes of typing predefined source text in English. Read more..

Join the Worldwide Typing League

Compete against other talented typists around the globe and show where the best typists come from. Each country has its own league and you can advance higher in the rankings by completing races and collecting points. Start the Race!

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Test writing

If you think taking tests is difficult then you should try writing them! Writing a good test is indeed quite a challenge and one that takes patience, experience and a degree of trial and error.

There are many steps you can take to ensure that your test is more effective and that test writing becomes a learning experience.

• The elements of a good test
• Validity of a test
• Reliability of a test
• The affect of tests
• Other features of a good test
• Assessing difficulty

The elements of a good test A good test will give us a more reliable indication of our students' skills and it ensures that they don't suffer unfairly because of a poor question. How can we be sure that we have produced a good test?

• One way is very simply to think about how we feel about it afterwards. Do the results reflect what we had previously thought about the skills of the students? Another simple way is to ask the students for some feedback. They will soon tell you if they felt a question was unfair or if a task type was unfamiliar.

Validity of a test A good test also needs to be valid. It must test what it is meant to test. A listening test that has very complicated questions afterwards can be as much of a test of reading as listening. Also a test that relies on cultural knowledge cannot measure a student's ability to read and comprehend a passage. Reliability of a test A test should also be reliable. This means that it should produce consistent results at different times. If the test conditions stay the same, different groups of students at a particular level of ability should get the same result each time.

• A writing test may not be reliable as the marking may be inconsistent and extremely subjective, especially if there are a number of different markers. Thus to try and ensure the test is more reliable it is essential to have clear descriptors of what constitutes each grade.
• In an oral interview it is important to ensure that the examiner maintains the same attitude with all the candidates. The test will be less reliable if he is friendly with some candidates but stern with others. You should try to ensure that the test conditions are as consistent as possible.

The affect of tests We must also bear in mind the affect of our tests. Has the test caused too much anxiety in the students? Are the students familiar with the test types in the exam?

• If a student has never seen a cloze passage before she may not be able to write a test that reflects her true ability. The solution to this is to try and reduce the negative effects by using familiar test types and making the test as non-threatening as possible.

Other features of a good test Other features of a good test are that there is a variety of test types and that it is as interesting as possible.

• A variety of test types will ensure that the students have to stay focused and minimise the tiredness and boredom you can feel during a repetitive test.
• Finding reading passages that are actually interesting to read can also help to maintain motivation during a test. A test should also be as objective as possible, providing a marking key and descriptors can help with this.

Assessing difficulty Another important feature of a good test is that it is set at an appropriate level. You can only really find this out by giving the test and studying the results. Basically if everyone gets above 90% you know it is too easy or if everyone gets less than 10% it is obviously too difficult. For tests that aren't so extreme you will need to do some analysis of your test. You can do this by analysing the individual items for difficulty.

• In order to do this mark all of the tests and divide them into three equal groups, high, middle and low.
• Take one question and add the number of students from the high group who have the correct answer to the number from the low group
• Then divide this by the total number of people from both groups (high and low). It is thought that if over 90% of candidates get the answer right it is too easy. If fewer than 30% get it right it is too difficult.
• Also bear in mind that if most of the answers are in the 30's and 40's it would be best to rewrite the test. It's the same if most of the answers are in the 80's and 90's.
• The final step is to reject the items that are too easy or difficult.

Conclusion Always bear in mind though that the difficulty of an item may relate to whether it has been covered in class or it may give an indication of how well it was understood. Such test analysis can give us information about how effective our teaching has been as well as actually evaluating the test. Evaluating tests carefully can ensure that the test improves after it is taken and can give us feedback on improving our test writing.

Below is a suggested procedure for writing a test.

• Decide what kind of test it is going to be (achievement, proficiency)
• Write a list of what the test is going to cover
• Think about the length, layout and the format
• Find appropriate texts
• Weight the sections according to importance/time spent etc.
• Write the questions
• Write the instructions and examples
• Decide on the marks
• Write a marking scheme for less objective questions
• Pilot the test
• Review and revise the test and key
• After the test has been taken, analyse the results and decide what can be kept / rejected.

Richard Frost, British Council, Turkey

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Preparing for the ACT Test with Writing

About the act writing test.

The ACT writing test is a 40-minute essay test that measures your writing skills. The test consists of one writing prompt that will describe a complex issue and present three different perspectives on that issue.  It is a paper-and-pencil test. You will write your essay in pencil (no mechanical pencils or ink pens) on the lined pages of an answer folder that will be provided to you. The only exception is for approved students with diagnosed disabilities who cannot hand write the essay. (See Accommodations .) 

The ACT writing test complements the English and reading tests. The combined information from these tests tells postsecondary institutions about students’ understanding of the conventions of standard written English and their ability to produce a direct sample of writing. The writing test cannot be taken without first taking all four multiple-choice tests in the same session. 

You are asked to read the prompt and write an essay in which you develop your own perspective on the issue. Your essay should analyze the relationship between your perspective and one or more other perspectives. You may adopt a perspective from the prompt, partially or fully, or you may generate your own. Your score will not be affected by the point of view you take on the issue.

Some colleges require the ACT writing test. You should decide whether or not you should take it based on the requirements of the colleges you are applying to or considering.

Why the ACT Writing Test Is Optional 

Because postsecondary institutions have varying needs, we offer the ACT writing test as an option. 

• Postsecondary institutions are making their own decisions about whether to require the results from the ACT writing test for admissions and/or course placement purposes. 
• Students will decide whether to take the writing test based on the requirements of the institutions they are considering. 

Practice Your Writing Skills 

Read. Write. Repeat. 

There are many ways to prepare for the ACT writing test that don't even include writing at all. Reading newspapers and magazines, listening to news analyses on television or radio, and participating in discussions and debates about issues and problems all help you build a foundation for your writing skills. These activities help you become more familiar with current issues, with different perspectives on those issues, and with strategies that skilled writers and speakers use to present their points of view. 

Of course, one of the best ways to prepare for the ACT writing test is to practice writing. But you don’t have to sit at a desk and fill a notebook with essays. Practice writing for different purposes, with different audiences in mind. The writing you do in your English classes will help you. Practice writing stories, poems, plays, editorials, reports, letters to the editor, a personal journal, or other kinds of writing that you do on your own—including, yes, essays. 

The ACT writing test asks you to explain your perspective on an issue in a convincing way, so writing opportunities such as editorials or letters to the editor of a newspaper are especially helpful. Practicing various types of writing will help make you a versatile writer able to adjust to different writing assignments. 

Finally, don’t forget you only have 40 minutes on test day. Get some practice writing within a time limit. This will not only give you an advantage on the test, but also will help you build skills that are important in college-level learning and in the world of work. 

Build Your Writing Skills 

Everyday ways to improve your writing 

You can strengthen your writing skills just about anywhere, anytime. Read below for some ideas to make writing, responding, and organizing your thoughts part of your daily routine:   

• Read and write frequently.  Read as much as you can from a variety of sources, including plays, essays, fiction, poetry, news stories, business writing, and magazine features. 
• Become familiar with current issues in society and develop your own opinions.  Think of arguments you would use to convince someone of your perspective. Taking speech and debate classes can help you think through issues and communicate them to others. 
• Practice writing in different formats and in as many real situations as possible.  Write letters to the editor, or letters to a company requesting information. 
• Try some writing in extracurricular activities.  School newspapers, yearbooks, and creative writing clubs offer opportunities to express ideas in writing. 
• Share your writing with others and get feedback.  Feedback helps you anticipate how readers might interpret your writing and what types of questions they might have. This can help you anticipate what a reader might want to know. 
• Learn to see writing as a process —brainstorming, planning, writing, and then editing. This applies to all writing activities. 
• Listen to the advice your English teacher gives you about your writing. 
• Strive for well-developed and well-organized writing  that uses precise, clear, and concise language. 
• Remember that everyone can improve their writing skills.  Confidence and skill will grow with the more writing you do. Practice and work lead to achievement. 

Tips for Taking the ACT Writing Test

Pace yourself.

The ACT writing test contains one question to be completed in 40 minutes. When asked to write a timed essay, most writers find it useful to do some planning before they write the essay and to do a final check of the essay when it is finished. It is unlikely that you will have time to draft, revise, and recopy your essay.

Before writing, carefully read and consider all prompt material. Be sure you understand the issue, its perspectives, and your essay task. The prewriting questions included with the prompt will help you analyze the perspectives and develop your own. Use these questions to think critically about the prompt and generate effective ideas in response. Ask yourself how your ideas and analysis can best be supported and organized in a written argument. Use the prewriting space in your test booklet to structure or outline your response.

Establish the focus of your essay by making clear your argument and its main ideas. Explain and illustrate your ideas with sound reasoning and meaningful examples. Discuss the significance of your ideas: what are the implications of what you have to say, and why is your argument important to consider? As you write, ask yourself if your logic is clear, you have supported your claims, and you have chosen precise words to communicate your ideas.

Review Your Essay

Take a few minutes before time is called to read over your essay. Correct any mistakes. If you find any words that are hard to read, recopy them. Make corrections and revisions neatly between the lines. Do not write in the margins. Your readers know you had only 40 minutes to compose and write your essay. Within that time limit, try to make your essay as polished as you can.

There are many ways to prepare for the ACT writing test. These include reading newspapers and magazines, listening to news analyses on television and radio, and participating in discussions and debates.

One of the best ways to prepare for the ACT writing test is to practice writing with different purposes for different audiences. The writing you do in your classes will help you. So will writing essays, stories, editorials, a personal journal, or other writing you do on your own.

It is also a good idea to practice writing within a time limit. Taking the practice ACT writing test will give you a sense of how much additional practice you may need. You might want to take the practice ACT writing test even if you do not plan to take the ACT with writing, because this will help build skills that are important in college-level learning and in the world of work.

Find more info about how the writing test is scored .

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How to Write Better Test Questions (Tips With Examples)

• April 22, 2022
• in Blog , White Paper

With so many types of test questions, which should you use on your online tests?

We’ll show you how to write better test questions and when to use them. Click the bullet below to skip to that section.

• Multiple choice/answer
• Fill-in-the-blank
• Rank-and-order
• Authentic assessment

Multiple-Choice Questions

When to use multiple-choice test questions.

Multiple-choice questions are extremely versatile and can be used for practically any subject and situation, such as:

• Associating & Comparing
• Terms & Definitions
• Problem-solving
• Recalling Concepts & Information

Parts of a multiple-choice question

Tips for writing multiple-choice test questions

• “All of the above” means that a student just needs to identify two of the correct choices to get the answer right.
• “None of the above” doesn’t mean that the student knows the correct answer – just that they can recognize wrong answers.

Answers should be independent of one another, with no overlap.

Less Effective

More Effective

Small mistakes can give away the correct answer, even with no context of the subject.

Question Format

The example above includes three lines, which gives away the answer of New York City because the other options are two words or less.

Sentence and Answer Format – Titles

Even with no context of the event or the potential attendees, you can probably guess the correct answer based on the titles before the blanks and the order of the names.

For this question, a simple way to improve it is to remove the title before the blank.

Word Format – Plural and Singular

Since the company purchased 500, that inherently means that the correct answer will be plural, which excludes option A, which is written in a singular format.

Aside from using a consistent plural/singular format for each answer, you could also create answers that account for both singular and plural options: e.g., Computer(s); Webcam(s)

True-or-False Questions

When to use true-or-false test questions.

True-or-false questions may seem simplistic, but when used correctly, they can effectively test in-depth understanding of information through:

• Analyzing items and statements
• Recall of information & concepts
• Surveys & feedback
• Terms & definitions

However, writing true-or-false questions can be tricky because small word choices can change the meaning of a statement.

Tips for writing true-or-false test questions

The less effective example implies that water may sometimes include elements other than hydrogen and oxygen.

Modal Verbs

Modal verbs can help describe the possibility, ability, intent, and necessity of a main verb.

Examples of modal verb s: can, may, could, should, would.

Here’s how a modal verb can change a sentence:

• No modal: I run every day.
• With modal: I can run every day.
• The example with no modal states a fact: the person runs every day.
• The example with a modal verb states that the person is capable (can) of running every day, not that they do.

Absolute words

Similar to modal verbs, absolute words can change the meaning of a sentence entirely.

Examples of absolute words: never, always, all, must

Here’s where you have to consider if something is absolutely 100% correct or if it’s just a general statement.

• With absolute: The man never goes running.
• Without absolute: The man rarely goes running.

Which sentence is truly accurate?

Does the man literally never run, or is it just rare that he runs?

Note : Some sentences can include both modal and absolute words, which can cause confusion for the student. e.g .: The man usually never goes running.

Watch for double negatives

Double negatives make a test question confusing for anyone.

Example of a double negative used in a true-or-false statement:

• Less effective statement: The man was not unhappy that the rain stopped.
• More effective statement: The man was happy that the rain stopped.

The less effective example is confusing, right? The first negative word in that sentence is “not” and the second negative is the prefix “un.” When you combine the two negatives, “not unhappy” is canceled out and changes to a positive.

Fill-in-the-blank Questions

Fill-in-the-blank test questions provide an objective way to measure true understanding of the answer rather than recognizing the answer to a multiple-choice question when they see it.

When to use fill-in-the-blank questions

• Recalling concepts & information

Tips for writing fill-in-the-blank questions

Don’t start a statement with a blank.

Blanks should be included toward the end of the statement instead of the beginning.

Make sure the statement and answer grammatically align

Written Test Questions

Written test questions can be more time-consuming to review, but they’re an effective way to allow students to expand their thoughts and tie-in other concepts.

When to use written test questions

• Associating & comparing
• Student feedback

Tips for better written test questions

Intentionally frame your questions based on the goal

• Less effective: “Discuss the benefits of process-improvement methodologies”
• More effective: “Compare the benefits of Six Sigma and Agile to determine which methodology is the best option for a software company.”

Words to help frame the purpose of your essay question:

• Group/Classify/Categorize
• Compare and contrast
• In your own words, define
• List five ways to

Words and phrases to avoid when creating an essay question:

• Speak to/about

Use blind grading (anonymous grading) Blind grading, sometimes called anonymous grading, can help remove grading bias because students submit their tests without a name or number. You can set this up in most modern LMSes by turning on anonymous grading at the course level. Doing so will hide the students’ names before grading and automatically distribute the test score back to them.

For longer essay questions, focus on broad topics

Instead of focusing on one specific item for a longer written response, focus on larger topics. This approach allows students to demonstrate complex understanding by associating items across a broad range of topics.

Provide the same questions to all students

Instead of listing four essay questions and requiring students to answer two, just provide two questions. This approach helps consistently measure student performance and ensure fairness during grading.

Set expectations and prepare students

Good response vs poor response

Give examples of what makes a good response or poor response. What aspects should be addressed? What can make or break an answer?

Technical information

Give students context about time limits, general response length, how to get support, etc.

Detail the formatting expectations

Typed responses : Tell students what fonts should be used, which processor (Word Doc, Google Docs, etc.), what font types to use, font sizes, and line spacing.

Hand-written response s: Tell students what type of paper to use, pen color, and any other details that will help ensure that they’re on track.

Did you know you can use online proctoring for hand-written test questions?

Instructors can provide instructions to the remote proctor to allow students to use a pen and paper. You can even require that students show their work at certain intervals throughout their response.

Matching Test Questions

Matching test questions are an effective way to test knowledge in a variety of scenarios that cover a large amount of content.

• Terms and definitions
• Scenarios and responses
• Causes and effects
• Parts and functions

Layout example:

Include more answers than prompts

Using more answers than prompts removes the ability for students to answer by process of elimination.

Structure and format shouldn’t give away the answer

Avoiding this problem can be especially tricky in matching-test questions. In the example below, number two is relatively easy to guess because the answer includes the first name. Resolve by removing “female” from number two and/or removing the first names from the answers.

Prompts/answers shouldn’t be vague

In the example below, you can see that in the less effective example, the prompts are vague and most answers could apply to a few different prompts.

• Largest animal on the farm: This question comes down to a cow or a horse. But what type? That impacts the answer.
• Domesticated animal: The go-to responses are both dogs and cats, but some people consider any farm animal “domesticated.”
• Mostly carnivore: Again, the go-to responses are both dogs and cats, but pigs can also consume mostly meat.

Rank-and-Order Questions

These questions ask students to rank or order a list of items based on chronological order of dates, steps, or level of importance. They’re especially dynamic because students can respond in a few ways that combine with other question types, such as the student dragging and dropping numbers into the correct order or matching a step with the correct order.

• Chronological order of events
• Steps to complete a task
• Understanding the importance of an item

Keep questions and items on the list focused

If a student has to chronologically order 15 historical events, they may get overwhelmed before they even start.

Instead, divide the 15 events into three sets of five events.

Give context about what’s highest or lowest, first or last, best or worst, most important or least important.

• Less effective: Rank the importance of work-life balance from 1-10.
• More effective: Rank the importance of work-life balance according to the survey from the ABC Company case study. 1 is the most important ranking. 10 is the least important.

Tip: Use ranking questions as a tool to gather student feedback

You can use them to gather general course feedback or provide very specific questions based on activities.

General Rank Question

Specific-Activity Question

Authentic Assessment

Authentic assessment is becoming increasingly popular because, rather than simply recalling information, students are actually completing real-world tasks and activities that demonstrate their knowledge and expertise.

• Virtual presentations and demonstrations using a webcam
• Completing a project using industry software
• Creating a portfolio of work
• Game-based activities
• Course participation in debates and discussions
• Write a 1-2 sentence summary that identifies the key objectives of the assessment

Divide the summary sentence into separate parts

Create a list of what students should know for each section.

• Determine which authentic assessment tasks and activities students can complete to demonstrate their knowledge
• Pick which assessment activities to use and create a detailed rubric

1-2 sentence summary of key objectives of the assessment

Students will demonstrate understanding of the human skeletal system and basic knowledge of joints.

Students will demonstrate: Part 1 : Understanding of the human skeletal system Part 2 : Basic knowledge of joints

Part 1: In-depth understanding of the human skeletal system

• The name of each bone in the skeletal system

The five types of bones

Part 2: Basic knowledge of joints

• Name and an overview of each joint type
• Basic anatomy of a joint and how it works

Determine the tasks and activities students can complete to demonstrate their knowledge

Here are potential activities for Part 1 of this authentic assessment example:

Part 1: In-depth understanding of the human skeletal system The name of each bone in the skeletal system

• Video recording: Identify each bone in the skeletal system by pointing to it on an illustration or small replica of a skeleton.
• Game-based activity: Play a matching game on [website/software] of the name to the appropriate bone in the skeletal system.
• Written – short answers: Summarize each type of bone (250 words or less for each).
• Video recording: Identify the five types of bones, explain the differences, and point to three examples of each type on the skeleton illustration or small replica.

Pick the assessment activities to use and then create activity descriptions and rubrics

After you decide which activities students will complete, create detailed activity descriptions and rubrics for each portion of the assessment.

Example authentic assessment activity description

For this example, the instructor asks students to record a video of themselves identifying each bone in the skeletal system by pointing to it on an illustration or small replica of a skeleton.

Description : Use your webcam to record a video where you’ll identify each bone in the skeletal system by pointing to an unlabeled illustration or a small replica.

• To identify the bone, use a pen or pencil as your pointer. The pointer will help clearly identify the bone you are selecting.
• After you point to the specific bone, clearly state the name of the bone using its correct pronunciation.
• You will identify each bone in different sections of the skeleton, starting with the top of the skull and progressively working your way down.

The order of sections will be:

• Shoulder girdle
• Pelvic Girdle

Overall online testing tips for instructors

Keep accessibility in mind for each assessment activity.

Are there other ways students can complete each activity regardless of their disability or condition?If the assessment activity involves a spoken component, how can students with speech impairments complete it? Are all technologies in your online course compatible with assistive technology? Do the LMS, third-party platforms, and online proctoring software integrate with assistive technology?

What resources do students need to complete the activities? Can every student afford a webcam/microphone? If not, do they have access to resources on campus?

While online tests are convenient, they can also pose challenges to protecting academic integrity.

Students can use cell phones or other browsers to look up test answers, use their notes, or even have another person take the exam for them.

Online exam proctoring can help deter and prevent students from cheating by:

• Detecting cell phone use
• Identifying when test questions have been leaked on the internet
• Monitoring student behavior with video
• Verifying student ID
• Detecting voices and sounds
• Providing instructors with detailed reporting and recordings

In addition to the benefits listed above, Honorlock’s online proctoring solution combines AI software with live human proctors to protect academic integrity while still supporting students and faculty.

Our AI monitors each student’s exam session and alerts a live proctor to join the session if it detects any potential academic dishonesty.

This blend of AI and human review delivers a less intimidating and non-invasive proctored testing experience for the student because they aren’t constantly being watched.

Along with creating effective test questions, you need to make test rules and instructions that are clear and concise. Both are equally important to your students’ success and testing experience.

Here are some examples of what to do and not do when you make test rules and instructions

Explicitly state what students can and cannot do

• Don’t do: Don’t talk with your friends or family during the test.
• Do: No talking during all tests.
• In the “Don’t do” example, the student may think: “my classmate isn’t really my friend or family, so it’s okay to talk to them for help.”
• Don’t do: No other devices can be on your desk during this test.
• Do: Remove all other electronic devices from the testing room/area, such as cell phones, tablets, ereaders, computers, smart watches.
• In the “Don’t do” example, the student may think: If my cell phone is in my lap, it’s technically not on my desk.

Tell students what to expect

Provide details about time limits, number of attempts, and how to get support.

If the test is remotely proctored, explain what that means for students:

• Describe how the process works
• How they’ll verify their ID
• What they need to get set up and started (system requirements)
• What can be flagged
• How online proctoring helps them during the test

Use frequent practice tests to help reduce test anxiety

Tyler stike.

TOEFL iBT ®  Test

The premier test of academic English communication

Learn more by selecting any step in your TOEFL iBT ®  journey.

TOEFL iBT Test Writing Section

The TOEFL iBT test Writing section measures your ability to write in English in an academic setting, and to present your ideas in a clear, well-organized way.

There are two writing tasks.

• Integrated writing task (20 minutes) — read a short passage and listen to a short lecture, then write in response to what you read and listened to.
• Writing for an Academic Discussion task (10 minutes) — state and support an opinion in an online classroom discussion.

You'll type your responses on a computer keyboard.

Test time:  It should take about 29 minutes to complete the Writing section.

Scoring: Writing tasks are scored based on the  Writing Scoring Guides (Rubrics) (PDF)  by a combination of AI scoring and certified human raters. Raw scores are converted to a scaled section score of 0–30.

Practice Your Writing Skills

Explore a variety of official prep offerings to practice your English-writing skills with TOEFL ® TestReady ™ . Get insights and feedback on your grammar, usage, mechanics and more.

Writing videos

Watch these videos to learn about the questions in the Writing section, plus helpful tips.

Question 1: Integrated Writing

Read a passage and listen to a lecture. Then write a response comparing them.

View Transcript

Question 2: Writing for an Academic Discussion

Share your opinion in an online discussion with a professor and other students.

Do you need to be an expert on the topics?

The writing tasks measure your English proficiency, so you don't need deep knowledge on a specific topic to get a high score. Score raters recognize that each essay is a first draft, and you can receive a high score with an essay that contains some errors.

English Typing Test Paragraphs

Stimulate your mind as you test your typing speed with this standard English paragraph typing test. Watch your typing speed and accuracy increase as you learn about a variety of new topics! Over 40 typing test selections available.

If you don't like a test prompt, you can get a different (random) prompt with the "change test" button - or select a specific paragraph to type from the list below. To find out how fast you type, just start typing in the blank textbox on the right of the test prompt. You will see your progress, including errors on the left side as you type. In order to complete the test and save your score, you need to get 100% accuracy. You can fix errors as you go, or correct them at the end with the help of the spell checker.

Personalized Feedback

This feedback graph will follow you from page to page for your typing session. You can see more details by mousing over the graph. The session is reset when the tab on your browser is closed.

Type this... CHANGE TEST

Test begins when you start typing..., check your wpm typing speed here.

To find out how fast you type, just start typing in the blank textbox on the right of the test prompt. You will see your progress, including errors on the left side as you type.

You can fix errors as you go, or correct them at the end with the help of the spell checker. If you need to restart the test, delete the text in the text box. Interactive feedback shows you your current wpm and accuracy.

In order to complete the test and share your results, you need to get 100% accuracy. You can review your progress for this session with the feedback chart. Just hover over a dot to see what your average speed and accruacy are for that key.

Letter Drills

A | b | c | d | e | f | g | h | i | j | k | l | m | n | o | p | q | r | s | t | u | v | w | x | y | z.

Select a Specific Typing Test:

Click on a topic to use it as your test prompt. Selections are ranked according to difficulty from '*' (easiest typing tests) to '*****' (most challenging typing tests). For more details, check the difficulty key at the bottom of the page.

Short typing tests for beginners: (1 - 3 minute typing test at < 30 wpm)

• Virtual Assistant (38.4 words) ****
• Closed Captions (56.2 words) **
• Teachers (70.2 words) ****
• Business Casual (74 words) ***
• Paralegals (76.4 words) *
• Web Designers (77 words) ***
• Medical Transcription (82.6 words) ***
• Thumbing (83 words) ***
• Engineers (84.4 words) ****
• Translation (88 words) ***

Intermediate typing tests: (3-6 minutes at 40 wpm)

• Proofreaders (90 words) **
• Typing Styles (91.8 words) ***
• Typing Speed in WPM (100.4 words) ***
• Keyboard Shortcuts (104 words) *
• Buffer Method of Typing (105 words) **
• Transcription Service (107.4 words) ***
• Data Entry Clerks (112.4 words) **
• Hunt and Peck (128.2 words) **
• Touch Type (132.2 words) **
• Sales Methodologies (135.4 words) ***
• Invention of Touch Typing (147.4 words) ***
• Typing Speed Records (166.8 words) ****
• Comparing Typing Speed and Methods (169.2 words) ***
• Pharmacists (172.4 words) ***
• Editing (175.2 words) ***
• History of Flight (175.4 words) ****
• HR Management (177.4 words) ****
• Transcription Services (187.4 words) ****
• Motivation (192.4 words) ***
• Freelancers (194.6 words) ***
• Average Typing Speeds (195.2 words) ****

Hard typing tests for advanced typists: (over 4 minutes at 60+ wpm)

• Word Processors (203.8 words) ***
• Class Reunion Report (211 words) ***
• Financial Reporting (221.2 words) *****
• Biking Story (233.6 words) *
• Event Description (233.8 words) *
• New York Stock Exchange (234.6 words) **
• Career Choice Article (236.6 words) *
• Self Confidence Article (244.8 words) ***
• FDA Article (246.8 words) ***
• Competitive Typing (250.4 words) ***
• Academic Success Article (256.6 words) **
• Emotions Article (272.8 words) **
• MBA Article (276 words) ****

If you have a topic that you would like to see added to the list above, please feel free to contact us with your suggestion for a new paragraph typing test.

Typing Test Difficulty Levels

Our typing tests are ranked on level of difficulty. The algorithm to calculate difficulty depends on the average word length and how many special characters like capitals, numbers and symbols are included in the text. Most standard pre-employment typing tests will be in the normal range. You should expect to get higher wpm scores on easier tests and lower wpm scores on the more difficult tests.

• * Very Easy Typing Test
• ** Easy Typing Test
• *** Normal Typing Test
• **** Difficult Typing Test
• ***** Very Difficult Typing Test

Share your success... challenge your friends!

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Write & Improve

Developed by the University of Cambridge, Write & Improve is a FREE tool that helps every learner to improve their English writing.

• Choose from hundreds of tasks at all levels and start writing, or create your own tasks
• Submit your writing and get a result linked to the international standard, the CEFR
• Get automatic feedback on where your writing may need improvement
• Make changes and check again to improve your writing

Use the free tool without registering or create a profile to save your work and try more writing tasks.

Teachers & Organisations

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100 Writing Practice Lessons & Exercises

by Joe Bunting | 50 comments

Want to Become a Published Author? In 100 Day Book, you’ll finish your book guaranteed. Learn more and sign up here.

Want to become a better writer? Perhaps you want to write novels, or maybe you just want to get better grades in your essay writing assignments , or maybe you'd like to start a popular blog .

If you want to write better, you need practice. But what does a writing practice actually look like? In this post, I'm going to give you everything you need to kick off your writing practice and become a better writer faster.

What Is Writing Practice?

Writing practice is a method of becoming a better writer that usually involves reading lessons about the writing process, using writing prompts, doing creative writing exercises , or finishing writing pieces, like essays, short stories , novels , or books . The best writing practice is deliberate, timed, and involves feedback.

How Do You Practice Writing?

This was the question I had when I first started The Write Practice in 2011. I knew how to practice a sport and how to practice playing an instrument. But for some reason, even after studying it in college, I wasn't sure how to practice writing.

I set out to create the best writing practice I could. The Write Practice is the result.

I found that the best writing practice has three aspects:

Deliberate . Writing whatever you feel like may be cathartic, but it's not an effective way to become a better writer or build your writing skills. You'll get better faster by practicing a specific technique or aspect of the writing process each time you sit down to write.

This is why we have a new lesson about the writing process each day on The Write Practice, followed by a practice prompt at the end so you can put what you learned to use immediately.

Timed . It's no secret writers struggle with focus. There are just too many interesting distractions—Facebook, email, Kim Kardashian's Instagram feed (just kidding about that last one, sort of)—and writing is just too hard sometimes.

Setting a timer, even for just fifteen minutes, is an easy and effective way to stay focused on what's important.

This is why in our writing practice prompt at the end of each post we have a time limit, usually with a link to an online tool egg timer , so you can focus on deliberate practice without getting distracted.

Feedback . Getting feedback is one of the requirements to deliberately practice writing or any other craft. Feedback can look like listening to the reactions of your readers or asking for constructive criticism from editors and other writers.

This is why we ask you to post your writing practice after each lesson, so that you can get feedback from other writers in The Write Practice community. It's also why we set up The Write Practice Pro community , to provide critique groups for writers to get feedback on each finished piece of writing.

Our 100+ Best Creative Writing Practice Exercises and Lessons

Now that you know how we practice writing at The Write Practice, here are our best writing practice lessons to jumpstart your writing skills with some daily writing exercises, for beginner writers to even the most expert writers:

All-Time, Top 10 Writing Lessons and Exercises

These ten posts are our most viewed articles to boost your writing practice:

1. What is Plot? The 6 Elements of Plot and How to Use Them . Great stories use similar elements in wildly different ways to build page-turning stories. Click here to read what they are and learn how to start using them !

2. Top 100 Short Story Ideas . Here are over a hundred writing prompts in a variety of genres. If you need ideas for your next story, check this out!

3. How To Use Neither, Nor, Or, and Nor Correctly . Even good writers struggle figuring out when to use neither/nor and either/or. In this post, our copy-queen Liz Bureman settles the confusion once and for all. Click to continue to the writing exercise

4. Ten Secrets To Write Better Stories . How does Pixar manage to create such great stories, year after year? And how do you write a good story? In this post, I distill everything I've learned about how to write a good story into ten tips. Click to continue to the writing exercise

5. 35 Questions To Ask Your Characters From Marcel Proust . To get to know my characters better, I use a list of questions known as the Proust Questionnaire, made famous by French author, Marcel Proust. Click to continue to the writing exercise

6. How a Scene List Can Change Your Novel-Writing Life . Creating a scene list changed my novel-writing life, and doing the same will change yours too. Includes examples of the scene lists from famous authors. Click to continue to the writing exercise

7. Why You Need to be Using the Oxford Comma . Most people I've met have no idea what the Oxford comma is, but it's probably something that you have used frequently in your writing. Click to continue to the writing exercise

8. Six Surprising Ways to Write Better Interview Questions.  The interview is the most-used tool in a journalist's bag. But that doesn't mean novelists, bloggers, and even students can't and don't interview people. Here's how to conduct a great interview. Click to continue to the writing exercise

9. Why You Should Try Writing in Second Person . You've probably used first person and third person point-of-view already. But what about second person? This post explains three reasons why you should try writing from this point-of-view. Click to continue to the writing exercise

10. The Secret to Show, Don't Tell . You've heard the classic writing rule, “Show. Don't Tell.” Every writing blog ever has talked about it, and for good reason. Showing, for some reason, is really difficult. Click to continue to the writing exercise.

12 Exercises and Lessons To Become a Better Writer

How do you become a better writer? These posts share our best advice:

• Want to Be a Better Writer? Cut These 7 Words
• What I Mean When I Say I Am A Writer
• How to Become a Writer: 3 Simple Steps
• 72% of Writers Struggle With THIS
• 7 Lies About Becoming a Writer That You Probably Believe
• 10 Questions to Find Your Unique Writing Voice
• The Best Writing Book I’ve Ever Read
• The Best Way to Become a Better Writer
• The Creative Writer’s Toolkit: 6 Tools You Can’t Write Without
• Should You Write More or Write Better: Quantity vs Quality
• How to Become a Better Writer in One, Simple Step
• 11 Writing Tips That Will Change Your Life

6 Lessons and Exercises from Great Writers

If you want to be a writer, learn from the great writers who have gone before you:

• 23 Essential Quotes from Ernest Hemingway About Writing
• 29 Quotes that Explain How to Become a Better Writer
• 10 Lessons Dr. Seuss Can Teach Writers
• 10 Writing Tips from Ursula Le Guin
• Once Upon a Time: Pixar Prompt
• All the Pretty Words: Writing In the Style of Cormac McCarthy

12 Genre and Format Specific Writing Lessons and Exercises

Here are our best writing lessons for specific types of writing, including essays, screenplays, memoir, short stories, children's books, and humor writing:

• Writing an Essay? Here Are 10 Effective Tips
• How To Write a Screenplay: The 5 Step Process
• How to Write a Great Memoir: a Complete Guide
• How to Write a Short Story from Start to Finish
• How to Write a Thriller Novel
• How to Write a Children's Book
• How to Write a Love Story
• How to Write a Coming of Age Story or Book
• How to Write an Adventure Book
• 5 Key Elements for Successful Short Stories
• 4 Tips to Write a Novel That Will Be Adapted Into a Movie
• Humor Writing for People Who Aren’t Funny

14 Characterization Lessons and Exercises

Good characters are the foundation of good fiction. Here are our best lessons to create better characters:

• Character Development: How to Create Characters Audiences Will Love
• Writing Villains: 9 Evil Examples of the Villain Archetype
• How NOT to Introduce a New Character
• The Strongest Form of Characterization
• The Most Important Character Archetype
• How Do You Build A Strong Character In Your Writing?
• 75+ Antihero Examples and How to Use Them
• How to Explore Your Characters’ Motivations
• 8 Tips for Naming Characters
• The Protagonist: How to Center Your Story
• Heroes vs. Anti-Heroes: Which Is Right For Your Story?
• The Weakest Form of Characterization
• How to Write With an Accent
• How To Create a Character Sketch Using Scrivener

15 Grammar Lessons and Exercises

I talk to so many writers, some of whom are published authors, who struggle with grammar. Here are our best writing lessons on grammar:

• Is It Okay To End A Sentence With A Preposition?
• Contractions List: When To Use and When To Avoid
• Good vs. Well
• Connotation vs. Denotation
• Per Se vs. Per Say
• When You SHOULD Use Passive Voice
• When Do You Use “Quotation Marks”
• Polysyndeton and Asyndeton: Definition and Examples
• The Case Against Twilight
• Affect Versus Effect
• Stop Saying “Literally”
• What Is a Comma Splice? And Why Do Editors Hate Them?
• Intra vs. Inter: Why No One Plays Intermural Sports
• Alright and Alot: Words That Are Not Words
• The Poor, Misunderstood Semicolon

4 Journalism Lessons and Exercises

Want to be a journalist? Or even use techniques from journalism to improve your novel, essay, or screenplay? Here are our best writing lessons on journalism:

• Six Ways to Ask Better Questions In Interviews
• How Should You Interview Someone? Over Email? In Person?
• What If They Don’t Want to Talk to You?
• Eleven Habits of a Highly Effective Interviewers

16 Plot and Structure Lessons and Exercises

Want to write a good story? Our top plot and structure lessons will help:

• The Ten Types of Story and How to Master Them
• Points of a Story: 6 Plot Points Every Story Needs
• How to Shape a Story: The 6 Arcs
• 7 Keys To Write the Perfect First Line of a Novel
• The Secret to Creating Conflict
• 4 Tips to Avoid Having Your Short Story Rejected by a Literary Magazine
• 7 Steps to Creating Suspense
• 5 Elements of Storytelling
• 3 Important Rules for Writing Endings
• A Writer’s Cheatsheet to Plot and Structure
• Overcoming the Monster
• How to Satisfy Your Reader With a Great Ending
• Pow! Boom! Ka-Pow! 5 Tips to Write Fight Scenes
• The Dramatic Question and Suspense in Fiction
• How to Write a Memorable Beginning and Ending
• How to Write the Perfect First Page

6 Lessons and Exercises to Beat Writer's Block

Writer's block is real, and it can completely derail your writing. Here are six lessons to get writing again:

• How To Write Whether You Feel Like it Or Not
• This Fun Creative Writing Exercise Will Change Your Life
• When You Should Be Writing But Can't…
• What to do When Your Word Count is Too Low
• 7 Tricks to Write More with Less Willpower
• When You Don’t Know What to Write, Write About Your Insecurities

7 Literary Technique Lessons and Exercises

These writing and storytelling techniques will teach you a few tricks of the trade you may not have discovered before:

• 3 Tips to “Show, Don’t Tell” Emotions and Moods
• 3 Reasons to Write Stream of Consciousness Narrative
• 16 Observations About Real Dialogue
• Intertextuality As A Literary Device
• Why You Should Use Symbolism In Your Writing
• 6 Ways to Evoke Emotion in Poetry and Prose
• 3 Tips To Write Modern Allegorical Novels
• Symbol vs. Motif: What’s the Difference

3 Inspirational Writing Lessons and Exercises

Need some inspiration? Here are three of our most inspiring posts:

• Why We Write: Four Reasons
• You Must Remember Every Scar
• 17 Reasons to Write Something NOW

3 Publishing Blogging Lessons and Exercises

If you want to get published, these three lessons will help:

• The Secret to Writing On Your Blog Every Day
• How to Publish Your Book and Sell Your First 1,000 Copies
• How to Get Published in Literary Magazines

11 Writing Prompts

Need inspiration or just a kick in the pants to write. Try one of our top writing prompts :

• Grandfathers [writing prompt]
• Out of Place [writing prompt]
• Sleepless [writing prompt]
• Longing [writing prompt]
• Write About Yourself [writing prompt]
• 3 Reasons You Should Write Ghost Stories
• Road Trip [writing prompt]
• Morning [writing prompt]
• The Beach [writing prompt]
• Fall [writing prompt]
• How to Use Six-Word Stories As Writing Prompts

Is It Time To Begin Your Writing Practice?

It's clear that if you want to become a writer, you need to practice writing. We've created a proven process to practice your writing at The Write Practice, but even if you don't join our community, I hope you'll start practicing in some way today.

Personally, I waited  far  too long to start practicing and it set my writing back years.

How about you? Do you think practicing writing is important?  Let me know in the comments section .

Choose one of the writing practice posts above. Then, read the lesson and participate in the writing exercise, posting your work in the Pro Practice Workshop . And if you post, please give feedback to your fellow writers who also posted their practices.

Have fun and happy practicing!

Join 100 Day Book

Enrollment closes May 14 at midnight!

Joe Bunting

Joe Bunting is an author and the leader of The Write Practice community. He is also the author of the new book Crowdsourcing Paris , a real life adventure story set in France. It was a #1 New Release on Amazon. Follow him on Instagram (@jhbunting).

Want best-seller coaching? Book Joe here.

50 Comments

You have THE BEST content for writing on this blog!!

Thank you, Kristen. This made my morning. 🙂

Thanks Mitch. 🙂

I can’t remember when I started following this website. I have to look in my notebooks because that’s where I did these practices. I didn’t have access to a computer when I did them, so I wrote them out, setting the time limit. But even when I do get to a computer, I have my reservations about putting my practices on the page. even though it’s practice, I want them to be the best, almost perfect. But I know it won’t be. I’ve gotten feedback before that says so. It still gets to me that I didn’t put something together that not everyone liked. I need to get over it. After all, that is what these practices are about: to learn and improve on our craft.

I don’t know either, George, but it’s been several years. Perfectionism is something so many of us face, and it’s made worse when you don’t have a critique community as warm and encouraging as ours is. I hope you and everyone here are always willing to try something new, even if it comes out a little messed up, because you know we’ll support you and try to make you better.

What a great share! Thanks so much!

You’re so welcome, Elizabeth. Thank you for commenting.

when I ran writing classes I wrote. when I am “a member of writing classes” the teacher/leader/facilitator is NOT MY AUDIENCE and so I don’t write as well/as much. I don’t get the feedback I need from fellow students because most of them have never run their own writing projects/workshops. So many people expect you to write their story for them. I’ve actually got quite a few stories of me own. I have finally decided I like owning them. 😉

It sounds like you need a new critique group, Patience! Hope you can find a place where you get the feedback you need.

Wow! Terrific round-up of resources. 🙂

Thanks Stephanie. 🙂

Practice is necessary, period. It doesn’t matter what you want to learn. If you want to improve, practice is vital.

It’s odd. I’ve known and applied that principle for years on a variety of things. Painting. Drawing. Blogging. Gardening. Laundry.

But never writing.

Like you, I had the notion that just writing every day was all it took to improve. Why not the same level of dedication to writing?

Perhaps it’s time to change that!

I can relate, Carrie. It’s easy to confuse the craft of writing with journaling, thinking that you can just write whatever you feel like and you’ll get better, write something worth reading. The truth is that writing interesting things to read is a skill, but the good news is that you can get better at it with practice. Thanks for practicing with us! 🙂

I love these suggestions , and have set Writing Practice as my homepage so the first 15 minutes of my day is spent writing, whether its a practice or exercise here or another that is sprinkled through out this site, Thank you for all you do everyone here at The Write Practice

This is great Debra. I want to write the first 15 minutes of my day too!

I agree with Joe, Do it. Could be your to do list… ( that could lead to something else story wse later)

I love that, Debra. Such a good way to start your day.

Thanks Joe!

The best! Thank you so much for this.

You’re very welcome!

I simply LOVE all the tips and suggestions given on this blog. They are super helpful!

THANK you. We love sharing them with you. 🙂

Hi! You forgot the link to How to Write a Story a Week: A Day-by-Day Guide.

Thanks a lot for your work! This post is amazing.

It’s a great post Thiago. Definitely one of our most shared. Thanks for mentioning it! BTW here’s the link:

https://thewritepractice.com/a-story-a-week/

Wow!! There are so many exercises…. I just love it..! I am gonna really enjoy it..!

Awesome! Thank you for reading and practicing with us. 🙂

I only read halfway , My tootie is jumping all over me, and typing this is a struggle when a 3yr old wants his Toy Story movie on Youtube in this computer. Thank you for this article, will come back later to finish reading.

I know the feeling! Good luck!

Can’t wait to get stuck in with this! 🙂

Very helpful! Thank you!

I’ve just bookmarked this page. Thanks for this wonderful list.

This is awesome! So many helpful tips. I will be coming back to this often. Thanks for posting this!

Wow, so many goodies! Thank you for always providing such amazing content!!

I have enjoyed all these articles. Thank you for the help an inspiration to get my writing on its way. My creativity is boosting with confidence. Tootle loo.

Amazing contents for beginners like me Joe. I am highly inspired by your commitment. Thank you.

Hey, thanks!

Although I have only read half of thisc article, the practice exercises are excellent. Some of them are exactly what a beginning writer like myself needs. I am committing to at least try ALL of them. Thanks Joe!!

very helpful! thank you..

Amazing articles! Thanks so much for sharing!

My god this article made me love this site . You know it’s kinda hard for a beginner writer, who don’t know where to start and fixing goals, even samll ones give us a direction . A place to go , an aim for our creativity so thanks you , this community and this site. Love you all . At your pens ! 😉

Wow. This is great. I find all your posts informative, but this one is the best for me to use as a guide to get my self starting to write….Thank you.

I’m an old lady who wants to publish one more book before I die — have published several, all non-fiction, and done two under contract to a major publisher (reference books). So help me, the BIGGEST problem I have all along, is keeping track of the damned paper work and research that goes into a book!!! Yet I never ever see articles on something as simple as “How to file” — Oh I know, there’s wonderful software these days so probably I will never find a way to get paper organized — everybody will use software and do it on the computer. I’m too old for that — just one look at the learning curve for software, even putting the damned stuff into computer files is even MORE frustrating than paper!! Oh well, somehow I managed in the past to get books published, I may be able to do it one more time.

you enjoy writing more than anything else and you do indeed care to help others write. I love writing but translation from Arabic into English and English into Arabic is taking all of my time from the early hours of the morning till the evening. I will soon get all of your books in order to read them as soon as possible. One thing I am sure of. You know what you are doing very well. Hamzah

Excellent! Many useful tips. Many thanks!

Liz and Joe, I have only looked at a few exercises. Already, I am convinced that your site is one of the best sites out there. Thank your for sharing your wisdom.

Wow, these are the best lessons and exercises for writing. Actually i’m participating in a compitition this wendsday. so, i’m quite nervous and exited. this helped me a lot

Magnificent post ever I have read. This article will help me a lot to write a right way. Thank you.

i need your help to improve to become a better writer please. i think i usually commit moist of these errors and i don;t pay attention to many advices too.

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How to Design an Effective Writing Skills Assessment Test

A writing skills assessment test comes in handy when hiring for various roles – from the more obvious ones like content writers or marketers to more nuanced business roles like product managers.

Poor business writing can cost an organization an unhappy customer, at best, and missed business goals or a lawsuit at worst.

Testing candidates’ writing skills can ensure they have the proficiency to write, work smoothly with other colleagues and have a positive impact on customers, partners and other external stakeholders.

We’ll share a few pointers to help you design a writing skills assessment that surfaces applicants with great written communication skills. Here we go.

TL;DR – Key Takeaways

• A writing skills test is an assessment of candidates’ writing skills. It evaluates their core writing skills like grammar and syntax as well as their overall writing process for conciseness and a logical flow of information.
• A writing skills assessment can determine a job seeker’s writing proficiency , and filter out candidates that may ultimately cost the company a lot of time and money with poor-quality writing and communication errors among colleagues or even customers.
• To assess writing skills effectively, hiring teams should focus their testing on core capabilities like grammar, vocabulary, and clarity shown in their writing tasks.
• To design a good writing skills assessment , focus on making the test relevant for the role and ensure it evaluates all the writing skills the role requires.
• Follow best practices when administering a writing skills test , such as clearly defining the test objectives and evaluating the results fairly.
• Avoid common pitfalls like bias towards a particular writing style or disregarding cultural differences.
• Quickly build a custom writing skills assessment or use one of our ready-made templates to evaluate job-relevant writing skills and hire top-quality candidates.

What is a writing skills assessment test?

A writing skills test provides a way to measure candidates’ written communication skills and their overall writing process. A typical writing skills assessment will test a person’s grammar and sentence structure , spelling and punctuation , and the clarity of their business communication.

Depending on the role, the test taker may also need to demonstrate more advanced writing skills .

For example, an email marketer must be able to write in an engaging, persuasive way to get the reader to click on their email links – that’s conversion copywriting at play. A product manager must demonstrate a capacity to eloquently express their ideas, explain the business logic of a new feature and align cross-functional teams via written communication.

Today, not only copywriters and content team members need good writing skills. It’s also essential for all customer-facing roles like sales, customer service , and customer success. If employees lack basic writing skills they risk:

• Causing confusion in teams
• Slowing down or blocking workflows
• Upsetting colleagues
• Chasing away customers or partners

Why use writing skills assessment tests in hiring?

Hiring teams that select talent with good writing skills can save the business time and revenue , and boost productivity .

According to the 2023 State of Business Communication report by The Harris Poll and Grammarly, miscommunication costs US businesses approximately $1.2 trillion annually.

The report also highlights that employees typically spend half of their work week on written communication , such as writing emails, documenting processes, preparing presentations or communicating via a text-based chat. And that teams can lose up to one entire workday per week, resolving poor team communication issues!

Writing tests can help talent acquisition teams recruit quality candidates. But here’s an even better hack — job-specific writing skills assessments . The benefits of this form of written assessment recruiting tool include:

• Role-specific competency : Writing tests tailored to the specific tasks candidates will perform will test how they will actually manage in the role and can help the hiring team make more informed hiring decisions .
• Scenario-level proficiency : These tests allow you to gauge a candidate’s ability to write for specific audiences, scenarios, or industries and give managers a better idea of whether the candidate actually has the experience they list on the CV.
• Identifying training needs : Job-specific writing tasks can also help identify areas where successful candidates need training or development to streamline onboarding and upskilling efforts.

7 Core candidate writing skills to test

The fundamental skills a writing assessment should test for in a suitable candidate include:

• Grammar : Test takers are expected to understand the basics of a language, like how to structure sentences, so their written words don’t cause any confusion or misunderstandings.
• Vocabulary : Good vocabulary is a must-have skill in some roles, such as copywriting, or for those in exec or decision-making positions. Interestingly, knowing how to simplify language can be equally important to ensure your target audience gets your message clearly.
• Conciseness and clarity : Concise written communication is important in business to ensure your message makes sense and it doesn’t take others ages to decipher what you’re trying to say.
• Tone and style : Adapting the tone and style to a particular industry or brand style is an essential skill for a writer that enables them to speak from the ‘voice’ of the company and in a way that their industry expects.
• Persuasiveness: Persuasive writing skills are vital for people in marketing and sales roles. Today, most roles need to be able to communicate or provide an explanation in a persuasive way, such as a data scientist communicating insights to stakeholders.
• Research skills: Copywriters need independent research skills to create helpful, relevant content their audience can use to learn about new topics and support their buying decisions.
• Attention to detail: Attention to detail is an asset for internal and external communications. Receiving clear, professional communication is something that everyone appreciates.

Types of assessment tests to evaluate a candidate’s writing skills

Wondering what type of job-specific writing assessment test to choose? Well, many testing platforms offer customizable test types, such as:

• Multiple choice questions
• Essay-based
• Portfolio assessments
• Homework assignments

Choosing the right one will depend on the job requirements .

For example, a task-based test, such as asking a shortlisted candidate to suggest new ad copy, is a great writing test for a copywriter.

If you’re hiring for a team lead or a more senior position in people operations, for example, a homework assignment based on communicating new benefits policy to employees will be key to assessing their writing skills in the HR context.

If you’re hiring a graphic designer , a portfolio assessment or review will be key to assessing their design skills. Or, for a marketing executive, a multiple-choice test on core marketing principles will work well.

The anatomy of an effective job-specific writing test

To test applicants’ writing skills effectively, use a job-specific writing test . This type of test should incorporate different components that test all the facets of a candidate’s writing skills. Your test should take into consideration best practices, such as:

Being relevant to the role

The tasks and questions that you include should simulate the real-world tasks that the successful candidate will actually perform on the job. For instance, for a freelance content writer for an HR SaaS tool, you could ask them to write a short article that explains a complex HR concept to a non-technical audience.

Comprehensive testing

Make sure the writing skills test covers the full range of writing skills , including grammar, punctuation, style, tone, vocabulary, and structure. Plus, it should also assess the candidate’s ability to understand and explain complex concepts simply and concisely .

Scenario-based tasks

This is a goodie!

Incorporate tasks that are based on real-life scenarios . For example, writing emails is a core skill for sales managers and customer success professionals, so why not simulate the experience of reaching out to a customer via email? Instead of trusting applicants’ self-assessment, see their core skills in action and decide for yourself!

Plus, in this instance, you get two-for-one — not only assessing their writing abilities but also evaluating their understanding of your product and target audience.

Reasonable requirements

If a candidate is applying for a new role, they are often still working full time and don’t have much spare time. So make sure your test is short, user-friendly , and accessible when it suits them to complete it.

Example of a scenario-based writing skills assessment (also known as a take-home task)

6 Top tips for incorporating writing skills assessment tests

A writing skills assessment is one component in the hiring process and forms part of the pre-employment assessments .

To ensure the candidate experience is a good one, the writing skills test should be an intuitive and easy step for applicants.

Here are a few things you can do to ensure the writing skills test is a positive candidate experience :

• Define the test objectives so you’re assessing the right capabilities for the role and the recruitment stage, and candidates are aware of what the parameters are.
• Make it easy for the test taker to access the test through an easily accessible link in an email or on the job ad .
• Provide adequate time for them to complete the test and respect their time with reasonable assessment expectations based on the test type (a basic skills test vs. paid homework assignment ).
• Ensure the test setup doesn’t exclude any candidates like requiring candidates to be online throughout a lengthy paid test.
• Once you’ve got the results, ensure the team evaluates their answers fairly and objectively, avoiding any personal bias, for instance.
• Provide feedback to candidates whenever possible as this supports a better candidate experience.

Common pitfalls in results interpretation and how to avoid them

After applicants have completed their writing test, the hiring team will need to evaluate the results and select the most suitable candidate.

7 common mistakes to avoid

• Overemphasis on grammar : While correct spelling and being grammatically correct are important, they shouldn’t be the sole criteria for evaluating job seekers . It’s important to consider other aspects like creativity, clarity of ideas, and persuasiveness. Don’t let a few misspelled words hurt your chances of hiring a superstar (remember, there’s Grammarly!). Tip : Create a balanced candidate scorecard rubric that includes all the factors you’re looking for, not grammar and punctuation alone.
• Neglecting the task’s objective : Has the candidate achieved the primary objective of each task or deviated with their writing? Tip : Clearly define the objectives of each test task and measure the applicant’s writing against that.
• Bias towards particular writing styles : Evaluators might have a bias for certain writing styles, like a witty writing style, which could introduce personal bias. Tip : Make a point of remaining objective. Decide whether the style is actually appropriate for the specific task and audience rather than simply aligning with your personal preferences.
• Take into account cultural differences : When hiring globally, cultural and linguistic differences may affect a candidate’s writing style and word choice. For instance, the target language may not be their native or home language. Tip : Ensure evaluators are trained to recognize and accommodate these differences, keeping the focus on effective communication.
• Ignoring the importance of structure : The organization and flow of ideas within a piece of writing are crucial to effective communication. Tip : Include ‘structure and organization’ as a distinct component in your evaluation criteria .
• Over-reliance on automated tools : While automated tools can provide valuable initial assessments, they cannot fully assess elements like coherence, creativity, and communication effectiveness. Tip : Use automated tools, such as a skills assessment platform , as a first step, but always follow up with a comprehensive human-to-human evaluation.
• Inconsistent evaluation criteria : Changing evaluation criteria midway, or not having set evaluation criteria, can lead to the misinterpretation of results. Tip : Develop a standard grading rubric before administering the test and ensure every evaluator understands how to use it and uses it consistently for each answer they’re assessing.

Example of a grading rubric for a writing test

See your candidates’ skills in action with Toggl Hire

The best way to ‘try before you buy’ in hiring is to test candidates’ skills.

With job-specific assessments, your team can better predict how they’ll perform and improve the chances of hooking quality talent that adds value to your organization and business immediately.

Get started quickly with our collection of over 200 test templates or string together custom tests quickly in our user-friendly test library. Your next written communication guru is a few clicks away .

Juste loves investigating through writing. A copywriter by trade, she spent the last ten years in startups, telling stories and building marketing teams. She works at Toggl Hire and writes about how businesses can recruit really great people.

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OET Test on Computer at a venue or at home

Helpful tips

Working through free sample tests is a great way to prepare - all without the pressure of test day! Try these sample tests alongside other OET Ready materials such as our Official OET Masterclasses.

OET Test on Paper at a venue

How is the Writing sub-test marked?

Two OET assessors use the official  OET Writing criteria  to assess your performance.

Why is the Writing sub-test in this format?

Although work is now mainly done on a computer, most medical professionals still have to prepare letters as part of their regular practice. The writing task, taken directly from the workplace context, requires you to select and organise relevant information and present it in a clear, accurate form that is appropriate for the intended reader. Preparing such a letter with only limited time is a reality for practising professionals.  

Do I lose marks in the Writing sub-test for spelling mistakes?

Spelling, along with punctuation and grammar, is one of the aspects included under Language. Language is one of the six assessment criteria for the Writing sub-test. Any spelling mistakes you make will be taken account of in your score for Language. 

What happens if I write too many/too few words in the Writing sub-test?

There is no automatic penalty for writing over or under the word range for the task (180 – 200 words). However, each task is designed to be achievable within that word range. If you have written significantly more, it is likely that you have included irrelevant material or your letter is not well organised. If you have written significantly less, you may have misunderstood the task and/or the case notes, or missed out important information. In either case, your scores for the six assessment criteria for Writing will reflect any weaknesses in those areas.  

How should I address the intended reader of the letter?

You should use the title and address details specified in the task instructions.  

What layout do I use? Where do I write the date and address?

A number of different formats are accepted by health professionals in different local contexts. It is important that your letter is clearly laid out and appropriate for the particular task but there is no particular format or layout that you have to use in the Writing sub-test.  

Can I use all capitals in the Writing sub-test?

If it is your preference to write in all capital letters, you can. However, you must be consistent. In other words, don’t switch between CAPITAL and lower-case letters.

What scores on the level descriptors do I need to reach on the writing test?

You should aim to achieve the highest level in the descriptors for each criterion. Test-takers securing grade B will have achieved scores of 2 out of 3 for Purpose and 5 out of 7 for the remaining criteria. 

Is it important to read the case notes and plan my response?

To achieve your best score in Writing, it's important to understand the task and the case notes. Plan your response so you can select the information only relevant to the reader. The five minutes of reading time at the start of the Writing sub-test is an opportunity for you to do this.  

Tasks for the Writing sub-test are designed to ensure you have enough time in the remaining 40 minutes to write a response of the required length and check over what you have written. You can consult the task and the case notes at any point during the 40 minutes allocated for writing, not just during the reading time.

Looking for more practice material?

Gemini Advanced vs ChatGPT Plus: Which is better?

• Gemini Advanced costs $20 monthly with constantly updated training data, making it better at answering current event questions.
• ChatGPT Plus is $20 too and creates better graphic designs but has limitations like poor text quality.
• Gemini Advanced is faster at generating results and provides clearer, more concise written content than ChatGPT.

Listen long enough to the buzz about artificial intelligence, and the names ChatGPT and Gemini will stand out from the noise. The AI chatbots from OpenAI and Google are some of the biggest players in the space. However, asking both the same question may yield wildly different answers due to their use of different training datasets.

Both Google's Gemini Advanced and ChatGPT Plus subscriptions cost around $20 every month for access to the full list of features. (Notably, ChatGPT does not have a free trial, while Gemini offers two months free). However, the two chatbots use different training datasets, which can significantly influence the responses they generate. GPT-4's dataset was trained on approximately 570 GB of data, but this knowledge extends only through April 2023, requiring the integrated Bing browsing tool to find facts about recent events that occurred after that cutoff.

Google's Gemini Advanced does not use a static training database; it is constantly being updated, which means the chatbot is better at answering questions about current events.

However, that's not the only way the two platforms differ. I posed the same questions to ChatGPT Plus and Google Gemini Advanced, with topics and tasks ranging across art, politics, math, and ethics. The chatbots often churned out wildly different answers -- and those responses offer a clear indication of which platform to try.

I tried ChatGPT Plus. Here's everything it can do

Image test: chatgpt plus produces more art, gemini advanced has paused image generation of people.

First, I asked both platforms to create a watercolor image of a woman holding flowers . ChatGPT Plus delivered two different options with soft, flowing brushstrokes , which helped obliterate the details in the face and hands that image generators aren't great at yet.

Gemini Advanced declined to produce anything. Google temporarily removed the option to generate images of people in February 2024 after complaints that it made historical depictions of the Founding Fathers inaccurate by depicting multiple races. Racism is an issue among many artificial intelligence platforms. Google explains that Gemini Advanced was programmed to represent a wide range of people but admitted that diversity-focused programming created issues when requesting images of someone of a specific demographic.

Since Gemini Advanced couldn't create a person, I tried just asking for watercolor paintings of spring flowers. Both did a pretty good job, but Gemini Advanced produced three paintings faster than ChatGPT Plus created one option. Frustratingly, however, Gemini Advanced seemed to only produce square images, even when I specifically requested a different aspect ratio.

I next switched from paintings to graphic design and quickly realized that Gemini Advanced wouldn't actually design anything. Instead, Gemini made a list of suggestions for how to design it, wrote the content, and even suggested software and places to hire a freelance graphic designer.

ChatGPT Plus, on the other hand, will create graphic designs but often probably shouldn't. I asked it to create an infographic about what to wear and what not to wear to a family photo shoot. The graphics looked quite good, but much of the text was gibberish. The inability to create text in graphics is a known shortcoming for AI generators. I then asked it to remove the text entirely. While the resulting graphic was good, it included both the dos and don'ts in the graphic without differentiating which was which. I then asked it to create a postcard advertising my photography , but the results were straight out of a horror film. The faces were so wrong they looked like decaying corpses. One groom was holding the hands of two brides, one of whom had an arm coming straight out of her bosom.

ChatGPT Plus will produce more types of graphics . However, the types of images that Gemini Advanced refuses to produce are the same types that the other AI failed miserably at creating.

What is Gemini? Google's AI model and GPT-4 alternative explained

Writing test: gemini advanced gets right to the point, chatgpt plus tends to be more long-winded.

I asked both programs to write me a 500-word short story about a haunted house. Both followed the instructions well. However, neither came up with anything beyond the usual haunted house tropes, as AI is more a remix of ideas than a creator of something entirely new. ChatGPT Plus's story felt clichéd and was littered with passive voice, while Gemini Advanced did a better job showing the details rather than offering a bland retelling of the story.

Transitioning from creative to professional writing, I then asked both platforms to write a sample cover letter for a software engineer looking for a job. Both produced a rather bland template but included spots to insert specific details. Gemini's letter was shorter, more to the point, and followed up with tips for writing a cover letter. ChatGPT's output was longer and redundant -- I would have cut out at least a paragraph from what was generated. I then asked both programs to write a letter of resignation and a professional email, and the results were similar, with ChatGPT Plus being a bit longer (if the prompt isn't limited to a specific word count) and Gemini Advanced getting right to the point .

While both platforms can handle mundane tasks like writing emails, I preferred Gemini Advanced's results . The Google-owned AI was straight to the point for business writing, while the short story it generated also felt more refined, whereas ChatGPT's felt more like a first draft.

How to use Google's Gemini AI from the web or your phone

Advice test: gemini advanced answers with linked resources, but chatgpt plus is sometimes less frustrating.

I then asked both platforms a range of different questions. First, I asked for advice on avoiding bears during a hike . Both offered some of the same advice, but Gemini Advanced linked to sources where I could find out why exactly bear bells don't work. ChatGPT Plus sometimes has links at the end but did not for that specific question.

I then asked them to solve one of my fifth grader's math problems . (I hated learning fractions the first time around, and the second time isn't any more enjoyable.) Both platforms got the correct answer, but ChatGPT Plus said simplifying 10/3 to 3 1/3 was optional, while Gemini Advanced called it an improper fraction and explained that you should simplify it. Both initially wrote the answer as a decimal until I specifically asked for an answer written as a fraction.

Gemini's explanation of how to solve the math problem was only three steps long; ChatGPT's was six. Just like with the writing tasks, ChatGPT Plus was unnecessarily wordy, and I thought Gemini's shorter description was easier to follow.

I then asked questions about current events -- which actually took multiple tries to find a question that both platforms would attempt to answer. Gemini Advanced wouldn't answer questions about politics , while ChatGPT Plus didn't know that the prime minister of Haiti had resigned. This was somewhat expected as ChatGPT is trained on older data, but it did not even attempt to use the Bing search plugin to verify if the answer was current.

I finally found a question about current events that both platforms would answe r-- sort of. I asked about moon landings , looking specifically for the February 2024 landing that happened after ChatGPT's training data was updated. ChatGPT Plus answered immediately with a number followed by an explanation, including the latest Odysseus mission. Gemini erred on the side of caution and told me that there were six crewed and multiple uncrewed landings. I asked again, and Gemini said that the question was "a bit complex to answer definitively." I never did get a number -- though I did get several links -- but when I finally adjusted my question to "successful uncrewed soft landings," the most recent February 2024 landing was included, which is what I was looking for.

6 Google Gemini prompts to try for the best results

Speed test: gemini advanced is faster, chatgpt plus / gpt-4 is limited to 40 messages every 3 hours.

One of the main purposes of generative AI is to handle tasks that we don't want to deal with -- such as fifth-grade math -- or to accelerate more mundane processes. With the latter in mind, I submitted several prompts simultaneously to see which platform would generate a result first. Gemini Advanced consistently responded first , even creating three watercolor paintings before ChatGPT Plus had completed one. Gemini Advanced was also noticeably quicker at solving math questions.

The results are unsurprising once you delve into the data. GPT-4 is limited to 40 messages every three hours, whereas Gemini Advanced can handle up to 60 requests per minute.

One of the main purposes of generative AI is to handle tasks that we don't want to handle -- like 5th-grade math -- or to speed up the more mundane processes. With the latter in mind, I sent across many of the prompts at the same time, looking to see which platform generated a result first. Gemini Advanced answered first nearly every time, including creating three watercolor paintings before ChatGPT Plus had finished with one. Gemini Advanced was also noticeably faster at answering math questions.

10 ChatGPT extensions to try and what exactly they can do

Ethics test: chatgpt plus refuses to copy artists' style, and gemini advanced won't talk about politics.

Ethics should be a key consideration when comparing different AI platforms. If you refuse to use an AI that scrapes training data from the web without the owner's permission, then you're still out of luck here. Both are also capable of answering questions incorrectly, so factual data should always be double-checked when working with any AI chatbot. But what about ethics and how each chatbot answers key questions?

When prompted, Gemini Advanced created a landscape painting in the style of Picasso. ChatGPT Plus, on the other hand, responded that requesting a specific artist's style violated content policies. It then suggested creating a painting "inspired by early 20th-century art movements that emphasize geometric shapes, fragmented forms, and vibrant colors." The result was similar to Gemini Advanced's, but the prompt was not connected to the artist's name. That courtesy seems to be limited to visual arts. Neither one refused when I asked them to write in the style of Stephen King.

Overall, Gemini's approach is to disable options that aren't quite right. It won't respond to questions about politics and has disabled generative images of people until some diversity issues can be remedied. However, ChatGPT Plus won't produce results in a specific visual artist's style .

How to master GPT-4 in ChatGPT: Prompts, tips, and tricks

Privacy test: chatgpt lets you delete more data, gemini will keep data for up to three years.

Another consideration is how your data is used. Both platforms retain data for later training. Some Gemini prompts will be viewed by human staff, so users should not share personal data on the platform. Gemini Advanced can keep the data for up to three years, though it is not associated with your account that far out. In comparison, ChatGPT allows you to turn off chat history , which means you will not be able to go back to previous chats, but the company has less of your data. With this setting, ChatGPT deletes your conversations once every 30 days . Your data is still used for training, but not for the long term.

Google launches Gemini AI, its answer to GPT-4, and you can try it now

Extra features test: gemini advanced has more, but chatgpt plus does have a wealth of plugins.

As part of the Google family, Gemini Advanced can be found in more than just the web browser chat window. Gemini can assist you with writing or proofreading in Gmail, as well as in apps like Google Docs. integrated into Pixel devices , though iOS users can still access the AI inside the Google app. The $20-a-month subscription also includes 2TB of cloud storage with Google One .

ChatGPT Plus doesn't offer the same integrations, but with a longer history, it boasts a more extensive list of different custom GPTs for users to explore. In the Explore GPTs tab , you can discover anything from tutors to coding to coloring book pages. You can find custom GPTs from companies like Kayak, Canva, Khan Academy, and more. With ChatGPT web browser extensions , you can also access a range of tools that work directly inside a web browser. GPT-4 also supports the uploading of JPGs and PDFs, whereas Gemini Advanced is limited to image uploads. ChatGPT has both a web application and a dedicated app that, like Gemini, can also use voice.

Verdict: Which is AI chatbot subscription is best?

I prefer gemini, but chatgpt is needed for ai image generation.

Google's Gemini Advanced produced clearer, more concise written content. I preferred the written results of Gemini Advanced over ChatGPT. The Google-owned chatbot also had the fastest performance out of the two. The fact that it comes from a large tech company also gives it clear benefits like 2 TB of cloud storage included in the price and integration into Google Docs and other apps.

While I preferred the results from Gemini Advanced a majority of the time, ChatGPT Plus was capable of more tasks. It can, for example, produce graphic designs that Gemini refused. It's worth noting, however, that the types of images Gemini won't create are also the types of images that ChatGPT struggles to produce acceptable results with, including images of people and graphics that contain text. However, ChatGPT also allows users to delete their data every 30 days, while Google keeps it for up to three years. ChatGPT's longer history also means that it offers a lot of different custom plug-ins that are tailored for a specific task.

Overall, Google's Gemini Advanced is the subscription that I would pick if I wanted an AI to help type out emails or decipher math homework. ChatGPT Plus would be my choice for generating images using DALL-E, using specific plug-ins, or for greater control over what happens to your data.

Q: What is Gemini Advanced and ChatGPT Plus?

Gemini is Google's AI chatbot that's integrated with Google products, and Advanced is the AI's paid subscription tier. ChatGPT Plus, on the other hand, is a paid subscription to OpenAI's ChatGPT. Like Advanced, it's more powerful and has more features and capabilities.

Q: How much do Gemini Advanced and ChatGPT Plus cost each?

Here's the current pricing information:

• Gemini Advanced: Included in the Google One AI Premium Plan at $19.99 per month. This plan also offers other Google AI benefits and increased Google One storage.
• ChatGPT Plus: Costs $20 per month. This plan offers access to DALL-E image generation and the GPT store.

This article may contain affiliate links that Microsoft and/or the publisher may receive a commission from if you buy a product or service through those links.

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RHONY Star Leah McSweeney Says She's ‘Shook’ After Lyme Disease Diagnosis: ‘Feeling Like S—’

The reality TV star shared the results of her recent blood test to social media, writing that the disease is not "chronic" but a new infection

Charlotte Phillipp is a Weekend Writer-Reporter at PEOPLE. She has been working at PEOPLE since 2024, and was previously an entertainment reporter at The Messenger.

Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty

Leah McSweeney has revealed that she has been diagnosed with Lyme disease .

On Thursday, May 16, the Real Housewives of New York City alum, 41, shared an Instagram Story post that featured the results of a blood test.

"[I'M] SHOOK," she wrote alongside the test results, noting that this was a new infection and not a "chronic" infection, per Page Six .

"Please send success stories of healing from Lyme," she added. "It's a new infection not chronic."

"Apologies to all my friends who I've canceled on in the past couple months cus I was feeling like s---," she finished.

In another post, McSweeney shared a photo of over a dozen vials of what seemed to be her blood, joking in the caption: "Everything is great" with a laughing emoji.

The PEOPLE Puzzler crossword is here! How quickly can you solve it? Play now !

Sophy Holland/Bravo/NBCU Photo Bank via Getty

According to the Mayo Clinic , Lyme disease is an illness caused by a bite from a tick carrying the borrelia bacteria. The disease first manifests as a skin rash or fever, but other, more severe symptoms, including pain in the joints, a loss of vision, immune system activity that can cause irregular heart beats and arthritis.

The clinic recommends that anyone who thinks they may have been bitten by a tick visit a doctor, but also notes that "many symptoms of Lyme disease relate to other conditions."

Ticks carrying the disease are usually found in the Midwestern and northeastern regions of the U.S. as well as southeastern Canada, and are most active in wooded or grassy outdoor areas in the spring, summer and fall, the Mayo Clinic adds.

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McSweeney's diagnosis comes amid a busy time for the reality TV star — earlier this year, she made headlines when she sued Andy Cohen  along with Bravo Media, NBC Universal Media, Warner Bros. Discovery, and several other production companies and producers.

The civil lawsuit , filed in February in the Southern District of New York, alleges that Cohen and the other defendants promoted a "rotted" culture for many of its reality TV stars in which they were pressured to drink alcohol. The suit also claims that they did not maintain a safe working environment or accommodate her disabilities, including "alcohol use disorder" and "mental health disorders."

"As hard as it is to be going up against a very powerful entity, and for people to maybe also just not agree with me or, you know, come at me and get blowback and all the things, I don't care, because this is the truth." McSweeney shared of the suit on a March episode of the American Addiction Center's talk show  Addiction Talk . "I have it on my side and my intentions are really good."

Bravo later opened an investigation into McSweeney's claims, later closing it in May 2024 . In a statement shared with PEOPLE, a spokesperson for the network wrote: "The outside investigation into the recent allegations made by  Brandi Glanville  and Leah McSweeney against Andy Cohen has now been completed, and the claims were found to be unsubstantiated."

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How To Write A Letter To Principal Requesting For TC: Check Samples and Format

• Updated on  
• May 16, 2024

A transfer certificate, also known as a TC, is an important certificate issued when a student wishes to enrol in another school. This certificate is given by the prior school from which the student wishes to transfer to another school. We will look at the format and offer some samples of how to write a letter to the principal requesting TC. Continue reading to learn more about it.

Table of Contents

• 1 Sample 1: Write A Letter To Principal Requesting For TC
• 2 Sample 2: Write A Letter To Principal Requesting For TC
• 3 Format of How To Write A Letter To Principal Requesting For TC
• 4 FAQs 

Sample 1: Write A Letter To Principal Requesting For TC

Also Read: Write a Letter to Your Friend Advising Him to Adjust to the New Place as His Father Just Got Transferred: Check Samples

Sample 2: Write A Letter To Principal Requesting For TC

Also Read: Write a Letter to Your Friend Telling Him About Your Visit to Shimla: Check Samples and Format  

Format of How To Write A Letter To Principal Requesting For TC

Download the Format of Formal Letter from Here!!  

Ans: A formal letter is a letter written to a designated individual for official purposes. It has a professional tone and follows a specific format.

Ans: A transfer certificate, or TC, is an important document required when a student wishes to leave one institution and enrol in another. It shows that a student is affiliated with one school at a given moment.

Ans: There are three sections to any letter, formal or informal: the introduction, the body, and the conclusion. By following the above-mentioned format, you can gain a deeper understanding of it.

Check out more letter-writing topics here:

We hope the above-listed sample letters will improve your letter-writing skills. For more such interesting topics, visit our Letter Writing page and follow Leverage Edu . 

Bhumika Sharma

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