Enter the total number of words, the total number of mistakes, and the time to determine the words correct per minute (WPCM).

## WCPM Formula

The following formula is used to calculate the total number of words correct per minute.

WCPM = [TW - M] / T
• Where WCPM is the words correct per minute
• TW is the total number of words in the reading
• M is the total number of mistakes made while reading the passage
• T is the total time in minutes.

To calculate WCPM, subtract the number of mistakes made from the total number of words read, then divide by the total time in minutes.

The formula for the time and further be broken down into the following:

T = m + S/60

• Where m is the number of minutes
• S is the number of seconds

## What is WCPM?

WCPM is an accroynm that stands for words correct per minute. It’s a metric used in teaching to understand the reading comprehension of students.

Students are asked to read a passage and the the better they do, the higher there words correct per minute is.

This value takes into account not only how fast the student reads by also how many mistakes they make, so a student rushing through a passage but making mistakes would not score higher than one taking there time with little mistakes.

## Example Problem

How to calculate WCPM?

First, determine the total number of words in the passage. For this example, the students are given a passage that has a length of 200 words.

Next, have the student read the passage and record the time and number of mistakes.

In this case, the student reads the passage in 2 minutes and 10 seconds and made a total of 6 mistakes.

Finally, calculate the WCPM using the formula above:

WCPM = [TW – M] / T

WCPM = [200 – 6] / (2 + 10/60)

WCPM = 89.53.