Speed Gate
A minimum net WPM that starts at 25 and climbs by 5 every 20 seconds; once an opening grace window passes, dropping below the current minimum for even a moment ends the run right there.
QWERTY layout assumed. Backspace corrects; uncorrected errors count against net WPM.
Speed Gate sets a rolling floor under your typing speed rather than a target above it. It starts at 25 net WPM and rises by 5 every 20 seconds — 30 at the twenty-second mark, 35 at forty, and onward for as long as you can keep up. There's no fixed passage length working against you here; a 400-word generated text gives you far more room than the gate is ever likely to let you use.
For the first eight seconds, none of that is enforced. Net WPM calculated over one or two seconds of typing swings wildly — a single early hesitation can make the number briefly implausible in either direction — so the gate simply doesn't check anything until eight seconds of typing have actually happened. From that point on, it checks continuously, not just at each twenty-second mark when the number itself changes.
What ends the run is the exact moment your net WPM dips below whatever the current floor happens to be, wherever that falls in the twenty-second cycle. There's no partial credit for surviving nineteen of the twenty seconds at a level and stumbling on the twentieth — the gate doesn't wait for a convenient checkpoint, it reacts to the number the instant it drops.
How to Play
The HUD shows three numbers throughout: the current gate level, your live net WPM (marked in a different colour once it drops below the gate), and a countdown to the next rise. Type normally against the generated passage; there's no separate action required beyond keeping your pace above whatever the gate currently demands.
Because net WPM already subtracts a penalty for every uncorrected error — the mechanics are laid out in full on How WPM Is Actually Calculated — a fast but careless opening can put you under the gate faster than a slightly slower, cleaner one would. A handful of early mistakes doesn't just cost a little polish here; it can pull your live net WPM below a floor that clean typing at the same raw speed would have cleared without trouble.
There's no ceiling written into the format — the gate simply keeps rising every twenty seconds for as long as you keep clearing it, so a run only ends when your pace finally can't hold against a floor that's now higher than where you started. The level reported at that moment is close to the honest answer to the question this format is built to ask: where your pace under rising demand actually runs out, which is a harsher version of the same steady-pace discipline the Sustained Pace Drill trains without any deadline attached.
Why the First Eight Seconds Are Free
Net WPM is calculated from characters typed divided by elapsed time, and at one or two seconds in, that denominator is small enough that a single early stumble or a fast start produces a number with almost no relationship to your real typing speed. Enforcing the gate against a number that unstable would end runs for reasons that have nothing to do with actual pace, so the check is switched off for the first eight seconds and switched on afterward, all at once.
The Gate Doesn't Wait for Its Own Deadline
The threshold only changes value every twenty seconds, but it's checked far more often than that — continuously, against your live net WPM, for as long as the run is going. That means the run can end at second twenty-three just as easily as at second forty, if your pace happens to dip below whatever level currently applies. Surviving most of a twenty-second window counts for nothing if the moment you fall under the line is the moment that's checked.
A Clean Opening Beats a Fast One
Because uncorrected errors carry a direct penalty in the net WPM formula, a rushed start that trades accuracy for a slightly higher raw speed often produces a lower net number than a calmer one would have. The gap between gross and net WPM tends to matter more here than on a normal test, since it's the net figure alone deciding whether the run continues past each check.
What Your Final Gate Level Actually Represents
The results screen reports two figures once the run ends: Gate reached, the highest floor you cleared, and Held for, your total time in the run — a number that never appears anywhere while you're actually playing, since the live HUD only ever counts down to the next rise, not up from the start. Gate reached is close to your sustainable ceiling under a demand that keeps rising rather than staying fixed, a different thing from your peak on a 15-Second Typing Test, which only ever asks you to hold one pace for a short, known stretch. Held for fills in the rest of the picture: two runs that top out at the same gate level can still have lasted very different lengths of time, if one of them idled longer just under an earlier, lower threshold before finally giving out.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why doesn't anything happen for the first several seconds?
Net WPM needs a reasonable amount of elapsed time to mean anything; over the first couple of seconds, one early hesitation or a fast opening word can produce a wildly misleading number. The gate stays off for the first eight seconds specifically so it isn't judging a figure that unstable.
Does the minimum speed rise smoothly, or in jumps?
In jumps — five WPM higher every twenty seconds, holding steady in between. It's a step function, not a gradual climb, so your required pace is exactly the same at second twenty-one as it is at second thirty-nine.
If my speed dips below the gate for a second and then recovers, does the run still end?
Yes. Once the eight-second grace period has passed, the check runs continuously, and there's no leniency built in for a brief dip — the moment your net WPM reads below the current level, the run ends there.
How is this different from the Burst & Pause Drill, which also pushes past a comfortable pace?
The Burst & Pause Drill is a short, self-directed sprint you choose to start and stop. Speed Gate's demand comes from outside and keeps rising whether you're ready or not, and it's the run ending, not a deliberate stop, that tells you where your pace gave out.
Why might typing a little slower actually score better here?
Because net WPM subtracts a penalty for every uncorrected error, a faster but sloppier pace can compute to a lower net number than a calmer one at the same raw speed — which matters directly here, since it's that net figure alone deciding whether you clear the next check.