Ireland Typing Tests: Clerical Officer, Medical & Legal
By Abhishek · Reviewed by The Ai-TypingTest Editorial Team · Last reviewed
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35–50 WPM · Where tested · CopyTypical range — confirm in the job posting.
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Sort or filter the table to find your role. “Official / published” rows link to the source; “Typical range” rows reflect common job-posting language and must be checked against the posting.
| Duration | Errors | Basis | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Clerical Officer (public service)Most competitions use online aptitude tests | 35–50 WPM | Where tested | Accuracy | Copy | Typical range |
| Medical secretary (HSE / private) | 50–60 WPM | Dictation | High accuracy | Audio | Typical range |
| Legal secretary | 50–65 WPM | Dictation + copy | Very high accuracy | Copy + audio | Typical range |
| Office administrator (private sector) | 40–50 WPM | 5 min | Accuracy | Copy | Typical range |
| Receptionist | 35–45 WPM | Short | Accuracy | Copy | Typical range |
| Data entry operator | 8,000–12,000 KPH | 3–5 min | Accuracy | Data entry | Typical range |
| 999/112 emergency call-taker | 30–40 WPM | Short | Accuracy on details | Copy + audio | Typical range |
| Transcriptionist / audio typist | 55–70 WPM | Audio file | High accuracy | Audio | Typical range |
Public service
Clerical Officer competitions run by the Public Appointments Service mostly use online assessments and interviews; typing tests are not standard. Some specialist posts do test keyboard skills. Read the candidate information booklet on publicjobs.ie.
Medical and legal secretaries
HSE and private hospital medical secretaries, and solicitors' legal secretaries, are commonly tested on audio typing. Practise with the medical secretary and legal secretary tests.
Keyboards and spelling
Ireland uses the UK/Irish ISO keyboard layout — @ and " sit where they do on UK keyboards, and € is typed with AltGr+4 — and British-convention spelling. Irish passages here use euro amounts and Irish place names.
Private-sector admin
Recruitment agencies in Dublin, Cork, Galway and Limerick commonly test office candidates online when they register: a timed copy test and often Microsoft Office tests. 40–50 WPM with high accuracy is a solid score for most admin and reception roles; financial services back-office roles may add a data-entry exercise.
Healthcare
HSE hospitals, Section 38 voluntary hospitals and private hospitals recruit medical secretaries and clerical staff separately. Medical secretary posts frequently specify audio typing and medical terminology; the job specification lists the essential skills. Practise on clinic-letter dictation in British-convention spelling — anaemia, haematology, paediatric.
Legal
Solicitors' firms test legal secretaries on dictation and a copy test. Expect formal Irish legal vocabulary (Circuit Court, District Court, solicitor, counsel) and euro amounts in documents.
How to prepare
Practise on the layout and spelling you will be tested on — Irish keyboards match UK keyboards, so @ and " are swapped compared with US layouts. Run a few tests at the length you expect (5 minutes for copy typing, a short letter for audio), and focus on accuracy: Irish employers, like UK ones, usually care more about a clean document than raw speed.
Showing your speed
Put net WPM and accuracy on your CV, e.g. “Typing: 50 WPM at 97% accuracy; audio typing”. Our certificate records a practice result but is unproctored, so expect employers to test you themselves.
Want passages in local spelling? The Ireland typing test has local spelling and examples.
Where your speed stands
Around 40 WPM is a common adult average; 60–70 WPM is comfortably above it, and 80+ is professional range. Use the table to see which roles a given speed opens up — then check the posting.
| Net WPM | Typically enough for |
|---|---|
| 25–35 | Emergency call handling (with accuracy on details), some reception roles |
| 35–45 | Clerk-typist, government clerical standards (e.g. 40 WPM), most reception and support roles |
| 45–60 | Admin and executive support, live chat, medical and legal admin |
| 60–80 | Medical and legal secretaries, transcription, high-volume chat |
| 80+ | Professional transcription and captioning (on QWERTY) |
Not sure where you are? Take the 5-minute test — most employer tests are three to five minutes — or see what percentile your WPM is.
How typing tests are scored
Almost every employer test reports net words per minute: correctly typed characters ÷ 5 ÷ minutes. Some subtract errors from gross speed instead (Criteria-style adjusted WPM), some cap the number of errors (the US federal standard allows 3 in 5 minutes), and some allow more errors at higher speeds (the Canadian 5-minute table). Numeric tests use keystrokes per hour, where 1 WPM = 300 KPH. Accuracy is the share of keystrokes that were right first time; most employers that state one want 95% or better. The full formulas are on our methodology page.
A practice score here is unproctored. It tells you whether you are ready; it is not proof an employer has to accept. Where a job needs proof, it will either test you itself or name the kind of certificate it accepts.
Frequently asked questions
Generally not; they use online assessments and interviews. Check the candidate booklet.
Commonly around 50–60+ WPM from audio.
The UK/Irish ISO layout, the same as the UK. Type € with AltGr+4.
Yes: organise, colour, centre.
Sources
- publicjobs.ie — Clerical Officer competitions — Public Appointments Service (Ireland) (checked October 18, 2026)