diff --git a/frontend/src/ts/test/events/helpers.ts b/frontend/src/ts/test/events/helpers.ts
index 0e4bf58860b7..c6228ddae1c2 100644
--- a/frontend/src/ts/test/events/helpers.ts
+++ b/frontend/src/ts/test/events/helpers.ts
@@ -121,25 +121,26 @@ export function applyInputEvent(input: string, event: InputEventNoMs): string {
 }
 
 export function getInputFromDom(events: TestEventNoMs[]): string {
-  const lastInputEvent = events.findLast((e) => e.type === "input");
-
-  if (lastInputEvent === undefined) {
-    let input = "";
-    for (const event of events) {
-      if (event.type !== "input") continue;
-      input = applyInputEvent(input, event);
+  let lastInputEvent: InputEventNoMs | undefined;
+  for (let i = events.length - 1; i >= 0; i--) {
+    const e = events[i];
+    if (e !== undefined && e.type === "input") {
+      lastInputEvent = e;
+      break;
     }
-    return input;
   }
 
-  const inputValue = lastInputEvent.data.inputValue;
+  if (lastInputEvent === undefined) return "";
+
+  const { data } = lastInputEvent;
+  const inputValue = data.inputValue;
 
   if (
-    lastInputEvent.data.inputType === "insertText" &&
-    lastInputEvent.data.data === " " &&
-    lastInputEvent.data.lastWord &&
-    lastInputEvent.data.commitsWord &&
-    !lastInputEvent.data.correct
+    data.inputType === "insertText" &&
+    data.data === " " &&
+    data.lastWord &&
+    data.commitsWord &&
+    !data.correct
   ) {
     // if this is an incorrect word commit on the last word, we dont want to count it at all
     return inputValue.trimEnd();
diff --git a/frontend/src/ts/test/events/stats.ts b/frontend/src/ts/test/events/stats.ts
index b0db9c30a18c..144737965cec 100644
--- a/frontend/src/ts/test/events/stats.ts
+++ b/frontend/src/ts/test/events/stats.ts
@@ -5,7 +5,7 @@ import {
   logTestEvent,
 } from "./data";
 import * as TestWords from "../../test/test-words";
-import { CharCounts, countChars, getLastChar } from "../../utils/strings";
+import { CharCounts, countChars } from "../../utils/strings";
 import * as CustomText from "../../test/custom-text";
 import { getInputFromDom } from "./helpers";
 import { activeWordIndex, bailedOut, koreanStatus } from "../test-state";
@@ -245,7 +245,11 @@ function getTargetWord(
   } else {
     const word = TestWords.words.getText(wordIndex);
 
-    if (getLastChar(word) === "\n") {
+    if (word === undefined) {
+      return "";
+    }
+
+    if (word.endsWith("\n")) {
       // for multiline, dont add space
       return word;
     }
diff --git a/frontend/src/ts/utils/strings.ts b/frontend/src/ts/utils/strings.ts
index 13e1dee0222e..0a455a363e6f 100644
--- a/frontend/src/ts/utils/strings.ts
+++ b/frontend/src/ts/utils/strings.ts
@@ -43,11 +43,8 @@ export function wordsToCamelCase(str: string): string {
  * @returns The last character of the input string, or an empty string if the input is empty.
  */
 export function getLastChar(word: string): string {
-  try {
-    return word.charAt(word.length - 1);
-  } catch {
-    return "";
-  }
+  if (word === undefined) return "";
+  return word.charAt(word.length - 1);
 }
 
 /**