Some typing tips
By typein2021 - updated: 3 years, 7 months ago - 3 messages
It's not like I'm the best typist ever, but I type average ~110 wpm with a shitty laptop keyboard, with an all-time highest average of ~125 wpm. I've seen tons of people asking for tips on the forums lately, so I decided to do this little write-up.
For context, I first started to try and type fast in 8th grade, I'm now one year graduated from high school.
When I first started, I averaged about 40 - 60 wpm with around an 85% accuracy, and the first thing I worked on was my home row touch typing; as I started to get more used to the home rows and started to touch type, my wpm shot up to an average of 80 - 90 wpm with a minimum 90% accuracy.
Before you get serious about practicing, you need to fix your bad typing habits; I've seen people type 100 wpm+ with two fingers, but it's not pretty and not even close to worth it. If you're typing with bad form (i.e., anything that's not home row or something at least resembling it), I suggest you go back to learning your home row keys -- it's a grind and can be boring, but you'll find that all those keys that felt "too far away" or inconvenient to type immediately become easier to type, and the boost in accuracy will be worth it.
Next up is breaking the 100 wpm barrier. To be honest, I think most people can reach 100 wpm relatively easily with good habits and consistent practice. However, breaking the 100 wpm wall can be a little more challenging.
At this time, I was in 9th grade and looking for ways to cut down the little pauses in between my keystrokes. One of the easiest ways to do this is to get common letter combinations in your muscle memory. These combinations include 'wer', 'tion', 'ing', and the like. Learn to compartmentalize the letters in a word as you see them -- for example, when I see the word 'learning', I only think about typing the word 'learn' first. My middle finger is already hovering over the i key when I'm typing the letter 'e', and as soon as I finish the 'learn', I'm blasting out the last three letters in a fraction of a second. If you're successful in drilling these common letter combinations, you should see an improvement in your average wpm and hopefully be able to consistently break 100 wpm.
After that is mostly practice and learning to read ahead of your typing, as another user commented. There are three scenarios in which time losses happen: first, when you make typos and have to go back to make corrections; second, when you don't know recognize / know the spelling of a word and you slow down to compensate; third, when you pause between words to read them.
The first problem is mostly solved by using home rows. The second is mostly practice and making the typing of most common words intuitive. The third is resolved by reading ahead and anticipating which words you will have to type. When you can type an entire paragraph without hesitation, that's when you'll break the 110 wpm barrier and start getting those insane 130+ wpm runs.
It goes without saying that this will take a long time. But don't lose hope, and if you aren't having fun, take a break and come back. Good luck!
Here's the thing... Whilst Both you and me consider 110-125 to be something to improve, the average typist couldn't even dream of reaching those speeds where they are currently. So, when someone see's something like this, they could feel as if reaching 110-125 isn't good enough why should they try to reach such an incredibly difficult speed in the first place? And I'll leave them this...
Yes, at our luxury on top of our keyboard proficient balconies we don't see 110-125 WPM as impressive. But that shouldn't steer you towards feeling as if shooting for something even close to that isn't something to celebrate. When babies speak their first words and take their first steps it's something absolutely impressive even though fully grown and developed and trained people can easily do. But babies have it hard and when they achieve what we can, we consider it amazing.
Think about that when you finally reach 50 WPM then 60, then 70 and so on, and keep taking those steps so you can learn to run with the champs. It's not impossible, and it is difficult, but I'm sure you'll soon be seeing that 110-125 WPM is something to improve on aswell.
By superboa - posted: 3 years, 7 months ago
Here's the thing... Whilst Both you and me consider 110-125 to be something to improve, the average typist couldn't even dream of reaching those speeds where they are currently. So, when someone see's something like this, they could feel as if reaching 110-125 isn't good enough why should they try to reach such an incredibly difficult speed in the first place? And I'll leave them this...
Yes, at our luxury on top of our keyboard proficient balconies we don't see 110-125 WPM as impressive. But that shouldn't steer you towards feeling as if shooting for something even close to that isn't something to celebrate. When babies speak their first words and take their first steps it's something absolutely impressive even though fully grown and developed and trained people can easily do. But babies have it hard and when they achieve what we can, we consider it amazing.
Think about that when you finally reach 50 WPM then 60, then 70 and so on, and keep taking those steps so you can learn to run with the champs. It's not impossible, and it is difficult, but I'm sure you'll soon be seeing that 110-125 WPM is something to improve on aswell.
