Typing tips, how to make type faster and master the keyboard

1) Accuracy

I had been trying to improve my speed for months and I was not seeing much improvement. Once I slowed down and started being more accurate instead of trying to type faster I started seeing an increase in my typing speed. I feel more in control as well. I still have a way to go for my personal goal but am pleased to see that I am now improving and relaxing more.
Learn to be accurate first then improve speed. Because if you make mistakes all the time the longer it will take you to type. Every time you backspace takes longer than if you slow down just a tad so you can type accurately. I still makes a lot of mistakes but I realize when I slow down to be accurate I actually tend to type slightly faster.

2) Practice

For new typists: Practice. Get used to the home keys work to the point where you do not need to look at both what you are typing, or your fingers on the keyboard.

For advanced typists: Practice. Develop muscle memory for typing certain types of commonly used letter parings. Identify the combinations of letters for certain words that give you trouble and practice typing them in particular to the point where you no longer need to think when doing so.
My tip to improve your typing speed is to not only practice often, but practice correctly. Try to get rid of bad typing habits and replace them with good ones. For example, you should use every single finger when typing instead of relying on the use of fingers with which you're most comfortable. Full utilization of both hands is necessary to achieve your highest typing potential.

3) Stretching

When my wrists get stiff from typing, I grab my fingers with one hand and stretch out my arm to full length and pull on my fingers back slowly. I then, stretch my fingers by opening and closing them, bend my hands back and forth, and rotate my wrists.
if you feel a little sore on the fingers or knuckles, just put your arms up high, and wriggle your fingers (only do this if your fingers feel sore. ) and if your knuckles hurt just put your left hand into a fist and do the same with the right. With the bottom of your left fist, tap the knuckles on your right hand and vice versa.

4) Know your keyboard

My tip to improve your typing speed is to feel for the "F" and the "J". As most know, those are the letters you feel for first on the keyboard. As time goes by, and you learn how to type without looking, you will not even really have to "feel" for the "F" and the "J" you will just learn the keyboard.
It is also important to familiarize yourself with the keyboard you are using. - This is essential as, if you can map the keyboard out in your mind, you wont need to look away from the screen to locate the key you need. This would also minimize time spent between getting your many thoughts onto the screen before loosing them (again).
If you are typing 60 wpm or higher, and want to get better, and not get carpal tunnel: buy a mechanical keyboard. I use red switch that I bought for both gaming/typing, and after an hour of typing, my fingers still feel fine. I wouldn't recommend red for most typists--It doesn't have the feedback that other switch types have, and takes a while to get used to not bottoming out the keys all the time.

5) Rhythm

What is important is developing a rhythm, not to hurry, but to be accurate, first-priority. Speed comes naturally with practice and time. Further, one must push one's self to perform better, but acknowledging that efficiency only is established, along with effectiveness. In closing, one must learn to type only what one sees/reads; never change the words, unless, of course, it is an editing ... exercise/test. One only types what one sees or reads!

Start training

Touch typing

Touch typing is typing without looking at the keyboard. The idea is to teach your fingers the location of each keys. The F and J keys have a raised bar or a dot allowing your finger to identify them. Once you have placed your two indexes on those keys, the other fingers are placed on the keys next to them.

In order to type fast you have to be careful about which finger to use to press a key. Take a look at the drawing below. Each color match a finger. For example the left index is light green and has to type only the light green keys.

typing test tips

Certain keys are special. ASDF and JKL; are the base positions for your fingers.Your fingers go from the base position to the key that you want to press.

A good first thing to do when your learn touch typing is to memorize the keyboard and create a mental map of the associated fingers. You have to be able to press any key without even thinking. For example if I say C you have to think move the middle finger down and press C instantly. You can only achieve this through practice. You have to build up the muscle memory of each fingers.

Key ideas

* Place your indexes on F and J
* A key has to pressed by the same finger all the time
* Don't look at the keyboard, your eyes should always look at the screen
* Go practice!

Take a typing test

User tips



catcrazymel001 3 years, 2 months ago
When my fingers hurt after too much time on the keyboard, I...stretch not only my fingers but my legs, arms, ect. Then 5 mins. later come back and do it again.

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testabe-accnt 3 years, 2 months ago
When my fingers hurt after too much time on the keyboard, I... take a break, wash my hands in cold water and massage them with hand lotion.

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user720223 3 years, 2 months ago
When my fingers hurt after too much time on the keyboard, I physically unscrew them, lay them in a row and liberally spray them with a vegetable-based lubricant before reattaching them again in the correct order. I then proceed to remove lubricant from unnecessary surfaces with the help of isopropyl alcohol before resuming my typing pain-free! Of course, readers may be wondering how I
(a) manage to unscrew my digits in the first place, and
(b) find the dexterity to remove all digits on my hands in one go
Well, allow me to expand. I am a well-built robot with 96% of my parts being removable and replaceable, so digit removal is really not an issue for me. And for those wondering how I remove and replace my hand digits, well, I use my toes to undertake the task by re-routing my finger-control systems to my feet. Clever, eh? Unlike my use of punctuation but not even robots are perfect

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shmogglebeans 3 years, 2 months ago
When I was a child, my dad was a chicken pecker when it came to typing. He always wanted to be faster with computers, and had he lived to see the modern age of technology, I believe he would have loved this website. He bought me Mavis Beacon and All The Right Type to practice at home, and I frequently found him taking breaks from work to plod his way through typing tests, staring ardently at his hands to make sure they stayed on the home row. Now, at my best, I can type over 100 WPM, and I owe that dedication and determination to him.

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fartchili 3 years, 2 months ago
I set myself a goal speed, like 90WPM, and whenever I don't meet that speed on a test, I click on the title and train on the quote until I either reach that speed or do the test five times. That way my fingers get accustomed to whatever made me mess up more or get slower on the quote. It's way better than just dreading any time a quote comes up with keys I'm not good at. Practicing the same quote over and over also helps my fingers "memorize" certain combinations of keys so they can perform them without me having to think about it. The more combinations my fingers know, the faster I can type.
I also make sure that I'm using the right fingers on the right keys. The more you practice pressing a key with the wrong finger, the stronger the bad habit becomes. I intentionally slow down and make sure I'm typing the right way every once in a while.

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peter00151 3 years, 2 months ago
While typing on a desktop keyboard, always remove left control key cap when you want to type a little faster to prevent unintentional tab shutdown ctrl+w. It makes you feel great knowing this silly painstaking accident would not happen that much anymore. And of course if you will, remember to put that cap back in place.

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mach3 3 years, 2 months ago
A good strategy seems to be 1st to focus on accuracy, and 2nd to focus on a consistent typing pace, NOT speed. Once the time between hitting each letter is balanced, speeding up simply becomes a matter of repetition.

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u_name 3 years, 2 months ago
What really helped me improve my typing speed is typing without looking at the keyboard (Although that can take time for beginners to achieve)

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user95418 3 years, 2 months ago
When my fingers hurt after too much time on the keyboard, I...Stop writing and take a small rest. Then start writing again. (Thank you).

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gabetax 3 years, 3 months ago
@emeraldsloth I started logging this about one or two months after migrating to Colemak from QWERTY. On QWERTY I was generally 120-140wpm, so I think I'm primarily restoring the speed I already had. I think a lot of speed comes down to memorizing individual words; the first time I type an uncommon word my speed dramatically drops, and when I practice common vs rare words (Monkeytype has this feature), the common words are much faster. My advice would fall under:

1. Go slow enough to focus on accuracy. A handful of errors drops my WPM for a test by 10-30.
2. Use peripheral vision to look a little ahead of what you're typing. The little bit of extra time lets your brain plan and queue up the physical motion your fingers will make.
3. Breathe.
4. Practice, often, and diversify how you practice. Transcribing visually only gets you so far. Practice taking dictation (possibly from TV)

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nickbiiybwalley 3 years, 3 months ago
What really helped me improve my typing speed is...
(i) Learning Touch Typing
(ii) Focusing on Accuracy and not speed as you type
(iii) Practicing each and every day

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waqasahmad 3 years, 3 months ago
My tip to improve your typing speed is to..."Just concentrate on accuracy of typing but not speed, speed will automatically establish".

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kelvinpaul 3 years, 3 months ago
Just concentrate accuracy, finally your hand automatically speed up your typing. You don't need to forcefully increase your typing speed.

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justinebarza 3 years, 3 months ago
My tip to improve your typing speed is to... go slow. Start little by little, you don't need to type fast when you are still on the process of practicing. You'll get fast along the way and you won't even notice it. Accuracy is more important than speed when it comes to typing. When you get high accuracy, your speed will follow up eventually.

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ilyas_mohdd 3 years, 3 months ago
My tip to improve your typing speed is to type slowly and accurately, just focus on accuracy and your typing speed will become faster than before. If you try to type faster and make mistakes than your time will go to correct mistakes and it will decrease your typing speed and accuracy, so type slowly and accurately. Just remember one thing typing speed will increase only with practicing typing accurately.

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v3suvius 3 years, 4 months ago
My tip to improve your typing speed is to concentrate on accuracy over speed. There is a time between when you have learned to touch type but are not yet that fast when you plateau for a while. Usually the solution to this is to focus on accuracy over speed, many people push to be faster instead sacrificing accuracy that inevitably leads to a brick wall in terms of progress.

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