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



scasware 15 years, 7 months ago
Why does the WPM counter starts before I type anything?. The countdown is useless because you cannot prepare for anything. You don't see the text until after the countdown ends. Does this have any reason to be like that?. Can we get rid of the countdown and start timing automatically when the first key is pressed?

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bshowen 15 years, 8 months ago
Yesterday I typed a quote that contained the word "then" but it should have been "than". Problem is, I went to a quotes website, and it was "then" there, too. I don't know now what quote it was. I didn't have a profile, yet, so my history isn't logged on that one. If I run across it again, i'll let you know. It will throw typists who think correct spelling as they are typing.

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impala 15 years, 9 months ago
Ahh, didn't see that. I would be inclined to display the text directly below each line. This gives instant feedback without having to take your eyes off of the text you are typing.

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gunner 15 years, 10 months ago
there, much better. no more capital letter problems, and i only had one instance of phantom errors popping up in 4 tests. i was able to type 136 wpm, which is around my true speed. good work. my next wish would be being able to see what i type.

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gunner 15 years, 10 months ago
one last note: i think it's tough for you to test/replicate my problems because your typing speed seems to be around 50 wpm. just trust me when i say your test does not reliably process anything going faster than 60-70 wpm.

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gunner 15 years, 10 months ago
i finally made it through one test without erroring @ 103 wpm, but i've resorted to caps-locking and then immediately un-capslocking for typing capital letters because it doesn't register them reliably otherwise. i also had to slow down considerably for fear of random errors.

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gunner 15 years, 10 months ago
yes. it gives phantom errors on _extremely_ basic words that i know i am typing correctly. and it seems to happen completely randomly.

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gunner 15 years, 10 months ago
there, i finished once with 75 wpm. i had to go back several times for phantom mistakes/capital letters. for comparison, here are my typeracer stats, on a site where you can't finish without correcting your mistakes either:

average (last 10 races): 137 wpm
average (all time): 130 wpm
best: 154 wpm:
127 races completed/126 won

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gunner 15 years, 10 months ago
I'll be honest, trying to finish a race is a frustrating experience. I'll give it a try, but I haven't been able to finish once without typing correctly and having it give an error anyway. and I've slowed myself considerably. A system for improving your typing is no good if it won't let you type quickly.

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gunner 15 years, 10 months ago
actually, i haven't finished a race yet. anytime I go above 60 WPM, it counts a phantom mistake. and It also has trouble processing capital letters. i can type 120+ wpm with 100% accuracy on typeracer or any other typing website, so i'm absolutely sure it's not me. i have a very good sense of when I am typing correctly and when I am making a mistake. this system does not.

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gunner 15 years, 10 months ago
cool. also, it would be great to see what the box *thinks* you typed compared to the actual text. And I emphasize *thinks* because it definitely does not count all my keystrokes correctly. It counts mistakes where I haven't made any. I couldn't finish a test because it wouldn't count my capital "i" correctly no matter how slowly i pressed it.

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gunner 15 years, 10 months ago
i saw the comment you posted on the typeracer blog (before it got deleted i suppose) where you billed this site as a typeracer clone with your own improvements. you left out typeracer's biggest distinguishing factor and i fail to see what the improvements are. just being honest. that being said, i admire your effort and i'm eager to see what else you come up with.

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gunner 15 years, 10 months ago
great, but there are a million websites out there where you can test your typing speed alone. typeracer took off b/cuz it added something different that nobody had done before...real-time competition. i just don't see what additional features your site brings to the table.

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gunner 15 years, 10 months ago
uhhh i like this concept but to be honest, you have a lot of work to do to catch up with typeracer.
1. there's no "racing" here, i'm just typing alone
2. i cannot tell what word i am on at all when i go above 100 wpm, it lags several words behind where i am. plus, i can't tell when i've made a mistake. feedback is instantaneous on typeracer.

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