How to Type Faster: A Step by Step Plan to Raise Your WPM
To type faster, fix your accuracy first, keep your eyes on the screen, use the same finger for each key every time, and practise for 10 to 20 minutes a day. Large typing studies show that fast typists make fewer errors and overlap their key presses, not that they hit keys harder. Speed follows once those habits are in place.
This guide turns that research into a plan you can start today. It covers your setup, the home row, accuracy, rollover, a weekly routine with timed tests, and what to do when your speed stops rising. Take a one minute test before you start so you have a baseline to compare against.
Measure where you are now
Before you change anything, find your current words per minute (WPM) and accuracy. Take the 1 minute typing test three times and write down the middle result, not the best one. One lucky run tells you little; the middle of three is closer to your real speed.
Note your accuracy as well. On Click Tester, a word with any mistake adds nothing to your WPM, so accuracy and speed are linked: every wrong word costs you the whole word. If your accuracy is below 95%, that is the first thing to work on.
To see how your number compares with other people, the average typing speed guide has the full benchmarks. In short, the average in a study of 168,960 volunteers was about 52 WPM, and the fastest 10% typed above about 78 WPM.
What fast typists do differently
Fast typists differ from slow ones in a few clear habits, and most of them can be learned. A 2018 study by Aalto University and the University of Cambridge logged 136 million keystrokes and compared the fastest 10% of typists with the slowest 10%:
| Habit | Fastest 10% | Slowest 10% |
|---|---|---|
| Speed | 89.6 WPM | 20.9 WPM |
| Rollover share | 49.9% | 7.6% |
| Fingers used | 8.4 | 5.3 |
| Gap between keys | about 122 ms | about 481 ms |
| Uncorrected errors | 0.71% | 1.78% |
Rollover means pressing the next key before you let go of the last one. It was the strongest single predictor of speed in that study. The time a key is held down barely changed between groups, so fast typists are not pressing keys more quickly; they are starting the next press sooner.
A smaller Aalto study filmed 30 typists with motion capture and eye tracking. It found three habits linked to high speed: a letter is always pressed by the same finger, the hands stay still while the fingers move, and the fingers get ready for upcoming keys early. The authors also found that self-taught typists can reach speeds comparable with touch typists, and that “with just 5 fingers you can be as fast as somebody using all 10” (Feit, Weir and Oulasvirta, How We Type).
Step 1: Set up your desk and keyboard
A comfortable setup will not make you fast on its own, but a bad one slows you down and makes long sessions painful. These points follow the US Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) advice for computer workstations (OSHA keyboards, OSHA monitors):
- Put the keyboard directly in front of you, with your shoulders relaxed and your elbows close to your body.
- Keep your wrists straight and in line with your forearms. Raising the little feet on the back of a keyboard tilts it up and can bend your wrists upward, so try it flat.
- Place the monitor straight ahead, at least 20 inches (about 50 cm) away, with the top line of the screen at or below eye level.
Any keyboard you are used to is fine. There is no strong evidence that a mechanical or gaming keyboard alone raises your WPM; practice matters far more. If you do switch keyboards, expect your scores to dip for a short while as your fingers adjust to the new key spacing.
Step 2: Learn the home row and stop looking down
The home row is the resting position for touch typing: left fingers on A, S, D and F, right fingers on J, K, L and the semicolon, thumbs over the space bar. Feel for the small bumps on F and J; they let you find home without looking. Each finger then reaches up or down to its own keys and comes back.
| Finger | Left hand | Right hand |
|---|---|---|
| Index | F, G, R, T, V, B (and 4, 5) | J, H, U, Y, N, M (and 6, 7) |
| Middle | D, E, C (and 3) | K, I, comma (and 8) |
| Ring | S, W, X (and 2) | L, O, full stop (and 9) |
| Little | A, Q, Z, Shift (and 1) | semicolon, P, slash, Enter, Shift (and 0) |
You have two routes, and both can work:
- Full touch typing. Learn the chart above and use all ten fingers. Your speed will drop at first, which is normal. It is still the best known route to very high speeds, though the Aalto researchers note that reaching that level takes several hundred hours of deliberate practice.
- Tidy up your own style. If you already type at a decent speed with six or seven fingers, you may not need to start again. Pick one finger for each key and stick to it, keep your hands still, and train yourself to stop looking down.
Whichever route you take, looking at the keyboard is the habit to break. Every glance down means finding your place on the screen again. If you keep peeking, cover your hands with a cloth or a sheet of paper for practice sessions. A wrong letter you see on screen and fix teaches you more than a glance at the keys.
Step 3: Make accuracy your first target
Accuracy comes before speed because errors are expensive. Each mistake costs you the wrong keystroke, the backspace and the retype, and in a test that counts only correct words it can cost the whole word. Slow typists in the 2018 study left more than twice as many errors uncorrected as fast typists did.
Aim for 95% accuracy or better. A simple rule: if your accuracy drops below 95%, slow down until it is back above 95% for three tests in a row, then let your speed creep up again. Most people find their WPM rises once they stop fighting errors.
Two habits help:
- Fix errors at once. On Click Tester, a word only turns red when the letters stop matching. Backspace straight away and the word still counts; carry on and every letter after the error is wrong too.
- Know your problem keys. After each test, look at the words marked red. If the same letters keep going wrong, practise words that use them for a few minutes.
Step 4: Practise rollover and rhythm
Once you are accurate, rollover is where most extra speed comes from. Instead of pressing one key, releasing it and then starting the next, your next finger is already on its way down. The fastest group in the 2018 study overlapped almost half of their key presses.
Ways to train it:
- Read ahead. Keep your eyes one or two words ahead of the word you are typing, so your fingers know what comes next.
- Learn common words as one movement. Words like “the”, “and”, “that” and “with” should feel like a single roll of the fingers, not separate letters.
- Prepare the next key. While one finger presses, move the next one into position. The How We Type study found that active preparation of upcoming keys, starting with keys like Shift and Enter, was one of the habits of the fastest typists.
- Keep an even pace. Bursts of speed followed by pauses usually lead to errors. A steady rhythm that you can hold for a whole minute beats a fast start and a stumble.
If you notice a word or letter pair always makes you pause, type it ten times slowly and correctly, then ten times at normal speed.
Step 5: Follow a daily and weekly routine
Short, regular practice works better than one long session a week, because your fingers learn the movements through repetition and your hands do not get tired. Ten to twenty minutes a day is plenty for most people.
| When | What to do | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Daily, 2 min | Warm up with a typing speed test on 30 s | Wakes up your fingers |
| Daily, 5 to 10 min | Slow, accurate practice on problem keys and common words | Builds clean habits |
| Daily, 3 min | One 3 minute typing test | Gives a steady daily score |
| Weekly | A 5 minute typing test | Shows the speed you can hold |
| Monthly | A 10 minute typing test | Checks stamina for long writing |
Write down the date, WPM and accuracy each time. Compare tests only with tests of the same length: short tests give higher scores because it is easier to stay at full speed for 30 seconds than for 5 minutes. The 2 minute typing test is a good middle ground if 3 minutes feels long at first, and the 15 minute typing test suits anyone preparing for long transcription work.
Your best score for each length is saved in your browser, so you can see at a glance whether a week of practice moved it.
How long does it take to type faster?
There is no fixed timeline, because it depends on your starting speed, how much you practise and whether you change technique. As a rough guide:
- Accuracy fixes tend to pay off soonest, because you are only changing how carefully you type, not how your fingers move.
- Switching to touch typing usually makes you slower before you get faster. Expect a dip before you are back at your old speed, and more practice again before you pass it.
- Very high speeds of 100 WPM and more take far longer. The Aalto researchers describe several hundred hours of deliberate practice for touch typists at that level.
A typing course gives a real but modest edge. In the 2018 study, people who had taken one averaged 54.35 WPM, against 49.00 WPM for people who had not (Dhakal et al., CHI 2018). That is about 5 WPM, which suggests that how you practise matters more than whether you followed a formal course.
When your speed stops improving
A plateau is normal. When your WPM sits at the same number for two or three weeks, change the practice rather than just doing more of it:
- Slow down on purpose. Spend a few sessions typing a little below your usual speed with near perfect accuracy. It sounds backwards, but it cleans up habits that cap your speed.
- Push slightly past your limit. Then do short 30 second bursts a little faster than feels comfortable, and accept a few errors. Go back to normal speed afterwards.
- Change the material. If you only practise random common words, try real sentences with capitals and punctuation, or the kind of text you type at work.
- Check your hands. Look for a finger that keeps doing another finger’s job, or a hand that drifts away from the home row.
How to type faster on a phone
Phone typing follows different rules, since you use your thumbs and the keyboard software helps you. A 2019 Aalto study of 37,370 volunteers found an average of about 36 WPM on phones, and typing with both thumbs and letting autocorrect fix words were both linked to faster typing (Palin et al., MobileHCI 2019).
- Hold the phone in both hands and type with two thumbs.
- Leave autocorrect on and trust it for small slips instead of stopping to fix every letter.
- Use the word suggestions for long words you type often.
If you want to check your speed on a phone, the typing speed test works with the on-screen keyboard too.
Look after your hands
Speed is never worth an injury. Take regular short breaks during long typing sessions, stretch your fingers and wrists, and press the keys lightly rather than hammering them. If typing causes pain, numbness or tingling that does not go away, stop and talk to a doctor or physiotherapist.
More tests for your keyboard and reactions
Typing practice pairs well with a few other checks:
- Reaction time test: how quickly you respond to a colour change, in milliseconds.
- Spacebar counter: how many times you can press the space bar in a set time.
- APM test: your actions per minute across keyboard and mouse, as counted in games.
Frequently asked questions
How can I type faster in one week?
Focus on accuracy and stop looking at the keyboard. Take three short tests a day, slow down whenever accuracy drops below 95%, and practise the words that keep turning red. You will not double your speed in a week, but cleaner typing can add a few WPM quickly.
Do I need to learn touch typing to type fast?
No, but it helps. Research from Aalto University found that self-taught typists can reach speeds comparable with touch typists if they use the same finger for each key, keep their hands still and look at the screen. Touch typing is still the most reliable route to very high speeds.
How long does it take to learn touch typing?
Learning where the keys are is the quick part; building speed takes much longer. Expect to be slower than your old method at first. Reaching very high speeds can take several hundred hours of deliberate practice.
Why am I a slow typist?
The usual reasons are looking at the keyboard, making errors and stopping to fix them, and using different fingers for the same key. Fast typists in the 2018 study also overlapped almost half of their key presses, while slow typists overlapped under 8%. Work on those habits one at a time.
Is 40 WPM a good typing speed?
40 WPM is below the average of about 52 WPM found in large studies, but it is a common minimum for office jobs. With regular practice many people move well past it. See the average typing speed guide for full benchmarks.
Does a better keyboard make you type faster?
Not by much. A keyboard you find comfortable helps you practise longer, but there is no strong evidence that a mechanical or gaming keyboard by itself raises WPM. Technique and practice have a much bigger effect.
Should I practise speed or accuracy first?
Accuracy first. Errors cost you the wrong key, the backspace and the retype, and tests that count only correct words drop the whole word. Get to 95% accuracy or better, then push your speed.
Sources
- Dhakal, Feit, Kristensson and Oulasvirta (2018), Observations on Typing from 136 Million Keystrokes, CHI 2018
- Feit, Weir and Oulasvirta (2016), How We Type, CHI 2016
- Palin, Feit, Kim, Kristensson and Oulasvirta (2019), How do People Type on Mobile Devices?, MobileHCI 2019
- US Occupational Safety and Health Administration, Computer Workstations eTool: Keyboards
- US Occupational Safety and Health Administration, Computer Workstations eTool: Monitors