How to Type Faster
Most people type with two to four fingers and glance down after every word. That habit caps you somewhere around 30 words per minute and costs hours every week. Touch typing removes the glance, and the ceiling goes with it.
1. Start from the home row
Rest your left fingers on the four keys under them and your right fingers on the four opposite. On a QWERTY keyboard that is A S D F and J K L semicolon. Two of those keys have a small raised bar so your fingers can find them without looking. Every other key is reached from there, and every finger returns.
2. Give every key one finger
The point of touch typing is that no key needs a decision. Each finger owns a column. On this site the on-screen keyboard colours each key by the finger that owns it and lifts the next one you need, so the assignment gets into your hands rather than your head.
3. Sit so your hands can stay still
Feet flat, back straight, elbows at roughly a right angle, wrists floating rather than resting on the desk edge. The screen at eye level so you are not tipping your head down. Tension in the shoulders shows up as errors long before it shows up as pain.
4. Accuracy first, always
This is the part people skip. A mistake makes you stop, find the cursor, delete and restart — far more expensive than a slow, correct keystroke. Aim for 98 per cent accuracy at a speed that feels almost boring. Speed arrives on its own once the movements stop needing thought.
5. Short sessions, every day
Fifteen minutes daily beats two hours on a Sunday. Muscle memory is built by repetition spaced over days, not by one long push. That is why every level here offers a 15-second option as well as a ten-minute one.
6. Work your weak keys deliberately
Everyone has four or five keys they consistently miss. After each run this site lists yours. Spend one session a week typing slowly and only on those, and they stop being a tax on every paragraph.
7. Read ahead
Fast typists are always a word or two in front of their hands. If your eyes sit on the character you are typing, your hands wait for your eyes. Practise letting your gaze run ahead — it feels wrong for a few sessions, then it doesn't.
What to expect
- 20–30 WPM — typical for someone typing with a few fingers.
- 40–50 WPM — comfortable touch typing; usually a few weeks of daily practice away.
- 60–80 WPM — fast, and enough that typing stops being the slow part of writing.
- 90+ WPM — genuinely quick, and mostly a matter of years rather than technique.
Expect your speed to drop when punctuation and capitals arrive. It always does, and it always comes back higher.
Last updated 27 August 2026.