Typing practice

Practice is not a test

A typing test measures you: fixed length, a clock running, a number at the end. Practice is the opposite. There is no timer here, because a clock makes you rush, and rushing is how you rehearse mistakes.

Speed and accuracy are still shown, because it is useful to see them move. But nothing ends when they dip, and nothing is being scored against a target.

How to practise so it works

Short and often beats long and rare. Fifteen minutes a day will take you further than two hours on a Sunday, because muscle memory consolidates with repetition spread across days.

Practise what you are bad at. Retyping text you already handle well feels productive and changes almost nothing. If the bottom row is where you slip, drill the bottom row, even though it is the least enjoyable option on the list above.

Slow down until you stop making errors. Then let the speed come back on its own. Every mistake costs three keystrokes — noticing, deleting, retyping — so accuracy is usually the faster route to speed, not a trade against it.

Do not look down. If you cannot find a key, check the finger chart rather than the keyboard. One glance teaches your hands that they do not need to remember.

What to practise, in what order

If you are starting out, work the rows in order: home row first until you can find all eight keys without looking, then the top row, then the bottom row. Only then move to words and sentences.

If you already type reasonably well, the useful work is narrower. Punctuation and numbers are where most experienced typists lose time, because both live on the weakest fingers and both tend to arrive at the end of a phrase when you are already moving.