Computers have been a part of office and daily life for so long that we might consider typing fast a universally shared skill. But typing isn't about passing a speed test, nor is it just about quickly typing out the letters of the alphabet.
So now, the job is mastering typing accurately and quickly. This page takes you through typing fundamentals and points you towards mastering typing techniques. You'll also consider matters of typing ergonomics, using the right keyboard, and the impact of proper posture on your typing speed. Finally, we'll go through some exercises together so you can practise your new skills.
How fast do you type?
| Finger | Left hand | Right hand |
|---|---|---|
| Pinky | ` 1 q a z and left Shift | 0 - = p [ ] \ ; ' / and right Shift |
| Ring finger | 2 w s x | 9 o l . |
| Middle finger | 3 e d c | 8 i k , |
| Index finger | 4 5 r t f g v b | 6 7 y u h j n m |
| Thumb | Space bar | |
- the cat naps on the couch
- a girl reads under a maple tree
- it is warm and quiet in the cabin
- we play hockey with my cousins
- dad makes pancakes every weekend
- The red canoe rests by the dock.
- Noah's coffee is still hot on the counter.
- Emma practises the piano every evening.
- I've put my favourite books on the shelf.
- After the snow, the yard looks bright and calm.
- How vexingly quick daft zebras jump.
- Sphinx of black quartz, judge my vow.
- The five boxing wizards jump quickly.
- Pack my box with five dozen liquor jugs.
- The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog.
- Where are the 12 files we received this morning?
- The 6:45 train to Montreal leaves from track 3.
- Maya scored 94% on her math test; Zoe got 88%.
- A double-double costs $2.50 at the coffee shop on King Street.
- "Awesome!" said Yusuf, Wendy and Xavier after typing 250 words in 5 minutes.
⌨ The Fundamentals: How to Type Fast
Typing fast is a necessary skill that ties in with the ongoing effort to connect everyone to the world online. That effort is paying off; the latest numbers reveal that 97% of British households now have internet access1.
Touch typing - not looking at the keyboard - is essential for fast typing. Accuracy matters too; in fact, typing accuracy is more important than typing fast. Posture matters just as much: growing discomfort as you type can impact your speed - and your health.
On Typing
Two factors contribute to overall typing skills: how many words per minute you type (WPM), and the accuracy (error rate) of your output. Of the two, accuracy is more important2. That's because a typo isn't just a missed key; it's a backspace, a correction, and a resumption. That process breaks your rhythm and your focus, and may even lower your confidence.
So, your first step to fast typing is to improve your typing accuracy. To build this skill, you will necessarily type more slowly. And, before you do, you must unlearn any bad typing habits you may have, including these.
What About WPM?
The number of words per minute that you type relates directly to your typing accuracy. In fact, there exists a formula to calculate it.
Your gross WPM represents the number of words you type - how fast your fingers work. Subtracting the number of uncorrected mistakes divided by your test time from it yields your true WPM.
Even a 95% accuracy rate can make the difference between landing the job you applied to and having to keep searching. Sites like Test Your Typing give you a good way to gauge your typing skills. That page starts with a simple test, then calculates your WPM and accuracy rate.
Fortunately, steady practice and adopting good typing habits can help you build typing speed and accuracy. Those are exactly the topics we address, after a brief detour through the importance of good posture on your health and typing skills.
🧍♂️ How Good Posture Helps You Type Faster on a Keyboard
In the UK, the Health and Safety Executive sets guidelines for screen equipment displays and keyboards for workers' protection3. Nobody - no agency - holds you to any kind of standard at home, where you're more likely to learn how to type fast.
Tempting as it might be to curl up with your device on your lap, you're doing yourself a disservice, skills-wise and to your physique. Besides, that posture might work for those who hunt for letters and type with two fingers, managing just five or six words a minute at most. It won't work for those getting serious about typing skills and speed.
The NHS also recommends taking regular screen breaks and stretching throughout the day - especially important if you spend hours at a keyboard.
Poor posture may cause back pain, muscle fatigue, repetitive strain injury (RSI), tendonitis or carpal tunnel syndrome. Granted, those may result after years of improper posture, but you have a more immediate concern to deal with.
Back and neck tension from staying too long in an unnatural position risks you losing focus, which, over time, would cost you productivity. To learn to type as fast as possible using both hands, here's how to position yourself:
- Sit somewhere comfortable, well-lit and well-ventilated
- Have suitable, well-maintained desk equipment (desk, chair, mouse mat, footrest, etc.)
- Type while sitting at a desk or table
- Keep your back straight and your feet flat on the floor
- Your feet should be aligned with your shoulders, legs parallel
- Adjust your chair so that your wrists are level with the keyboard
- Pull your head and shoulders back so your back doesn't hunch
- Get up regularly and stretch your legs
- Avoid any acrobatics or fancy poses while seated 😊
Improve Typing Speed on a Standing Desk
For the typist improving their typing speed and accuracy at home, a standing desk likely won't be a part of their décor. But that doesn't mean you can't improvise one, say, by placing a right-sized box on your desk or table.
As someone who types for a living, I alternate between sitting and standing (at my improvised standing desk 😎). I find that standing improves my focus and energy, and taking short walking breaks while standing helps even more.
Studies show that standing while working promotes engagement and focus4, particularly on screen-related tasks such as typing. A standing workstation is ergonomically efficient, as you may set it to the height you need to work comfortably.
Once you master typing by touch, you might find yourself surprised at how much faster your fingers may fly when you type standing up versus sitting down.
💨 Learn How to Type Fast From the Home Key Position
Every typing class identifies A-S-D-F J-K-L-; (semicolon) as the home key position or, alternatively, the home row position. That is the default position for your eight fingers. Your thumbs should hover over the space bar, ready to insert a space as soon as you've typed a word.
The keyboard layout is no accident
Fun fact: the keyboard was originally designed to stop the metal arms of the letters on typewriters from jamming when the typist pressed the keys quickly.
With your fingertips lightly resting on the home keys, you'll feel raised bumps on the F and J keys. Those help you recognise the home key row without having to look at the keyboard. You might take the time to practise positioning your fingers without looking at them to get used to using those homing bumps as a positioning tool.
Now that you have mastered blind finger positioning - positioning without looking- you may make your first keystrokes (time to open a document or notepad!). Starting with A, work your way from left to right of the home key row to the semicolon.
As you type, only your fingers should move.
Your wrists should remain straight, hovering over the bottom edge of the keyboard.
Your fingertips should rest lightly on the keys until it's their turn to type.
How did that feel? Can you do it again, only faster? If not, no worries; practising this sequence helps your fingers build muscle memory so you'll build speed over time. You might even try modifying the exercise by inserting a space between the letters: A S D F J K L ;
During this initial exercise, you should avoid looking at your fingers. Rely on the homing bumps to maintain position and keep your eyes on your screen. Once you've mastered typing ASDF with and without spaces, and perhaps tried typing them backwards - going right to left, you can work the upper and lower rows in.
But which finger should type which letter for maximum speed and efficiency? These are the commonly taught finger assignments.
| 👆 Finger | 🔠 Letter keys | ➕ Extra keys |
|---|---|---|
| Left little finger | A, Q, Z | 1, !; left 'shift' key, caps lock |
| Left ring finger | S, W, X | 2, " |
| Left middle finger | D, E, C | 3, £ |
| Left forefinger | F, R, T, G, V | 4, $ |
| Right forefinger | J, U, Y, H, N, M | 6, ^, 7, & |
| Right middle finger | K, I, , (comma) | 8, * |
| Right ring finger | L, O, . (full stop) | 9, ( |
| Right little finger | ; (semicolon), P, /, ? | 0, ), -, _, =, +, backspace key ', @, right 'shift' key, enter key |
Working your way around your keyboard, tapping each key with its corresponding finger, you'll discover a certain rhythm to your fingers' movements. You can use your innate musical sense to increase your typing speed, keeping to that rhythm, only going faster at each pass.
Call out each letter or symbol as you type it.
This will help cement your memory of the keyboard's layout.
Don't worry if it takes you a while to master the keys' positions and which finger to strike them with. Even the most skilled typists make mistakes from time to time and glance at the letters occasionally. The idea is simply to get faster, but this isn't a competition! Relax!
📆 How to Type Fast With a 30-Day Plan
By practising typing quickly, you'll notice that, as you keep pressing the keys, the ones you type become increasingly intuitive. Even without looking at the keyboard, your fingers go straight to the right spot. And it really is intuition that's the key here.
Still, you're not aiming to learn how to type the keys' position; at some point, you'll begin typing full words. To get yourself there, you need a sensible, workable plan.
Week 1
Develop accuracy with slow drills. The goal: home row mastery.
10-15 minutes of daily practice; aim for accuracy before working on speed.
Week 2
Expand letter accuracy. The goal: mastery of all letters.
Drill on the upper and lower letter rows, upper- and lower-case (shift key usage), symbols and numbers; punctuation keys. Introduce short speed bursts.
Week 3
Begin typing text. The goal: typing whole sentences and paragraphs, focusing on accuracy.
Type passages from a book or magazine, write emails, use a spreadsheet to record numbers.
Week 4
Optimise accuracy and build speed. The Goal: reduce error rate; type faster.
Identify 'problem' keys, conduct mini speed drills.
From there, you'll track your baseline performance and weekly WPM gains, always keeping your focus on accuracy, not speed. Here, a WPM app would come in handy, as some have utilities to track your progress. Once you attain your typing level goals, don't forget to celebrate! 🎉
Try These Challenges Now!
How about having a little fun on the keyboard before the serious practice starts?
Once you've completed the challenge, record your WPM + error rate. Save your results as they will help you track your progress. Congratulate yourself (and maybe have a small reward) and then, set your next speed goal.🍰
🧠 Beyond Drills: Habits That Build Typing Speed
Short, frequent practice sessions build skills faster than long marathon sessions at the keyboard. They also keep you from getting bored with your exercises and help you keep your focus.
Today's computers come with a bevvy of conveniences, from keyboard shortcuts to various 'auto' functions. As a beginner who wants to learn how to type fast, those functions aren't necessarily helpful.
Auto-complete
- suggests words based on a couple of letters
- pro: reduces keystrokes
- con: interrupts your rhythm
Autocorrect
- corrects mistyped words automatically
- pro: may boost accuracy
- con: distorts your WPM count
With the auto-complete function turned on, a possible word pops up as you type, based on the first few letters of the word you were typing. To insert that word, tap the 'Enter' or 'Tab' key. If that's not the word you meant to type, simply keep typing (as new suggestions pop up).
The trouble with that is the second or two it takes to acknowledge the suggestion, decide whether that's the right word, and return to your workflow. In fact, you may find this convenience more disruptive than helpful. If that's the case, you can turn it off in your application's settings.
As for autocorrect, it would be more efficient for you to make a split-second pause before typing a hard word and type it with no autocorrect function. Remember, your goal is accuracy as much as speed, so letting your machine correct everything for you reduces your ability to catch mistakes before you make them.😢
Using Keyboard Shortcuts
Once you attain a fair typing speed, such that you can create documents, you can save time by using keyboard shortcuts. The shortcuts on a PC keyboard are much the same as on a Mac, and do the same things.
They are functions available to you in your software's 'Edit' menu, but accessing the menu and choosing the function takes time. By contrast, these keyboard shortcuts are quick and easy.
| 👩🏫 Function | 💻 PC Command | 🍎 Mac Command | 🔎 What it does |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cut | Ctrl + X | Cmd + X | Removes item (text, image, table, etc) |
| Copy | Ctrl + C | Cmd + C | Copies item |
| Paste | Ctrl + V | Cmd + V | Inserts item where you place the cursor. |
| Select All | Ctrl + A | Cmd + A | Highlights all items (for copy or cut) |
| Ctrl + P | Cmd + P | Sends document to the print queue | |
| Undo | Ctrl + Z | Cmd + Z | Undo the last action |
| Redo | Ctrl + Y | Cmd + Shift + Z | Redo the last action |
| Save | Ctrl + S | Cmd + S | Save the document |
| Find | Ctrl + F | Cmd + F | Find a word or phrase in the document |
| Bold font | Ctrl + B | Cmd + B | Text appears in bold typeface |
| Italics font | Ctrl + I | Cmd + I | Text appears in slanted (italic) typeface |
| Underline | Ctrl + U | Cmd + U | Text is underlined as you type |
| Align left | Ctrl + L | Cmd + { (left curly bracket) | All text aligns against the left margin. |
| Align right | Ctrl + R | Cmd + } (right curly bracket) | All text aligns against the right margin. |
| Align centre | Ctrl + E | Cmd + | (vertical bar) | All text aligns in the centre of the page. |
🧭 Choosing the Right Keyboard
At a glance, English computer keyboard layouts all appear the same: home key row, with Q above the A and Z below. We call this layout QWERTY, after the first six letters on the top row.
In the UK, most computers (Mac or Windows) use a UK QWERTY layout.
It's slightly different from the American version.
On a UK keyboard, the £ sign = Shift + 3, and the @ symbol = Shift + ' (next to the semicolon).
The # key beside Enter doesn't feature on US keyboards.
The UK and the US both use QWERTY, but not quite the same QWERTY. So what's the small detail that gives them away? On a UK keyboard, Shift + 2 gives you ". On an American keyboard, it gives you @. If your @ and " ever seem to have swapped places, your computer is probably set to a US layout.
You can toggle between US and UK keyboard settings by holding down Alt and tapping Shift (PC) or Ctrl + Space (Mac). Note that you may have to go into Settings to set up the UK language pack before this shortcut works.
The standard keyboard is flat and linear, representing a rectangle that's full of little squares representing letters. That's been the typing layout since the first typing machines hit the market in 1874. It's not an ergonomic configuration.
By contrast, the ergonomic keyboard, split between right- and left-hand keys, angles those keys to better align with natural arm position. Some people find this type of keyboard difficult to adjust to, particularly if they've been typing on standard keyboards for years.
Remember that typing is all about building muscle memory. Changing the keyboard layout disrupts that memory, making typists virtual beginners again, having to relearn motion and position!
As a beginner typist, you might take to the more ergonomic layout better. But you don't need to splash out extra on a different keyboard setup if you master proper typing technique. That starts with adjusting your keyboard's positioning5.
Aim for a 5- 15-degree keyboard tilt to help keep your wrists straight and fingers floating over the keys. Adjust keyboard height to keep elbows at 90 degrees.
If you're still not comfortable typing after adjusting your keyboard tilt and positioning, you may conclude that an ergonomic keyboard is for you. On the other hand, if you're comfortable with your QWERTY keyboard, you can try the Dvorak or Colemak keyboard layout. They're a whole different challenge! 😃
🧰 Tools that Help You Type Faster
Sites to learn to type textfaster on a keyboard will allow you to work out how fast each hand types. Their engaging layout and actions save you from having to slog through exercises that aren't always very exciting and are often very repetitive. A bit of fun never did anyone any harm!
These games, designed to advance computer typing skills, include dictation games, tutorial exercises, and apps to measure your typing speed.
- Play on Typingstudy.com: progressive typing exercises with a virtual keyboard, finger positioning, and statistics to track your progress.
- Sense-lang.org: a games site with an animated tutorial and a typing test.
- Keybr.com: offers various keyboard options to assess your typing speed on different configurations.
Comfortable with a Mac or PC keyboard now? Normally, speed should follow soon after! You might then consider this little speed test: type this article into a blank document, stopwatch in hand, and measure how fast you type this content! So? How many words per minute? 😃
🔎 Troubleshooting: Why You're Not Gaining Speed
It's hard for us to say why your typing skills aren't advancing as quickly as you'd like; we're not there with you. But we can point to general reasons beginner typists stumble.
By far, the biggest is the pesky habit of looking at your fingers. Doing so is a distraction; it takes time for your eyes to get information to your brain, and for it to communicate with your fingers. Solution: do your best to master blind typing. You may even lay a paper or cloth over your keyboard, making it impossible to see what your fingers are doing.
Proper positioning is the next big flaw to correct — of your keyboard and yourself. Are your wrists straight, elbows at 90 degrees and parallel with the floor? Is your keyboard at the right height, or do you feel pain in your back or shoulder muscles? If so, you may need to adjust your keyboard's position.
Are you bored with basic typing drills? That's another reason why typists plateau. If that's the case, consider some of the platforms listed above to liven up your practice sessions. You might also think about taking typing lessons, where you'll learn more than keyboard shortcuts and building speed!
👨🏫 Taking IT lessons to improve
Not everyone was born with a computer keyboard between their fingers or a tablet in hand, far from it, especially nowadays. Although new technology may seem obvious to some, it's not the case for everyone. 🧐
You might consider taking a few IT lessons. First of all, to learn to type on a keyboard, but also to learn Mac keyboard shortcuts, how to install software, create a folder, use word processing programs, and so on.
Many local libraries, community centres, adult education colleges and charities such as Age UK run free or low-cost computer courses. They don't go as deep as college or IT courses, but they cover the basics, and some include time to learn typing.
Private lessons appeal to people who need personalised support to progress. You might want to learn to type fast on a keyboard but already know how to use software. In that case, taking a full year's worth of IT lessons might be unnecessary.
Don't hesitate to check out Superprof; all our tutors are available, depending on your region, your city and your budget, to teach you the basics of computer typing.
IT tutors ready to help you become a keyboard genius!
Whatever learning method you choose, whether on your own or through IT lessons, always keep in mind that speed and finger agility take time to develop, so you'll need to be patient and persistent to reach your goal.
But whatever you do, don't give up! Go on, you've got this; the keyboard really is in your hands!
📃 References
- Simpson, Kieran. “UK Home Internet Access Rose to 97% In 2026.” The British Uplift, 11 Aug. 2026, britishuplift.co.uk/community/uk-home-internet-access-2026/. Accessed 1 Nov. 2026.
- FastTypings Team. “Typing Accuracy — Why Accuracy Matters More Than Speed.” FastTypings, July 2026, fasttypings.com/typing-accuracy. Accessed 1 Nov. 2026.
- HSE. “Good Posture When Using Display Screen Equipment - MSD - HSE.” Www.Hse.Gov.Uk, 2026, www.hse.gov.uk/msd/dse/good-posture.htm. Accessed 1 Nov. 2026.
- Thomas, Zoe. “Study Asks: Is It Productive to Stand and Type at a Sit-Stand Desk?” Home, 29 Sept. 2025, www.posturite.co.uk/blog/harder-work-standing-sit-stand-desk. Accessed 1 Nov. 2026.
- Billings, Ryan. “Ergonomic Keyboard Position: Correct Height and Angle.” The Desk Brief, Aug. 2026, thedeskbrief.com/ergonomic-keyboard-position/. Accessed 1 Nov. 2026.
Summarize with AI:
Did you like this article? Leave a rating!
Loading...
