How to Increase Your Typing Speed: The Ultimate Guide

Typing speed is one of the most underrated professional skills of the modern era. In a world where nearly every job involves a screen and a keyboard, the gap between a 40 WPM typist and an 80 WPM typist is not just a number — it is hours of recovered time every single week. This guide covers everything you need to know to double your typing speed, from foundational technique to advanced practice strategies.

Understanding WPM and What It Actually Measures

Words per minute (WPM) is calculated by counting every five characters you type (including spaces) as one word, then dividing the total by the number of minutes elapsed. Accuracy is typically factored in by subtracting errors. The global average for adults is around 40 WPM. Professional typists average 65 to 75 WPM. Competitive typists regularly exceed 120 WPM. Understanding this benchmark helps you set realistic, motivating goals.

Step 1: Fix Your Posture and Hand Position

Before you practice a single word, get your body mechanics right. Sit with your back straight, feet flat on the floor, and elbows at roughly a 90-degree angle. Your wrists should hover just above the keyboard, not rest on the desk while typing. Resting wrists restrict finger movement and increase the risk of repetitive strain injuries over time.

Place your fingers on the home row: left hand on A, S, D, F and right hand on J, K, L, semicolon. Your thumbs should rest lightly on the spacebar. Every key on the keyboard has a designated finger assigned to it in touch typing. Learning and respecting this map is the single most important step toward real speed improvement.

Step 2: Master Touch Typing

Touch typing means typing without looking at the keyboard. It sounds intimidating if you have never done it, but the learning curve is shorter than most people expect. The first week of deliberate touch typing practice will feel slow and frustrating — you may drop from 50 WPM to 20 WPM. Push through it. Your brain is building motor pathways that will eventually let you type characters without any conscious thought, the same way you walk without thinking about each step.

Use a structured course or our typing test in short, focused sessions to drill the home row first, then gradually introduce the upper and lower rows. Do not rush to add speed. Accuracy at slow speeds is the foundation of speed at high speeds. Read our dedicated guide on improving your typing accuracy for a deeper breakdown.

Step 3: Practice with Purpose

Random typing practice gives random results. Purposeful practice targets your specific weaknesses. After each typing test, review your error patterns. Are you consistently mistyping the same letter combinations? Are your errors clustered in certain fingers? This data tells you exactly where to focus your next session.

Effective practice sessions share four qualities: they are short (15 to 30 minutes), they are focused (one weakness at a time), they involve immediate feedback (use a timed test with error tracking), and they happen consistently (daily beats weekly every time).

Step 4: Build Speed Gradually

A common mistake is trying to type faster before accuracy is solid — see our full list of common typing mistakes and how to fix them. Typing fast with lots of errors is slower in net terms than typing at a moderate pace with near-perfect accuracy, because errors require backspacing, re-reading, and retyping. Aim for 95% accuracy or above at your current comfortable speed before pushing for more WPM.

When you are ready to push speed, try burst training: type at 110% of your comfortable speed for 30 seconds, then slow back down. This method, borrowed from athletic sprint training, pushes your ceiling upward over time.

Step 5: Use the Right Tools

A quality keyboard makes a genuine difference. You do not need to spend a fortune, but a keyboard with consistent key feel, appropriate actuation force, and good key spacing will reduce fatigue and improve accuracy. Many serious typists prefer mechanical keyboards with tactile or linear switches for their predictable feedback.

On the software side, use a typing platform like Monkey Typing Test that gives you real-time WPM, accuracy, and error feedback. The more data you have about each session, the faster you will improve.

How Long Does It Take to Improve?

With 20 to 30 minutes of deliberate daily practice, most people see a 10 to 15 WPM improvement within the first month. Going from 60 to 80 WPM typically takes two to three months of consistent work. Breaking the 100 WPM barrier requires sustained effort over six months to a year for most people, but it is absolutely achievable with the right approach.

The key is consistency. Typing a little every day outperforms cramming long sessions once a week by a wide margin. Open a typing test every morning before you start work. Make it as automatic as brushing your teeth. The results will follow.