Feel like typing is slowing you down? Hunt-and-peck typing can eat into your day and kill your productivity. Luckily, typing is a skill you can learn. With a bit of practice, you can master your keyboard and keep up with your ideas. In this guide, we’ll share practical tips and techniques to help you boost your average typing speed and accuracy, so you can type with confidence and ease.

Why should I learn to type faster?

Typing faster is a skill anyone can (and should) learn. It's one of the easiest ways to save time and get more done. When your fingers can keep up with your thoughts, you can write anything without losing your flow. With the right technique, typing feels smoother, puts less strain on your hands and wrists and helps you avoid fatigue during long sessions.

Fast typing is also a game-changer for transcription or taking meeting minutes. Keeping pace with fast-moving conversations lets you capture notes in real time, and typing always beats scribbling by hand — if you know the right method.

What is a good typing speed?

Typing speed is typically measured in words per minute (WPM). One “word” is usually considered to be five characters, including spaces and punctuation.

The average typist clocks in at 40–60 WPM. Hit 60–80 WPM, and you’re considered fast and efficient for most professional tasks. The elite can even push past 100 WPM while still typing accurately.

What is my typing speed?

You can calculate your typing speed by taking a typing test. There are plenty of free options available online. 

Alternatively, work out your typing speed by typing a passage for one minute. Count the total number of characters you typed, then divide the character count by 5 to get the word count. This number is your WPM.

For example, if you typed 300 characters in one minute:

300 ÷ 5 = 60 WPM

You can also calculate accuracy using this formula 

For example, using the same example above, let's say you made six mistakes. 

(300-6/300)x100=98% accuracy

How to type faster and more accurately

Learn touch typing

The touch typing method allows you to type without looking at the keyboard. Instead of hunting and pecking, you rely on muscle memory to know exactly where each key is. The goal is to build speed and accuracy by training your fingers to automatically locate each key. Over time, this muscle memory allows you to type much faster and with fewer errors.

The key to touch typing is positioning your fingers on the 'home row' — the central row of keys on the keyboard. On an American, Canadian and British keyboard, your left hand rests on 'ASDF' and your right on 'JKL;'. This is where your fingers should always start and come back to when typing.

Look down at your keyboard. Notice the little raised bumps on the F and J keys? They’re there to help you find your place by touch, so you can stay locked into your flow without looking down.

Use all of your fingers

A lot of people type with just a couple of fingers, but that can kill your speed and accuracy and lead to fatigue. Train yourself to involve all ten fingers so the work is spread evenly. This will help you develop the muscle memory needed for touch typing. Start slow and focus on correct finger placement before worrying about speed — accuracy will come first, and speed will follow naturally.

Fix your posture

Think typing is all in the hands? Think again. Poor posture can cause fatigue, tension and even repetitive strain injuries over time. Sit up straight with your shoulders relaxed, keep your feet flat on the floor and adjust your chair so your elbows are at roughly a 90-degree angle. Your screen should be at eye level to avoid neck strain, and your wrists should float slightly above the keyboard rather than resting on the desk. Use your chair's armrests or grab a wrist rest to keep your hands at the right angle.

Practice regularly

With consistent practice, you can improve your typing speed and accuracy. Even a daily 10-minute session is enough to start seeing results. Typing drills are the best way to build muscle memory and get comfortable with key placement.

Start with the home row and practice keeping your fingers on the ASDF and JKL; keys. Stick to drills that move only between these keys to build a strong foundation. Words like "sad", "flask", "salad", "dash" and "ask" are good ones to start with. 

Then, once you're comfortable with the home row, you can introduce the top row and then the bottom row, using drills that focus on each row individually. 

Top row:

1. try
2. row
3. type
4. wire
5. quite
6. quiet
7. write
8. power
9. quote
10. upper
11. require

Bottom row:

1. ban
2. cab
3. mix
4. vex
5. zone
6. numb
7. buzz
8. back
9. exam
10. comb
11. combine
    

Once you're familiar with the key placement, you can move on to full sentences and speed tests. You can even create custom drills based on words you commonly misspell or struggle with.

Utilize shortcuts

Knowing how to type fast can massively boost your productivity, but don't spend valuable hours typing unnecessarily. There are many tools out there that can automate tedious processes for you. Trint, for example, can speed up transcription by converting your audio and video into accurate, editable text in minutes. That means less slogging and more creating.

Typing faster isn't about rushing. Once you've spent some time getting the technique down, you can improve your speed naturally. And when you combine faster typing with tools like Trint, you’ll save even more time — automating transcription so you can focus on creating. Sign up for our free trial and see how much faster your workflow can be.

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