Typing is a skill most of us use for hours a day but few of us ever trained. If you look at the keyboard or type with two or three fingers, you’re probably capped somewhere around 30–40 words per minute. Learning to touch type properly can add 20–40 WPM over a few months, which adds up to hours saved every week. This guide explains how typing speed is measured, what counts as good, and how to improve efficiently. Measure your baseline with our typing speed test.
How typing speed is measured
WPM: words per minute
Because words vary in length, typing tests use a standard word of 5 characters, including spaces and punctuation.
Gross WPM = (characters typed ÷ 5) ÷ minutes
Net WPM = Gross WPM − (uncorrected errors ÷ minutes)Example: in a 1-minute test you type 300 characters with 4 uncorrected errors.
- Gross WPM = 300 ÷ 5 ÷ 1 = 60 WPM
- Net WPM = 60 − 4 = 56 WPM
- Accuracy = (300 − 4) ÷ 300 ≈ 98.7%
CPM / KPM
Characters (or keystrokes) per minute is just WPM × 5. 60 WPM = 300 CPM. Some countries and job tests quote keystrokes per hour instead: 60 WPM ≈ 18,000 keystrokes per hour.
Accuracy
Accuracy is the percentage of characters typed correctly. Aim for 95% or higher; below that, the time spent fixing mistakes cancels out the speed. Employers testing typing usually report net WPM and accuracy together.
What counts as a good typing speed?
| WPM | Level |
|---|---|
| Under 25 | Beginner or hunt-and-peck |
| 25–40 | Average casual typist |
| 40–55 | Solid, typical office worker |
| 55–75 | Fast; most trained touch typists |
| 75–100 | Very fast |
| 100+ | Exceptional; competitive typists |
Speeds differ with the material: typing familiar prose is faster than code, numbers, or text with many capitals and symbols. Your speed on a short 1-minute test will usually be higher than over 10 minutes.
Typical job requirements
| Role | Common requirement |
|---|---|
| General office / administration | 35–50 WPM |
| Data entry | 50–60 WPM, or keystrokes per hour |
| Medical / legal secretary | 60–75 WPM with high accuracy |
| Transcriptionist | 65–80+ WPM |
| Captioner (real-time) | Uses stenotype machines; 200+ WPM |
Touch typing basics
Touch typing means typing without looking at the keyboard, with each finger responsible for specific keys.
Home row
On a QWERTY keyboard, rest your fingers on A S D F (left) and J K L ; (right), with thumbs on the space bar. The small bumps on F and J let you find the position without looking.
| Finger | Keys (left hand) | Keys (right hand) |
|---|---|---|
| Index | R T F G V B (and 4 5) | Y U H J N M (and 6 7) |
| Middle | E D C (3) | I K , (8) |
| Ring | W S X (2) | O L . (9) |
| Little | Q A Z (1), Shift, Tab, Caps | P ; / (0), Enter, Backspace, Shift |
Use the opposite hand’s Shift key for capitals: right Shift for letters typed with the left hand, and vice versa.
Keyboard layouts
- QWERTY is standard in the UK and US, but the layouts differ: the UK layout has
£on Shift+3 and@on Shift+’ , while US has@on Shift+2 and#on Shift+3. Make sure your operating system matches your physical keyboard. - AZERTY (France, Belgium) and QWERTZ (Germany, Switzerland, Central Europe) move a few letters.
- Dvorak and Colemak are alternative layouts designed to reduce finger movement. They can be more comfortable, but switching takes weeks and shared computers will still use QWERTY.
A 4-week practice plan
Practise 15–30 minutes a day. Short daily sessions beat long weekly ones.
Week 1: positions, not speed
- Learn the home row, then the top and bottom rows, with drills.
- Don’t look at the keyboard. Cover your hands with a cloth if needed.
- Expect your speed to drop, maybe to 15–20 WPM. That’s normal.
Week 2: accuracy
- Type real words and short sentences.
- Target 97%+ accuracy; slow down whenever you make mistakes.
- Use a steady rhythm rather than bursts.
Week 3: common words and bigrams
- Practise the most common English words and letter pairs (th, he, in, er, an).
- Start using touch typing for all your normal work, even if slower.
Week 4: speed
- Take a 1–3 minute test daily and track net WPM and accuracy.
- Push slightly above your comfortable speed for short bursts, then return to accuracy.
- Add numbers, punctuation and capitals.
After a month, most learners are back to their old speed with better accuracy, and keep improving with continued practice.
Ergonomics
- Sit with your forearms roughly level with the keyboard and wrists straight, not bent up.
- Don’t rest your wrists on the desk while typing; let your hands float.
- Keep the top of the screen at or slightly below eye level.
- Take short breaks; the UK Health and Safety Executive advises regular breaks or changes of activity for display screen users.
- A keyboard with a comfortable key action makes a difference over long sessions.
Common mistakes
- Looking at the keyboard “just for this one key”.
- Chasing speed before accuracy.
- Using the same Shift key for everything.
- Practising only random letters, never real text.
- Testing only on 30-second tests and assuming the result holds for long documents.
Checklist
- Measure your baseline WPM and accuracy.
- Learn home row positions and finger assignments.
- Practise daily for 15–30 minutes.
- Prioritise 95%+ accuracy, then speed.
- Retest weekly and track progress.
For more ways to save time with text, see our regex cheat sheet for find-and-replace tricks.