Do you know how much time you can save by typing faster?
Did you know that you can train all ten fingers for typing?
In this digital world, it is important to be a keyboard master, not just an internet savvy person.
If you type at a good speed, you can make an earning out of it. You can easily become a professional typist.
By following the tips mentioned in this article, you will soon learn how to type fast.
In this article, I will share 5 tips to type faster. Just practice these tips and you will be successful.
Let’s get started.
Top 5 Tips for Typing Fast
1. Proper Body Posture
First and foremost is to sit straight and keep your back straight. Don’t slump because that will cause backache, neck ache, or strains on your wrists. This will slow you down. And if you have to work for long hours then it will be too painful for you.
Secondly, your workspace should be comfortable and ergonomics should be properly taken care of. Space should be well-lit and ventilated. You should sit in a way that you slightly tilt your head down to look at the screen. Also, you should be 45 – 70cm away from the screen. Else it will put pressure on your eyesight.
You should place your laptop or computer on a table that is of a proper height that you can place your hands on tabletop comfortably. If the hands are on the keyboard level then you can arch them perfectly to use all your fingers at once.
2. Use all 10 fingers at once
Look at your keyboard thoroughly and memorize the main keys of punctuations and letters, etc. Then place your hands correctly on the keyboard. Arch them at 45 degrees in the opposite direction of each hand.
You should always place your eight fingers on the ‘home row’ keys; ‘ASDF’ and ‘JKL:’ You must have noticed a small bump on the ‘F’ and ‘J’ keys on your keyboard, which indicates that without looking at your keyboard, your index finger should rest on these keys at all times.
You can also practice learning the keys by typing the keys without looking at them and saying the letters out loud. This will make you memorize the key positions well. And your fingers will learn their position on the keyboard through muscle memory.
3. Take a speed test
Start with a speed test before you move to learn touch typing. The test will gauge your current speed or Words per Minute (WPM). This will become a starting point to record your progress over time. There are some tests online and you can even try a test for easy typing for beginners.
Barbara Blackburn, the fastest typist in the English Language, took a test in 2005 using a Dvorak simplified keyboard. She reached 212 Words per Minute speed. No one broke her record yet.
The average score of an average computer typist is around 35 – 45 WPM. So, once you know your WPM through the online tests, you can slowly start with Touch-typing.
4. Learn Touch-typing
Touch-typing is basically to type without looking at the keyboard. It takes time and you may make mistakes in the beginning. It can be frustrating when you don’t look at the keyboard. Therefore, it is important to place your fingers on ‘home row’ and move your fingers only to reach keys near to each finger.
Don’t move your hand all over the keyboard. The more you practice without looking at your hand the better you will memorize each key placement. Once you memorize the keys, you will start picking up speed.
5. Practice, practice, practice…
The key to master typing is PRACTICE. You will not achieve a 90 WPM score in a day. It will take weeks or months of hard work and continuous practice to achieve such a score. Patience and determination are required to become a pro at typing.
First, learn the correct positioning of your fingers and memorize each key placement. Then with practice, you will achieve your desired WPM score. Take out some time, open a word document, and start touch typing without looking. With time your speed and accuracy will improve.
Another way of practicing is to look out for online typing games or websites. You can play fun games of typing and it will record your best score. In that way, you can beat your previous score and even compete with other typists online.
Dictation is also a very good way to practice touch typing. Get yourself an e-book or online lecture and plug in your headphones. Then start typing. At the start, don’t worry about words errors, focus more on the speed. Once you catch up on speed, you can redo the whole thing to focus on reducing typing errors.
If you fail to get your desired WPM score, you can even look out for formal training. Easy Type is one such online website that provides formal training through proper typing lessons for beginners. You can choose various exercises to test your typing skills and also monitor progress through the ‘Statistics’ record. The exercises are based on different alphabets/letters, numbers, uppercase, texts, etc.
It is also important to keep monitoring your progress by retaking the tests after every week or two and improving the WPM score. How quickly you improve depends on how much you practice. People who type faster than average typing speed (41 WPM) trains three times more than those who type slower.
So, let’s start with a typing test to get your current WPM score. You can try some of the sample typing exercises here. Then follow all the above tips to start practicing touch-typing to become a master typist in no time.