How to type faster - 150+ wpm average
By geoffhuang - updated: 5 years, 10 months ago - 14 messages
Hello guys, I just recently stumbled on this awesome site and noticed there isn't very much advice for more advanced typers posted on here, so I thought I would offer you guys some of my own.
Here is how I went from 110 wpm to 150+ wpm:
1. Make sure you can type the weird symbols like hyphen, quotation marks, exclamation points, parentheses, and numbers. Most people ignore these, but these things are crucial in improving overall typing speed because they appear so often, and it is possible to type quotes that contain these weird characters just as fast as quotes that don't have them.
2. Make sure your fingering is logical. I know that when I first started typing, I had some pretty unorthodox fingerings that I never bothered to fix (things like thumb on shift and middle finger on exclamation point). Shifting your entire hand to accommodate for these fingerings will slow you down a lot in the long run, especially if you want to hit 150+ words per minute. Make sure you correct these bad habits asap. Remember: practice doesn't make perfect. Only perfect practice makes perfect. If you continue to practice with these bad fingerings, you are just reinforcing bad habits.
3. You need to slow down in order to speed up: If you do not have 1 and 2 down, make sure you slow down when practicing these things. Don't skip quotes that will slow you down because they contain weird characters. Force yourself to type these as fast as you can and with appropriate fingering.
4. Custom fingering. This tip is for more advanced typers. There are certain things you can do to improve your typing even further. For example, a lot of times, when there are passages where you are typing predominantly with your left hand, you can type the y's with your right hand instead. The opposite is true as well: sometimes when you are typing a lot with your right hand, you can use your left hand to type the b's. There might be other things you can do, but keep in mind that even the fastest typers in the world don't have the same fingering patterns when it comes to certain characters or words. I know that Sean Wrona, arguably the fastest typer in the world right now, uses caps lock instead of shift in a lot of cases. Personally, I don't do that, but just play around and come up with your own methods to increase your typing speed. It doesn't have to match what others do as long as it works for you.
By typistnovice - posted: 8 years, 3 months ago
Although it's implicit in your post, I'd like to state it explicity here: make sure you learn how to type using the "home row" method. I won't advertise any websites here, but there's a good one that takes you through two keys at a time to really help instill proper muscle memory.
Once you've got that down pat, you should explore custom fingerings. Your index fingers are the busiest when using the home row method; both of them are responsible for six different keys each. If your right hand is busy hitting the 'm' key and you have to hit the 'y' key subsequently, for instance, it would be more efficient to reach for it with your left hand than to awkardly shift your right hand that's all the way down there at the 'm' key.
Great post, OP. I haven't really added anything that wasn't in your original post, just sharing one of my own custom fingerings.
By toddhicks209 - posted: 8 years, 3 months ago
If you try to type a Y with your left hand after typing an M with your right hand and don't look at the keyboard, you're apt to hit the T key or hit the T and Y keys simultaneously but I admire your way of thinking.
By geoffhuang - posted: 8 years, 3 months ago
If you're used to it, that will 100% not happen. I still make plenty of errors when I type and have to backspace (I'm working on it) but one thing I never mess up is missing the Y when I use these custom fingerings.
An example of a word I use this technique on is "anyone". If you type the "y" with your left hand, you can see how it flows much better than if you type it with your right hand.
By toddhicks209 - posted: 8 years, 3 months ago
I still find it much easier to hit the Y key with my right hand after typing a M or N but to each her/his own.
By geoffhuang - posted: 8 years, 3 months ago
Sorry for the confusion. My post is about how to improve your typing speeds to get as high as 150+ words per minute. If you're still struggling with the basics of typing on a QWERTY keyboard, then my advice was not aimed at you in the first place.
By kaikaikaikaikai - posted: 8 years, 3 months ago
Thank you for your tips geoffhuang. I guess I should mostly take 3. to heart. I keep getting swapped letters or leave out letters when trying to push for speed, and it's been a huge detriment to my speed and accuracy.
Your point about custom fingers is interesting, too. Say, how did you manage to engrain these fingerins itno your muscle memory? I can surely see the merit, but I fear I'll be typing the words with the old, standard fingering in the heat of battle and just notice my 'mistake' three words later.
By geoffhuang - posted: 8 years, 3 months ago
I have would to go back to step 3 and slow down my typing again. I know it can be hard for some people, because they like to see a visual for themselves improving (they like to see a constantly increasing wpm), but unfortunately you're going to have to slow down to change things and speed up in the long run.
How did I learn to adapt custom fingerings? Some of the fingerings I came up with myself. I also talked a lot with typists on other typing practice sites and surprisingly a lot of them were willing to help. They shared their fingerings, their oddities, and things that made them faster, and I learned from them. I didn't copy it all, I'm still trying to figure out what things suit me best. You would be surprised at how many of them will respond to questions about typing.
For example, the fastest typer alive right now, Sean Wrona, will respond to emails (or at least he did for me). He actually has a really inactive account on this site, but I know he still lurks other typing sites. I believe this is his profile for keyhero:
http://www.keyhero.…
By muhafil - posted: 8 years, 1 month ago
Practise practise practise and practise
By user856504 - posted: 6 years, 4 months ago
Does a super fast typist (120wpm and above) look ahead of the words when he types.. That is to say he types the word which is one word before the word he is looking at that moment.
By bitbatgaming - posted: 5 years, 11 months ago
I mean i want to be fast, and i am currently the fastest typer in my elementary school right now. I am graduating in two months.
Idk but i learned with dance mat typing and i was at 60 wpm at 3 grade.
my best score on
10fastfingers.com is 110 wpm.
My typing speed is considered "Brilliant"
And my average? 80 wpm
By bitbatgaming - posted: 5 years, 11 months ago
To be honest, no. I am a fast typist with around that same speed of 100 wpm, and i don't look ahead of words. I have my own style on my Slim Folio Keyboard where i type spaces with my right index finger and to be honest it works really well.
By user815688 - posted: 5 years, 10 months ago
Thank You very much geoffhuang
By rob482 - posted: 5 years, 10 months ago
I'm far from reaching 150wpm, but I'd suggest using an optimized keyboard layout. Typing words predominantly with one hand just shows QUERTY's inefficiency.
I'd suggest DVORAK for system compatibility, since it's present on virtually all systems or COLEMAK for its similarity to QUERTY regarding common shortcuts (copy-paste sucks on dvorak without additional trickery)
Of course you basically have to start learning all over again with a new layout, but IMO the rewards are worth it. I find typing on dvorak to be extremely comfortable. Plus your nerd factor will be easily over 9000...
By sabertooth - posted: 5 years, 10 months ago
#3 is definitely the most important. You should focus on accuracy instead of aggressively typing as fast as possible. I tried slowing down but typing more accurately. Now, my former 90 WPM average turned to 120 WPM. My top speed was 130 WPM with 100% accuracy while my lowest ones all have around 90%.
