How to type faster

1. Stop looking at the keyboard

   Every glance down breaks your reading and costs a fraction of a second, which adds up to a lot of lost speed. If you cannot resist, cover your hands with a cloth for practice sessions.

2. Use the right finger every time

   A key typed by the wrong finger is a movement you will have to unlearn. Check the finger chart for any key you are unsure about.

3. Return to the home row

   After each reach, go back to A S D F and J K L ;. Consistent starting points are what make movements automatic.

4. Accuracy before speed

   Aim for 96% or better. Each mistake costs the error, the backspace and the retype, so at 90% accuracy you lose much more time than the number suggests.

5. Keep a steady rhythm

   Even keystrokes beat bursts and pauses. Try typing to a slow beat: uneven typists usually speed up once they smooth out.

6. Read ahead

   Let your eyes run a word or two ahead of your fingers. Your hands can type one word while you read the next.

7. Drill your weak keys

   A handful of keys usually cause most of your errors. The progress page maps them, and Weak keys practice drills them.

8. Practise short and often

   Ten minutes a day beats an hour on Sunday. Short sessions keep you fresh enough to practise correctly.

9. Push in short bursts

   Try to beat your speed for 15 seconds, then relax back to an accurate pace. Stretching briefly is how the comfortable pace moves up.

A 2-minute typing warm-up

Before a test or a long writing session: 30 seconds of home row letters (asdf jkl; fjdksla;), 30 seconds of top and bottom row reaches (de ki fr ju dc k,), then a minute of the 100 most common words. Your fingers are warm and your rhythm is set.