[Luie]

Hello,

I would like to increase my typing speed but I have been trying to train myself with typing programs and games yet I am unable to go past 65 wpm according to typingtest.com

My friends did 100, another 80, another 60. I asked the ~100 wpm friend and he said to open lots of chat windows and chat with everyone at the same time. lol.

There was a suggestion to use DVORAK instead of QWERTY. So far, I can only do 30wpm...

I am wondering if anyone can share some tips on how to type faster and help me break this 65wpm barrier. My goal was to do 80+ wpm but so far, I only improved by 5 wpm from the start of this summer holiday. :-\

Maybe my fingers and brain are just too slow :-(

[Kevin007]

open lots of chat windows and chat with everyone at the same time.~ sounds like a plan... I type faster out of my head, not through something I've never read before.

[mage_x]

I type 120+ WPM after I've practiced a bit, but my usual speed is around 100. It's actually HARD for me to go slower than that. Anyway, about the only thing I can really tell you is use a good typing program for about an hour per day to get your skills up. The key to being fast is to begin pressing the second and even the third key down before the first key you pressed is down all the way (the ability to do this well will happen automatically once you get fast). Also, for maximum efficiency, use the proper finger strokes to get to each key. Typing to ten people at once on AIM isn't going to do anything for your speed if you're typing improperly. Use a program that will actually teach you, instead of just have you type things.



PS: Yeah, I'm shameless.

First try: (typingtest.com)

[SolidxSnake]

just keep typing everywhere, chat programs, forums, projects, work, anything. You'll just gain more and more speed. I can now type very fast without ever looking at the keyboard.

[TollhouseFrank]

practice typing, even in mid-air. get that muscle-memory going! If you see me, you'll see my fingers going through typing motions... its not even consciously done anymore, its now a subconscious thing!

Managed to get myself up to 160wpm in college.... passed 3 typing courses with 1 test out.... lol....

[SuperFarStucker]

I used to type faster but my skills have fallen into relative disuse as of late. I took the test and scored 74 cwpm. Plenty fast for casual use. I find it more relaxing to kind of poke along at 50-60 wpm though. Like anything else, practice is what improves your typing skills most. There is no magic bullet.

I honestly doubt anyone can sustain 105+ wpm for extended periods of time as typing on a QWERTY is fairly inefficient.

If you want to see some crazy **** watch how fast court reporters bang out text. They use special stenography [shorthand] machines (stenotypes) which allow them to type as fast as most anyone can talk. My father had a friend who did the morning feeds for cnn, local news, and what not and she made bank doing it. If you turn on captioning on any live show you can see just how fast these people are. Every once in a while they will make a mistake. Eventually the market will be taken over by voice recognition software, but that is a ways out still. Even people who are just okay with these machines do 125 words a minute with ease. The catch is you have to load the machine with dictionaries (helps with complex and commonly used phrases and proper names) to be really efficient. Kind of like intellicrack in visual studio, only orders of magnitude more powerful.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stenotype

[Elif Tymes]

Geez, I get a sad 80 WPM without too much effort. I need to get back into the speed typing regime. Used to practice every day, got up to 100+ WPM, but I'm not the fastest typer

Did I mention I'm on a laptop keyboard?

[Mr.Guvernment]

typing test i always do slow on but when i type with out having to read something and retyp it i can be dam fast.

[Luie]

Interesting result:

I was typing on Mom's laptop and found my typing speed increased by 5 wpm with the comparison to my desktop's keyboard.
From 65wpm to 70wpm.


I got a question:
How long did it take for you to get to 100+wpm (during college or whatsnot)?
I'm wondering if this goal of achieving 80+wpm at the end of this summer is achievable or not.

[mage_x]

Originally Posted by Luie

I got a question:
How long did it take for you to get to 100+wpm (during college or whatsnot)?
I'm wondering if this goal of achieving 80+wpm at the end of this summer is achievable or not.

Going into 9th grade typing class, I was already at around 70WPM just from constantly using the computer my entire life, and at the end of the class I was at 120+WPM. You just have to practice with a good program using the proper techniques about an hour per day and you will get where you want to be.

[Mr.Guvernment]

it would be nice to find a program that would measure how fast you just type in general, like how fast i typed this response and such.

I think that would be a better measure of how fast someone could type vs

reading + typing

[-maddog-]

Don't worry about typing correctly too much. (using the right finger possitions)

[SolidxSnake]

Originally Posted by -maddog-

Don't worry about typing correctly too much. (using the right finger possitions)

Yeah, i don't do that at all. I rarely use my pinky, i just move my fingers around the keyboard. It works very well I might add..

(most of this reply was typed with my index and middle finger of my left hand and middle finger of my right... all spaces were done with my middle finger on my right... wierd)

[Warren G]

just get a data entry job. i was inaccurate and a little slow until i got a data entry job. i can type pretty fast and really accurate now. also, i couldnt 10 key at all before i started, had to look at teh keys. now i can 10 key like no tomorrow lol...

[Cerberus2k7]

Listen to music while doing a typing test. Forces you to try to split concentrate and so when youre in a normal room typing you can focus better. Works for me. :Shrug:

[Anjow]

In my eyes, typing tests don't tell you squat about your typing speed. They tell you about your copying speed. How frequently, in the working world, are you sat copying onscreen text?

It would be interesting if MS Word had a feature to work out the typing speed over a certain time whilst typing 'out of your head'. Something that you could invoke as you are doing your normal work - that would be more accurate and useful.

[krm197]

What helped my typing exceed 120-130 was playing piano at an early age... Finger dexterity in all aspects is important to improve your speed. If you just focus on the keyboard, there will probably be an upper limit to how fast you can get.

Try your hand at taking some piano/guitar lessons, or try something like knitting

[Max0r]

I think it is cooler to type "easier" than faster. For instance, it is very easy for me to quickly type out things with perfect punctuation and spelling... capitalization, and all that... why? Well, I HAVE been typing since I learned to read (and even before!)... and let's just say that I was on computers A LOT. Yeah, maybe my WPM cannot possibly go past maybe 100-110 (if I'm going insane) but I can type with my eyes closed, even crazy characters all over the keyboard, and I self correct so fast sometimes people can't even see it if they watch me type. Btw IBM MODEL M KEYBAORDS ROCK RAW RAWR ARW AWR

[Schalldampfer]

Keep at Dvorak. Quite easy, actually, to get to your QWERTY typing speed, and I believe it has potential to boost you past it.

[threeme2189]

Originally Posted by Schalldampfer

Keep at Dvorak. Quite easy, actually, to get to your QWERTY typing speed, and I believe it has potential to boost you past it.

yes dvorak is nice...you have to move your fingers ALOT less....no carpel tunnel and stuff.
i have to work on my dvorak more.