Have you ever wondered what is a good typing speed? And are there ways to improve your overall typing skills?
Keep reading to learn what makes a good typing speed, things that influence typing speed, and how you can measure and improve your personal typing speed.
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Why Typing Speed Matters
If you can type with speed and accuracy, you will also often be productive. Depending on the type of work you do, having a fast typing speed will benefit your career.
Whether or not you can type fast is not always a reason you will succeed or fail as a freelance writer.
However, it can change how fast you can work and help you get your work done at a steady rate. If you can type faster and write at a quick pace, you can get more words done per hour so you can make more money.
Sure, not every job as a freelance writer is based on how many words you can write per hour or how fast you can type, but being able to be proficient at what you do can save you a ton of time in the long run.
If you are able to write more throughout the day, then you can take on more work at any given moment. Or, you can knock out things like busy work faster than you could otherwise.
Being able to type fast can also help you do other things such as answer emails faster or do school assignments so you can work through your tasks faster in a day.
Typing speed might also be something potential employers consider in order to hire you. It will show them that you can complete your work in a reasonable amount of time.
What Is a Good Typing Speed?
For the most part, you are going to have your words measured by a metric called wpm, which stands for words per minute. You might also see CPM, which stands for characters per minute.
Most people will use a typing speed test to get an idea of how fast they are typing. That way, they can know if they are improving or not because when you can measure your speed, you can track your improvements over time.
If you wanted to know actual numbers, here are some for you to use to measure your skills.
Average typing speed
- 40 wpm and over
- 200 cpm and over
Above average typing speed
- 50 wpm and over
- 250 cpm and over
Productive typing speed
- 60 wpm and over
- 300 cpm and over
High typing speed
- 70 wpm and over
- 350 cpm and over
Competitive speed
- 120 wpm and over
- 600 cpm and over
Keep in mind, there are some factors, such as the age of the person typing, that you might have to research or consider when it comes to measuring a good typing speed.
What Influences Typing Speed?
More than anything, learning how to properly type will help improve your typing speed.
Some people only use their forefingers in order to type and that is not the most efficient way to type, even though a lot of people do it. You will want to practice using all of your fingers to type because it can help increase the amount of keys you can type in short intervals.
There are also a wide variety of keyboard types out there that might be a better fit for you and how you prefer to
Being sure to practice a lot and in an intentional way can also help you improve your typing speed. Challenge yourself to type faster or use different types of tools and tests to measure where you currently are and how to get better.
Tools to Measure Typing Speed and Improve Your Skills
While there are a ton of tools out there (and some free ones) to measure typing speed, we are going to focus on just a few of the popular ones so you can pick one that works best for you.
We will also go over which ones of them offer you the ability to improve your typing speed as well.
1. Typing.com
Typing is a great resource that give you access to free timed tests. You can take various timed test (1 minute, 3 minutes, 5 minutes) or page tests (1 page, 2 pages, 3 pages) to get an overall idea at your typing speed.
It is also a great site if you want to sign up for an account and start to improve your typing skills. Typing has a friendly user interface, making it a option for any age group to use.
2. Ratatype
Ratatype is another option that can help measure your typing speed to get an idea of where you are with your current skill set.
There are some free typing lessons for you to use on their site as well, so you can actively try and improve your typing speed.
They also offer options for teachers, corporate offices, and group settings, depending on what you need. There are also different game modes to make learning typing even more fun.
3. Typing Trainer
Typing Trainer is a free program that gives you different games, races, and challenges in order to help you improve your typing skills. With built-in lessons, you can go at a pace that works best for you.
According to their website, in just four hours you can master the basics of typing so you can improve your typing speed. On top of the four basic hours, there are five hours of extra work for you to master even more things.
4. GoodTyping
GoodTyping offers 27 guided lessons to teach you the basics of typing. It is all web-based, as most of them are, but that keeps you from having to download anything extra or some additional software in order to get your lessons done.
For extra fun, there are other typing courses in different languages. That can help if you need to type in multiple languages and need to improve your skills in that area as well. As you complete the courses, you can also get a typing certificate to certify your skills and speed.
5. Typing Cat
Typing Cat has the goal of improving your typing skills in a matter of 10 minutes a day. This is one that is not free, but it has more advanced features than you see on some of the other typing programs out there.
It offers custom courses once it learns how you type and you also will have access to courses that were created by other users.
What to Do Next
Want to practice your typing? Use these prompts to get started!