From 30 to 250 WPM
Typing speed roadmap: what to practice at every speed
Typing speed grows in phases, and each needs different practice. Under 30 WPM, learn the keys by touch; from 30 to 60, type whole words instead of letters; from 60 to 90, let your keystrokes overlap and keep an even rhythm; from 90 to 150, practice faster than comfortable and build stamina; past 150, sprint. Each phase below lists the skills research links to it, a daily program you can start here, and a test that marks the milestone.
Where you are
Find your phase in a minute
Take the 1-minute typing test or type a round of practice. This page then shows your phase, your own numbers for each of its skills, and what to practice next.
On this page
The five milestones
Each milestone is a speed you can check with a test here, and each phase before it has its own skills to learn. Most people pass the first two; the last two are for the few who want to go all the way.
| Milestone | The phase before it | Who gets there |
|---|---|---|
| 30 WPM | Learn the keys | 85% of typists |
| 60 WPM | Type words, not letters | 32% of typists |
| 90 WPM | Overlap and rhythm | 4% of typists |
| 150 WPM | Overspeed and stamina | Very few: studies rarely include anyone past 125 WPM |
| 250 WPM | Bursts | 12 of 531,645 Monkeytype accounts, in 60 seconds |
Shares for 30, 60 and 90 WPM are of the 168,960 typists in a 2018 study by Dhakal and colleagues, as our typing speed guide explains.
Phase 1 of 5
0 to 30 WPM: learn the keys by touch
Learn where every key is by feel: one finger for each key, the same one every time, with your eyes on the screen. Keep at least 95 of every 100 keystrokes right and the speed follows. About 85% of the typists in the largest study of typing were faster than 30 WPM, so this first milestone is well within reach.
One finger for each key, every time
In a motion-capture study of 30 typists, using the same finger for a given key every time was one of three habits that went with speed, for trained and self-taught typists alike. The standard finger chart gives every key one finger, and in a study of 168,960 typists the fastest tenth reported using 8.4 fingers on average, the slowest tenth 5.3. The finger placement chart shows which finger owns each key.
Eyes on the screen
Looking down pays off at first, which is why the habit sticks: students in one touch-typing course typed about 20 WPM while looking at the keys and about 8 without, and those who leaned on looking most improved least after the course. Learn each key by feel from the start; the keyboard guide here fades key by key as you do. More in how to stop looking at the keyboard.
Accuracy before speed
Every slip costs a Backspace and a second try. In the 2018 study, the slowest tenth of typists pressed Backspace on 9% of their keystrokes, nearly three times as often as the fastest tenth (3.4%). Slow down until at least 95% of your keystrokes are right: that is the mark a lesson here passes at.
Back to the home row after every reach
Return each finger to its home key after every reach, so the next one starts from a known place. The bumps on F and J let you find the home row without looking.
How to practice it here
10 to 15 minutes a day
- The typing lessonsA few new keys at a time, from the home row to capitals, with the keyboard guide showing which finger to use; the number row comes after. Each lesson passes at 95% accuracy.Start lesson 1
- Weak-key practiceOnce the lessons are done: short, common words built around the keys you are slowest at, with the keyboard guide fading as you learn each key by feel.Start
- AI practice textShort sentences in everyday words, on a topic you pick, written for your level and aimed at your weak keys.Start
Milestone check
30 WPM on the 3-minute test at 95% accuracy or better, without looking at the keys. Take the 3-minute test
South Carolina's keyboarding standards ask for the same speed by the end of grade 8: 30 WPM with at most three errors on a three-minute timed writing (15 WPM in grade 5, 20 in grade 6 and 25 in grade 7).
Go deeper: The typing lessons · Touch typing finger placement · How to stop looking at the keyboard
Phase 2 of 5
30 to 60 WPM: type words, not letters
Stop typing one letter at a time: read a word ahead, let familiar words flow as one movement, and keep your eyes on the screen to catch slips as they happen. About a third of typists get here: 32% of the 2018 study's typists reached 60 WPM.
Read a word ahead
Skilled typists see the next letters before they type them. In experiments reviewed by Salthouse (1986), typists needed to see between three and eight characters ahead, about a word, to type at full speed; shown one letter at a time, even experts slowed to a series of reaction times. Keep your eyes on the next word while your fingers finish this one.
Practice real words
Fingers learn words, not just letters. Real words in random order are typed nearly as fast as sentences, typing slows as text turns into random letters, and common letter pairs are typed faster than rare ones (Salthouse, 1986). Practice on common words and the letter pairs in them builds those patterns.
Let your fingers find the keys
In a study of 100 typists who averaged 72 WPM, the typists could place only 15 of the 26 letters on a blank keyboard on average: skilled typing runs on finger memory, not on knowing where the keys are. Stopping to think where a key is interrupts it; let practice do the work.
Catch slips on the screen
Your eyes are your proofreader: typists notice only 40% to 70% of their errors without seeing what they typed (Salthouse, 1986). Watching the text, not the keys, lets you catch a slip at once, before it costs a whole word.
How to practice it here
15 minutes a day
- Weak-key practiceRounds of common words built around your slowest and least accurate keys and letter pairs, with the keyboard guide off.Start
- AI practice textSentences about a topic you like, at your level, packed with your weak keys and letter pairs.Start
- A 1-minute test a dayThe same short test each day, so your habits page can chart your progress.Take the test
Milestone check
60 WPM on the 3-minute test at 95% accuracy or better. Take the 3-minute test
Halfway there, 40 WPM is a common job standard: the U.S. Office of Personnel Management asks clerk-typists for 40 WPM on a 5-minute test with three errors or fewer.
Go deeper: How to type faster · How to improve typing accuracy · What is a good typing speed?
Phase 3 of 5
60 to 90 WPM: overlap, rhythm and your slowest moves
Let each keystroke start before the last one ends, keep an even rhythm, and smooth out the two-key moves that cost you most. 90 WPM is the level of the fastest tenth of typists in the 2018 study, who averaged 89.6 WPM; about 4% of its typists were faster.
Overlap your keystrokes
Fast typists press the next key before releasing the last. In the 2018 study, the fastest tenth did so on about half their keystrokes, most of them on 40% to 70%, while the slowest tenth averaged 8%. Moves that switch hands are faster than moves on one hand, because one hand gets ready while the other types (Salthouse, 1986).
Keep an even rhythm
The time between keystrokes gets more even as typists get faster (Salthouse, 1986): skilled typists don't rush easy stretches and stall on hard ones. The rhythm chart after each round shows where you stall.
Fix your slowest moves
A few awkward moves, often two keys typed by the same finger, can cost more than any single key. The trainer times every pair of keys you type and finds the ones that are slow for you, so you can drill exactly those.
Look further ahead
The eye-hand span, how far your eyes run ahead of the key you are pressing, is three to seven characters for average to excellent typists, and grows with skill (Salthouse, 1986). If you pause before each new word, read the next one while you finish the current one.
How to practice it here
15 to 20 minutes a day
- Your slowest movesA drill of the two-key moves that cost you the most, from your own timings.Drill them
- Race the pacerA pacer a few words per minute above your average, which moves up each time you beat it. Hold an even rhythm rather than sprinting.Start
- The 3-minute test, twice a weekThe milestone check itself, so you know when you are there.Take the test
Milestone check
90 WPM on the 3-minute test at 96% accuracy or better. Take the 3-minute test
That is the level of the fastest tenth of typists in the 2018 study, who averaged 89.6 WPM and pressed Backspace on 3.4% of their keystrokes.
Go deeper: How to type faster · How to improve typing accuracy
Phase 4 of 5
90 to 150 WPM: practice faster than comfortable
Push past your comfortable speed in short, focused sessions, then slow down to fix the slips and hesitations they expose, and build the stamina to hold your speed for 5 minutes. Very few typists get here: of 800 college typists tested by Logan and Crump, the fastest typed 126 WPM.
Practice faster than comfortable
The oldest advice in typing research still stands. Early studies of expert typists suggest pushing your speed beyond its comfortable level for short, concentrated periods of 10 to 15 minutes a day, then working on the errors and hesitations those periods reveal (Keith and Ericsson, 2007, describing studies from 1925 and 1936).
Practice with a goal
Typing a lot is not the same as practicing. In a study of 60 students, Keith and Ericsson (2007) found the fastest typists had taken a typing class and also tried to type fast in their everyday typing. Set a target for each session, and check it with a test.
Build stamina
Speed fades with time on task. Over two hours of continuous office typing, workers pressed Backspace about 1.6 percentage points more often, and in the afternoon their keystrokes also slowed by about 12 milliseconds (de Jong and colleagues, 2020). Test yourself over 5 minutes, the length federal typing tests use, not just 1.
Keep accuracy at 97% or better
At these speeds a slip costs more: by the time you notice it, your fingers are a word further on. Overspeed rounds are for finding errors; calm rounds with stop on error are for fixing them.
How to practice it here
20 minutes a day, in short sessions
- Overspeed roundsRounds with the pacer up to 10 WPM above your average, for 10 to 15 focused minutes.Start
- Clean-up roundsThen a few calm rounds with stop on error, aimed at the keys and moves the fast rounds tripped on.Start
- A 5-minute test each weekStamina as well as speed: the length federal typing tests use.Take the test
Milestone check
150 WPM for 5 minutes at 97% accuracy or better. Take the 5-minute test
Research has little to say past this point: published studies of everyday typists rarely include anyone faster than about 125 WPM, so these steps rest on the practice methods above and on what fast typists report.
Go deeper: How to type faster
Phase 5 of 5
150 to 250 WPM: the top of the leaderboards
On a keyboard, 250 WPM happens only in short bursts of common words: on Monkeytype, 12 of 531,645 accounts had reached 250 WPM on a 60-second test when we checked, and the top result was 288 WPM. Sustained speeds above 225 WPM come from stenotype machines, not keyboards.
Short, all-out sprints
Practice at this level looks like the tests themselves: short, all-out runs on the most common words, restarted at once after an early slip. Sean Wrona, who won the 2010 Ultimate Typing Championship, suggests treating practice like exercise, with three half-hour sessions a week (Das Keyboard interview).
Whatever finger works
At the top, finger rules loosen. Wrona says he uses whichever finger is most comfortable for the letters around a key, and reads one word ahead in competitions (Das Keyboard interview).
Know the ceiling
Court reporters must write 225 WPM for five minutes at 95% accuracy to earn the Registered Professional Reporter certification, on stenotype machines that write whole syllables and words in one stroke. The Guinness world record for realtime stenotype writing is 360 WPM at 97.23% accuracy, set by Mark Kislingbury in 2004.
How to practice it here
Three half-hour sessions a week
- 15-second sprintsAll-out 15-second tests on common words. Start again at once after an early slip.Take the test
- 1-minute testsThe length most leaderboards rank, to carry burst speed through a whole minute.Take the test
- A 5-minute test each weekTo keep stamina while you chase bursts.Take the test
Milestone check
250 WPM in a 15-second test at 97% accuracy or better. Take the 15-second test
On Monkeytype's 15-second test, about 60 of 539,757 accounts had reached 250 WPM when we checked.
Go deeper: What is a good typing speed?
Frequently asked questions
What is a good typing speed?
Around 50 WPM is average: the 168,960 typists of a 2018 study averaged 51.56 WPM. 60 WPM was faster than about 68% of them, and 90 WPM faster than about 96%. More in what is a good typing speed.
Do I need to touch type to reach 60 WPM?
It helps, though finger count matters less than consistency. In a motion-capture study, self-taught typists averaged 58.9 WPM and trained touch typists 57.8; what went with speed was using the same finger for each key, moving toward the next key early and keeping the hands still. In the larger 2018 study, the fastest typists reported using more fingers. Two-finger typing vs touch typing compares them.
How do I know which phase I am in?
Take the typing test or a few rounds of practice: the roadmap reads your speed and accuracy from your last 10 rounds, and shows your phase, your next milestone and what to practice for it. Your progress is saved in this browser, and in your account if you sign in, so it follows you to other devices.
How much should I practice each day?
A little every day beats a lot at once. In a classic study of trainee typists, people who practiced one hour a day learned the keyboard in fewer hours of practice than those who did two 2-hour sessions a day. Each phase's program here takes 10 to 20 minutes a day.
What is the fastest typing speed ever recorded?
On a stenotype machine, 360 WPM at 97.23% accuracy: Mark Kislingbury's Guinness world record from 2004. On an ordinary keyboard, the top result on Monkeytype's English 60-second leaderboard was 288 WPM at 97% accuracy when we checked, on an online test of common words that nobody proctors.
Can anyone type 250 WPM?
Only a handful of people, and only in short bursts: 12 of 531,645 accounts on Monkeytype had reached 250 WPM on a 60-second test when we checked. Court reporters write up to 225 WPM for five minutes, but on stenotype machines that write whole words in one stroke.
Sources
- Dhakal, Feit, Kristensson and Oulasvirta (2018). Observations on Typing from 136 Million Keystrokes. CHI 2018.
- Feit, Weir and Oulasvirta (2016). How We Type: Movement Strategies and Performance in Everyday Typing. CHI 2016.
- Yechiam, Erev, Yehene and Gopher (2003). Melioration and the transition from touch-typing training to everyday use. Human Factors 45(4).
- Salthouse (1986). Perceptual, cognitive, and motoric aspects of transcription typing. Psychological Bulletin 99(3).
- Snyder, Ashitaka, Shimada, Ulrich and Logan (2014). What skilled typists don't know about the QWERTY keyboard. Attention, Perception, & Psychophysics 76(1).
- Logan and Crump (2011). Hierarchical control of cognitive processes: the case for skilled typewriting. Psychology of Learning and Motivation 54.
- Keith and Ericsson (2007). A deliberate practice account of typing proficiency in everyday typists. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Applied 13(3).
- de Jong, Bonvanie, Jolij and Lorist (2020). Dynamics in typewriting performance reflect mental fatigue during real-life office work. PLOS ONE 15(10).
- Baddeley and Longman (1978). The influence of length and frequency of training session on the rate of learning to type. Ergonomics 21(8).
- South Carolina Department of Education. Keyboarding standards (course 2706).
- U.S. Office of Personnel Management. General Schedule qualification standards: group standards (clerk-typist typing proficiency).
- National Court Reporters Association. Registered Professional Reporter.
- Guinness World Records. Fastest realtime court reporter (stenotype writing).
- Das Keyboard (2011). Ultimate Typing Champion Shares His Typing Secrets. Interview with Sean Wrona.
- Monkeytype. Leaderboards and public speed histograms for the 60-second and 15-second English tests, checked November 2026.