Are you curious about your typing speed? Sometimes it can be fun to compare with friends your typing speed. These typing test websites can give you a reliable indication of your typing speed. Read on to find out more.
Touch Typing
If your line of work uses touch typing, or you find yourself typing a lot in your day to day business, you really should learn touch typing. It has been something I’ve been meaning to do for a while now, as I type quite a bit!
Touch typing is a much faster method of typing that was developed to aid secretarial work in the last century. It uses muscle memory an specific hand placement to find the keys fast and automatically, without using the sense of sight and using all your fingers like a keyboard player!
Touch typing simply makes you much more productive! It is a skill well worth learning. Even still, many people still engage in “hunt and peck” style typing - sadly including myself! This is a habit picked up from a lack of formal training in typing.
Using the following websites can help you to learn touch typing. Then the typing tests will allow you to check your progress!
Tips for fast typing
Now, I am not exactly the fastest typist in the world, but it is something I am looking to improve. Typing tests are a great way to practice in a timed environment where you can get feedback on your performance. Aside from adopting the touch typing technique, other tips that I have heard for fast typing include:
- Taking a moment of time to read each word can help to reduce errors.
- Say each letter in your head for long words in order to improve accuracy for long words.
- Use a keyboard you are comfortable. There are some nice ergonomic keyboards built for comfort if you have the spare cash.
- Practice often! The typing tests below will help.
- Take breaks in order to avoid repetitive strain injury!
typing.com
Before you take a typing test, perhaps you would like to improve your typing speed. Typing.com offers courses in touch typing - this will help you improve your typing speed and accuracy.
They claim to facilitate teaching and learning touch typing for free. The website is perfect for all ages. Over 14 million students and 250,000 teachers around the world have used this website. In fact, I am strongly considering using it myself!
You have unlimited use of the site for free, so why not get started today!
typingtest.com
With this website it is easy to complete a typing test in 60 seconds! Over 4 million people each month try out their word per minute test.
You can choose between tests lasting between 1 minute to 5 minutes. You can also choose a so called “scientific test”. If you are engaging in a course to improve your typing speed, then this website is a great tool to check your progress.
There are a number of things you can choose to type in the test. It is automatically set to Aesop’s fables, which is nice as you can learn about some ancient tales as you test your typing speed.
Aside from the free typing test here, you can also train yourself to type better with the course they offer. Unfortunately, this course costs money, so you would be better to use the free typing course at typing.com.
abcya.com
abcya.com has a typing test called the “keyboard challenge”. This website appears to be more aimed at children, however there is no reason why adults might not like to use it.
If you have young kids, and you want to get them in to good typing habits early, then I recommend this site for you.
keybr.com
Keybr offers simple, computer generated adaptive typing lessons to help you practice the skill of touch typing. They also have an excellent typing test that you should check out too.
Touch typing requires dedicated practice to learn, and that is what this site offers you. There are a number of things that set keybr apart.
- You don’t have to type the same characters over and over again. Such exercises are slow and boring. Words like “jjjjk” are hard to read and will slow down even the most experienced typist.
- Instead keybr will generate random words that are natural, readable and pronounceable in your native language. This is better practice for real world typing.
- Learning this way trains your mind and hand muscles remember frequent key combinations.
- Keybr collects comprehensive statistics of your progress as you go along. It also uses this so asses your weakest areas and give you more practice at these. This allows you to progress quicker.
- New keys are added slowly as you learn to touch type, allowing a smooth progression and learning at each stage.
- You can view beautiful charts that show your progress.
- Create your own practice calendar and make your touch typing practice part of your routine.
- It is available in multiple languages and keyboard layouts.
- Compete with other users to put your name at the top of the high score list. Competition breeds excellence!
- The website has a nice dark color theme to reduce eye strain.
Personally this is my favorite website to learn touch typing and to do a typing test.
johnmiles.co.uk
This website has a game called “fingerjig”. It is a fun 6 minute typing test to give your touch typing skills a try. Every day there is a competition for the high score, so you could be in with a chance of winning on a given day. Practice makes perfect of course!
In order to get the best points on this typing test you need a mixture of speed and accuracy. Mistakes will lower your points, so perhaps it is better to go a bit slower and not make mistakes.
Verdict
I hope today’s post is useful for you if you are looking to improve your typing efficiency and productivity. The typing tests above and learning resources provide a great way to learn and improve the skill of touch typing.
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