Ways To Increase Typing Speed

March 9th, 2024 – Ways To Increase Your Typing Speed

The shiny silvery edges of round typewriter key tops as seen from the side. Rows and rows of letters to help increase your typing speed
Photography by Matthew Henry

One thing I find myself always trying to improve is my typing speed. For my work as a scopist, transcriptionist, and proofreader, it is important to have a fast typing speed. Time is money in this industry. The less mistakes you make, the faster you can pump out quality work, and be able to start on a fresh one!

A fast typing speed comes with a lot of benefits. It improves my turnaround time for jobs, it also allows me the extra time to complete other projects or activities, and it gives me peace of mind to know that I can keep up with any of my caseloads. These are only some of the benefits I have found from increasing my typing speed. Whether you are in this industry and looking to improve your output, or you have your own personal reasons to want to increase speed, here are some of the ways I have found to help build that strength you’re looking for.

A runner takes a big step and gets his stride as he runs around an outdoor track and field track.  Metaphor for trying to increase typing speed
Photography by Sarah PFlug

One of the greatest gifts we have as a human is the ability to fail and try again. It’s how civilization was born.

Personally, I am very ambitious. I believe that if there is an obstacle to be faced, sometimes, it is just easier to go head first. When it comes to increasing my typing speed, nothing is different. Speed tests are the best example of this. Speed tests are great bite-size samples if you’re looking for short-term activities that can give you the boost you need. If you don’t have a lot of time to invest in one single sitting, you can do speed tests ranging from, typically, one to three minutes.

There are a lot of websites on the internet that allow you the chance to practice, increase your typing speed, see your current benchmark, and work toward beating it. You can see your current WPM, your mistake percentage, and your overall speed. You can also compare yourself to averages, and against your own previous scores. This is a great way to practice typing what you see on a screen, which helps you avoid looking at your hands. Two websites you can use to practice your speed are Typing Test, and 10FastFingers.

A soccer pitch is lit up at night, allowing the players to practice despite the late hour. Metaphor for long term practice to increase your typing speed
Photography by Matthew Henry

Short-term practice is an excellent tool, but you can also benefit from practice over long periods of time. Typing is just like any other skill, and that means there are efficient ways to do it to increase your output. Websites like TypingTest offer great activities you can play, as well as Typing Courses that you can take to teach you how and where to place your fingers for optimal output.

I have to admit, I don’t always have my fingers at the middle row and type from there. A lot of the time, my hands are speeding all over the place like the Energizer Bunny. It has always worked for me. It never occurred to me until I started taking the Typing Test Trainer course that there was a more efficient way to do it. Practice will get you very far in life, but if you’re practicing a bad habit, you’re only reinforcing methods that harm you in the long run. Learning how to do this properly will increase your efficiency and boost productivity over time.

A young woman is about to write something very inspiring in her notebook using a white feather quill.
Photography by Samantha Hurley

Dictation  practice is especially useful for transcriptionists but it can be a helpful tool for anyone. People speak a lot faster than they type. That means, when you are trying to take down audio, getting full sentences can be tricky. A famous quote (with many attributed authors) is, “If you want to be the best, you have to beat the best.” This sounds redundant, but it is helpful. If you know you are going to be competing with the speed of a person’s voice, the best way to get faster is to practice with the speed of a person’s voice. You can’t win a foot race if you’re training for a boxing match.

There are a few websites you can use to practice, and the choice you make is entirely dependent on your needs. Websites like GoTranscript are a great way to practice if you like the audio to stop whenever you begin typing. This is personally not a method I enjoy, as I feel like it doesn’t appropriately test or practice my skills.

You can also find websites like Listen and Write, where you can type without the audio stops. However, unless you are using a third-party app to transcribe (such as a Google Doc or Microsoft Word) you can’t see the transcript as you type it.

The method I use is just to watch television shows, and movies, or listen to songs and try to write down the audio as quickly as I hear it. People in the media speak faster than an average talking pace, so it is a great way to build your adaptability. This feels less like training for a boxing match when I want to win a race, and more like training to beat Usain Bolt when my competitors are the local neighborhood kids.

I’m sorry if you wanted a quick and easy route. But the main way to get better at any skill is practice. Whether you practice in bite-size pieces, or you take on longer practice schedules, the only way for you to truly increase your speed and ability is to put the time into practicing.

I hope you liked this week’s post! If you did, make sure to leave a comment down below and check back for a new post on the Next Step Scopist blog!

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