Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

For those fast typists out there.....

J

jc0481

macrumors regular
Original poster
Mar 16, 2005
228
0
Hello there! Well first of all I type about 55 wpm. I am aiming to type around the 70-80 wpm mark. Knowing to type fast would be beneficial currently in school and any job opportunities out there. I saw a medical transcriptionist position out on the job market and you have to type at least 70 wpm with 95% accuracy.

It got me thinking and what better way to ask than fellow mac users on macrumors website. How do you essentially get faster at typing? People have told me before to isolate the keys that give me the most trouble and practice more on those certain keys. But how do you know which ones give you the most problems and how long should I practice each day overall?

When I go to typingtest.com. I received a score of 58 wpm and 94% accuracy. That was my last score by the way. I do have Mavis Beacon 17 and Master Key for the mac by the way. Are these programs enough or should I practice with something else either online typing course or a software program? My last question is how did you get faster at typing and how long did you practice? Any help would be appreciated. Thanks

JC0481
 
So personally, I pecked until 9th grade when I had to take a keyboarding class in school. Basically, every day, 5 days a week, for a semester, we had to type, type, type (then also learn how to, I don't know, format a letter and stuff). Anyway, my typing speed increased dramatically and I of course spend hours every day typing for various reasons. Last time I took one of those speed tests, I got something like 120 wpm with accuracy in the mid to high 90s, so I would say it's all about practice practice, practice. I don't know about isolating the letters that are giving you trouble, though that sounds like good sense.
 
GimmeSlack12 said:
Instant Message, lots and lots of Instant Messenging.
EDIT: I got 85 wpm w/95% :D
Click to expand...

Absolutely. I knew how to type in fifth grade, but the only reason I type as fast as I do now is because I spent that summer instant messaging.

There is nothing like the constant replying of messages with someone, plus emoticons, to get you to puck up your typing speed.

Definitely recommended.
 
72 wpm 1st try and 92 the second try. Then I switched stories and scored 91. I suck. :(
 
GimmeSlack12 said:
Instant Message, lots and lots of Instant Messenging.
EDIT: I got 85 wpm w/95% :D
Click to expand...

d_and_n5000 said:
Absolutely. I knew how to type in fifth grade, but the only reason I type as fast as I do now is because I spent that summer instant messaging.

There is nothing like the constant replying of messages with someone, plus emoticons, to get you to puck up your typing speed.

Definitely recommended.
Click to expand...

Add me to that list. I took a typing class in high school, but never really had much speed until I started instant messaging people 5 years later. IM is solely responsible for me being able to touch type.
 
I got 79WPM gross speed and 97% accuracy. What is funny is that the first time through the Zebra one, I missed the very first line and started on the second line (without noticing), so I got 0% accuracy :D but I made up for it my second time I think. As for getting faster at typing, I think I did so mostly by playing Runescape for about 2 years. Typing messages to other players in game can be compared to IMing. Both will suffice :eek:
 
My speed varies. That test gave me a 68 whereas other places will give me a 97.

I don't know what else to say to you except...practice?
 
Instant Messaging is good practice, but only if you know how to spell and avoid acronyms. The acronyms are useless in a real-life setting and bad spelling will kill your accuracy. I also honed my skills playing Multi-User Dungeons and later Massively Multiplayer Online games.
 
I took typing in Grade 9 and it was the smartest thing I ever did. We had a tiny little wisp of a Japanese typing teacher, Mrs Karu, who would walk up and down the aisles in class with a little stick, and heaven help you if she caught your fingers off the "home keys". That was back the day when an IBM Selectric was state-of-the-art. Anyway, I think little Mrs. Karu did a fairly good job with me (for a first effort.....)
 

Attachments

  • TypingTest.jpg
    TypingTest.jpg
    26.8 KB · Views: 709
theLimit said:
Instant Messaging is good practice, but only if you know how to spell and avoid acronyms. The acronyms are useless in a real-life setting and bad spelling will kill your accuracy. I also honed my skills playing Multi-User Dungeons and later Massively Multiplayer Online games.
Click to expand...

I kind of disagree about the acronyms. The point of IMing is to become really really fast and accurate... and if you can type LOL WTF M8 in 1 second flat, then you are in good shape :p But I do agree that eventually one must move up to typing.... actual words!! :eek: :D
 
I took typing in HS thinking as a boy with mostly girls in a typing class I could clean up on dates. However, I was one of only two boys in class so the girls thought we were nerds and didn't get any dates but most useful course from HS. We had old manual typewriters so built up finger strength.

No dates but the only two boys in typing class, broke the stereotypes because I was the fastest typist in class.

How to get faster? Never look at the keys and see if you can find the book of practice pages such as the "quick brown fox" or something with the word zephr in it along with the zebra and other animals I still don't know, "As the zephr waxed xenophobically; the blue aardvark jumped over the quick brown fox {the zephr was a ubiquitous presence along with the wombat}.

Lastly, don't get the nice new aluminum keyboard but still see if you can get the white Apple keyboard. I know very few touch typists that are comfortable with the new keyboard...at least the xenophobic quick brown fox doesn't like the new keyboard and he/it is a very fast typist indeed.
 
It seems that I am a slower and less accurate copy-typist than the OP. However, unless you want to specifically go into typing I don't think that it will hold you back. I work as a software consultant and my typing is fairly slow and inaccurate. I just have to proof read :D
 
I think the way to get faster as touch typing is by doing it, and by touch typing properly. Maintain proper hand positions and no looking at your hands while you type.

I think it's OK to peek if you are going to type the special symbols above the digits, like % and &, since you don't use them that often, but make sure you watch the screen, not the keyboard, as you type letters.
 
Practice, Practice, Practice...

I learned to type in the Air Force and couldn't type a word when I went in but slowly learned and for me, the more I typed the faster I got. Granted, this was all on a "real" typewriter not a keyboard--but the principal is the same. I don't really think there is any easy way to increase speed other than to work at it. I guess my speed is somewhere around 100 wpm.
 
I type about 90 WPM with good accuracy. I got there by playing a lot of Diablo II: LOD. I think that's the best way because you are constantly typing throughout the game (online of course). If you don't play games, chatting puts a lot of time in.
 
Gargh...i was thrown off by the American spellings! *blame blame* :p

you'd think i'd be used to it by having to type 'rumors' so often now...
 
I touch type, but I get around 70 wpm. However, I'll get something like 98-100% accuracy if I were to type like that.

Funny thing is that I did NOT take a typing class of any sort. I just decided one day that I was going to start typing without looking, and I painfully taught myself for 2 or 3 days. That was it.

Funny thing is that I was trying to figure out the best hand position. There's these 2 marks on keys "F" and "J" that you're suppose to keep your index fingers on, but I didn't know that until my 1st or 2nd year at uni. I've always kept my index fingers on "F" and "H" (i.e.: my right hand is off the proper hand position by one key). I'm so used to the way I do it now that I don't think I'm going to relearn how to type again. :eek:
 
32 wpm, 75% accuracy. That'll teach me for doing this when I'm tired, hungry and losing my vision :D
 
i also took a keyboarding class in high school and learned to touch type from that. but i was paranoid about being able to remember the key positions, and i started practicing even when i wasn't near a keyboard - i would think of a sentence and try to type it out using my hands. i wouldn't try to pretend there was a keyboard in front of me, but i would just move my fingers wherever they happened to be. quite odd, i know. :eek: this habit persists to this day so that if i have a word stuck in my head or if i'm thinking hard about something, i'll type it out. my husband tells me almost daily to stop typing on him when i'm holding his hand or hugging him.

at any rate, i would recommend some practice like that, but not to the strange degree to which i've taken it... :D
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back