What is a good typing accuracy?

For learning, you should aim for 95% or higher. For professional jobs, 98-100% accuracy is often required. Accuracy is always more important than speed.

How do I stop making so many typing errors?

Slow down. Most errors happen because you are trying to type faster than your fingers are trained for. Focus on a steady rhythm and perfect keystrokes. Speed is the result of perfect accuracy, not the other way around.

Does using the backspace key affect my WPM?

Yes. Hitting backspace wastes time. It's a key you pressed that didn't move the text forward. A typist who types 40 WPM with no errors is much faster than a typist who types 60 WPM but has to hit backspace 20 times.

Typing Accuracy: The Real Secret to Getting Fast

When you start learning to type, you see one big number: WPM (Words Per Minute). It is exciting to watch it go up. But there is another number that is far more important: Accuracy %. This number is the real secret to unlocking high speeds. This guide will explain why accuracy is the one and only thing you should focus on.

The golden rule of typing is this: You must slow down to get fast. This sounds crazy, but it is true. Rushing to get a high WPM score only teaches your fingers to be sloppy. You are practicing your mistakes. And a habit of making mistakes is very hard to break.

A typing test showing a 99% accuracy score

The Vicious Cycle of Low Accuracy

What happens when you focus on speed instead of accuracy? You fall into a trap. It looks like this:

You try to type as fast as you can.
Your fingers are not trained, so you hit the wrong key.
You see the red error. You panic.
You slam the Backspace key. This breaks your rhythm.
You try to speed up again to catch up.
You make another mistake.

This is a disaster. Every time you hit Backspace, you are "un-typing" a letter. Your WPM score plummets. A typist who types 40 WPM with 100% accuracy is much faster than a typist who gets 60 WPM with 85% accuracy. The "fast" typist is spending all their time fixing errors.

Your New Goal: 95% Accuracy or Higher

From now on, forget about WPM. Your one and only goal is to get 95% accuracy or higher on every test. If you take a test and get 92% accuracy, you were typing too fast. Slow down. If you get 88%, you were typing way too fast. Go at a snail's pace if you have to. Your fingers must learn the correct path to each key. This is called muscle memory.

Speed is the reward you get for being accurate. When your fingers know the correct path perfectly, they will start to move faster all by themselves. You will not even have to try. It will just happen. Accuracy is the cause. Speed is the effect.

Practice Typing With Perfect Accuracy

Let's try a test. The paragraph below is simple. Do not try to be fast. Try to be perfect. Your goal is to type the entire thing with 100% accuracy. Go as slow as you need to. Click "Start" when you are ready.

Focus on one letter at a time. The key to speed is to stop making errors. A clean, perfect sentence is always faster than a rushed, messy one. Slow down. Find your rhythm. Let your fingers learn.

WPM: 0

CPM: 0

Accuracy: 100%

Time: 60s

How to Fix Your Common Errors

Are you always typing 'teh' instead of 'the'? Or 'adn' instead of 'and'? These are called "transposition" errors. They happen when your fingers are moving at different speeds. One finger is faster than the other.

The only way to fix this is to use targeted drills. Go to our Exercises & Routines page. Find the "Common Word Drills." Then, type `the the the the the` over and over. Slowly. Perfectly. This re-trains your brain and fingers to use the correct pattern.

Do not let yourself get frustrated. Every typist, even those at 120 WPM, started out slow. They got fast because they were patient. They focused on accuracy. You can do the same.