A free typing test is a great way to measure how good your typing skills are right now, as well as find areas where you need improvement.
Just like going to the doctor will tell you how good your health is right now, taking a typing test online will tell you how good (or bad) your typing is at the moment. And in today’s world, with computer skills becoming ever more critical, being good at typing is virtually required for one and all.
Typing tests can evaluate your skills in two primary areas: speed and accuracy.
Let’s talk about typing speed first. Your typing speed is measured in Words Per Minute (or WPM for short). A typing test will calculate how many words you can type in 60 seconds, on average. What are some of the benchmarks? 20WPM is low. With this score, it means you have a lot of improvement to do. 50WPM is pretty good, though you could still use some work if you want it. People that type professionally can often reach speeds of close to 200 WPM, but getting that good usually is unreachable and unneccessary for most of us mere mortals.
Next there’s typing accuracy. Your typing accuracy is measured as what percentage of words you type correctly. So if you type a report that’s 1000 pages long and you only spell 50% of them correctly, your accuracy score is 50%.
By now you’ve probably concluded that the best typists combine speed and accuracy, rather than just being good at one or the other. Why? Because your readers won't really care how fast you typed something if it has a bunch of embarrassing mistakes that make you look bad. Yes, everyone is tempted to type as fast as possible and it’s great to do it, you just can’t sacrifice your accuracy for it.
After you've discovered your current typing skill level, next you should take steps to improve it. There are many different ways you can accomplish that, but the best way is to get some good software.
Good typing software will work on breaking your bad typing habits, teaching you good habits to have, and then helping your practice those good habits over and over again with lessons that are helpful and yet interesting and fun too. As the old saying goes, practice makes perfect, so that’s really the key to everything here.
Whether you’re new to computers or you’ve used them for years, you can always get better with your typing. Hunt around for a good free typing test, figure out where your current skill level, and get to work improving it!
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