Typing accuracy and speed are two different things. You can type very fast but have a document that is full of errors, and you can type with zero errors but spend a lot of time finishing it. The key to typing efficiency is to succeed at both, but it is easier to learn to type faster if you have your accuracy game on point.
Learn how to improve typing accuracy by trying these tips, tools, and techniques.
Techniques to Improve Typing Accuracy
Your hand, body position, and environment are important to ensure that you type seamlessly. Here are some typing tips and techniques that can help you achieve and maintain efficiency.
1. Master the home position.
Proper hand placement matters to keyboard mastery, and making a habit of always starting at the home position is an excellent start. On a QWERTY keyboard, this means that your left hand will be over the A, S, D, and F keys, your right hand will be over the J, K, L, and ; symbols, and your thumbs will be hovering above the space bar. From this position, you can easily stretch and move your fingers to reach all the neighboring keys. Just be sure to always go back to the starting position each time.
2. Maintain proper posture.
Your posture will make it easier for you to type faster and more accurately. This means keeping your back straight, feet planted on the ground, elbows bent at a 90-degree angle, and your eyes level with your screen. Slouching will make it difficult for you to achieve a good home position and will, later on, become a painful distraction. Move to a desk and use a straight-backed chair as much as possible.
3. Don't look down.
Learning how to increase typing efficiency means keeping your movements to a minimum, and this includes stopping yourself from looking at the keyboard every few seconds. This technique is related to mastery of the home position, also referred to as touch typing. Two tricks that can help improve typing accuracy while training yourself to not look down are 1) placing a sheet of paper on top of your hands as you type and 2) covering the letters on the keys themselves with a keyboard cover or solid tape so they appear blank.
4. Work in the optimal location.
How to increase typing accuracy? Make sure that you’re working in an environment that allows your hands and mind to work together seamlessly. Stay in a place that is free from distractions and has all the tools and documents you need within reach so you don’t have to keep breaking your focus.
Now that we've touched on body mechanics to help improve your typing accuracy, let's check out some of the helpful tools you can use to take your speed and accuracy to the next level.
Tools to Improve Typing Accuracy
Here are some of our favorite tools to help you improve your typing skills.
1. Lightkey
Lightkey is an AI-powered predictive typing, spelling, and grammar correction software, offering real-time, inline text prediction in any Windows desktop application. It supports 85 languages and can predict as many as 12 words, including punctuation marks.
With its proprietary ability to craft accurate and personalized messages, it is a preferred tool for writing emails, presentations, documents, papers, and more. It is designed to offer relevant predictions, ranging from casual to professional to academic to scientific. This enables the software to present more accurate recommendations based on themes and typing patterns.
Even with all the impressive text prediction and accuracy features that Lightkey offers, what makes it even more special is that it is suitable for typists of all skill levels. The software itself is scalable and grows with you as you enhance your keyboard skills and it becomes more familiar with your typing patterns.
2. Touch-typing Games
Typing.com lets you check your typing prowess through games, short practice sessions, and tests. One of our favorites is Keyboard Ninja! It mainly tests your speed, but the tests also collect information about your common errors and weak points and recommend which exercises you can perform next to improve your skills. You can use this tool to train for blind typing, tricky spellings, and professional text in easy, medium, and difficult levels.
3. Google Smart Compose
Google has a great built-in predictive typing tool for Gmail called Smart Compose. This tool lets you create personalized emails faster and suggests relevant word recommendations as you type. Google's prediction engine suggests public-trending phrases to help you type accurately faster.
Boost Typing Efficiency with Lightkey
Typing accuracy and speed go hand-in-hand in keeping your productivity and typing quality high. By employing the right techniques and using the right tools, you can elevate your efficiency to a whole new level.
Lightkey has helped many users to improve typing accuracy and speed in many ways, and the team continues to develop its AI system to help users generate the most relevant content.
Contact Lightkey to learn more about how to improve typing accuracy and speed, or sign up to any of the paid plans and enjoy what the software has to offer.