Typing Skills

Typing speed and accuracy is an important skill for any job that includes administration.  In this section we look at ways you can assess your typing speed, and give tips and advice on how you can improve it.

What is a good typing speed?

In order to meet an employer's expectations and get your work completed in a timely manner, you should aim for at least an intermediate typing speed.  

Click on the link below to show the different typing speeds and levels.  Is your typing speed fast enough?

Learning to Type

There are many programmes designed to give you the opportunity to learn how to type properly and practise your skills through games and typing tests.  You can use these at job club or at home, but the more you practise, the better you will become.

Click on the links below which are all free to use:

There are many websites that can help you learn how to type, if you would like some help finding the one that suits your needs best, please speak to your Employment Coordinator or a member of job club staff. 

Improve your typing speed

Now you know how to type properly, try focusing on ways you can improve your typing speed and accuracy.  Some ways you could do this include:

• Write a diary in Microsoft Word
• Copy-type a page from a book or script each day
• Send emails or compose letters on a computer
• Write a story in Word
• Create different CV formats
• Listen to a podcast and type what you hear

Remember, try to do a mixture of the above tasks to improve different types of skill.  It can be much quicker and easier to type your own diary or story as you know what you want to say and this doesn't need as much formatting.  But, it may take you a lot longer to copy something from another source or produce a letter using a professional business template.

Having a range of typing skills and being able to work at a good speed for all of them can be important in a job role.    

Assess your skills

A good way of checking that your hard work practising is paying off is to regularly assess your typing skills progress, including your speed and accuracy. 

One way of checking your speed is to set a timer for 20 minutes, type as much as you can while the timer is active, then check how many words you have written.  If you divide the total number of words by 20 this will show your words per minute. 

To check your speed and accuracy you could also use online programmes, such as the ones below:

Are there any other ways you can think of to improve your typing speed?  Speak with your Employment Coordinator if you wish to make typing skills one of your Employment Action Plan goals, or if you wish to use job club as time to work and focus on this.