Typing lessons

Touch typing lessons, in the order that works

Keyboard skills are learned in one direction: outward from the home row. Ten lessons add one finger group at a time, each with its own drill, an on-screen keyboard and a hand guide that names the finger before you press the key. Work through the order once and the keyboard stops being something you look at.

The ten lessons

Every lesson builds on the one before it. Each drill tracks its own accuracy, saves its own progress and unlocks the next lesson when you pass it.

Lesson 1
Accuracy drill
The home row
a s d f · j k l ;
Type the line with the home-row keys only. Rest your fingers on a s d f and j k l ;, watch the keyboard guide, and return each finger home after every reach.
Pass at 96% accuracy
Lesson 2
Accuracy drill
Index fingers
f g r t v b · j h u y n m
Type the line using the index fingers. Keep the other fingers resting on their home keys and return to F and J after each reach.
Pass at 95% accuracy
Lesson 3
Accuracy drill
Middle fingers
d e c · k i ,
Type the line with the middle fingers. Keep the wrists still and let the finger move alone.
Pass at 95% accuracy
Lesson 4
Accuracy drill
Ring fingers
s w x · l o .
Type the line with the ring fingers. Slow down enough that the correct finger does the work.
Pass at 94% accuracy
Lesson 5
Accuracy drill
Little fingers
a q z · ; p /
Type the line with the little fingers. Keep the hand relaxed, use the fingertip, and take the Shift only when the guide asks for it.
Pass at 94% accuracy
Lesson 6
Accuracy drill
Upper row
q w e r t y u i o p
Type the upper-row drill. Reach with one finger, return to the home row, then type the next character.
Pass at 93% accuracy
Lesson 7
Accuracy drill
Lower row
z x c v b n m · , . /
Type the lower-row drill. Curl the fingers under the hand and keep the palm still.
Pass at 93% accuracy
Lesson 8
Accuracy drill
Capitals and Shift
Shift + letters
Type the sentences, holding Shift with the hand opposite each capital. Release Shift as soon as the letter is typed.
Pass at 92% accuracy
Lesson 9
Accuracy drill
Numbers and punctuation
1–0 · ! @ # $ % & * ( ) ?
Type the numbers and symbols. Use the finger for the digit and the opposite-hand Shift for each symbol.
Pass at 90% accuracy
Lesson 10
60s timed
Mixed practice
all keys · 60 seconds
Type the paragraph for 60 seconds. You need 90% accuracy and at least 120 characters to pass. Pause any time; the pause is not counted.
Pass at 90% accuracy with at least 120 characters

How progress works

Each lesson keeps three things on this device: whether it is not started, in progress, completed or skipped; the best accuracy you have reached; and the best net WPM, for lessons where speed is measured. A passing run marks the lesson complete and unlocks the next one.

An unfinished attempt is saved too. If you reload the page — or come back within a week — the text you had typed, the time on the clock and your raw keystroke counters are restored, and the drill reopens paused so the time it took to read the page is not counted against you.

Restarting clears only the lesson you are on. Best accuracy, completion and the other lessons are left alone.

How to work through the lessons

Look at the keyboard while you learn, then stop looking. The first few repetitions of a new key should be deliberate. The moment you stop looking is the moment the skill starts forming, so the goal is to get there quickly and then stay there.
Say the finger assignment out loud as you type. "Index finger, home row" for F. It sounds ridiculous and it works, because the assignment is the part people forget. The hand guide on every lesson page names the finger for you.
Return to the home row after every reach. Deliberately, at first. Exaggerated returns build the habit faster than the speed they cost you.
Type slowly enough to be accurate. Speed arrives on its own once the positions are right. Rushing the early lessons is the most common reason people are still hunting and pecking a year later.
Stop when your accuracy falls. A session that ends while you are still making mistakes teaches the mistakes. Finish on a clean run instead.

How the numbers are calculated

The lessons use four formulas, and none of them can divide by zero. Here is exactly what each number means.

Four numbers come out of a run, and they answer different questions. Speed asks how fast you typed; accuracy asks how much of it was right; keystroke accuracy also counts the mistakes you corrected. The lesson studio never mixes them up.

Gross WPM: (characters ÷ 5) ÷ minutesEvery five characters count as one standard word, so 300 characters in one minute is 60 gross WPM. This is the raw speed of the hands, before mistakes are taken off.
Net WPM: ((characters − errors) ÷ 5) ÷ minutesThe same calculation with the wrong characters removed from the count. This is the number the lesson panel shows during a timed drill, and the one used for a personal best.
Character accuracy: ((characters − errors) ÷ characters) × 100The final state of the passage: a character that was wrong and then fixed with Backspace is correct again, so it does not count against character accuracy. Characters still wrong when the run ends do. A lesson passes or fails on this number.
Keystroke accuracy: (correct keystrokes ÷ all keystrokes) × 100Every character you press, including the ones you delete again, so this is the stricter measure: a run that was corrected five times can be 100% character-accurate and still below 100% keystroke accuracy. The per-key analysis uses the same raw keystrokes.

Time starts on the first keystroke. Reading the passage before you begin is free, and an empty run never divides by zero: speed is reported as0 rather thanNaN orInfinity.

Paused time is removed. While a drill is paused the clock stops, and the paused milliseconds are subtracted from the minutes in every formula. Pausing cannot inflate a WPM, and resuming does not throw away the text you had already typed.

Short drills do not show live speed. A 100-character sequence is not a speed measurement, so lessons 1–9 show elapsed time and accuracy while you type, then report net WPM once the passage is finished. Lesson 10 is the timed 60-second paragraph, so it shows live WPM.

Where to go once the lessons are done

When the whole keyboard is familiar, the remaining gains come from reading ahead and from accuracy, not from knowing where the keys are. At that point thetyping test becomes the training tool, and thepractice drillslet you aim at the parts that are still slow. Theper-key analysisshows which keys and fingers are costing you the most time.

Frequently asked questions

Questions about the typing lessons.

Should I start with the home row lesson?

Yes. Every other key on the keyboard is reached by moving one finger away from the home row, so the home row is the reference position for the whole keyboard. Learners who skip it spend much longer on every later lesson because they have to find each key from scratch.

How long should I spend on each lesson?

Ten to fifteen minutes per lesson is enough. The useful measure is not time but accuracy: move on when you can type the lesson material without looking at the keyboard and with fewer than three errors per line.

Do I need to do these lessons in order?

The order matters, but only because of the dependencies. The upper row is much harder without a solid home row, and the number row is harder before the fingers know their columns. If you already type without looking, start at whichever lesson your hands are weakest on.

What happens if I skip a lesson?

Skipping unlocks the next lesson, but the lesson is recorded as skipped rather than completed, so the curriculum stays honest about what you have practised. You can return to it at any time and a passing run will mark it complete.

Does my progress carry over to another device?

No. keysprint has no accounts and no sign-in, so lesson progress, best accuracy and an unfinished attempt are stored only in your browser on this device. Clearing site data removes them.

Is there a certificate at the end?

No, and a certificate would not mean much here. The real certificate is a typing speed and accuracy you can reproduce on any day, which is exactly what the typing test measures.