Practice drill

Number typing practice

Figures, dates, quantities and prices, typed from the number row rather than the number pad. This drill is not about raw speed; it is about making the longest reach on the keyboard feel like a short one.

Number drill

Click Start Test to reveal the figures. The timer starts when you type your first character, and you get the same speed and accuracy breakdown as every other test on the site.

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Click Start Test to reveal the passage. The timer starts when you type your first character.

Start Test opens the test in focus mode; the timer starts when you type your first character. Backspace fixes a mistake, and Esc or Exit leaves full screen without stopping the test.

Why the number row deserves its own drill

Everything else on the keyboard is a short move from the home row. The number row is not.

On a standard keyboard the number row sits a full key height above the home row, and reaching it means lifting a finger off its resting place, travelling, and coming back. That is a different movement from anything else you do, and because numbers appear far less often than letters, the movement never gets enough repetition to become automatic.

The result is a familiar pattern: typing a paragraph is smooth, and then a price or a date makes you slow down and look at the keyboard. Nothing is wrong with your technique. The reach simply has not been practised, and a short daily drill is what fixes it.

There is a secondary benefit. The number row shares the fingers of the top letter row, so the same reach that makes the numbers quicker also makes Q, W and E quicker. Many people find their general speed improves once the numbers stop being a problem.

How to type figures without slowing down

Group the digits. Read "4729" as "47 29" rather than four separate numbers. Longer runs become two or three small groups instead of one long sequence.
Break dates into three parts. Day, month, year. Type them as three movements and the whole string stops being one thing you have to hold in your head.
Reach with the right finger and come straight back. The finger returns to its home key immediately after the number, ready for the next one. Leaving it up on the number row is what makes a run of digits feel heavy.
Press shift a moment early. For a capital or a symbol, start the shift slightly before the letter rather than at the same instant. It feels wrong and it is faster.
Do not rest your hand on the number row. Anchoring the hand helps for one reach and makes the next one worse.

Which figures come up most often

Useful drills rehearse the material you actually type. For most people that is a short list, and it is worth practising those specifically rather than random digits.

What you type	Why it is awkward
Dates	Several groups in a row, often with slashes or dashes, and no pattern to lean on.
Money	Needs the decimal point, which is next to the shift key, and often a currency symbol before the number.
Phone numbers	Long unbroken runs, which are where a mistake in the middle is hardest to spot.
Percentages and codes	Two or three symbols in a row, so the shift key becomes part of the movement rather than a separate action.

Type each of those rows a few times before you move on. The number row is also the reach that thepunctuation drill relies on, so this one feeds into the other.

Next steps

When the number row stops being the slow part, move on to thepunctuation drill, which is the other half of the same reach. Or go straight to a normaltyping test to see what the number work has done for your overall speed.

Frequently asked questions

Questions about number typing practice.

Why are numbers so much slower than letters?

Because the number row is the longest reach on the keyboard, and because numbers are grouped in ways that are hard to predict. Typing "one two three" is easy because the digits are in order. Typing "4729" asks you to make four separate long reaches with no pattern to lean on, and each one costs a moment.

Do I need to look at the number pad?

No. The number row is the target here, because that is what most typing actually involves. The number pad on the right is a separate block with its own awkward reach, and learning it is a project of its own. If your work is heavy on spreadsheets, a separate numpad drill would be worth building, but it is not what this page trains.

How do I get faster at typing dates?

Stop thinking of a date as a single unit. Break it into the groups you actually type: the day, the month, the year. Most people who struggle with dates are trying to hold a whole string in their head at once and then type it in one movement, which does not work. Type it in three movements.

Is the shift key the hard part?

For capitals and symbols, yes, and the shift key is a common source of hesitation. Practise the movement on its own: reach for the key with the opposite hand, press it slightly before the letter rather than at the same time, and release it immediately afterwards. The small delay is worth it.

Should the number drill affect my overall typing speed?

Very little, and that is fine. The number drill is not a speed test, it is a reach test. Its value shows up in the accuracy of figures you type every day, and in the top row reach, which helps your general typing more than the drill score itself suggests.