[random] Typing speed

[wispfox]

Because I was randomly curious...

I took one of the many online typing speed tests (which test how quickly and accurately you type what they have you reading from, and therefore doesn't show how fast you type things from the inside of your head), and was informed that my speed is 88 WPM with 1 mistake (adjusted speed 87 WPM). The mistake, I am amused to note, is that I replaced 'through' with 'throughout'. Oops. :) Oddly, I think it feels less wrong to use the word I used, which might be why I did it without noticing.

(Interstingly, doing it a second time with a different paragraph - thinking that I was doing worse - I did 70 WPM, with no mistakes)

I have, I note, no idea what 'normal' typing speed is. And I bet the speed at which I read modifies things, somewhat.

La!

Comments

[moominmolly.livejournal.com]

Huh -- 112 wpm, with one mistake. I wrote "orjust" rather than "or just". I, uh, didn't realize I was that fast.

[wispfox.livejournal.com]

That?

That is terrifying. :)

[moominmolly.livejournal.com]

The thing that creeps people out is the buffer I keep in my head. I think so much faster than that that my brain will be a sentence or two ahead of my fingers, at least - so if someone comes up behind me and asks me a question while I'm typing, then my instinct is to turn my head and enter a conversation with them while my fingers type out the rest of the buffer so that my hands can finish the thought that my brain's already moved away from. :)

I've had to train myself out of doing this with people who don't know me well.

[wispfox.livejournal.com]

I can sometimes do this, depending on how clearly I knew what I was about to type, but usually I have enough trouble with typing and talking at the same time that I have to ask them to wait. I don't, however, necessarily need to be looking at the keyboard while I finish my sentence.

[underwatercolor.livejournal.com]

That's very cool. :)

[moominmolly.livejournal.com]

Hee hee, thanks! If I think about it directly, I can't do it anymore. It's like running off a cliff in a cartoon.

[jasra]

I do that as well.

[szasz.livejournal.com]

I got 96 wpm, with what it called two mistakes, but it was really one. I turned "cried" into "c ried" and it called that one mistake plus one extra word. I used to be up over a hundred, back when I was doing a lot more writing than I do now. Also, this is on a laptop keyboard.

One semester of "personal typing" was one of the most useful classes I took in high school. Such fond memories of IBM Selectrics!

[moominmolly.livejournal.com]

It's actually worth noting that I did this on the Thinkpad that I use more often than any other computer. Whichever keyboard I'm using the most is the easiest one to use, whether it's huge or tiny; switching keyboards will inevitably slow me down. I'd guess that if you put me on an unfamiliar keyboard, it would be 90 - 100.

I had a summer job taking medical dictation on an IBM Selectric. Foot pedal controls on a dictaphone! It was such wonderful and mindless work, and I kept getting to write down fun long medical words. Best summer job ever. Well, best menial summer job ever.

[moominmolly.livejournal.com]

Oh, man, and on split keyboards I go waaaay down. Bleah. I wonder how far?

[szasz.livejournal.com]

Ugh, I HATE split keyboards. Especicially the @#%@#%! Microsoft one that puts the '6' on the WRONG SIDE. How could they make a mistake like that??!

[moominmolly.livejournal.com]

NnnnNNNAAGH! I HATE that.

I took a couple of weeks of typing when I was in 8th grade, so I'm not sure I split it up "properly", but there's at least one key (maybe 2, including the 6) on those Microsoft keyboards that is on the wrong side for me and it FREAKS ME OUT.

I'm curious about how much I use tactile feedback, now. I'm pretty sure it's very important to me, but I can't actually feel myself doing it while I type.

[szasz.livejournal.com]

I should try it on my Touchstream. As a touch typist, it's frustrating that I never, ever, got all my typing speed back on it, no matter how much experience I have on it. I wonder if there's something about tactile feedback that's essential to touch typing. But I'd like to know just how much the degradation is. It's especially bad typing things like IP addresses, since the Touchstream's built-in heuristics of "what key did he ACTUALLY mean" don't work.

[szasz.livejournal.com]

Wow. 91 wpm on my Touchstream again with one mistake. The difference in speed isn't as bad as I thought. Although the mistake was in punctuation, which underscores how hard it is to type on this thing on long reaches. Especially up to the digits or over to the right for the punctuation. The whole thing is designed to minimize that, but you can't get around it completely. Digits especially.

But still, I'm encouraged.