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How to Get from 40 to 60 WPM

This particular jump has one usual cause and one usual fix. Six to ten weeks, if you do the uncomfortable part.

Speed4 min read
In this guide
  1. Why you are stuck at 40
  2. The plan
  3. What moves the number, ranked
  4. Measuring it properly
  5. Common questions

Forty to sixty is the most common improvement anyone asks for, and it is very achievable — six to ten weeks for most people at 15–20 minutes a day.

It is also the jump where the obvious approach fails. Typing more at 40 WPM produces a very well-practised 40 WPM.

Why you are stuck at 40

Almost everyone parked at 40 is there for one of two reasons. Work out which before doing anything else.

1. You still look at the keyboard

This is the ceiling of the technique, not of your ability. Eyes that check your hands cannot read ahead, so your fingers wait between words. It caps people at 40–50 no matter how much they practise.

If this is you, nothing else on this page matters yet. Fix it first — it is worth 15–25 WPM on its own, and everything below assumes it is done: how to stop looking at the keyboard.

2. Your accuracy is under 95%

You are fast in bursts and spend the rest of the time reversing. Every mistake costs about five keystrokes, so a 92% run is quietly a 50 WPM run wearing a 60 WPM hat.

Check the accuracy number on your next test. If it is below 95, that is the whole problem — accuracy vs speed.

The plan

Fifteen minutes a day. Daily matters more than long — motor skills consolidate between sessions, not during them.

Weeks 1–2: stop looking, accept being slower

Cover your hands with a cloth every session. Your speed will drop to 25–30 and it will feel like going backwards.

It is not. You are replacing a habit, and the replacement is temporarily worse than the thing it replaces. This is where nearly everyone quits. Two weeks.

Weeks 3–4: accuracy only, ignore speed

Type at roughly 70% of comfortable pace with one rule: 98% accuracy or the run does not count.

You should be back around 40 WPM by now, but a cleaner 40 — one that can actually be built on.

Weeks 5–6: fix your specific mistakes

The highest-value fortnight, and the part almost everyone skips.

Type slowly and notice where you hesitate — not where you make errors, where you pause. Most people find five or six troublesome transitions doing most of the damage, usually involving the little fingers.

Drill those words and letter pairs for five minutes, then type normally for ten. Expect 45–50 WPM.

Weeks 7–10: push the edge

Now chase speed, with a rule: push until accuracy drops below 95%, then ease off and hold just under that line.

Alternate one fast run with one careful run. That boundary moves outward on its own — chasing it is what improvement actually is.

What moves the number, ranked

ChangeWorth
Not looking at the keyboard15–25 WPM
Accuracy from 92% to 98%5–15 WPM
Fixing your 5–6 weak transitions3–8 WPM
Even rhythm instead of bursts3–7 WPM
A better keyboard0–5 WPM

The order matters more than the list. The last row is where people start and it is worth the least — the honest version is in mechanical vs membrane.

Measuring it properly

Test once a week, not daily. Same length, same time of day, same keyboard. Daily testing shows you noise — normal variation is 5–10 WPM, which is larger than a good week of progress.

Track the average of three runs, not your best. A personal best is a lucky sample and will not repeat when you want it to.

Write the number down. Memory is generous about good runs and forgetful about bad ones.

Take a baseline test now before you start, or in ten weeks you will not be able to tell whether any of this worked.

Prefer practice that does not feel like practice? The games train the not-looking part better than drills do, because your attention is on the game and your hands are left to get on with it.

Common questions

How long does it take to go from 40 to 60 WPM?
Six to ten weeks for most people at 15 to 20 minutes of daily practice, provided the practice targets the actual cause rather than being more typing at the current speed.
Why am I stuck at 40 WPM?
Almost always one of two things: you still glance at the keyboard, which caps the technique at 40 to 50 WPM, or your accuracy is under 95% so you spend much of your time correcting. Check both before changing anything else.
Will typing more every day get me from 40 to 60 WPM?
No. Repeating comfortable typing at 40 WPM produces a well-practised 40 WPM. Improvement needs practice slightly beyond your current control — not looking down, holding higher accuracy, and drilling the specific transitions where you hesitate.

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