I Tracked My Typing Speed for 60 Days — Here's the Data

Why I Decided to Track Every Single Test

I've been typing for years. Done hundreds of typing tests. But I'd never actually tracked my results over time in any systematic way. I'd take a test, see a number, feel good or bad about it, and close the tab. Zero data. Zero insight into whether I was actually improving.

In late January 2026, after reading about how athletes track performance metrics obsessively, I thought — why don't typists do this? We have a perfect measurement tool. Every typing test gives you a clean, comparable number. WPM. Accuracy percentage. Time stamp. It's way easier to track than most athletic performance metrics.

So I made a deal with myself: 60 days straight, five typing tests every morning, everything logged. Same time of day (around 9:30 AM after coffee), same keyboard (Keychron K2 with brown switches), same test format (3-minute tests on TypingFastest), same sitting position at my desk.

I logged the date, each of my five WPM scores, the average, my accuracy percentage, and any notes — like if I tried a new technique, didn't sleep well, or switched something about my setup. By the end I had 300 individual typing test results across 60 days.

The patterns I found genuinely surprised me. My speed didn't improve in a straight line — not even close. And some of the factors that affected my WPM had nothing to do with typing.

The First 20 Days — Slower Progress Than I Expected

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My starting average (days 1-3) was 71.4 WPM with 95.8% accuracy. I'd been typing casually for years and figured I was roughly in the 70-75 range, so this checked out.

Days 1-7 were basically flat. 71. 72. 70. 73. 71. Nothing moved. I was just typing the way I'd always typed and expecting different results. Classic mistake.

On day 8, I changed my approach. Instead of just taking tests, I started doing 10 minutes of deliberate practice before my test set — specifically home row drills and common word patterns. My average bumped to 73.2 on day 9. Small, but it was the first real movement.

Days 10-15 were frustrating. I hovered between 72 and 74 WPM. Some days I'd hit 76 on one test and then drop to 69 on the next. The variance was maddening. I almost quit tracking on day 12 because it felt like the numbers were just random noise.

Then day 16 happened. I hit 78 WPM on my first test of the day and averaged 76.1 across all five. Something had shifted. Looking back at my notes, the only change I'd made was forcing myself to stop looking at the keyboard entirely — I'd taped a piece of paper over my hands on day 14 as an experiment and left it there. Two days of fully blind typing and suddenly I was 3 WPM faster.

By day 20, my running average was 74.8 WPM. A 3.4 WPM improvement in 20 days. Honestly, I was disappointed. I expected more dramatic progress. But the data was clear: improvement was happening, just slowly.

Days 21-40 — The Plateau and the Breakthrough

This is the phase that would have killed my motivation without the data.

Days 21-33 were a plateau. Thirteen straight days where my average bounced between 74 and 76 WPM. I couldn't crack 77 consistently no matter what I tried. I changed my warm-up routine. I practiced problem letters (my Q and Z were always slow). I tried typing with music, without music, with different chair heights.

Nothing worked. For almost two weeks. My spreadsheet showed a completely flat line.

I've since learned this is completely normal. There's research on motor learning that describes exactly this pattern — a concept called the "power law of practice". You improve quickly at first, then hit plateaus where your brain is consolidating the skills you've built before the next jump. The plateau isn't stagnation. It's preparation.

Knowing that didn't make it less annoying in the moment.

The breakthrough came on day 34. I'd been focusing exclusively on accuracy for the previous three days — deliberately typing at 60-65 WPM with 99%+ accuracy instead of pushing for speed. It felt painfully slow. But on day 34, when I went back to normal speed typing, I averaged 79.3 WPM. The next day, 80.1.

I'd broken 80. For the first time in my life. And the technique that got me there was — counterintuitively — going slower. The accuracy-first approach is something I'd read about in my WPM plateau article research, but experiencing it firsthand was something else entirely.

Days 35-40 consolidated the gain. My average settled at 79-81 WPM. The variance dropped too — my worst test in this range was 76, my best was 84. The spread tightened, which meant my baseline had genuinely shifted, not just my peak.

I also noticed something in the data I hadn't expected: my accuracy had jumped from 95.8% to 97.4% without me explicitly tracking it as a goal. The accuracy-focused practice days had a lasting effect.

Days 41-60 — What Changed and What Didn't

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The final 20 days were the most interesting analytically.

My WPM continued climbing but more slowly: 81.2 average for days 41-50, then 83.4 for days 51-60. That's about 0.2 WPM per day — barely noticeable session to session but clearly visible in the trend line.

A few specific observations from the data:

**Sleep mattered more than I expected.** On days where I logged less than 6 hours of sleep, my average dropped by 4-5 WPM. This was consistent and unmistakable in the data. Seven hours seemed to be the threshold — below that, my speed suffered. Above that, no additional benefit.

**Monday was my worst day.** My Monday averages were 2.3 WPM below my overall average. I think it's because I don't type as much over weekends, so Monday is basically a cold restart after a 48-hour break. By Tuesday I'd be back to normal.

**My best performances came in sets of 3.** Tests 2 and 3 in my daily set of five were consistently the fastest. Test 1 was a warm-up. Tests 4 and 5 showed slight fatigue — usually 1-2 WPM below my peak.

**The keyboard switch test.** On day 45, I used a different keyboard for one session (a friend's Logitech membrane board). My WPM dropped to 71 — essentially back to my day-1 level. It recovered to 74 by the end of that session. When I switched back to my Keychron the next day, I was immediately back at 82. Muscle memory is keyboard-specific. This matches what I've read about membrane vs mechanical keyboards — the keyboard matters, but so does consistency.

**Final numbers:** Day 1 average was 71.4 WPM. Day 60 average was 84.2 WPM. That's a 12.8 WPM improvement, or about 18%. My accuracy went from 95.8% to 97.6%.

If I'd just been taking random typing tests without tracking, I probably would have assumed I was stuck at 75ish the whole time. The data showed me otherwise — and more importantly, it showed me WHAT moved the needle (accuracy practice, consistent keyboard, sleep) and what didn't (changing warm-ups, different chair positions, ambient music).

How to Track Your Own Typing Speed (My Method)

If you want to try this yourself, here's the exact tracking setup I used. It's simple and you don't need anything fancy.

Create a spreadsheet with these columns: Date, Test 1, Test 2, Test 3, Test 4, Test 5, Average, Accuracy, Notes. That's it. I used Google Sheets so I could fill it in from my phone if needed.

Take your tests at the same time each day. Doesn't have to be morning — just consistent. I used TypingFastest practice mode set to 3-minute tests because the interface is clean and the word selection is randomized enough that you can't memorize passages.

Don't skip days if you can help it. Gaps in the data make it harder to see patterns. I missed 3 days out of 60 (two were due to travel, one I just forgot) and those gaps created small dips that took a day to recover from.

Log your accuracy even if you're focused on speed. My data showed that accuracy improvements PRECEDED speed improvements by about 3-5 days. So if your accuracy ticks up from 95% to 97%, expect a WPM bump within a week.

Write notes when something feels different. "Tired today," "tried new posture," "cold room." These notes were invaluable when I looked back at dips and spikes in the data. Almost every anomaly had an explanation in the notes.

Set a reasonable goal. I didn't start with "I want to hit 85 WPM." I started with "I want to understand my typing patterns." The improvement happened naturally once I had visibility into what was and wasn't working.

Check your progress on the leaderboard periodically too — seeing where you rank against other typists adds a competitive element that kept me motivated during the plateau phases. There's something about seeing your position tick up by a few spots that makes the daily grind feel worth it.

And finally: 60 days is enough to see real change, but improvement doesn't stop there. I'm still tracking (day 90-something now) and still seeing slow gains. The curve flattens but never fully stops — as long as you keep practicing with intention.