Typing

You've just started learning to type. You rest eight fingers on the home row and learn which column each finger owns. Short words come next, typed for accuracy rather than speed. You still look down often, and finding the keys takes more attention than going fast. Even so, your posture and wrist position are settling into place.

• Can rest all eight fingers on the home row and name the column each finger covers
• Can type the eight home-row keys accurately without looking at the keyboard
• Can keep typing for 10 minutes or more with wrists lifted and back upright
• Can type 100 short words at 90% accuracy or better
• Can watch the screen while typing and find and fix your own mistakes
• Can finish the home-row drills and move on to word drills

You keep your eyes on the screen and type a whole paragraph start to finish. Capitals and punctuation go through the assigned finger, and you switch between two or more input states without checking the screen. You're still slower than writing by hand, but accuracy has started to hold steady and your practice log is filling up.

• Can type a full paragraph start to finish without glancing at the keyboard
• Can hold 20 words per minute or more at 95% accuracy or better
• Can press the modifier keys with the assigned finger when typing capitals and punctuation
• Can switch between two or more input states (writing system, keyboard layout, symbol layer) without looking and keep typing
• Can log 15 minutes or more of practice a day for four weeks running
• Can type 20 short passages and record how your speed and accuracy shift

You've hit the speed and accuracy the job asks for. Long passages go in without stalling, and the number row and symbols no longer send your eyes down. You can take meeting notes fast enough to hand over a summary as the meeting ends. When a key combination trips you up repeatedly, you find it and drill it away.

• Can hold 40 words per minute or more at 96% accuracy or better
• Can type a long passage for five minutes or more without breaking rhythm
• Can type the number row and symbols without looking at the keyboard
• Can take meeting notes live and share a summary the moment the meeting ends
• Can hit the same speed band on a public standard typing test three or more times on different days
• Can find five key combinations you miss often and drill your error rate down
• Can use 10 or more document editing shortcuts without lifting your hands off the keyboard

Your speed no longer drops noticeably once you've been typing for half an hour. A typo gets fixed without a glance at the screen, so your flow never breaks. Keyboard height and arm angle are tuned well enough that you type for hours a day without pain. And you hold that pace while composing your own sentences, not just copying someone else's.

• Can hold 60 words per minute or more at 97% accuracy or better
• Can type for 30 minutes straight without your speed dropping more than 10%
• Can fix a typo instantly without looking at the screen, keeping your typing flow intact
• Can adjust keyboard height, chair, and arm angle to type four hours a day without wrist pain
• Can hold your speed while composing your own sentences rather than transcribing
• Can keep your last 20 test results and read the trend in speed and accuracy
• Can type in a noisy environment without losing accuracy

Documents thick with symbols and indentation move about as fast as plain prose under your hands. You work at full speed in two or more layouts or input methods, and text expansion strips the repetition out of your day. Your name shows up near the top of public leaderboards, and beginners you coach get measurably faster.

• Can hold 90 words per minute or more at 98% accuracy or better
• Can type symbol-heavy documents or code at roughly the same speed as plain prose
• Can work at full speed in two or more keyboard layouts or input methods
• Can cut repetitive typing time by 30% or more with text expansion or autocomplete
• Can place in the top 10% at a typing competition or on a public leaderboard
• Can coach three or more beginners through home row and touch typing until their speed rises
• Can catch strain signals in your wrists and shoulders and head off pain with breaks and posture fixes

You do work where input speed itself is the requirement, like live captioning or stenography. Staged courses you design come with the assessment criteria written down. You read how an organization produces documents and standardize the tools and shortcuts behind it. Adoption gains come out as numbers, and your material gets published outside.

• Can do work where typing speed is a job requirement, such as live captioning or stenography
• Can design a staged typing course for 20 or more learners and document the assessment criteria
• Can analyze how an organization produces documents and standardize its input tools and shortcut scheme
• Can design a way to measure speed and accuracy that produces reproducible results
• Can tune layouts and input-method settings per role and prove the gain in numbers
• Can publish material on typing instruction or input efficiency and earn outside citations

You redefine how people put characters on a screen. A layout or input method you designed gets picked up by organizations outside your own, and your writing is cited in both practice and research. Your name sits on the record of a text input standard or an accessibility guideline. The instructors you trained now teach on their own.

• Can show that a keyboard layout or input method you designed is in use at three or more outside organizations
• Can point to 10 or more outside citations of your writing on input methods or typing instruction
• Can show a record of taking part in setting a text input standard or an accessibility guideline
• Can show that a training system or tool you built has stayed in use for five years or more
• Can develop five or more typing instructors who go on to teach independently