Practising Accuracy

Why accuracy comes before speed

Every error costs more time than it seems. You have to notice it, stop, press Backspace (sometimes several times) and type the correct characters again. Uncorrected errors are even more costly in real work, because someone has to find and fix them later. In the TypingBloom typing test, each uncorrected error also reduces your net speed.

There is a second reason. Your hands learn the movements you repeat. Typing accurately at a comfortable pace builds reliable movements; typing faster than you can control builds the habit of making mistakes. Accuracy first is not about being cautious forever. It is about building movements that will still be correct when you speed up.

How to identify repeated mistakes

Most typists do not make random errors. They make the same few mistakes repeatedly. Common patterns include:

• Neighbouring keys: pressing R for T or N for M, often because the wrong finger is used.
• Swapped letters: typing "teh" for "the", when one hand moves faster than the other.
• Doubled or missed letters: "lettter" or "leter", usually from rhythm problems.
• Capitals and punctuation: missed Shift presses, or commas and full stops typed in the wrong place.
• Spacing: missing or extra spaces between words.

After a test, look back at the passage. Mistakes stay highlighted with a red background and a wavy underline. Write down the letters or letter pairs that appear more than once. Those are your targets for the next few sessions.

Practical drills

1. The slow pass

Type a short line at roughly half your normal speed, aiming for zero errors. Then repeat it at a slightly faster pace. If an error appears, drop back to the previous pace.

2. Error-focused repetition

Take the letter pairs you wrote down and type each one five times, then type three real words that contain it. For example, for "th": th th th th th, then, other, with.

3. Punctuation and capitals

How to use the typing test to practise accuracy

1. Choose the English typing test on Basic difficulty and a 1-minute duration.
2. Type at a pace where you rarely need to correct anything. Ignore the speed figure during the test.
3. After the test, check the accuracy figure and look at the highlighted mistakes in the passage.
4. Repeat two or three times. When your accuracy is consistently high, move to Medium difficulty.

How to interpret accuracy results

Accuracy in TypingBloom is the percentage of typed characters that match the passage when the time ends. A few points help you read it sensibly:

• Look at trends, not single tests. One test can be affected by a tricky passage or a moment of distraction. Compare several attempts at the same settings.
• Compare like with like. Advanced passages contain more punctuation and longer words, so accuracy is usually lower than on Basic passages.
• Short tests vary more. In a 30-second test, a single mistake has a bigger effect on the percentage than in a 5-minute test.
• Set your own target. Many learners find it useful to aim for accuracy in the high nineties before focusing on speed, but your own steady improvement is what matters most.

Troubleshooting