Why typing tests never helped me improve

Amit — Tue, 20 Jan 2026 12:29:55 +0000

Hi DEV 👋

I type every day—code, emails, docs, messages. Like most people, I’ve used typing test websites for years. They tell you your WPM, maybe your accuracy, and then… that’s it.

I never really felt like I was improving.

At some point, I realized that most typing tools are great at measuring performance, but not very good at helping you get better. They reset everything after each test, even though the mistakes I made were usually the same ones.

That observation pushed me to think differently about typing practice:

What if practice focused on mistakes instead of speed?
What if weak keys and patterns mattered more than a single score?
What if progress was tracked over time, not per test?

This curiosity eventually led me to start building my own tool and learning a lot along the way. I’m still early in the journey and figuring things out as I go.

I’m sharing this here to learn from the community:

Have typing tests actually helped you improve?
Do you practice typing regularly, or only test occasionally?
What would make a typing tool worth using daily?

Looking forward to learning from your experiences 🙂

DEV Community: Amit

Why typing tests never helped me improve