Plateaus

Improvement is not linear. Most typists hit at least one plateau where their best wpm stops moving for weeks. The plateau is not a sign that you have peaked. It is a sign that the way you are practicing has stopped pushing you.

What a plateau looks like

You run a one-minute test. You get 65 wpm at 95% accuracy. You ran the same test last week. You got 65 wpm at 95% accuracy. You ran it three weeks ago. The same.

Your average is not dropping. Your error rate is normal. Nothing is broken. You have simply stopped getting faster, and you have been doing the same kind of practice the whole time.

Why it happens

Speed comes from removing friction. The first 30 wpm comes from learning where the keys are. The next 30 comes from chaining keys into bigrams and words without thought. The next 30 comes from chaining words into phrases. Each layer requires different practice.

If you have been running the same word-list test for a month, you are training the same layer. The layer is finished. Move up.

What to try next

Pick one. Stick with it for two weeks before judging it.

Drill your weakest finger. Open the stats page and look at the per-finger chart. Whichever finger has the highest error rate gets one drill session a day. Use the reach drill for that finger.

Type harder material. If you have been typing English-1k for months, switch to English-10k or English-20k. The unfamiliar word distribution forces your fingers to spell, not pattern-match.

Type code. If you mostly type prose, run a code drill. The symbol density breaks autopilot.

Drop your speed cap. Some typists develop a habit of slowing down at a fixed pace -- they can type faster but they have learned to hold steady. Run a 15-second sprint at full speed, accuracy be damned. Repeat ten times. Most people break their plateau within a few sessions.

Slow down for accuracy. The opposite of the previous one, and the more common cure. If your stuck wpm comes with 90-94% accuracy, your fingers are correcting too much. Slow down to 96%+. Speed will return higher than it was.

What not to try

Do not switch keyboard layouts (Dvorak, Colemak) hoping for a breakthrough. Layout switching means six months of being slower. Some people end up faster afterward, most do not. It is a project, not a fix.

Do not buy a new keyboard. Mechanical keyboards are pleasant; they do not make you faster.

Do not change typing software. The plateau is in your hands, not in the tool. A new tool would buy a week of motivation, then nothing.

When to wait

A plateau that lasts a month is normal. A plateau that lasts three months means you have moved into maintenance mode -- still typing, no longer improving. That is a fine place to be. Not every typist needs to keep climbing.

If you want to keep climbing, change the practice. If you want to maintain, type a little every day and stop measuring. Both are reasonable.