How many of you can type without looking at the keyboard?

I’ve been tested for a job, and I type 50 words/minute without mistakes and without looking at the keyboard. Practice makes perfect.

Lol!
Not very well at all.

Yes, I learned typing (now called keyboarding) in junior high. I can type up to 60 wpm but make a lot of errors without looking, and I can’t accurately enter numbers or punctuation without looking. With touch-typing I have to use backspace a lot, but still type words faster than I can think of them!

Have no idea how fast I type, But I sail along without many mistakes. Far easier than writing. Taught myself to type when I was 12.

I had to learn in Junior High school and I have just gotten very over the years, haven’t been tested since I could type 60 words a minute and that was back in High School. We only had typewriters when I was in Junior High and the first apple had just come out back then. It was huge when I got my word processor, I got so much done with it compared to the traditional typewriter (lol).

I’ve been typing without looking at the keyboard for years; that doesn’t mean I never ever look at it, but most of the time, I don’t. It’s usually only if I make a mistake that I look at it, but even then I don’t always. I don’t know on average how often that happens or how much I can type without looking at the keyboard before making a mistake. :\

I can touch type. I couldn’t actually tell you where each key is on the keyboard. My brain just knows. If you asked me where is Z, I would have to look. I can type quite well without making too many errors and often know I have hit the wrong key without actually looking at the text. Not as fast and accurate as I used to be.

I hardly ever look at the keyboard, and I don’t make very many mistakes. Not sure of the statistics though. I can’t type ‘properly’ – I hear you’re supposed to have certain fingers on certain keys, but I’ve never bought into that.

I don’t look at the keyboard anymore. It took me almost a year to get to that point, but I practiced using online typing tests. I had to do a typing test for work, and I got 68 wpm. It’s to the point now that my brain has totally memorized the placement of the keys. I don’t make a lot of mistakes, but when I do, it kind of throws me off, like losing a beat in music.

I’m from the generation where MSN was new and so were chat rooms so I’ve grown up typing. My typing is pretty fast (dunno the WPM) and pretty accurate. I don’t feel the need to look at the keyboard at all. I make a few mistakes with a keyboard I haven’t used before but doesn’t take long to master it. I can also type mobile texts/SMSs without looking :P

This is where many years of playing a text-based MMORPG came in handy. In order to react and interact real-time (which is often quite fast), you have to learn to type while watching the screen scroll.

I went from having to look at the keyboard while I typed to being able to not look at all. My fingers just learned where the different keys are. I do have to look for various symbols, though, excluding the period and comma.

I’d say I can type 60–80 words a minute with minimal mistakes and minimal looking at the keyboard. I don’t, however, use the manner of typing one is taught in ‘typing’ classes that I took in junior high.

I don’t look at the keyboard very often, but I do make a lot of mistakes – I think because I type too fast. I first realized I didn’t have to look at the keyboard after being on AOL for a year or so in the late 90s…I was a huge IM whore back then.

I learned to type in a chat room. This eliminated the stress for me. It made it easier to concentrate on writing my comment to my chat room friends, and I wanted to hurry so I could get the comment in before the conversation moved on. I looked at the chat screen, and got to see my words appearing before my eyes, which helped re-enforce correcting mistakes without looking. I don’t know how fast I type, but I notice I can type about as fast as someone talks, and my fingers know where the keys are. I’m not so good with the numbers though.

I learned touch typing in high school in 1958 and I have been typing on a regular basis ever since. Many of the keys on my laptop are worn blank.

I actually mastered how to type without looking when I used to have a type writing lesson and my teacher showed us how to memorize the where the letters were without having to always look down at the keyboard.It was quite a great learning experience.

I can type without looking at the keyboard… and very successfully. I don’t think I ever look at the keyboard actually. I’m not too great at many things but I’m a pretty fantastic typist (because that’s SO helpful in life!).

I can’t believe that so many people that have been living with keyboards still have a problem with typing, I thought people from developed countries are very advanced in typing.

I can type in moderate speed if necessary but I will occasionally have to look at keyboard and may sometimes press the backspace button, It would be less likely if I type in my own language. I once took a computer course that’s also teach me to type and I’m quite good at it but after passed the course I just can’t help myself to peek some letters that I might have forgotten, the bad habits continue on…,and on… That’s why.

@Your_Majesty Oh yeah, the backspace button and I are good friends!

I type with two fingers, not looking at monitor. I them go back a correct my mistakes. But I find it adequate enough to get my point across.

@snowberry Our beautiful fingers must be quite rebellious! LOL.

I can. with most of my fingers, too. I do make occasional typos, though.

I do. I never look at the keyboard when I type. I can type over 100 wpm (I think something like 120) with around 98–99 % accuracy. This largely thanks to all the instant messaging I did as a teenager, and I just generally have good finger dexterity and coordination.

I’m a touch typist, learned in junior high. I remember our typing teacher would tape paper towels over the keyboard so people couldn’t look. Last time I was tested I was above 90 WPM, error free. I’m not nearly so fast now.

Here’s where I feel slightly oldish: Computer courses were an elective when I was in high school. Many of us took typing class. At one time I could type about 80 words per minute without many mistakes. I can still type pretty fast, but it’s been over 20 years since I’ve tested myself.

So no, I don’t need to look at the keyboard.

I can type without looking, but I do it a strange way, I don’t rest any fingers on any keys, my hands hover over the keyboard with my wrists rested on the front and palms raised up, kind of like a pair of pisses off rearing up tarantulas, when I press a key my fingers come down to poke at the keys. Guided by the memory of what it feels like to shoot for that key, rather than basing it on what keys my index fingers are rested on.

I have recently just learned to do it again, two weeks ago I got a new netbook, and the keyboard is about half the size, so for the fist two weeks trying to type ‘A’ would result in a ‘S’ and things like that.

I was never shown how to touch type and never did any kind of course, I had my first computer when I was 4 years old, and am now 28, so I basically have 24 years experience of amateur typing. I am very fast at it now, but could probably benefit from some pro tips.

I took a typing course in High School, which was probably the most valuable thing I learned there.
I am guessing I type about 45 words a minute without mistakse.

My brain isn’t wired for keyboard typing. After years I still can’t type a sentence without looking and even then I still make mistakes. There is no fluency at all, it’s like stop and start with dozens of backspaces in between. I think it takes a lot of concentration, which I just don’t have.

I can type without looking at the keyboard. However, I’ve kind of grown into my own way of typing that isn’t typical, which means I can only top out at about 70–80 wpm. So, now I’m trying to learn how to type again – the right way.

My suggestion is to just keep practicing. Maybe you’ll always make a lot of mistakes when you type, but if you can get faster at recognizing the mistakes and going back and correcting them, they shouldn’t pose a problem in your day-to-day.

I think I can if I really tried! Wow I just did it! Yeah!

Yeah. I’ve been doing it since high school. My only problem is the numbers and some of the punctuation stuff. These days, some mistakes happen pretty regularly. I add extraneous “s“es and any word that ends with ious often ends up with ioius.

I took a class called personal typing in high school. I can touch type, but my wpm speed isn’t very high. The typing class wasn’t set up to give us enough typing to make a career out of it, but I’m proficent enough to not have to look. It actually was a good class to take, and I’m glad I did. I can’t touch type on my iPhone or my iPad, and hunt- and- peck typing makes me crazy!

I can do it but I really have to stop, think and focus. Not worth my time not looking.

I can and I am an excellent typist (pats self on back).

I type pretty well without looking at the keyboard, and make fewer mistakes that way. I know where the backspace key is without looking as well, so I can usually correct mistakes without stopping.

Does anyone else find that as soon as someone is watching you type, your error rate goes through the roof?

That happens to me all the time.

@Bellatrix It’s a common problem for superheros (it’s a lot of presssure). Don’t worry too much about it.

It doesn’t help that I have paws… :D

@Bellatrix Yes, I know exactly what you mean!

It happens to me whenever someone’s watching, and I can’t type AT ALL while standing up.

I, too, learned in high school. My parents STRONGLY suggested I take the course and I’m sure glad I did. I type about 60wpm without looking.

asdf jkl; all the way!!!