60
seconds
Twists are timed tests with one rule bent: mirrored text, words for one hand, numbers only, no Backspace. Each trains something a normal test skips.
Pick one and the test above switches to it. Each is a timed test with one rule bent.
Every twist is a normal timed test, scored the normal way, with one thing changed: what the words are, how they look, or one rule of the test. Pick a twist from the Twists group and choose 15, 30, 60 or 120 seconds. That is all the setup there is. The families below each train something a plain test leaves out.
Read ahead hides the word you are typing, so your eyes have to be on the next one. Plus one shows only the current word and the next, and Plus two shows two ahead and no further. Fade lets words further along the line fade out, so you have to take them in early, and Myopia blurs everything past the next few words. Fast typists read a word or two ahead of their hands. These twists build that habit in a way advice alone never does.
Mirror reflects each line left to right, Upside down flips the whole passage, and Backwards shows every word back to front while you type it the right way round. Earthquake will not let the letters keep still, and CRT adds scanlines, glow and flicker. These are mostly for fun, but they make a real point: once you touch type, your hands know the words even when your eyes are struggling.
Left hand serves only words typed with the left hand (Q to T, A to G, Z to B). Right hand keeps to Y to P, H to L, N and M. Home row uses nothing but A S D F G H J K L. These isolate one part of the keyboard so you can see what is holding you back. Run Left hand and Right hand at 30 seconds each. If one score is clearly lower, that hand is the one to drill.
rAnDoM cAsE, Title Case and SHOUT change the capitals and give both Shift keys a workout. Long words serves nine letters and up, a test of stamina inside a single word. Gibberish invents nonsense that looks like words, so there is no muscle memory to lean on and you have to type letter by letter. Polyglot shuffles six languages together; turn on Lazy mode if accents slow you down.
The number row is where most typists are slowest, and most tests never touch it. Numbers only is just digits, Pi serves the digits of pi in groups of five, Binary is bytes of ones and zeros, and Hexadecimal is values like 0x1f and ff80. Symbols deals out brackets, arrows and operators. If you write code or work with figures, these are the twists to repeat, and the code typing test puts the same symbols into real lines.
Backspace does nothing, so every key you press is final. It is the quickest way to find out how accurate you really are, and good practice for employer tests that disable corrections. Our guide to typing tests for jobs explains those. When you want a break from bent rules, the typing games are next door.
Not directly. Twists use the same scoring, but the words or the display are harder on purpose, so expect a lower number. Compare a twist score with your own earlier attempts at the same twist and length.
Read ahead, Plus one and Plus two, because they train you to read the next word while your hands finish the current one. Reading ahead is one of the clearest differences between fast and average typists.
Every twist can be run for 15, 30, 60 or 120 seconds. Short lengths suit the harder visual twists, and longer ones suit the number and symbol drills where you want plenty of repetitions.