Home Row Typing Drill
Every word in this drill can be typed without your fingers leaving the row they rest on, so there is nothing to reach for and nowhere to get lost.
The home row is a s d f g h j k l, the row your fingers rest on between keystrokes. This drill uses only words that can be typed from it, so you can practise the resting position itself without the distraction of reaching for other rows. Find the raised bumps on F and J, put your index fingers there, and start.
Copy the words shown on screen. The timer starts with your first keystroke, and a space moves you to the next word. Finalised words cannot be corrected, and pasting is blocked. Press Escape to start over.
Every word here can be typed without leaving the home row (a s d f g h j k l), so your fingers never have to reach and you can feel whether they are resting in the right place. Sample from this list: lags sags lass gash alfalfa flasks glad half slag gag ask fall dash adds.
Touch typing is built on one idea: your hands have a home to return to. Eight fingers rest on a s d f and j k l with the semicolon under the right little finger, and every other key on the keyboard is reached from there and returned to afterwards. If that resting position is unreliable, every reach is a guess, which is why most people who stall around 30 words per minute stall for this reason rather than for lack of speed.
This drill removes reaching from the equation. Every word in its list can be typed from the home row alone, so nothing pulls your fingers away and you get a clean read on whether they are actually resting where they should be. It is deliberately monotonous. That is what makes it useful: with nothing novel to think about, you notice the position.
What this drill trains
Two things. The first is the return: after each keystroke your finger should come back to its resting key rather than hover somewhere over the keyboard. Hovering feels faster and is not, because every keystroke then starts from an unknown position instead of a known one.
The second is finger assignment. Each finger owns a column of keys, and the home row is where those columns are anchored. If your right index finger is typing the letter K, that is a habit worth catching now: K belongs to the middle finger, and the mismatch will cost you every time you reach for I or comma later.
How to run it
Feel for the two raised bumps, on F and J, and place your index fingers there without looking. The other fingers fall into place either side. Then run the 30 second drill and do not look down, even once, even when you are certain you have lost your place.
Watch accuracy rather than words per minute. Anything above 95 percent means your position is holding; a lower figure usually means one hand has drifted a key to the left or right, which you will feel the moment you check the bumps again. Three runs is a session.
When to stop doing it
This is a drill, not a test, and it stops paying off quickly. Once you can run it twice at 95 percent or better without looking down, the home row is no longer your limiting factor and more of it will not make you faster.
Move to the numbers and symbols drill if your work involves data, dates or code, to the accuracy drill if your errors are the problem, or straight to the 1 minute typing test for a real measurement. The guide on typing faster covers what comes after position: posture, rhythm and where speed actually comes from.
Frequently asked questions
What are the home row keys?
A, S, D and F under the left hand and J, K, L and the semicolon under the right, with G and H reachable by the index fingers without leaving the row. Most keyboards put a small raised bump on F and J so you can find the position by touch.
Why practise only home row words?
Because it isolates the skill. With no reaching to do, the only thing the drill can go wrong at is your resting position and finger assignment, so mistakes point straight at the cause instead of being lost among reaches to the top and bottom rows.
How long should I practise the home row?
Days rather than weeks. Two or three 30 second runs a day until you can hold 95 percent accuracy without looking down, and then move on. It is a foundation, not a workout to repeat forever.
Should I look at my hands during this drill?
No. Looking down is the exact habit the drill exists to break. If you lose your place, stop, feel for the bumps on F and J, and start again rather than glancing at the keyboard.