I challenge you to defeat me

Over the past few weeks, I've casually mentioned to my friends that I type pretty fast. It's not world record status or anything, but I'm probably the fastest among my friends.

How fast? Well not that fast. But here's a history of my typing:

1990 - I learned how to type at the age of 8 on one of those old school Apple computers when I attended St. Paul's Catholic School in Irvington, New Jersey.

1991 - I became the fastest typist in my class with a thunderous 13 words per minute (WPM).

1993 - My parents bought our first computer. I think it was a Packard Bell with a 25MHz Intel 486 processor. I typed faster than it could process the words on the screen.


1994 - I bought Mavis Beacon Teaches Typing (CD-ROM edition) because I wanted to learn even more about typing. I went for the intermediate section immediately.

1995 - My family joined America Online (AOL), and I discovered email, instant messaging, and chat rooms! This is one of the main reasons I became a fast typist.

1998 - I took a typing class in 8th grade, my final year at Heritage Middle School in Livingston, New Jersey. I clocked in at a reasonable 55 WPM. I was the fastest in my class.

2000 - I took another typing class when I attended Livingston High School (LHS) in Livingston, New Jersey. For the first half of the class, I decided to be a sloth and only type 30 WPM for shizzles and giggles. At the end, I was typing 80 WPM. I got an A in the class. Might've been an A+ actually.


2001 - This was the year I decided to join the Future Business Leaders of America (FBLA) at LHS. I wanted to compete in the Word Processing 1 competition, so I tried out and made it, obviously. The competition involved typing about 7 or 8 different types of documents in under one hour, and the competitors were judged on how fast they finished, whether the documents were formatted properly, and the number of errors made. Although I felt confident, I finished a disappointing 2nd place in the Regional Championship, but it was good enough to move on to the State Championships. I practiced a bit more in between. And then I did it! I won the 2001 FBLA State Championship in Word Processing 1! I could have gone on to the National Championship in California, but I didn't want to pay for the trip and I figured west coast typists might be insanely fast. My speed at the time was a respectable 95 WPM.


2007 - I purchased an iPhone and immediately learned the techniques to typing as fast as possible (hint: two thumbs, and trust the auto-correction feature). I went to an iPhone-specific website that measured typing speed and I clocked in at a decent 45 WPM. That's on a phone, people. With no actual physical keyboard.

2008 - A few weeks ago, I told iCal I was a fast typist. He challenged me to a battle. We logged onto one of those typing websites, and I clobbered him. Granted, I had more errors than he did, but I was nervous and typing way beyond my limits in order to secure the win. I thought he was fast, but he was only in the low to mid 90s (I think he had 93 WPM). Meanwhile, I actually hit 120 WPM at one point. These were 1 minute burst speeds though.

I think in a longer competition, I'd be somewhere between 105-110 WPM.

Recently, Kevin Yen challenged me to a typing battle. He claims his GWAM (gross words a minute) is 170. We'll be duking it out in a few weeks. He and I decided that we would take turns using the same computer to find out who is the fastest typist in Millburn, New Jersey. From our IM conversations, I can tell he's quick. I'm a little hesitant about going up against him (he's defeated me in unofficial eating competitions), but I think it will be extremely close.

My prediction: I will win with 111 WPM against his 110.

Just for reference, here are some typing records:

1923 - Albert Tangora, on an Underwood Standard typewriter, achieved 147 WPM in a 1 hour test.

1941 - Margaret Hamma, on an electric typewriter, achieved 149 WPM in a 1 hour test.

1946 - Stella Pajunas, on an IBM machine, achieved 216 WPM, but only in a 1 minute test.

1959 - Carole Bechen, on a manual typewriter, achieved 176 WPM in a 5 minute test.

1991 - Gregory Arakelien, on a computer, achieved 158 WPM in a 3 minute test.

1998 - Natalie Lantos, on a computer, achieved 192 WPM (length is unknown).

2005 - Barbara Blackburn, on a Dvorak Simplified Keyboard, achieved 150 WPM in a 50 minute test, 170 WPM in shorter periods, and a peak speed of 212 WPM.

Sources: here and here.

That last one is amazing. The Dvorak keyboard has a totally different setup from the ubiquitous QWERTY keyboards we're all used to. I've never actually seen a Dvorak keyboard in person, but I'd sure love to test one out. Imagine trying to relearn how to type on a new layout? Oh, you've never seen the layout? Here you go.


See what I mean? It's such a weird layout. But according to the Guinness Book of World Records, the fastest typist was using a Dvorak keyboard.

Anyways, I challenge you to defeat me. In typing. Like real men do.

Oh wait, I'll accept female competitors as well. I guess. Scratch that. I'll watch two girls go at it in typing, though. Girl on girl typing action. Suh-weeeeet.

This post took me 2 minutes to type by the way. BAM!

Update:

Well that was fun. Moments ago, Kevin and I were chatting it up on AIM, and I told him about this post. He sent me to http://www.typeonline.co.uk/typingspeed.php? and we both took a brief test.

Let's just say I got owned. Pre-owned, really, considering this wasn't official.

So I'm pre-owned, or pre-pwned, or whatever the lingo is. I guess I ain't 1337 enough to handle the Kevmeister.

I can't reveal the results because they are too insane. But I will say that I'll be training for a few weeks, maybe months. I think there's something wrong with my keystrokes (like when golfers have to adjust their swings). It's causing problems with my speed. I keep making errors like this:

I htink I'll do that.

See that? I usually catch it in time, and I'm able to correct it, but that's a waste of time. I need to be perfect.

Unbelievable.

Fine, I'll reveal some results. But first I have to say that Kevin sent me a screenshot of his results, so it might be photoshopped. I actually just tried to look for it, but he took it down.

Me: 114 WPM, 2 errors
Kevin: 145 WPM, 1 error

Obviously, I need some practice.

Another Update:

Okay, so I figured out how one can fake his speed if one were so inclined (using the site Kevin gave me here). Below are the steps:

1. Manually type out the test you've been given in MS Word or any text input program.

2. Highlight everything you've just typed, and copy it.

3. Go back to the typing test, and click Start the clock.

4. Hit Ctrl+V to paste the text, and then click Stop the clock.

5. Press the PrtSc (print screen) button, and paste it in MS Paint or whatever program you wish to use.

6. Email the screen cap to people and show off your insane typing speed.

If you did it properly, you could have something like this:


Voila! 850 WPM? Yeah, I'm the fastest typist ever.