How did you get good at typing quickly?

When I was taking typing in school, I did rather poorly. I lacked interest, I suppose. However, I did take away the proper 'etiquette' for touch typing. Finger placement, posture, the importance of accuracy over speed. Slow and accurate is far better than fast and error prone.

I almost failed typing. I barely made it to the 10 words per minute required. Then, I got interested in computers. Back in those days, there were magazines filled with programs you had to type in. Believe it or not, frustration over my poor skills led me to say one day, "that's it. I'm typing properly from now on!".

I typed with a piece of card over my hands so I couldn't peak. I would just delete every mistake (almost every letter!) and try again and again. Within about a week, I saw that the struggle was already paying off. I was typing faster than after a semester of classes.

I had it in me, I just needed a reason and a goal.

Incidentally, the keyboard I use now doesn't even have anything printed on any of the keys. Geek cred!

The only way to get good at typing (or anything that doesn't just involve breathing or sitting) is to practice. If you don't have a computer at home, it'll take more effort from you to get to a library or a friend's house in order to use one. Once you're there, there are lots of free online typing tutors. Like this one (the top hit off of Google):

http://www.typingweb.com/

Good luck!

Practice Practice Practice.. there's no other way around. If you don't have a computer, i'm pretty sure there's public library that offer free computer usage. I remembered that i used to learn to type by practicing on transferring papers that i wrote onto the computer. Overtime, your fingers will start dancing on the keyboard.

Good luck

One of the best decisions I made when I completed by Degree was to take a one-week "touch typist" course at a secretarial college! It allowed me to learn to type quickly and professionally; as my career has always involved using a laptop on a daily basis, it has stood to me. I don't need to look at the keyboard and can type up notes very quickly and accurately. I would recommend that you look into a professional secretarial / administration course - I believe it was money well spent, as it is a life-long skill which will stand to you.

After the other tutorials, try one other tip - if you have your own keyboard, try covering the letters on the keys with black tape. It will force you to be able to type without looking at the keys which will make you much faster in the long run.

The only way to learn typing is to do it real-time. And any online typing tutor will help you in the initial stages.

As everybody stated already, practice practice practice. Test yourself to know where you sit at first(how many words per minute) and set progressive goals and start working toward them. You have to start by memorizing your keyboard.

I have done free online tutorials and increased the word per minute very fast. Is simple and entertaining :)
http://www.powertyping.com/
http://www.sense-lang.org/typing/tutor/keyboarding.php