Billings 6th grade students type 3 times a week (5 minutes a session) to build their muscle memory.  The hope is that by the time a student makes it to 7th grade, typing is somewhat automatic – freeing his or her brainpower to focus on the content of what is typed.

Does this guided practice help?  Focused (85+% accuracy) student typing speed does increase most drastically in 6th grade – whether or not this is a direct result of regular practice is unclear as there is no control group.  Here are some statistics:

  • Average Billings 6th grade typing speed in Sept 08: 10.6WPM
  • Average Billings 6th grade typing speed in June 09: 19.4WPM
  • Average Billings 6th grade typing speed increase in 08/09: 230%
  • Average Billings 7th grade typing speed increase in 08/09: 12% (these students don’t do regular guided practice)
  • Largest 6th grade increase: 800% (2wpm to 16wpm)
  • Fastest 6th grade typist: 43wpm

Faculty and 7th & 8th grade students are always welcomed to take advantage of our online typing tutor – contact Jac for more information.