A new typing world record of 293 words per minute (wpm) was apparently set last weekend by the aptly named Twitter user. @MythicalRocket. typist uploaded a video A speed run to his YouTube account shows that he achieved 293 wpm with 97% accuracy in 15 seconds. monkey type April 30. 272wpm, 98% accuracy for 60 seconds.
You might be surprised to learn that MythicalRocket isn’t a courtroom stenographer or a transcriptionist (or the legendary Rocket), but a 16-year-old boy from Florida who first took up speed typing a few years ago. He set the current record with his full-size SteelSeries Apex Pro with optical switches, but says he doesn’t think the type of switch makes that much of a difference in speed.
“I’m basically an Apex Pro, but I had an Apex 7 with brown switches and it was almost as fast,” he told me in a Twitter DM. It took me a while to get used to it, but after a few weeks I was back on track.”
When I asked him if he’d ever used anything but SteelSeries keyboards, he said “almost.” I also asked if SteelSeries sent him at least some swag.Finally, he mentioned trying out his Logitech G915, but he didn’t like to stand out.
As for MythicalRocket’s choice of keyboard layout, it’s the tried-and-true QWERTY layout. This may come as a surprise, as many speed typists are known to use alternative layouts that are purportedly more efficient, such as: Dvorak again call mac.
“QWERTY is actually not that bad. That comes from people who have wpm scores above 200 on other alternative layouts,” Colemak and canarySaid.
The current “official” Guinness World Record holder for fastest typist appears to be Barbara Blackburn, whose top speed using the Dvorak layout was 212 wpm. Of course, that “official” world record has been unofficially broken several times in face-to-face typing contests and his online leaderboards. (MythicalRocket has not contacted Guinness to make his record “official,” and apparently has no plans to do so.)
MythicalRocket is currently at the top of the leaderboard monkey typeis one of two sites he uses to develop his speed (the other is type racer), both of his most recent records are for Monkeytype. In addition to Twitter, he posts his typing videos of his exploits on: tick tock and Youtube.
