Preparation for a typing test is mostly logistics and habit. The typing itself you can only build over weeks; everything else is controllable in the final days.
Six weeks out — establish the baseline
Run one full-duration test under realistic conditions. Record WPM, accuracy and the point at which your pace dropped. Everything you do afterwards is measured against this.
Set your training target at the requirement plus 10 WPM.
Four weeks out — build the specific skill
- Practise at the exact test duration at least twice a week
- Practise with corrections disabled if the test disables them
- Drill the material type you will face: prose, data entry, or both
- Fix your single most common error type
Two weeks out — simulate
Full simulations every two or three days:
- Same duration
- Same rules on corrections
- Same source format — printed or on screen
- Upright at a desk with a desktop keyboard
Record every result. Your average simulation score, not your best, is your realistic expectation.
The week before
- Reduce volume, keep frequency
- No technique changes — it takes weeks to embed a change, and a half-embedded one is worse than none
- Confirm the venue, timing, permitted items and ID requirements
- Sleep matters more than one more practice hour
The day before
- One short, comfortable session — 10 minutes, no pressure
- Prepare documents and route
- Avoid a long computer session that leaves your hands tired
On the day
- Eat something and arrive early
- If a warm-up is permitted, do two minutes of easy typing
- Adjust chair and screen before the clock starts
- Start the first thirty seconds at about 90% pace, then settle into rhythm
- If you make an error and cannot correct it, keep going — stopping costs more than the error
- Do not look at the timer more than twice
After
Whatever the outcome, record what happened: where your pace dropped, what surprised you, what the keyboard felt like. If you sit another test, this note is the most valuable preparation material you will have.