Top Row Review & Speed Check
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This is the second checkpoint in the path, timed and scored the same way as the home-row review, but now covering both the home row and top row together. The specific thing to watch for is the speed cost of row-reaching — how much slower you are now compared to the pure home-row checkpoint, purely from the extra up-and-down motion.
As with the first checkpoint, resist the urge to treat this as a test you can fail — its entire purpose is an honest measurement of exactly where your combined home-and-top-row fluency stands right now, which is genuinely useful information regardless of what the specific number turns out to be.
If you're tracking your checkpoints in a written log, this is a good point to note not just your WPM but your subjective sense of effort — a similar WPM achieved with noticeably less conscious effort than your first attempt is itself a meaningful form of progress that a bare number doesn't fully capture.
What This Lesson Trains
A meaningful WPM drop from your home-row-only checkpoint to this one is completely normal and expected — you're now asking your fingers to make a much wider range of movements per word. What's worth tracking instead is whether that gap narrows over repeated attempts at this same checkpoint; a shrinking gap is a direct, measurable sign that the row-reach motion is becoming automatic rather than deliberate. If your gap isn't shrinking after several attempts, it's worth revisiting the top-row-left-hand and top-row-right-hand lessons individually rather than pushing forward into bottom row on a shaky foundation.
It's also worth paying attention to accuracy specifically on words that cross between rows multiple times, since those are exactly the words most likely to reveal any remaining gaps in your return-to-home habit — a clean run overall but a cluster of errors on row-crossing words is a more specific, more useful signal than a single overall accuracy percentage. A useful habit at this checkpoint: note not just the number but which specific word, if any, you had to consciously slow down for, since that detail often points more precisely at your real remaining weak spot than the aggregate score alone.
Practice Text
QWERTY layout assumed. Backspace corrects; uncorrected errors count against net WPM.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why is my WPM noticeably lower here than on the home-row checkpoint?
You've roughly doubled the number of keys and added a whole extra row of vertical reach, so a meaningfully lower number here is expected, not a regression. Track the gap between the two checkpoints over time rather than judging this one in isolation.
How do I know if I'm ready to move on to the bottom row?
If your accuracy on this checkpoint is stable and you're not making frequent row-transition errors, you're ready. If certain specific letters or transitions keep causing errors, a bit more time on the individual top-row lessons first will pay off later.
Should I look at my overall accuracy or my accuracy on specific words?
Both are useful, but accuracy on words that cross rows multiple times is the more specific, actionable signal — a solid overall percentage can still hide a real weakness concentrated on exactly the hardest row-transition words.
Should I retake this checkpoint multiple times in one sitting?
Two or three attempts with a short pause between each is reasonable, using your cleanest (lowest-error) result as your recorded baseline — repeating it many more times in one sitting mostly reflects short-term familiarity with this specific passage rather than genuine skill change.
Next lesson: Bottom Row: Left Hand (Z X C V)