so ive been at this for about 4 months now and im kind of stuck around 13-14wpm. started with the Koch method using the G4FON trainer and got to 5wpm pretty fast, maybe 3 weeks, but now every time i try to push past 13 it just falls apart on me. like i can copy for a minute and then suddenly i miss one character and then im trying to figure out what i missed and i fall behind and then it just snowballs into a mess.

i practice maybe 20-30 minutes a day which i know isnt a ton but its what i have time for. my question is really just how long did it take people to get comfortable at 20wpm and is there anything that actually helped besides just grinding more time. ive heard about the Farnsworth method but im not sure i fully understand how that helps or if i should switch to it now or if i should have been using it from the start

also not sure if it matters but im mostly practicing copy, i dont really do much sending yet

the snowball effect you're describing is super normal and honestly the sign that you're right at the edge of your current ability which is actually where you want to be practicing. the trick that helped me more than anything else was learning to let go of missed characters instead of chasing them. just leave a blank and keep moving. your brain will eventually fill in more from context once you get faster and have more experience with common words and phrases.

Farnsworth is worth trying if you havent already - basically you hear the characters at your target speed or higher but there's extra space between them so you have time to process. the idea is your brain learns the sound of each character at speed so you're not counting dits and dahs anymore. i think i went from around 10 to 18wpm over about 8 months of pretty inconsistent practice so 4 months and already at 13 sounds like you're doing fine honestly. just dont rush it or it gets frustrating real fast

im kind of in the same boat, been hovering around 12 for like two months lol. one thing i started doing recently is listening to actual qso recordings instead of just the trainer software and that helped a bit because real ops dont send perfectly and you get used to different fists. there's some good stuff on the lcwo website and i think there's a podcast called 'morse code ninja' or something that has practice files at different speeds. havent made it to 20 yet myself so cant really say how long it takes but figured id mention what helped me get unstuck a little