You ran the test and got 240 ms. Is that fast? Slow? What actually moves that number? Reaction time is trainable, but not all of it, and most guides mix up what you can fix with what you can’t.
What your reaction time number actually measures
A visual reaction test measures three things stacked on each other: how long your eyes take to register the color change, how long your brain takes to decide to click, and how long your muscles take to execute. That chain runs 150 to 250 ms for most adults under normal conditions.
The timer also picks up two things that have nothing to do with your nervous system: your monitor’s display latency and your mouse’s input lag. A 60 Hz monitor refreshes every 16.7 ms. A 240 Hz monitor refreshes every 4.2 ms. That 12 ms difference shows up in your score every round. If you’re on an older monitor and feel slow on the test, some of that gap is hardware, not reflex.
What a good reaction time looks like
Most people testing on a standard setup land between 200 and 300 ms. Under 200 ms is quick for a casual player. Under 180 ms, held consistently, is genuinely fast. Professional FPS players in Valorant and CS2 sit between 150 and 180 ms after years of practice, close to the practical floor for most human nervous systems.
Age matters. Teens and early 20s have the fastest raw reflexes. The floor rises a few milliseconds per decade after that. A 35-year-old at 185 ms is outperforming many 20-year-olds, especially on a well-optimized setup.
Establish a baseline first
Run at least ten rounds without rushing and let the average settle. One result is noise. A 12-round average on your normal rig is the number you’re actually trying to move. Same time of day, same rig. Otherwise you’re comparing coffee to no-coffee. The reaction time test randomizes the wait between rounds so you react to the stimulus, not anticipate it.
Train the neural side
Most players can shave 20 to 50 ms with consistent work over a few weeks. Past that, you’re up against biology.
Aim trainers. Aim Lab and KovaaK’s have reactive-click scenarios that replicate the timing of a Valorant duel better than a single-color flash does. Ten to fifteen focused minutes before you queue trains both raw reflex and recognition speed.
Warm up. Five minutes in a deathmatch first. Cold hands click slower.
Play fast games. Consistent Valorant, CS2, or Apex play builds pattern recognition. You stop reacting to a pixel and start reacting to a sound cue or a silhouette shape, which shortens your effective reaction chain.
Pre-aim. In FPS games, keeping your crosshair at head height near common angles cuts the motor-execution step from 80 ms down to almost nothing when an enemy appears. You’re not changing your reflex speed, but you’re removing most of the distance your mouse needs to travel.
Keep sessions short. An hour of deliberate practice beats five hours of casual play. Fatigue adds 15 to 30 ms. Grinding past it doesn’t build speed.
The lifestyle factors that move the number most
Sleep is the biggest lever. One bad night under six hours costs 25 ms or more. You can’t train around that. Hydration matters less but the fix is free. Mild dehydration slows processing slightly, so just drink water. A moderate caffeine dose, 100 to 200 mg taken 30 to 45 minutes before play, trims a few milliseconds. More than that shakes your mouse hand. Regular cardio pays off slowly. Players who exercise consistently hold peak reflexes a few extra years.
What your hardware setup adds
Going from 60 Hz to 144 Hz cuts roughly 8 ms from the display side of your score. Moving from 144 Hz to 240 Hz saves another 4 ms. At 1000 Hz polling, which is standard on most gaming mice, input lag from the polling interval is under 1 ms. The monitor matters far more than the mouse in this equation.
Modern wireless gaming mice from Logitech and Razer run at under 1 ms wireless latency, so a wired connection removes one variable but the practical difference is negligible on current hardware. If you’re on a budget wireless mouse with a 125 Hz report rate, that’s worth addressing: 125 Hz means up to 8 ms of polling lag alone.
Swap to a faster monitor and retest before your next practice session. The score drops before you’ve done any training. That gap is hardware, isolated. What remains is the neural work.
How much you can realistically improve
Hardware handles the easy 8 to 12 ms. Training handles 20 to 50 ms on top of that.
If you’re at 220 ms on a 60 Hz monitor, the fastest path to 185 ms is a 144 Hz panel, not more aim training. Getting below 170 ms and holding it takes both.