Learning to Type
Improving your typing skills - typing software
Top Tips for the Typist
A few quick tips to increase your typing skills ...
TYPING is an essential skill to have these days. And the good news is that you will find that it's much easier than in the old days of boring drills in dusty classrooms. The materials are much more interesting and fun to type, and interactive programs that will give you such details as to which is your worst performing finger and provide drills to improve it!
When you are learning - try the following ideas which may help you on your way ...
Spend at least 80% of your typing time going at well below your speed capabilities. For example, if you can type at 10wpm with 8 mistakes in 5 minutes ... slow down to the extent that you can make 3 mistakes at the very most. When you are learning to type it is essential to go for accuracy rather than speed because you are still at the stage where you're teaching your fingers where the keys are. Preferably dead centre too! Speed will automatically follow if you keep your accuracy to this level. Having said that ... every once in a while it is a good idea to push yourself to type faster than you are comfortable with. In addition, although ta good steady rhythm is ideal it may be useful to remember that you don't have to type every word at the same speed. There are some words that even experienced secretaries will type with care. Look ahead and learn certain well used patterns such as tion ... the ... ing ... etc.
And you can choose how you want to improve your typing. Firstly, it is not essential to be able to "touch type". It is pefectly possible to rattle along and high speed and look at the keys. And any typing program can help you increase your speed in typing this way. Of course, if you then want to learn touch typing then programs such as Mavis Beacon are also excellent for teaching this. Much of the time is spent copying words on screen, so they are made interesting and useful (like our own Mini Speed Test!)- relatively dry stuff like the 500 most used words and the 500 most mistyped words sit alongside other text and you can import your own too. There are also dictation lessons.
After about 8 hours with any "typing tutor" program you should have the basics of touch typing. On balance, I would recommend learning to touch type if you have the time. It's an enjoyable skill to learn as you can see your progress so clearly as you go up the speed and accuracy scores.
Try taking our mini speed-test to build up your speed, it's only small but it's free! And although it's only a small amount of text you will find that using it a lot will help you increase your ability to type all types of text and you will be able to see your speed go up! If you get more than 10wpm with 100% accuracy then you make the Hall of Fame! Although it hasn't got the bells and whistles of the big programs, you will find that you can increase your speed and have a bit of fun reading the famous quotations at the same time.
Try doing 3 really accurate tests on our mini speed-test and then one that pushes you just a little bit. Don't worry about the accuracy going crazy! This way you will build up your speed until you begin to type automatically. That is when you will reap the rewards for typing slowly and carefully when you were still consciously thinking where some of the keys were. Your speed then will increase past such landmarks a 20wpm ... 50wpm... and maybe one day ... to the world record set on April 2nd 1959 in Dixon Illinois USA by Mrs Carole Forristall Waldschlager Brechen ... 176wpm!!! Happy Typing
Mavis Beacon Teaches Typing 16 Deluxe (PC) - Improving your typing skills doesn't have to cut into your valuable time. In as little as 15 minutes of practice per day, Beacon Teaches Typing 16 Deluxe guarantees improvements in speed, accuracy, and rhythm in just two weeks. Featuring customized lessons and an upbeat, stimulating format, Mavis Beacon will get you typing better--and working faster--in no time. A smart investment with lasting rewards.
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