More and more businesses rely on computers to store their data and have their business processes accomplished. Productivity has always been one of the major focuses of most of these companies and the basic skill that is needed is typing. The faster you type the more work you complete and the more work you complete, the more efficient you are at your job. There are 2 attributes that you need to improve on when it comes to typing and that would be speed and accuracy. They have to complement each other. Typing really slowly (5-10 words per minute) with 100% accuracy isn’t efficient and typing 100 words per minute with 50% error isn’t efficient as well. Here are some ways to improve on your speed and accuracy.
Typing is like memorization. Your hand memorizes the placement of the characters on the keyboard and as you get used to it, you get faster and faster and your fingers will have the innate ability to glide through the letters with ease. I do notice that there are lots and lots of typing tutors out there (software that help teach you basic typing skills) and most of them would initially tell you to place specific fingers atop specific characters on the keyboard. It does help especially if you are just beginning to learn but for me, I actually do not follow that and I am used to the way I type as it is. I’m used to my fingers crossing over and after all these years of typing (around 17 years); I did not follow any guide as to where I would place my fingers. It really depends up to you and which finger placement is more comfortable for you to use.
Accuracy is probably harder to improve than speed. One key technique is to press the keys slowly at first and press deeply (but not to heavy as you might damage the keyboard) and as you practice along, you’ll get used to the keys and you can easily press them without having to press deeply. Do not try to type way faster than what you can do. It is more likely that you’ll commit more errors. For example, you are currently typing at 25 wpm with 98% accuracy. If you force yourself to type around 60 wpm, your accuracy will definitely suffer.
This sentence is familiar to a lot of us. “The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog.” But for those who aren’t familiar with this, it’s one of the keyboard exercises that some of us have been using. How does it help improve your typing? Notice that it has all the letters from A to Z. Try practicing it to familiarize yourself with the keys and how you would glide from letter to letter. Then practice with different sentences and type books, newspapers and other materials.
But most importantly, be patient. It could take days or weeks to notice some improvement in your typing skills. Take it easy and improve your speed along with your accuracy. As for the typing tutor software, I would suggest that you try them out. It wouldn’t hurt at all. You’d need all the practice you can get if you want to improve your typing skills. If you need to look at the keyboard while typing, do so. Don’t try to impress yourself or someone by typing and not looking at the keyboard (but committing lots and lots of errors). Everybody commits mistakes and don’t give up when you don’t see improvements immediately. Just keep on practicing daily and you’ll notice that in time, you’ll be able to type very quickly and quite possibly become a touch typist (typing without looking at the keyboard).
