Learn how to Improve Typing Skills

The 2 Categories of Typing Skills

In order to improve typing skills, 2 separate and distinct skill sets are needed. First, you need to improve typing skills by learning to type faster. The standard unit of measure in typing speed is Words per Minute.

Anyone can simply sit down and bang away at the keys on the keyboard quickly, but that ignores the second skill needed if you want to improve typing skills: improve typing accuracy.

Typing tests measure two things, speed and mistakes, so when you take a typing speed test, do not look only at your speed, but also review the number of your mistakes and concentrate on reducing your mistakes in future tests rather than increasing your typing speed. The end result will be increased productivity.

Improve Typing Skills: Improve Words per Minute (WPM)

To begin, what specifically does WPM mean? How is it measured?

Words per minute (WPM) is a measure of typing speed. For the purposes of WPM measurement a word is standardized to five characters or keystrokes. So, “fifth” counts as one word, but “fifteenth” counts as two. Another example is “drive” counts as one word, but “drive a car” counts as two.

In one study of average computer users, the average rate for transcription was 33 words per minute, and only 19 words per minute for composition. In the same study, when the group was dividing into “fast”, “moderate” and “slow” groups, the average speeds were 40 wpm, 35 wpm, and 23 wpm respectively.

Steps to improve typing skills by improving typing speed

• First, make sure your desk is setup properly. Make sure you are sitting up straight, your feet flat on the floor. Keep your elbows close to your body, your wrists straight and your forearms level, and remember to take regular breaks. See our article to see how to increase typing speed for more information about this topic.
• Next, improve typing skills and speeds by learning to touch type.
• As with any skill you are learning, it helps to track and measure your progress to improve typing skills. Here are a few free resources to help you test and track your typing speed.
  – www.valenciacc.edu
  – www.typeonline.co.uk/typingspeed.php
• Use a device to block your view of the keyboard for training purposes. By blocking your view while practicing, your touch typing skills will increase. Use Plastic Perfection’s Keyboard Trainer to improve typing skills and your typing speed.

Improve Typing Skills: Improve Accuracy

Given that touch typing is an automatic skill it is logical to associate an expert typist with fast typing but a better description might be accurate typing. However, to improve typing skills, you must improve typing accuracy as well. The principal benefit of touch typing, is that data input via a keyboard no longer requires visual confirmation.

While composing a letter or essay it is no longer necessary for the writer to interrupt their train of thought to scan the keyboard for the location of a particular key, or, to correct a typing mistake.

A touch typist copying from a source text doesn’t need to divide their attention between the source, screen and keyboard as an untrained typist would but can turn their full attention to the source text, confident that their touch typing skill will translate thought into data input without error.

Continue to practice so you can improve typing skills by improving typing accuracy.