Typing tips

Talk about any topics:10FF, typing or whatever.
iquince
Posts: 3
Joined: Sat Sep 07, 2013 5:44 am

Re: Typing tips

Post by iquince » Sat Sep 07, 2013 6:15 am

Look for something that is easy to use for you. The typing test tool you choose should have a visual guide to each step they have. So, they should explain where to put the fingers on home row.

Waker
Posts: 1
Joined: Thu Oct 31, 2013 10:30 am

Re: Typing tips

Post by Waker » Thu Oct 31, 2013 10:38 am

I've reached ~80 WPM average after a couple of weeks from 55 WPM. I'm having trouble getting up to the 90s.

What should if feel like going easily at 90+? I noticed that to get to 70-80 range I had to let the words flow more seamlessly from one to the other in typing.

I type with 9 fingers, but I now just got the idea to use my right thumb as the one to press the "b" button

shayanjameel08
Posts: 10
Joined: Thu Nov 21, 2013 6:06 am

Re: Typing tips

Post by shayanjameel08 » Mon Nov 25, 2013 12:29 pm

Depending on the reason you need to learn to type fast, you might consider hiring a tutor as well.

Linkbane
Posts: 21
Joined: Sun Sep 29, 2013 1:14 am

Re: Typing tips

Post by Linkbane » Thu Dec 05, 2013 5:05 am

Very late, but some tips I would give are to read ahead, which is extremely important, and then not pay attention to your hands are doing so much as telling them what to do.

TheUltimate11YrOld
Posts: 16
Joined: Wed Dec 25, 2013 2:02 am

Any tips to get above 100 WPM?

Post by TheUltimate11YrOld » Wed Jan 08, 2014 11:52 pm

Hey guys! I'm trying to hit 150 WPM, before I hit 14, although, I have a bit of a problem with taking 1 second pauses, obsessive compulsive\fingers (hitting the wrong keys), and I have problems with some words, I always do this "this is very difficult thne", See? I always push the previous key to the final letter, before pushing the key that would make the word proper, in other words, I press th, but then I get so caught up in speed, that I miss the word.

I also have one final problem, that really messes me up. I always auto-correct myself (even when I miss the first letter, and I am at the last, ready to press space, when suddenly, for some odd reason, I have an obsessive compulsive thing that makes me correct it, no matter the circumstance, although this is ONLY good for tiny words, it really messes me up on the larger words, above 7 letters.)

Highest WPM: 102.
Lowest WPM: 85.
Average WPM: 95.

Please help out, guys!

~That eleven year old, trying to become the fastest typer ever.~

Impermanence
Posts: 81
Joined: Fri Aug 09, 2013 1:20 pm

Re: Any tips to get above 100 WPM?

Post by Impermanence » Thu Jan 09, 2014 8:51 am

Practice a lot!

TypeAdom
Posts: 1
Joined: Fri Jan 10, 2014 6:41 pm

Re: Typing tips

Post by TypeAdom » Sat Jan 11, 2014 3:14 pm

I actually taught myself to touch type much later on in life (I really regret not learning at a much younger age but our school was never really interested in teaching us to type properly) and of course I’m very jealous of you young typers out there who can type at phenomenal +120 WPM speeds :P. Keep it up!

I should add that I don’t claim to be able to type particularly fast but that shouldn’t stop me from sharing some of my insights. I type in English (and occasionally German) on a Qwerty based layout. An apology if this is a bit long.

1. Practice!!! As many people have said. If you realistically want to build up your speed, you need to be practicing daily or even several times a day. Take some time out every evening and a period (say 30 minutes) and just devote that time to safe, uninterrupted typing. By all means set your own standards but realistically you aren’t going to see a change if you are just type once a week.

2. Set and reassess regular goals to achieve. If you are just satisfied with your current standard of typing (and this applies to anything in life) you’ll have no motivation to change it and better yourself. I like to target my goals in blocks of 5 wpm. So when I achieve, say 80 wpm as a new personal best, my next target is 85, then 90 and so on.

3. Music is a fantastic aid and can help you enter an accelerate performance state. You’ll notice a huge difference from typing with no music and typing with your favourite song on. I don’t recommend only being able to type with music, however, if you’re trying to hit a new personal best, get your favourite song playing!

4. Think about the actual process you’re going through when you type. I’m not sure if this works for everyone, but I’ll explain how I first started typing.
Initially, I focused just on the letter that needed to be typed, thought about the corresponding finger and then went on to the next letter. You will get quicker at this but it will only get you to a limited speed. The next transition you will probably notice is a chunking of syllables. So for instance “thr” “out” “ence”. If you’re still at the single letter stage, try practicing syllable blocks (e.g. type “ough” 20-50 times in a row) repetitively until it starts to feel more automatic (by automatic, I mean the same way you think of hitting a single letter, you see the syllable block and instantly hit the corresponding letters). I’m sure you can find a list of the most used syllables for practice or make your own.

The next transition up from that I noticed was that I started to then think and react in entire words. So rather than thinking about each individual letter or the syllables that make up the word, my eyes would read the word and my fingers would have an instant reaction and hit the corresponding keys. For me at the moment, this is generally for 1-3 syllable words. I don’t think there’s really a way to learn this other than through practice of the previous stages. You could try burst typing where you type a word as fast as possible and then stop after, look at the next work, think about the motions you need to make briefly and quickly type the word as fast as possible. What I would say is make sure you practice words you particularly struggle with. If you know you struggle with Q or Y words, get practicing them.

I’ve started to notice a newer transition just recently. So this time, I’m actually reading a few words. I wouldn’t say that I’m reading 3 words at once (although that would be a nice blocking progression to get to) but I’m more reading one word and quickly skipping to the next few but storing them in my short-term memory to be typed. So it’s almost like I’m reading 1-3 words ahead of what I’m actually typing but this does depend on language complexity. This is where I am so far. I don’t know if this helps as a guide to other people for what to expect or work towards, if you believe you are at a certain level. But I should add that everyone’s brain works differently and of course we’ll all read slightly differently and at different speeds.

5. Practice difficult-polysyllabic language! It saddens me to see how little people use the more complex language typing (advanced) test. Practice typing large words will help you two fold. It will increase the time your fingers are engaged (finger patterns) between rests (space bars) and will increase your ability to concentrate on converting what you’re reading to what you’re typing. Challenge yourself!

6. Finger dexterity exercises. I’m a guitar player and noticed that if I play my guitar before typing, rather that typing “cold”, my average WPM tends to jump by about 10 WPM. I found this out by accident but it makes sense when you think about it. So if you play the piano or do any other finger intensive activity, try doing that before you type. Alternatively, you could grab a stress ball and use more finger based squeezing (safely, of course).

8. Especially in the early stages, you must try and commit yourself to a Zen-like perfection of typing (i.e. accuracy). Forget about focussing on a high WPM. I know it’s all you think about sometimes but if you are making more than 10 mistakes when you type, you really need to be working on your accuracy. I find this involves slowing down your typing pace and getting into a comfortable rhythm where each key is hit confidently in time and you work towards 0 corrections. Some of the fastest WPM people will set will have few, if any, corrections. Also, if you have words you always seem to struggle with, iron out the bad habits!

9. Rhythm is so important with anything you learn that requires a repetitive movement and speed. Think of a drummer when he’s learning a complex beat to be played at speed. I sometimes like to think of the way I type like running. So I have a comfortable pace that I can type at where I have a constant rate/rhythm of hitting characters. To me this is like a long distance run. I also have certain blocks of words that I can type at an accelerated pace but in a more sporadic fashion. Both have their place but both need training. I feel my overall pace is dependent on both.

10. Don’t question yourself. Occasionally, I will get to certain words where I’m unsure if I’ve hit a key hard enough and my mind has a brief moment where it is trying to decide what key to hit next. This split second obviously wastes time you could be typing. I found the best remedy to this was just to go with your initial gut instinct and carry on typing. I realise this sounds contrary to my above Zen-perfect typing point but ultimately, the ideal scenario is where you are reading a screen and intuitively typing with no real conscious thought. This requires full trust in your own abilities and will only really work when you practice maintaining your accuracy. I do not suggest trying this if you are making more than 10 mistakes in a minute.

11. Clear your mind. Try not to be thinking of other things while you’re typing. I find this can be a cause of hesitation, however, I find once I am typing, my mind just wants to drift. Be strict and focus.

12. Try typing for longer periods of time. One minute sprints are great, however, typing solidly for 5 minutes is fantastic practice. Try longer if you’re up to it. At this point, it’s also worth typing ideas in your head down as this will help build on your ability to get ideas on a page.

13. I've come to learn that competitions in life are really useful for making you push yourself that extra bit. So enter the typing comps, set a benchmark and then try and beat the person above you. Use it as a motivator.

So there are other keyboard layouts out there that you can use. When you start getting to really high sub 200 speeds, that is when you’re really going to have to rely on your keyboard layout, such as Dvorak, as it really becomes a numbers/stats game to give yourself the edge or relying on natural ability (in my opinion). Personally, I don’t feel the need to learn another keyboard layout as some people have recorded some phenomenal speeds in Qwerty and it's probably the most likely keyboard layout you will experience in a random environment. I’ve heard arguments for certain layouts to prevent carpal tunnel and repetitive strain injuries but I really think the evidence is a bit mixed on that.

One final suggestion that I’ve not yet tested falls into this idea of rhythms. I notice that I can sometimes up my typing speed by playing songs with faster tempos. Again, this makes sense because your brain looks for the rhythm whilst you are typing and then tries to sync you in with it. Also, as a guitarist, when trying to learn a very fast solo/complex riff, one method you can use is to get a metronome, learn the song at a slower tempo and slowly build your speed up using the metronome to guide your practice. I don’t see why the same principle can’t be applied to typing. I’ve not tested the method myself but would be happy to report back on it. My hope is that it would increase your average WPM (i.e. long distance typing) and then that would help boost your personal best. It’s all just speculation really and probably very boring haha!

At the end of the day, this is all about what you want to get out of typing. Yes you can skip wrong words by hitting the space bar to get a better WPM but it’s not really improving your ability to type. The true masters are people who can type absolute gibberish and symbols at over 150 WPM. It’s probably the truest form of your ability to touch type, although, I do understand the argument that you’re not going to type gibberish on a day to day basis (well, maybe if you code) so why bother?

I hope these thoughts and observations give some people something practical, other than more practice, to try and improve their WPM. Keep at it everyone and happy typing!

Danegraphics
Posts: 13
Joined: Sun Jan 05, 2014 5:35 pm

Re: Typing tips

Post by Danegraphics » Sat Jan 11, 2014 9:04 pm

Well. I'm just beginning to change my writing style from my 6-finger method (I was pretty fast at my 6 finger method), to the "home-row" method, and while doing so, I've discovered that there are certain combinations that are more difficult in the home row method. The key that most disturbes me is the C key. Words like "create" are really difficult with the "cr" combination, using the middle finger for the letter C, and other such combinations. I'm only now (after about one week) beginning to return to the same speed that I had when I was typing with 6 fingers, and i hope to surpass this speed.

But before I get completely accustomed to this, I'm going to be a little more flexible with which keys I write with which fingers, when it comes to the difficult words. For example, P can be written with the ring finger when L or O is not involved and C can trade with the pointer finger when it comes to a "CR" or "CE" combo. And with these rules in place, I'm going ahead to type much faster than I used to.

Tips for people who want to be faster? Well, even though I don't have much experience with improving my speed, here are the pointers that I am giving myself:

1- Use as many fingers as possible as efficiently and comfortably as possible. This will make it much easier for you to keep your hands in the same place and type comfortably without having to look so much at the keyboard to correct the position of your "floating" hands. This will also make it easier to have confidence in the keys that you are pressing. And will, logically, reduce the time you spend repositioning your fingers to hit a key because you've already got another finger there, ready and willing to press the keys for you.

Invent your own method if You so choose and make the necessary modifications as you discover faults. But make sure that you don't keep changing the method that you use; that would only cause confusion for your fingers, not confidence. Choose or create an effective method, then stick to it.

2- Make a point of not looking at the keyboard. This will force you to memorize, with muscle memory, where each of the keys resides, and will drastically improve your typing speed because of it. It will also allow you to instantly recognize and correct any mistakes made because you'll be watching them happen.

3- Relax. This applies to anything involving speed and complex movements. When you get tense, your body will react negatively, and will difficult the task, be it typing, or playing piano, or Rubik's cube solving. It's for this reason, I believe, that music helps so many to be able to enter a "zen zone" where they stop thinking too much and let the well trained muscle memory take over.

4- Practice common combinations. Such as "ing", "tion", "ous", "ough", "th", etc. They work the same way that your passwords do. I'm certain that most of us here write our passwords at roughly 200 WPM or more because they are a combination so familiar to us. What's more, we somehow manage to enter this password with great accuracy, if not perfectly, every time. Practicing these combinations and making them 200 WPM habits will greatly increase your speed. If you do this with the most common words such as "the", "what", "with", "not", "if", and a lot more, you can swiftly zip over them in your writing without missing a beat.

5- Practice the really difficult stuff... a lot. This will train your fingers to be comfortable and not hesitate in difficult typing situtations, and will train them to be ready at all times to tackle the crazy letter combinations that they're not accustomed to. Your fingers will be forced to remember, not just the letter combinations for the common words, but also exactly where all the letters are at all times. This will give you a very powerful advantage when you arrive at words that you almost never use but are necessary for the situation. This is even useful for words that you commonly use, but seem to always hesitate at typing because you don't feel prepared to type it until you've looked at the keyboard to make sure you know where the letters lay.

6- Just keep practicing... always and forever. *Kip face* To both improve and maintain your speed, you need to always be typing. Keep a digital journal or diary. Participate in online forums and image boards. And above all, NEVER write with reduced or "texting" words like "r" instead of "are" or "u" instead of "you". Perfect practice makes perfect. Imperfect practice makes bad habits that will greatly impead your progress in improving. Practice, Practice, Practice!

An example is this post. I wrote all of it using my newly created habits and methods, and I'm already feeling wonderful improvement in how comfortable my fingers are and how much confidence I have when I hit each key. I used to always have to look at the keyboard but know I'm writing quickly and accurately without even having to glance.


Well. These are my tips, I hope they help. :)

nomibucha
Posts: 10
Joined: Thu Jan 02, 2014 11:16 am

Re: Typing tips

Post by nomibucha » Mon Jan 13, 2014 7:49 am

just try and memorize where each key is...and always place your fingers on the home row keys...when you take office skills they will teach you properly

Havock
Posts: 1
Joined: Tue May 13, 2014 4:38 am

Learning to type - most useful tips?

Post by Havock » Tue May 13, 2014 4:55 am

Fast Fingers Forum Members,

Alright, I realize that everyone has their own approach to typing, and that what works for some people may not work for me. However, I would like to improve my wpm from the 80's to a minimum of 120 or so. For those of you who have accomplished this, what did you find most useful while learning to type quickly? And in your experience, how many hours behind the keyboard should I be clocking a day to reach my goal within a reasonable amount of time? (i.e. 3 months)
I would appreciate any advice you are willing to offer.

Thanks,

Havock

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