Improve Your Typing Speed, Improve Your Grades

This year, don’t forget to place “typing faster” at the top of your school supplies list. While it’s not something you can buy at the store, fast fingers are your biggest asset in the classroom this year. In fact, you can scratch off notebooks and pencils altogether from the list. Classrooms across the country are swapping out antiquated paper and pens for personal laptops. Students are either required to bring their own laptop or are given a loaner from the school. Getting up to speed this year means so much more than completing your summer book reading list. Rather, you need to hit the keyboard and follow these tips to increase your WPM (that’s words per minute) for better success in the classroom. Type correctly. Many people struggle with typing quickly and accurately because they’re typing incorrectly. Starting with the left hand, your pinky should line up on the “A” key. That’s followed by the ring finger on the “S” key, the middle finger on the “D” key, and the pointer finger on the “F” key. Align your right hand with the same placement, starting with your pointer on the “J” key and finish with the pinky finger on the colon and semi-colon key. This frees up your thumbs for placement on the space bar. Look at the screen. If you keep staring at your hands on the keyboard, you’ll never get anywhere. Essentially, it’s all about trust. Keep your focus on the screen in front of you and don’t worry about the mistakes you’re making. You can always go back and correct them. Just work on typing quickly; the accuracy will come with more and more practice. Speaking of practice. It doesn’t require you to sit in front of a computer screen and type mindless sentences and phrases over and over again. Instead, you can have fun while learning how to type faster and with more precision. Treat your AIM chats as practice sessions, typing your LOLs and TTYLs in the proper hand placement and without looking at your fingers on the keyboard. Also, it’s not a bad idea to invest some time into fun, online typing games like Barracuda or Typer Shark.