1️⃣ Going too fast
Most people think that learning to touch type is all about speed typing. Yes, it is when you are proficient, but as a beginner, you have to go SUPER SLOW otherwise you end up tripping over your fingers.
You need time to think about which finger to move. At Type IT! we have our own foolproof system to help you remember these movements. BUT if you type too fast, you won’t have time to think about them!
2️⃣ Posture
We see so many students sat at their desks with their elbows splayed out. Not a great position to be in if you need to move your fingers up and down vertically.
Also breaking wrists on the edge of the desk is another problem to avoid. Not only will it result in tired and sore joints, it doesn’t allow you to move your fingers freely.
3️⃣ Using the wrong fingers to touch type
If you find your typing speed is static and you can’t get it above 40wpm, this may be why.
If you’ve learnt touch typing by yourself, it’s so easy to use the wrong fingers. (I would say 80% of our students that come to us for help are using the wrong fingers).
It may seem a trivial problem but it can really hold you back from typing fast.
We see problems such as middle fingers crossing over to type keys that should be typed with the index fingers or using a more dominant finger (e.g. index) to type multiple keys.
These mistakes are not always obvious so it’s worth checking.
4️⃣ Letting the fingers wander away from the home row
This is such a common problem that can affect both accuracy and speed.
Touch typing is learnt by muscle memory with all fingers starting and returning to the home row. (That’s why you have two little bumps on the F and J).
If your fingers are out of position at any time, you will be making your keystrokes in a different place.
That’s when mistakes happen and speed will always be affected.
That’s why the home keys are the foundation to successful touch typing.
5️⃣ Rushing the process of learning to touch type
Most people are in a hurry to learn how to touch type. But you have to understand that learning does take time. There are no real shortcuts. You have to follow the process, practice regularly and learn from your mistakes. I’d recommend you give yourself a few months if you can with a practice time of an hour a week or even better – 10 minutes a day. It takes about 20 hours to become fully proficient. If you rush it, you may may find some parts are not fully embedded and that’s when problems occur such as low accuracy and speed.
6️⃣ Practicing for too long
When you are learning a new skill such as touch typing, which demands a lot of concentration and muscle memory, it’s much better to work in short bursts rather than extended periods of time. We would recommend no more than 20 minutes per day. Otherwise it’s easy to lose concentration with mistakes likely to creep in.
7️⃣ Not learning all of the keys
It’s so tempting, isn’t it? You get so far in something and then think oh I know enough to get by.
With touch typing this usually happens when you move onto the trickier bottom row keys and punctuation.
But the problem with this is that if you end up adopting a kind of hybrid style. Where for some keys you have to look down. Which sort of defeats the object of learning in the first place. Unfortunately, this will seriously impact your ability to type fast.
8️⃣ Guessing where the keys are
If you don’t take your time and concentrate on making the correct finger movements over and over again, they will not stay in your muscle memory. Muscle memory is the foundation of learning to touch type well.
If you find yourself guessing, it’s worth going back over those finger movements again. Drill the movement until it becomes automatic.
9️⃣ Use it or lose it
If you don’t carry on touch typing once you have learnt it, there’s a danger that you may go back to your old habits.
It true that your initial typing speed may be slower than your old two finger speed.
But what you have to remember with touch typing is that your speed will keep increasing the more you use it. Persevere with it. It’s important to keep practicing once you have learnt the basic skill.
🔟 Not having time when learning to touch type
Sometimes trying to fit in practice can be challenging. If it’s really important to you or your child to learn, perhaps another hobby may have to be sacrificed short term.
Check out our range of touch typing courses to see which would suit your needs and enable you to learn how to type faster and enroll online. Alternatively, give us a call on 020 3962 2059 to have a friendly chat about how we can help you!
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