Typing Exercises for the Novice and Fluent Typist

Typing exercises may not be as strenuous as weight lifting but they are just as necessary to improving typing skills as lifting weights is to the athlete. Whether the student is learning to type and the basic keyboard layout or they are increasing their familiarity with difficult to reach letter combinations the key to increasing speed is to practice. Online tutorials and computer programs can allow the student an unprecedented amount of flexibility in what type of typing exercises they use and when they practice.

Typing Exercises to Learn the Basics

For the one fingered typist the key to gaining speed and accuracy is almost always starts with the beginning lessons, that means learning the QWERTY keyboard layout so well that they don't need to look at the keys anymore or hunt and peck. Beginning exercises will show the novice typist exactly where to place their fingers and repeat key patterns until they are second nature.

The primary typing exercises will usually focus upon the home keys. These are the keys that the fingers rest upon when not actively typing. The left hand keys are a, s , d, f and the right hand keys are j, k, l and ;. The student should be able to locate the "home keys" without looking before moving on to more advanced typing exercises. Eventually the novice typist works their way throughout the keyboard learning to locate the number keys and to capitalize letters as needed.

These exercises progress in difficulty until there is sufficient mastery for the student to begin to type simple sentences. Most typing tutorial exercises progress in a natural fashion from the basic lessons to the advanced lessons necessary to type any material placed before them.

It is important that the student not try to skip any stages in the learning process. While learning how to type all the letters in the alphabet is important when a student attempts to skip ahead without doing the learning to capitalize letters as they would be in a manuscript or business letters they usually decrease their speed and end up having to return to lessons skipped over.

After learning and becoming comfortable with the keyboard layout, the typing exercises for the novice and for the experienced typist become very similar. The basic exercises may be beneficial for a typist who has not typed for years and needs to brush up on the basics.

Typing speed and accuracy is improved by practice. Exercises can provide the practice and typing speed tests can confirm that the exercises are the right ones for that typist's skill level and measure their progress. Some people can use online tutorials easily to improve their typing speed, improve accuracy and learn the basics. Others may not be able to consistently practice with non-interactive material.

Individuals who suffer from boredom during typing exercises can benefit from some of those who are unable to focus on simple typing lessons. Typing programs may use a number of different exercises or interactive measurements to help keep the typing exercises fresh and configure practices to the individual student.

Programs for children will include exercises with bright colors and a lot of movement. Typing games may be a central part of the exercises in these programs. Children have shorter attention spans and games keep their interest much longer than typing a series of words.

By the same token, adults enjoy more interactive and interesting exercises and often, games are a welcome relief from typing letters from a page. Many times adult exercises will focus upon areas identified as weakest from the typist's practice tests. If an individual has trouble capitalizing letters, some interactive typing programs may present the student with exercises that are heavy on capitalized letters, names, addresses and more. If the student is using an online program or making their own exercises then areas where they consistently make mistakes are important to focus upon when doing exercises.

Typing exercises are best when individualized to the individual's skill level. It is also important that the student not be presented with the exact same exercise each time. While typing "the quick brown fox jumps over the lazy fox" does hit every letter in the alphabet it doesn't present the student with new challenges. Practice exercises should be varied, so that common words can be easily typed out but the student can handle unexpected combinations with ease too. While success is possible with home designed programs, many students benefit from online tutorials or professional computer learning programs more.