Guides

Common typing mistakes and how to fix them

Most people who type slowly are not slow because of their fingers. They are slow because of a few habits, each of which can be corrected. Here are the common ones, roughly in order of how much they cost.

Looking at the keys

This is the big one. Eyes that travel between the keyboard, the source and the screen waste time on every journey, and they cannot spot a mistake until much later.

Fix. Learn the home row properly, then refuse to look down. When lost, feel for the raised marks on F and J. For one or two sessions, cover your hands with a cloth. The first days are slow. After that the habit is broken for life.

Using the wrong finger

Typing C with the index finger, or P with the ring finger, works at low speed. At higher speed the fingers collide and the hand leaves the home row. Self-taught typists often use only six or seven fingers and never the little fingers.

Fix. Go through the row lessons slowly with the keyboard chart in view on the screen, and check the colour of each key. Give the little fingers their own short drill every day until they stop being avoided.

Not returning to the home row

If a finger stays where it last typed, the hand drifts, and the next key is a guess. This shows up as a run of wrong letters, each one key to the side of the right one.

Fix. After every key, come back. Practise slowly enough to feel the return. Check that your index fingers are on the bumps at the start of every line.

Hitting the keys hard

A heavy touch is tiring and slow, because the finger needs time to come back up. It is common in people who learnt on old stiff keyboards.

Fix. Type one line as lightly as you can, so lightly that some letters fail to appear. Then add just enough force for every letter to register. That is the right touch.

Chasing speed too early

Typing as fast as possible from the first week teaches the fingers their mistakes. The speed feels good and the accuracy figure tells the truth.

Fix. Watch accuracy, not speed. If it is below about 95 per cent, slow down until it recovers. Speed built on accuracy stays. Speed built on mistakes has to be unlearnt.

Uneven rhythm

Fast on easy words, stuck on hard ones. The stops cost more time than the bursts save, and most mistakes happen at the joins.

Fix. Type to a steady count, one key per beat, at a pace you can hold through the hard words. Raise the pace only when the whole line is even.

The same hand for Shift and the letter

Holding the left Shift and typing A with the same hand twists the hand away from home.

Fix. Use the opposite Shift every time. Practise names: one capital, then small letters.

Resting the wrists while typing

Wrists planted on the table pin the hand, so the fingers cannot reach the top row or the numbers without stretching.

Fix. Let the wrists float just above the table while you type, and rest them only in pauses. Raise or lower the chair until the forearms are level.

Ignoring the same mistake

Many typists make the same three or four mistakes again and again, such as teh for the, and correct them each time without ever fixing the cause.

Fix. After a test, read the list of wrong words. Pick the word that appears most. Type it correctly, slowly, twenty times. This small exercise removes mistakes that have lasted for years.

Practising only what is easy

It is pleasant to type the lines you are good at. It does little good.

Fix. Spend most of each session on the keys and words you get wrong: numbers, the bottom row, the little finger keys. A short honest session on weak points beats a long comfortable one.

Long sessions, rarely

An hour once a week feels like serious effort and teaches little, because the fingers have forgotten by the next week.

Fix. Fifteen minutes every day. See the four week plan.

A quick self-check

Find your row in the table, apply the fix for one week, and test again.

This is an independent practice site. It is not connected with any examination body, keyboard maker or software company. A typing speed measured here is for your own practice. It is not a certificate, and an examination may measure speed in its own way.