Increasing Your Keyboarding Practice Skills at Home

I have never taken a keyboarding practice class in my life, yet I can quickly churn out approximately eighty words per minute with little to no errors. How can you achieve similar keyboarding skills? Follow these simple tips to learn how to increase your keyboarding skills with excellent keyboarding practice.

Keyboarding Practice Tip 1: Test your current keyboarding skills

You can do a quick test of your current keyboarding skills by using an online typing test like typeonline. Follow the simple instructions to get a general idea about your current keyboarding skills. Take the test a few times, with a long break in between, to get a better idea about your current keyboarding skills. If you find that you are averaging less than 20 words per minute, then you will need more time in keyboarding practice to better your wpm (words per minute).

Keyboarding Practice Tip 2: Aim for a realistic keyboarding goal

If you currently type at 15 wpm, do not expect to be able to reach 60 wpm by next week. A good goal would be to increase first to maybe 25 wpm, then 35 wpm, then 50 wpm, and so on. You will find by the time you begin hitting about 40 wpm in your keyboarding practice that your keyboarding skills will increase exponentially.

Keyboarding Practice Tip 3: Use all of your fingers

If you only use two or three of your ten fingers to type, then you are setting yourself up for disaster. Computer keyboarding practice is not unlike piano keyboarding practice. You must utilize all of your fingers, even your pinky fingers. The thumbs will be relegated primarily to the space bar, while the bulk of your typing will take place with your ringer, middle, and index fingers. Save your pinky fingers for those pesky outside keys, like quotes, the shift key, and the caps lock key.

Keyboard Practice Tip 4: Practice the alphabet

My primary keyboarding practice took place during college when I was instant messaging my friends. While I waited for them to write me back, I would begin typing the entire alphabet from a to z. Soon it became a game. I would try to go through the alphabet at least twice in between their instant message responses.

Begin with this simple exercise. Begin typing the letters of the alphabet at a speed where you have no errors whatsoever. If it is painfully slow for you, then just try the first ten letters of the alphabet, then slowly add letters. Memorize the location for each letter. Realize that certain letters, such as q, z, and x are in hard to reach locations because of their lack of use.

Keyboarding Practice Tip 5: Do not look at the keyboard

Another typical music keyboarding practice skill comes in very handy with computer keyboarding practice. Once you are familiar where each and every letter of the alphabet resides, and you can propel yourself effortlessly through the alphabet several times at a nice clip, stop looking at the computer keyboard. Instead, focus on the computer screen. Learn how to correct errors without having to hunt for the correct computer keys. I even challenge you to close your eyes and attempt to go through the alphabet several times without looking.

Keyboarding Practice Tip 6: Adding punctuation and capitalization

Now that you understand where each of the letters of the alphabet reside and can type without looking at the computer keyboard, you can begin adding punctuation and capitalization to your keyboarding practice.

Follow these keyboarding practice tips and you will soon be able to type like a keyboarding professional. Excellent keyboard skills will make you more marketable and help you complete paperwork more easily.