Typing is built by short, frequent practice, not by long sessions. Ten minutes a day for three weeks beats two hours on a Sunday, and it fits around a life where computer time has to be borrowed or paid for.
Ten minutes, most days. Your hands are learning a physical habit, and habits are built by repetition close together in time, not by volume. A long session mostly teaches you that typing is tiring.
Where to find a keyboard if you do not own one.
- A public library. Many have free computers, sometimes with a booking system, and librarians are used to this request.
- An internet cafe, where you are paying for time, so arrive knowing exactly what you will practise.
- A community centre, church hall or a Department of Employment and Labour centre, some of which have computer rooms.
- A friend or relative's computer for ten minutes while you visit.
- Some cheap keyboards plug into a phone through a USB adapter, which is worth knowing if you have one lying around.
Practise on real text, not only exercises. Copy out a job advert, or a paragraph from a guide on this site. It keeps the practice honest and you end up with something you can use.
Track two numbers, once a week only. Words a minute and accuracy. Once a week, not every session, because daily numbers bounce around for reasons that have nothing to do with progress and watching them is discouraging.
You can get to a computer only twice a week, for an hour each time.
What happens: By about twenty minutes your accuracy falls and you start practising your mistakes, which is worse than not practising. The hour also has to carry your job applications, which matter more.
What happens: Right. Short and at the start, while you are fresh. Between visits, practise the finger positions on any keyboard you can borrow for a few minutes, even without a screen.
Can I practise on my phone keyboard?
It will not build the skill this course is about, because the hand position does not exist on a phone. What you can practise anywhere is finding the home row by feel on any keyboard you touch, even for thirty seconds. Phone Skills lesson 6 covers typing faster on a phone, which is a genuinely useful and separate thing.
How long until I can pass a 35 word test?
For most people starting at two finger speed and practising ten minutes most days, somewhere between four and eight weeks. That is a real range and not a promise, because it depends on how often you actually get to a keyboard. What is reliable is the direction: with the right method it keeps rising, and with two fingers it does not.
My data is expensive. Do I need to be online to practise?
No. Any word processor or notes app works offline for practice, and copying text from a page you already have open costs nothing. You only need to be online for a timed test, which is lesson 7 and is a few minutes once a week at most.
Before you move on
- Book or find ten minutes a day on a keyboard
- Practise on real text, like a job advert
- Check your speed once a week, not every day
Check what you know
4 questions. Have a look at what this lesson asks.
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