Frustrated with typing!!! I've been trying to lean how to type and to improve my typing speed and accuracy...

You may have tried some typing software before...

But I'd personally recommend Mavis Beacon Teaches Typing. I prefer the basic - the "Deluxe" doesn't really have that much more in it, and it's like $20-$25 more for the Deluxe.

Some of the features of it are unique, which other typing programs don't have. Such as...it gives you things to type, and focuses on which keys you do well with, and which keys you need more work on. Afterwards, it tailors the next exercises to focus on the keys that you are having trouble with. Instead of endlessly typing a bunch of stuff with no point, like many typing programs. Also...as your speed and skill level increases, it adjusts the difficulty and speed requirement for the exercises - so that you don't stay stuck in one spot. It's rather interesting, and isn't as dull and boring as some of the lame typing programs I have tried before, in the past. On a good day, I type around 90 words per minute...with about a 1 to 3% error rate. You will never be 'perfect', no matter how much you practice.

You *do* need to be using a computer to learn to type, if you will by using a computer for work and such. While it is true that using a real typewriter will help you to not use the 'backspace' key as much (because, for most...it's not there, unless it's one of those correctable typewriters). However, every computer you would use at work, will have a backspace key. So if you train yourself to pretend that it's 'not there'...that can be good in that it helps you to not rely on it as much. But when you do make mistakes, you may lose the reflex action to hit the backspace key as quickly as possible, so that you continue typing without losing productivity. You will use the backspace key on a computer, no matter how much you type. I've been typing since elementary school, and still have to use it. The main thing is, don't focus on trying to get speed only. Like anything..work on your accuracy and teaching your fingers precisely where each key is. That way, as you do get faster, you won't mess up as much. It's no good if you type really fast and 10% of it is errors. So focus on quality, not quantity...at least for a while.

DON'T Look at your fingers. Place them on the "home" keys (A, S, D, F - Left hand and J, K, L, ; - Right hand). Mavis Beacon Teaches Typing shows you a diagram on the screen, of both hands on the "home keys" and the other keys on the keyboard. So it shows you what finger to move from the home keys, and where...therefore, you don't have to look at your fingers at all. You also don't have to worry about 'putting the wrong finger in the wrong place' using this method. Because even a person that can't type at all, has enough reflex action and sensory in their fingers to direct them to the appropriate key, when shown on the diagram where to move what finger.

Also, don't even dare with the 'two finger' approach. I started out with that, at first...it took years to break free from that.

40 wpm is really quite good for someone who's only been typing a few months. It's all about hand-eye coordination. What I'd do if I were you is take a break from trying to increase your speed and instead try to improve your accuracy. Try very hard to keep your fingers on the correct keys on home row, try to keep from looking at the keyboard very often. You should be really glad that you are learning on a computer, where you can correct your mistakes very easily compared to when typewriters were the only thing people used. BTW, when I was being taught to type on a computer at school, they had me turn the monitor off when doing accuracy tests. Challenge yourself once you get your accuracy better and see what happens when you can't see what you're typing! Good luck!

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RE:

Frustrated with typing!!! I've been trying to lean how to type and to improve my typing speed and accuracy...

But I still find myself making several mistakes and not being able to go faster than 40 wpm. I started to try to learn to type about 3 months ago. Yes, I am faster than I used to be, but the fact that I am still making a lot of mistakes and my speed is so mediocre it's kind of a turn off for...

Practice.

That said: I've been typing since 1977 and I still type 29 words a minute with 27 mistakes....I've just learned to backspace faster.

"arus.geo" has a good answer, but, one thing I find important to add here is, RELAX! Take it easy. Practice, practice, practice as "arus.geo" says, but, just do it as a regular thing, not necessarily pushing your speed so much, but just go through the motions of typing. Notice how long "arus.geo" has been typing! She emphasizes "YEARS" of practice, and that she learned how to type when she was 8 years old. She didn't tell us how old she is now, but I bet she's been typing a whole lot longer than you have been, so, relax, and just do it, repetitively. I remembered I learned how to type back in summer school between my junior and senior years in highschool. That'd be in the summer of 1968. Yes, I said 1968, the dark ages, long before you were born or probably before your parents were married or even knew each other, and I still get frustrated at how many mistakes I make. I always compare myself with the last secretary I had, who is REALLY FAST, but she's been typing as a career. I've been typing on occasion, rare occasion at that, over all those years, so, how smart is it of me to think I'll ever be able to type as good as her. That'd be DUMB thinking. So, you relax. You're young and you've got PLENTY of time to develop your skills. I remember back in the early '60's when parents were all sending their kids to speed-reading classes, and the only "pride" I had at my outcome was that, when I finished, I read just as slow as when I started. I'm sure my parents weren't all that happy, but, that was that. And then, after I continued to go to school and college and graduate school, and I had incredible amounts of reading to do every night as homework, I slowly, almost imperceptibly, began reading faster and remembering more. Now I won't set any speed-reading records, but I'm a whole lot faster, because, through homework, night after night, and every weekend, I had to read, and so, as "arus.geo" said, I "practiced, practiced, practiced", without even knowing it, and the results, after all that reading, are ones I'm quite proud of. It'll be the same for you, whether in typing or reading or playing the piano. Just be patient. Relax, and the speed and accuracy will "sneak up"on you. God Bless you.

Lean How To Type

practice practice practice

Get a book. start typing whole passages from the book.

practice practice practice

I can do 145 wpm; but that is with YEARS of practice (I learned to type at 8 years old)

and practice on a REAL typewriter. NOT a computer. You become too dependent on the Backspace when you practice on a computer.

Genuinely have a typing tutor course the type page of any Book!! by this u could remember where the alphabets are on the key board!!!!! & keep practicing it will help more & the most important Play games which are handled more by key board!!!!!!!

When I took typing in high school, the teacher told us (once we got proficient enough) to think in words and not in letters.