The final printed
document or information is ultimately what people see. Your
finished text product should be completely accurate. The
accuracy of the text in terms of spelling, punctuation, layout and
format is the first part of a document (whether in print on paper,
on on the screen) to be noticed. Your reader will
immediately form a first (and in many cases the strongest)
impression on first glances. And in first glances, the
overall accuracy is most immediately obvious. Your reader
will approach the reading of the content and information contained in
your text in a much more favorable light if the initial impression
of accuracy is good. Poor accuracy and spelling / punctuation
mistakes will mar the impression of the reader.
Accuracy is
ESSENTIAL to good typing.
Accuracy on our
Custom Typing Training
web site is calculated by taking the number of correct words
typed, divided by the number of actual words, and then multiplied by 100
to provide a percentage.
Word
processing has wonderful advantages. One of the most
important options it gives us is the ability to make
corrections. BUT - that also results in us getting away
with being 'sloppy' typists. Consider the days of
typewriters and correction fluid or correction tape. It
is clearly documented that typists in days of typewriters were
more precise and conscientious in maintaining a high initial
key hit accuracy in the quest to reduce time consuming errors
which needed to be corrected with messy correction fluid and
retyped. If errors were present, they were normally
minimal.
In the word processor era, we
have become more casual about making mistakes. Hitting
the incorrect key, or typing many words, only to replace them,
reduces our overall efficiency of typing. Ultimately,
going back to make corrections will slow your
typing.
Accuracy involves hitting the
correct key at the correct time for good spelling and correct
placement of characters.
For correct key presses, your
fingers should have developed a good 'kinesthetic' sense and a
feeling of the position in space required for each key
press.
Sloppy &
slow
OR
Accurate
& fast?
If
each key hit is accurate the first time:
Fewer [backspace] hits to
make corrections. The [backspace] key is one of
the most difficult keys on the keyboard to reach. It
requires a long stretch hit with the little finger on the
right hand, resulting in the fingers moving away from the
home row for most people. Overall, this simple act
of hitting the backspace key will slow down your typing
since your fingers are not maintained on the home row as
in regular typing.
Flow of thoughts.
Fewer corrections will allow you to type fluently, getting
words and information down on the page quickly and in an
ordered manner. As incorrect keys are typed, your
focus of attention turns to the error and correcting the
error, and your fingers move to hit the [backspace]
key. The more errors made, the less efficient your
typing will be.
Tips for improving your
accuracy:
Pay attention to how often you
are hitting the backspace key to correct errors. If you
think you are pressing backspace too often, try slowing down
your typing a bit. While speed is important, you may find
that the extra time needed to correct mistakes actually takes
more time in the end. Slow down your typing for a while
and focus on hitting the right key every time. Then,
gradually increase your speed while working on good accuracy at
the same time.