Office assistants type letters and records, customer service agents type notes while customers talk, and DMP week 1 ends with writing a short tip sheet in Google Docs. If you type with one finger while searching for every key, these tasks take a long time and tire you out. Learning to touch type, using all your fingers without looking at the keys, is a skill that pays back in every course and job that follows.
Start with the home row
Look at the middle row of letters. Rest your fingers like this:
- Left hand: little finger on A, then S, D, and your first finger on F.
- Right hand: first finger on J, then K, L, and your little finger on the semicolon key.
- Thumbs rest on the space bar.
Feel the small bumps on F and J. They let you find the home row without looking. Each finger reaches up and down from its home key to nearby keys, then comes back.
Accuracy first, speed later
Beginners often rush and make many mistakes. Go slowly and press the right key with the right finger. Speed grows by itself once your fingers know where to go. If you keep making errors, slow down.