"911, Please state your emergency."

[Caels]

Going to take a typing test today to see if I qualify for that job.

Watch out, I won't take kindly to prank calls!

[Caels]

Damn the bad luck to hell... I failed the test by one word... can't take it again for another 3 weeks.

[Black Jesus]

what did the test consist of?

[Warriorbird]

I've done dispatch work. A lot of people underestimate the difficulty and importance of it. Good luck. If you make it, you'll be doing something else good for the country.

[Caels]

It was just a typing test, they tested for speed and accuracy.

I'm not good at typing without looking at the keyboard, so I only got 40 wpm, with 11 errors (not allowed to make corrections on the test), so my final score was 29 accurate wpm. 30 words was the cut-off.

[Bestatte]

This is gonna sound really hokey but there's a great program designed more for kids than adults, but it works.

It's called Mavis Beacon Teaches Typing. It's kinda like the Evelyn Wood Speed-Reading course for typing and keyboarding, and can improve your speed and accuracy within a few days time.

In High School typing class, the goal to get an A grade was 40 words per minute with 0 errors. I think I did something like 37 with 2 errors and passed the course.

I have been tested in the past year and clocked at 79 WPM with 0 errors. My data entry score in KPS is even higher (keystrokes per second rather than words per minute). It comes from typing regularly, but there are a couple of tricks to it too.

The most important thing, is to never look at the keyboard when you're typing. Let your fingers learn where they're supposed to go. Once you learn, you will never get lost. Place a cloth over it if you have to.

It's called the qwerty keyboard for a reason, and the letters are placed the way they are for a reason as well. Your pinky is the second-most difficult finger to move, and so the keys you hardly ever use will be placed closest to your pinky. The ring finger is the most difficult finger to move, and so keys that are used fairly commonly will be placed in such a way that you never need to move that finger. S, W, L, O, X, >
all use the ring finger.

Middle finger is the next easiest finger on your hand to move, and so the more common keys are placed within its reach.
edik3c8, and note that E is the most often-used letter of the english aphabet.

rtfgvbuyjhmn are all manipulated with the pointer/index finger, because it has the most movability, and therefore are all placed within easy reach of this finger.

The thumb is meant to rest on the space bar.

The qwerty keyboard is made logically according to how your fingers work, rather than in alphabetical order.

It is much easier to type the alphabet with this keyboard than if it had been made any other way:

abcdefg <-- all left hand
hijklmnop <-- all right hand

qrst <-- left hand
u - right
vwx - left
y - right
z - left

and if you look at the fingers each of these keys uses, you'll see that the left hand controls the most common letters.

The right side of the brain is the side that creates. And so this makes sense, since the right side of the brain also has some control over the left side of the body. And your fingers are creating words from keys, so the guy who invented this keyboard was a freaking genius.

[Caels]

I type using 6 fingers. Thumb, index and middle of each hand.

I don't really care about my wpm, I do web design not word processing. Besides, when I'm typing straight out of my own thoughts and not having to read anything I can probably best most people in typing. (Too bad thats not a desired skill)

*shrugs* I guess playing GS for a few years and a few other games has made my fingers quick to the keys.

If I sit down and focus on not lookin at the keyboard, I can usually find the right key, but I'm real slow to process. But that's okay, I'm not sure I'd like to sit behind a computer and answer distressing calls.

----------------------------------------

Caels: "Ma'am, I can't understand you. Please state your emergency."

Headset squawks raucously with barely a word understood.

Caels: "Ma'am I'm sorry but your going to have to clarify, I can't type screams and moans into my console."

-----------------------------------------

Not meant to offend anyone, just pointing out that I don't think I could handle the job properly.

[AnticorRifling]

When your job is fixing computers while being yelled at by a GySgt and your hobby is GS tend to type really fast. Next time take you take the test bring along a GySgt to yell at you the stress will take your mind off the keys and you will be able to sit back and just fly over the keyboard. :cool:

[Caels]

Heh, I was stressing over the just taking the test, who needs a Gunnery Sergeant?

[Parkbandit]

Practice makes perfect. There's a site on the internet that has a typing speed test as well. Keep practicing there.

I too use only 6 fingers to type.. and I can go around 48 WPM now. I blame most of that on Gemstone III :)

http://www.typingtest.com/

Take the test here to gauge your speed. I type only with my right hand and using the 3 minute Huckleberry Finn, I managed 69 WPM with 94% accuracy. I think I wasn't really on the ball cause I've hit 75 on different tests. Have at it!

- --[ Klaive ]-- -

[Taernath]

Originally posted by Bestatte
The qwerty keyboard is made logically according to how your fingers work, rather than in alphabetical order.


No, it's made according to how the typebars functioned on the original typewriters. The typebars hung in a circle, and letter pairings that were used often (such as T and H) tended to clash and jam, so they were seperated for quicker typing.

[Scott]

84 words a minute. I thought I was at 60.....

Woo hoo! I pushed myself hard on the tiger one and managed 96 WPM one handed! Yeah, not that impressive to you, but it's a personal best... especially since it's on this unresponsive keyboard.

- --[ Klaive ]-- -

[Scott]

Originally posted by Demon Lord Kage
Woo hoo! I pushed myself hard on the tiger one and managed 96 WPM one handed! Yeah, not that impressive to you, but it's a personal best... especially since it's on this unresponsive keyboard.

- --[ Klaive ]-- -

That's pretty amazing. If you used 2 hands and doubled your speed. You'd be the worlds fastest types. :rolleyes:

[Parkbandit]

That Seanititis is worse than I thought...

Originally posted by Gemstone101
[quote]Originally posted by Demon Lord Kage

That's pretty amazing. If you used 2 hands and doubled your speed. You'd be the worlds fastest types.

If I doubled my speed, sure.

But using two hands wouldn't do that. When you learn to type one handed, you're learning a freeform typing style that does nothing to help you in the standard style. I'll try the test right now using two hands and post my results...

Test name: Strategic Alliances with Competitors

Gross Speed: 10 WPM

Errors: 3 Words

Net Speed: 7 WPM

Accuracy: 72%

Now THAT's pathetic. Cause I can't type two handed. A one handed typist can't quite keep up with a two handed typist of the same skill level. But one handed typing isn't THAT much slower and, in fact, can be easier to keep up with.

I find when I try typing with two hands, my fingers disagree with everything I want them to do.

What it comes down to is... one-handed typing is an either/or thing. Mastering it has nothing to do with any other typing styles and does not, in any way, help my two handed typing speed. Adding an extra hand to this style would just slow me down. ::shrugs::

- --[ Klaive ]-- -

[Scott]

Originally posted by Parkbandit
That Seanititis is worse than I thought...

I think Sean has Klaivitis

[imported_Kranar]

I typed 84 WPM on that site with 100% accuracy. I use 3 fingers to type (middle finger on left hand, and middle finger as well as index finger on right hand), and when I capitalize, I ALWAYS CAPS-LOCK, never shift.

I think that test is seriously flawed.

[imported_Kranar]

<< No, it's made according to how the typebars functioned on the original typewriters. >>

Desharei was correct in her explanation of why keys are arranged the way they are. The reason keys jammed originally is explained exactly in her description.

The QWERTY keyboard is considered today to be the second most efficient keyboard layout, with the Dvorak layout being the most efficient. Both layouts are dependent on minimizing the average distance that a finger has to travel from letter to letter. The QWERTY however, is more inefficient in that it utilizes the left hand 10 times more than it does the right hand, whereas the Dvorak layout is considered the most efficient because the left hand is used for vowels, and the right hand is used for consonents, forcing the typist to switch hands often. It may seem weird, but while the left hand types, the right hand "recovers" and gets back to standard position, and then the right hand proceeds to type while the left hand recovers.

It's been proven that the Dvorak layout is the most efficient layout, but unfortunately the QWERTY layout became far more popular.

[RandomRandom]

http://wwwpub.utdallas.edu/~liebowit/keys1.html

[Gokkem]

81 gross wpm with 7 errors came out to 74 wpm. That's about the same as when I graduated high school.

[Caels]

Yer all better than I am.

[Black Jesus]

damn i got worse.. 88wpm with 3 errors on huck fin = 85.. i used to be almost 100 net. i use proper textbook style except for C, i use my left index because its much easier to keep a bearing on the keyboard without pivoting your entire hand

[Neildo]

I don't use the standard way of typing with the homerow keys either. I type using three fingers on each hand (index/middle/ring) and only use my thumb for the spacebar and pinky for the shift key.

Heh, the way my fingers are usually positioned, I have my left pinky resting on the left shift and ctrl, my ring finger on A, middle on S, and index either on D, F, or V (it changes as I just throw my hands on the keyboard rather than placing them carefully). Then my right index is on K, middle is on L, and ring finger either on the colon or question mark and my pinky resting between the enter and right shift key. And then when I type, my hands don't stay in a normal arch like regular typists but rather move around all over like a spider. Sometimes my right hand will type in keys that my left should be should as my right index hitting R or something.

Anyhow, I took the Huckleberry test and got 119 WPM with 100% accuracy on the first try. Man, that was some crazy writing. Reading what was being typed dropped my IQ down a bit.

- N

[Captain Amby]

ehh.. how come ya learned how to type with only one hand, Kage? ::giggles:: Sorry.. I had to say it! Muah!

Originally posted by Captain Amby
ehh.. how come ya learned how to type with only one hand, Kage? ::giggles:: Sorry.. I had to say it! Muah!

Cause I have lots of GS Sex and need my left hand free to beat it. :bouncy:

Nah, actually... my first computer was at my grandma's house where I stayed during the day while my mom went to college. I didn't have a proper computer desk, and was forced to set my CPU up on the end of a vanity/dresser. My right side was flush against the wall, making it impossible to position my elbows correctly for two handed typing. So I would place my left arm infront of me, lean forward onto it and type strictly with my right hand because that's all I had the room to do. My situation changed, my computer changed, my location changed... but that was how I had learned to type.

- --[ Klaive ]-- -

[Zanagodly]

Huck Fin-3 minute...79 WPM, 96% accuracy.

[Drew2]

I don't go nearly as fast as I thought I did. I'm more accurate that I thought, though. I use backspace a lot.
:-D

-Tayre

[Caels]

I wasn't allowed to use any corrective means on the typing test I took for the job.