Speedtype 7 PE (Public Edition) Alphabet

Alphabet Level One has four basic lesson exercises beginning with the home keys (A S D F J K L ;) and the last exercise is a Word Test where students type real words using the letters from Lessons 1 through 4.

FINGER POSITION

Proper finger positioning is very important in being able to type fast with high accuracy. Before starting any of the lessons make sure your fingers are oriented in the proper positions.

Left hand:

Right hand:

The thumb (doesn't matter which one) is always used for the space bar.

LESSON PROGRESSION

Lesson 1: D E K I - Middle fingers. The middle finger is the strongest of our five fingers and will be very instrumental in carrying proper orientation for the rest of the lessons. We start with the letters D E K I. Exercises in this lesson will be consistent patterns of letter combination of these four letters from simple pairings to alternate pairings in consistent pattern. Like most lessons this lesson has sixty lines with simple combinations or letter pairings.

Lesson 2: F J - Pointer fingers. This lesson adds the two letters F and J to the four letters from Lesson 1. This setup of doing letters from previous lessons before adding the new letters helps in building the memory map of the finger muscles. Repetition and consistent pattern is the secret to learning where the letters are without looking at the keyboard. The student will not encounter a word with letters not yet encountered.

Lesson 3: S L - Ring fingers. This lesson adds the two letters S and L to the six letters from Lesson 2. By line 6, the letters F & J are introduced in the pattern of simple combinations. And then letters E & I are added to the combination. The principle behind this is building new skills on previously learned skill thus reinforcing the memory map of the fingers on corresponding letter assignment. Towards the end, real words will be typed using only the 8 letters introduced in these first 3 lessons.

Lesson 4: A ; - Pinky or Small finger. The small finger is the weakest of the four typing fingers but by the time the student comes to this part the three other fingers are already well oriented to their position so the small finger will automatically know its position. Again, the lesson starts with the letters D & K to orient the fingers in the home keys and then followed with combinations with A & ; and then the rest of the previously encountered letters E I F J S and L.

Lesson 5: Word Test Level 1- the student will be typing real words encountered in the first four lessons using only the letters introduced.

Alphabet Level 2, 3 and 4 In Lesson 6 through 18 two letters are introduced with each succeeding lesson except for every fifth lesson which is a word test. The lesson starts from easier combinations to more difficult. One will notice as the student progress in each lesson and level that one will never encounter a word in the Word Test that contains letters that have not been introduced in previous lessons. The Pointer Finger has the most letter assignments (six letters on each hand). The other fingers - Middle, Ring and Pinky - have three letter assignments. The Pinky finger is also assigned to five other keys - the Shift key, Tab, Caps Lock, control and caret for the left hand; the Enter key, Shift key, Bar-slash key, and Backspace key on the right hand.

Alphabet Level 4 Lesson 19 – This lesson introduces the use of the Shift Key and uses combinations of real words and proper names where uppercase, quotation marks, question marks, greater & lesser signs are used.

Alphabet Level 4 Lesson 20 - the student will be typing an inspirational passage formatted in real paragraphs and sentences with periods, commas, quotation marks, question marks, exclamation marks, uppercase letters using all keys except for the numerals.

IMPORTANT NOTES:

As mentioned earlier, always start by positioning the fingers of both hands on the home key A S D F and J K L ( ;) and always return to this position.

When you start making mistakes, don't try to do backspace to correct as you cannot correct the mistake. Pause a while and continue with typing the rest of the lines.

Always turn the caps lock on until Alphabet Level 4 Lesson 18. Lesson 19 is on the use of the Shift Key so caps lock is off.

Alphanumeric Level One has 5 lessons targeting specific numbers above the alphabet keys. Like in Alphabet Level 1 Alphanumeric Lesson 1 starts with numbers 3 & 8 which uses the middle fingers of both hand. Using the same consistent pattern of combination with letters D & K (this time in lowercase, caps lock is off).

Lesson 2 introduces the number 7 using the pointer finger on the right, in combination with numbers 3 & 8, and letters D, E, K, I, J, R, F, & U.

Lesson 3 introduces the number 4 (using the pointer finger) in combination with the letters previously learned.

Lesson 4 introduces the number 9 (using the middle finger).

Lesson 5 introduces the number 2 (using the ring finger).

NOTE: Alphanumeric is a combination of the alphabet and numbers above it. It is not advisable, especially for beginners, to work on this until they worked on Alphabet. To learn to type numbers only, start with the Keypad (10-key) lessons.

KEYPAD Lessons - One can start with this lesson side by side with Alphabet. This is recommended especially if one will be typing numbers such as in inputting currency data, or numerical values in tables. Again, following the principle of learning from simple to complex combination and isolation of specific task for greater learning, only the three fingers on the right hand are used and assigned specific numbers.

Numeric Keypad "10 Key" Level Two

FULL KEYBOARD These are informational articles for the advanced typist who needs basic information about history of computers and basic computer parts and operation. Each Lesson consists of specific topics in paragraph forms and contains words that build ones vocabulary about computer. Initially introduced as reading materials when the author of Speedtype, Ray Colorado, created this tutorial, the lessons are used more to advance typing skills, using all parts of the Keyboard, consistent with real typing jobs in the real workplace. The articles were written in late 1989 when the computer was just being introduced to general public. Much information contained maybe outdated but still useful in developing one's typing skill to excellent level.