Keyboarding Speed Test

I took a typing test at TypingTest.com. I took a two minute test where I typed text based on Aesop's fables. The test was a lot harder than I thought it was going to be. I think it was a challenge for me because of the way it was set up and because I had to copy words instead of me coming up with them myself. In my opinion, having to look up at the top up the screen while the words change color and disappear after you type them, and then having to look down through all that text to see what you have typed in order to keep up and make corrections, was really hard and distracting for me. However, I managed to get through a few tests without getting too lost or frustrated.

On the very first test I took I scored 53 WPM, with a gross speed of 56 WPM, and 96% accuracy. My score was way worse than I thought it would be. The second time I took the test, I typed slower then the first time! However, my accuracy remained the same. My score the second time around was, 44 WPM, with a gross speed of 44 WPM and 96% accuracy.I replicated the same exact results the next 3 times I took the test and my score became lower each time after that. All the way down to 40 WPM and 90% accuracy. I gave myself a good 30 minutes until I tried the test again. I was getting frustrated and tripping over my own fingers. The sixth time I took the test I finally improved by scoring 47 WPM, 49 WPM gross speed and 97% accuracy. My score continued to increase the next few times as well. It went from 48WPM to 53 WPM to 55 WPM to 60 WPM, with my accuracy staying at 96% until the last test which was 97% accuracy.

I think that my WPM and accuracy finally started improving because I was becoming really familiar with the test and the words I was typing. I personally do not think that a web-based tutorial can help me learn how to type faster and more accurately, but it may be very useful to someone else. I type way faster when the words are coming out of my head instead of having to copy words and look all over a computer screen. However, I do think that web-based tutorials could be useful for basic skills development and improvement depending on whether or not one is learning something for the first time or if they are familiar with it. If one is not at all familiar with a skill then a tutorial would most likely be helpful and go at the speed they needed, whereas, if someone is already somewhat familiar with a skill they might find the tutorial or test frustrating because it may challenge what they feel comfortable with. I guess it really just depends on the person, their computer literacy and the skill they are trying to develop or improve on.

I search for tutorials on the web that would show one how to use Adobe Photoshop. Google came back with quite a few hits and one of them was the Adobe website. On the Adobe Photoshop website there is a "Support Center and Help" page where one has access to dozens of tutorials. There are video tutorials and book excerpt tutorials on how to use many of the features available on Adobe Photoshop. I chose a tutorial at random, a book excerpt tutorial called "Retouching Blemishes in Adobe Photoshop CS4" by Chris Orwig. The tutorial includes Chris Orwig telling you how to remove blemishes and reduce wrinkles in your photos using Adobe Photoshop. Anyone interested can go directly to this specific tutorial or go to the Adobe Photoshop "Support Center and Help" page and look through other tutorials offered on how to use Adobe Photoshop.

Happy learning! =)