Exercise 2: The Up & Down Home Hopper

This exercise will help train your fingers to understand and "remember" the vertical arrangement of keys on the keyboard, and which finger is responsible for which column. At the same time, you will reinforce your "muscular memory" of the home row.

Before typing a single letter, keep in mind ALL of the Principles of Effective learning, or you may do more harm than good!

• No mistakes. Always be sure and in control. Follow the principle of 100% correct practice: to make a mistake is to learn incorrect things, and to confuse that which you already know.
• Slower is faster. Speed comes from certainty. The more you type things correctly, no matter how slow it has to be, the more certain you will be, and the faster you will become a proficient typist. Increase speed only when you feel sure enough to do so.
• Don't look at the keyboard! If you don't know where a key is, look at the keyboard to find it, then look away and type the key. Do not guess; always be sure.
• Relax. No unnecessary or dysfunctional tension!
• Hit the keys squarely in the center. If you find you aren't consistently doing so, SLOW DOWN!!! It should feel good to type!

Here we go:

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