Visually Based Techniques While Typing

As you get increasingly into the lower two minute region, the biggest factor influencing how fast you can type is how your eyes track the screen. Most beginner typists employ an inefficient “seek and hit” strategy, where they look at a word, type it, and then look for the next word. This creates an extremely inefficient stop-and-go pattern limiting your speed to a maximum of around 20-25 WPM. To move up into the next highest level of typing, you need to learn and practice specific visually based reading techniques for typing, most importantly, a technique known as “Cognitive Chunking.”

Your Brain’s Visual Buffer

Your brain has a “buffer,” a temporary storage area for information. This is vital when typing for reading words while your fingers are still finishing the previous ones. You are typing with zero buffer the moment you type a word that is currently sitting right in front of your eyes. The moment you hit a difficult character, your fingers stop because the brain hasn’t processed what comes next. Leading typists aim to keep themselves a minimum of two to three words ahead of where they currently are. This means while your fingers are hitting the keys for word number one, you should be thinking and processing the structure of word number two and visually scanning the text for word number three.

The Benefits of Chunking When Reading Complex Material

For skilled typists, long words are seen as one shape instead of ten separate letters. This is because of chunking, a process where the brain groups letters into a word shape. This helps the typist because the brain has a singular pre-recorded pattern of motor movement for the word as opposed to having to think about seperate actions for each letter. In the case of reading comprehension, cognitive load is reduced because instead of having to consider each letter one by one, the brain is only concerned with the word as a whole. In long duration tests, like the one you’re participating in right now, this helps avoid mental fatigue and allows the test taker to maintain their concentration in the now infamous second minute of the test.

Building Peripheral Awareness

For the next two minutes, your goal is to keep your eyes soft. Instead of focusing on a single letter, and trying to see the current word, and the next word at the same time. When you shift your focus to the side, you create a continuous flow of reading, as the “space” most typists lose time thinking about. When you read in advance, you reduce the micro pause as you hit the spacebar. This lesson has to be practiced, trying to keep your eyes moving in a steady line to avoid getting stuck on the letter.