Keyboard mastery and touch-typing technique
This domain tests touch-typing technique: whether you can find keys by trained reaches rather than sight, and whether your hands return to a stable home position. Good technique protects speed and accuracy over a long passage.
Home position and reaches
- Left hand rests on A S D F; right hand rests on J K L ;. Thumbs operate the space bar.
- G is reached by the left index finger; H by the right index finger. Return to home after every reach.
- Use the shift key on the side opposite the letter: left shift for right-hand letters, right shift for left-hand letters.
Technique
- Keep wrists straight and fingers curved; strike with the fingertip and release quickly.
- Do not rest the wrists on the desk or machine frame while typing.
- Keep the copy at eye level and slightly to the side so your eyes do not drop to the keyboard.
Worked example
To type “quick”: q is a left-pinky reach to the top row; u is a right-index reach; i is a right-middle reach; c is a left-middle reach to the bottom row; k is a right-middle home key. After k, the right middle finger is already home; the left hand returns from c to D. If you type q with the left index finger, the whole reach pattern shifts and the next top-row letter becomes slower. The reasoning: touch-typing depends on consistent finger-to-key mapping, so one improvised reach damages rhythm beyond that single letter.
Traps
- Looking at the keyboard after each reach.
- Using the same hand for shift and letter.
- Anchoring wrists and stretching fingers instead of moving from the home row.