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As someone who has attended many business related classes as electives for achieving my degree (in accounting,) I have been shocked by one thing that many of my classmates lack. Quite surprising to me, I have found that many college students taking business classes do not know how to type quickly and accurately. I learned this skill as a child and have found that it serves me well in everyday life, my job and especially as a student.
The most important thing to improve your typing speed and accuracy is to know touch typing. If you have to look at the keyboard to figure out where each letter is, you are never going to reach the higher typing speeds. This is important for letters, numbers and even symbols for those who may be doing business writing. This will also speed you up when you are typing from a source document, and then you will be able to keep your eyes on the source and be less likely to make mistakes or lose your place in your work.
Modern word processors have many features that can also improve your typing speed. Spell checkers and grammar checkers that work in real time will allow you to go back and correct your mistakes at the end instead of having to stop and fix each error as you go. There are also features that will let you change the capitalization of segments of the document with the click of a button, another great time saver.
If you are not happy with your current typing speed, there are often classes offered at local community colleges, senior centers and even online. Or, if you prefer to work independently, there are many computer programs available that will help improve your speed, technique and accuracy from the comfort of your home.
