Can you really increase your writing speed in the exam? The answer is simply YES. Handwriting is a skill you can develop. The way you write reveals a lot about yourself. There’s more to your personality than you think. There are plenty of ways to improve things now. However, even if you have an exceptional gift for handwriting, some people write in reverse. No matter how hard you try, handwriting doesn’t score you extra marks, but it is extremely important to pay attention during your exam.
Having poor or unreadable handwriting, with a lot of cuttings and overwriting, makes it difficult for the examiner to read and understand your answer. In contrast, neat and legible handwriting makes the examiner’s job easier and more understandable. Handwriting creates the first impression, so let’s look at some effective tips for enhancing and improving it.
Tips for Increasing Writing Speed during Exams
Number 1: Gather the finest materials for writing in the exam
All you need is paper and either a pen or pencil.
During handwriting practice, I recommend that you use lined or ruled paper. If you are writing on plain paper or a book and finding it difficult to write neatly and straight, don’t worry. Just place a lined page under the plain paper and you will be able to see the lines that are on the notebook paper and use them as guidelines for writing straight and legibly. The first thing is to get the right pen. You will have to find the pen or pencil that works best for you but remember to use a quality one since cheap and low-quality materials won’t deliver good results.
Number 2: Maintain a good posture when writing
When writing, and keep your neck and back as straight as possible. Slumping or drooping will cause you back, shoulder, and neck pain, so sit comfortably and properly.
Number 3: Warm-up start writing
When you start writing, warm up your hands by flexing them for five seconds and rolling your wrists for five seconds again. This will help them to be up if you haven’t written for a few days because those areas become tight and writing is difficult.
Number 4: Adjust the angle
If you are left-handed, the top edge of the page should point to your right; if you are right-handed, it should point to your left. As you practice writing, adjust the angle until you find the angle that feels most comfortable and allows you to write most efficiently.
Number 5: Have a relaxed grip of your pen or pencil
The main factor that will improve your writing is maintaining a relaxed grip. Many people grasp their pens or pencils too hard in an effort to gain control over them, but this usually results in sore hands, which results in sloppy writing, so maintaining a relaxed grip is one of the most effective things you can do to improve your handwriting.
Number 6: Draw different shapes and letters
Draw shapes and letters composed of a variety of basic shapes to improve your handwriting technique. Spend some time drawing shapes, such as vertical lines, diagonal lines, circles, and semicircles.
Number 7: Write individual letters
When you are comfortable writing with your lines and circles, you should move on to writing individual letters. Just like in kindergarten, practice writing the alphabet from the small letters to the capital letters.
Number 8: Analyze your handwriting once in a while
In order to improve your handwriting, you would need to evaluate your starting point. Take out your pen and notebook next copy any paragraph from your textbook, newspaper, or even a storybook. This is just to give you an idea of what your handwriting looks like on average after writing the paragraph. We will check it out.
Number 9: Look for inspiration on how to improve your handwriting
It is helpful to see examples of handwriting that you like and then look for ways you can copy their style in your own handwriting. Pay attention to the way they connect the letters, the shapes, and the angles they create. These will help you to gather ideas and inspiration so that you can improve your handwriting. The most critical thing is to spend 10 to 15 minutes every day practicing your handwriting.
Three key points for writing better
You should first check your alignment. Do your words tend to be written at an angle of upwards or downwards? Do they overlap with the lines on the page? Make sure to write each and every word in the same direction and at the same angle.
The second thing you need to do is look for a slant in your writing. Everyone has a different slant for writing, some prefer the right side, some prefer the left side and some love it straight. A slight slant is normally not a problem, but too much of one can make reading difficult, so keep your slants consistent and clear throughout your writing.
The third aspect is to look at the spacing. The distance between your words and letters helps to determine the quality of your handwriting. Look for letters that are smashed together. There should be enough space between the words so that you can fit the letters in. Therefore, you should always be aware of how close the letters are together.
How to write fast in the exam?
It is common for students to complain that their handwriting is good, they have the good subject knowledge, but they are not able to finish their exams by the due date.
Does this have anything to do with our writing style or speed?
So, what are the ways to increase our speed? What should we do in order to write quickly?
The first thing to consider is the tool- Pen/Pencil. Use a lightweight pen that will help you to write effortlessly.
When you are practicing and even while you are taking your exam, make sure you are using the same pen. If you can, don’t add the cap at the end as we don’t want to add any additional weight to it.
It is important that we train our fingers and hand muscles in order to write as fast as we can.
What are the best ways to accomplish this?
Ok, so I would like to know how an athlete achieves the speed that they have when running?
In fact, the only way they can train their bodies and build their stamina to run fast is by practicing. The same logic can be applied here as well. The answer lies in practice.
Take a written part from any of your reference materials and try to write it yourself while you time yourself.
We will suppose for the sake of discussion that you fill out that page in 5 minutes at your normal rate.
If you want to improve your writing speed, try writing the same thing again next time. Check if you are able to finish that in a shorter period of time.
You should try to reduce the time each time until you get a constant timing. If you do that, it will give you your speed.
In order to reach that speed, you will have to practice for long hours every day.
Take short breaks between writing sessions, but make it a habit to write continuously for at least 2-3 hours each time Because that’s usually the duration of our exams. However, in the course of an exam, we cannot simply copy and paste.
You have to be thorough with your knowledge of the content in order to avoid wasting time thinking.
It is important to plan the flow of your answer in your mind before you start writing it.
The best way of practicing free writing is to solve some previous years’ question papers or to think of any answer or topic that appeals to you and which you have studied.
Even better, you can ask someone else to dictate certain parts of the document and try to match their pace. Make sure to maintain a firm grip and keep pressure on the paper when writing. In other words, if you hold it too tight and apply too much pressure, you are wasting your energy.
By using a soft grip and normal pressure we will be able to reduce fatigue and muscle cramps as we write longer. I want to suggest that you, my dear friends, should focus on achieving speed first and then learn how to improve your skills in presentation and handwriting.
What is the ideal letter size for exam writing
Do not, however, sacrifice legibility for speed. Keep your handwriting legible for the speed you need. Moreover, you should also check the size of your letters; if you make them too big, it will take you longer to finish them.
A normal size would be ideal.
In addition to these tips, you might want to try the following warm-up exercises:
1) Get some smiley face balls made out of foam in the market; we squeeze them and let them relax you, try it 4-5 times.
2) Place 4-5 coins on a table, pick one up and place it, then pick it up and place it again. Make use of tripod fingers.
3) Tear pieces of paper into small pieces and roll them into balls. Make sure you use your tripod fingers here.
4) Try to walk toward a pencil by holding it like you are about to write and using those fingers at the end. Walk it back and repeat.
5) Place a rubber band around the finger and thumb, stretch it and relax the fingers and thumb. Make sure you do this repeatedly.
Through the practice of these exercises, we train the hand and finger muscles in a way that will help to combat arthritis. And therefore, it is possible to write for a longer period of time without getting tired.
How can I write fast in English?
- There are many benefits associated with improving your handwriting speed, including an increased level of automaticity, a higher level of overlap between the mental generation of output and the subsequent composition of text, and better performance in academic environments.
- To improve handwriting speed, there are many things you can do, and you can choose the areas you want to work on, as each one will have its own benefits.
- Ensure you maintain good posture while using forearm and shoulder muscles to move your pen. Draw the letters with your fingers, move your wrist constantly, repeatedly pick up your hands from the paper, grip too hard on the pen, or slouch over the paper.
- Consider getting a writing implement that is convenient for you to use, such as one that isn’t too thin or too thick, and that has a comfortable tip size. Furthermore, ensure that the pen you are using is well-made and does not require you to press too hard against the paper when you use it.
- Finally, you can use a shorthand writing system or simplify the way you write the letters to increase your handwriting speed. One of the most notable benefits of using such a system is that it simplifies frequently used words (such as ‘the’), which will save you a lot of time while requiring relatively little effort.
How to write faster on paper
- Improve your writing speed by using better writing tools. Your writing speed is directly related to the pen you use. However, ballpoint pens do not score highly when it comes to writing speed. A fountain pen, a roller pen, or a gel pen would be better suited to your writing needs.
- To replace bulky words or abbreviations, shorthand can be learned or developed. Why not use abbreviations or symbols instead of bulky words? You are not limited in what you can learn in shorthand writing. So, whether you want to teach yourself or learn preexisting systems (Pitman, Gregg, Teeline), the choice is yours.
- The ‘best way’ to hold a pen might have been shown to you by someone else, and you tried it, but it wasn’t comfortable at all. There’s no point in pushing because that will only slow you down.
The pen should always be held in a way that feels comfortable to you. While it doesn’t really matter how you hold a pen, you might find that you are able to write faster if you are comfortable.
- It is essential to maintain a good posture while writing, more than just your fingers suffering from the strain, but your spine as well.
In order to improve your sitting posture, an ergonomic chair that allows you to kneel or sit upright is available. You should complement the chair with your own efforts as well.
- The floor should be flat under your feet.
- Your knees should be 90 degrees apart.
- Ensure that your lower back is supported by a chair.
Last Words
I really hope that some of these tips will help you improve your handwriting. Don’t expect your handwriting to improve overnight. Slowly, with practice and patience, you will succeed. If you found this video helpful, please give it a big thumbs up and share it with your friends.