How To Chatter Away Like Granddad's Teeth! (Mavis Beacon Teaches Typing)

Member Name: Matt_Roberts

Product:	Mavis Beacon Teaches Typing
Date:	15/11/03 (257 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Good practice , Good lay-out

Disadvantages: Aren't many

For years I’ve been obsessed with being able to type like a maniac on the keypad, and really believe it’s a gift! My Mother can do over 60 words per minute, and I was extremely jealous. All I wanted to be able to do was click away on those keypads like an old man chattering his false teeth! So, when I got “Mavis Beacon Teaches Typing” in the package with my computer, I was delighted, and I finally put my typing to the test!




How Do I Start?

Well, after installing the program, it’s really simple. When you switch it on at first you’ll have to register your name. This isn’t much of a bother; you can put your full name, just your first name, a nickname, it’s totally up to you, but you don’t have to fill form after form telling them about your D.O.B etc. After this, your name will be stored on the screen at the beginning, and you can just click on the name to begin. All your progress will be store. And up to 8 people can take the course at a time, and all you have to do is click on the name!

Beginners Level.

Like most typing courses you can begin on two type of courses. If you have NO experience on typing it will go through with you what finger to use to type a letter. It’s very simple, and if you have no experience it’s really good to take. You start with typing letters on one row, for example “d”, “g”, “h”, “k” and “l” would be mixed together and you’d have to type them, and get a result.

At the end of every typing lesson you will get accuracy and a WPM (words per minute) average. The accuracy will be in %, but don’t think you make a load of mistakes and then have a high WPM because if you make a number of mistakes in the lesson, the errors will deduct your WPM average, therefore it’s much fairer and you know how you’re doing.

On the Beginners Level you
will move along every slowly taking it very easy, and although it seems extremely easy for people who can type professionally, it’s awfully difficult for people who have no experience at all it can be hard. The Beginners Level counts for half of the course, but it doesn’t take very long for you to do it (depending on your speed and accuracy it would take about 2 and a half hours), but the good thing about the Mavis Beacon is that you can close the window, come back in a weeks time and carry on where you left off. I’ve been taking the course for the last two years! I keep leaving it and coming back to it.


Intermediate Level

If you’ve stated at the beginning that you do have experience then you’ll go onto the next level, rather than starting at beginners level. The next level is the intermediate level and that goes on to teach you a lot of new stuff. Rather than just simple words, this time there’ll be hard to spell words, and a lot of different keys used. If you have a weakness the computer will catch up on it, and keep giving you those to do, because you’re having trouble with them. It’s a good learning technique, but it can really annoy you if you want to carry on with the course!

The intermediate level is the level in between the difficult and the easy, so don’t expect an easy ride. You usually sail through it, and it’s not very hard to pass, as I did it in quite a quick time.

The Advanced Level

The advanced level is the last and most difficult lessons you’ll get. I’ve spent at least 6 hours on this level so far, and I’m nowhere near finishing it! The advanced level deals with issues that haven’t been dealt with before. Dictation lessons, for instance. (In case anyone is unaware, dictation means when you type what you hear.) The dictation lessons for me are extremely exciting, and are the best out of the whole lot!

As well
as the dictation lessons the words that are used get harder. For example “genacrapholographic” and words similar to that are used to confuse you, and test your speed against difficulty!

As I’ve yet to complete the whole level I can only talk about parts I’ve experienced, but I do believe that the whole level merely repeats itself and I’ve experienced all the new features that will be used. At the end of a course you’ll be given a certificate saying what you’ve done.





Media Centre

I myself have never used the media centre in my whole time doing the course, but from what I’ve heard it can be rather helpful at times of need. There are videos you can watch, and there are books you can read there. Both of these are supposed to help and give you tips and advice on how to work on your accuracy. Also, there are practice lessons for you to take. You can pick the lesson, and type away, and you’ll be given a WPM and accuracy average at the end. And that won’t go onto your course and be stored whether it was good or bad, as it was only a practice.

As well as those there’s also a link to Mavis’ site (advertising!) and you can play a few games there as well. It’s not really worth checking it out, but if you’ve got nothing better, what harm can it make?




Games

In the middle of a lesson more often than not Mavis stops and says, “You’ve done well, you deserve a break!” and she takes you to a game of her choice. It’s like being back at infant school, because it’s just like a teacher asking you to play a game that is educational yet fun as well! You keep thinking she’s watching over your shoulder! The games can be accessed out of the lessons too, and they are fun to play, and really help with getting on with your accuracy and your WPM average.

I would say without the Gam
es section the whole thing would be more boring. I tend to skip the game when Mavis asks me to take a break and carry on, and play a game after taking a few lessons, because it sort of looses your lack of concentration if you play it in between lessons! (I sound like a teachers pet, don’t I?!)




So, Does It Improve Your Typing Speed?



Well, I would have to say yes. Even though there are a few errors on it, and you think that things could be changed to make it better, all round it’s pretty good and handy. Rather than actually having to go to the lessons you can take them where and when you want! Like I said, I’ve been taking the course for over two years now.

When I started I had an adjusted speed time of 19WPM, and now I’ve gone up to 60WPM. That might not all be with typing on the lesson, but just practice with writing a few reviews and other things, that have helped over the two years. But I must admit that it has taught me more than few things about typing that have come in handy!

I highly recommend Mavis Beacon for people who want to learn how to type and want to do it well, but if you haven’t got the energy you won’t get anywhere. If you want to learn for a job or other, then this is extremely handy. I doubt I’ll ever have to use the dictation lessons I had, but for a secretary they would be fantastic to have. Take your time with it and don’t rush it, and you’ll be fine!

So, 4 stars from me. I was going to give it 5, but I thought over it, and realised that there were a few things that I didn’t like. And, what about Mavis? Well, her name has been used, that’s all! And she’s the one that says “Good work!” in the background when you’re typing! Ahh, bless ol’ Mavis!




Well, I got mine free when I got my computer, so I don’t think I’d ever have come across Mavis if it was
n’t for that. But, you can but ol’ Mavis on Amazon! The new edition, which this review isn’t based on, is £19.99. The older version that I used, is only £6.99. You can’t go wrong, can you?
(NOTE: the older edition can’t be used on XP, only the newer version!)



Written By: Matt Roberts.

Summary: