If you've never touched a keyboard before or if you have some rusty two-finger typing skills that need serious improvement, Typing Instructor Platinum can zip up your speed, hone your accuracy and help you develop well-deserved confidence in your improved abilities. You get clear directions, plenty of lessons and practice sessions, entertaining games and more. This user-friendly typing software earns our TopTenREVIEWS Gold Award.
Typing Instructor Platinum comes with over 300 lessons, tests and practice exercises. These lessons cover everything from the proper position your hands should be in for typing to individual key-finger association.
You can choose from 20 different educational typing plans, or even customize and create your own. There are also a number of fun games in the typing software, which allow you to practice your recently developed typing skills.
One of the best features presented by Typing Instructor Platinum typing software is the ability to track your results. Your progression is tracked in six different reports. We were impressed by the diagram of two hands which reports the words per minute (WPM) each hand is achieving.
As you work through the lessons, you’ll take tests to see how you’re doing, and everything in this typing software is wrapped up with fun practice activities and games. With this application, you’ll be ushered through a very precise, systematic process in which you’ll learn the basics of typing, and eventually surpass your WPM goal mark in stellar form.
As soon as you install this typing software, it tests your current WPM to evaluate how you are doing at the very beginning. This creates a benchmark for your progress. From there, you have the option of learning the correct hand posture for typing. This is an especially useful feature for beginners, but even those who have been typing for a while will benefit from a refresher on proper hand positioning.
You can also proceed directly into the first lesson in the typing program; each instructional exercise covers an isolated group of letters, usually three or four at a time. The lessons, and the tests that follow, get harder as you get further into your journey on learning how to properly type.
Very precise statistics and charts will show you how you’re doing as you venture through the learning activities. These results allow you to see where you’re excelling and where you’re faltering. The charts can also give you isolated results, showing you how you are performing with each letter, finger and hand.
For example, it may be that your left hand is accomplishing 70 WPM and your right is only typing 55 WPM. This information will allow you to go back and work on specific exercises again, improving your skills and speed.
On a structural level, we enjoyed the ability to change what the screen looks like. There are three options available: a futuristic design, a jungle-themed design and a global design that lets you travel to different countries by clicking on a national flag.
There is also an arcade where you can play a variety of typing games. The Typing Instructor Platinum games are not only colorful and enjoyable, but they also offer a chance for some worthwhile practice that seems effortless. Children, quite naturally, will enjoy these games and this will keep them focused on learning how to type. However, adults and teens will no doubt have fun polishing their skills with the assorted games.
Ultimately, all of these lessons, tests and games keep users motivated to continue learning how to type with Typing Instructor Platinum. The typing software’s goal is to help you learn at your own pace and not to give up out of frustration. If you feel overwhelmed, you can go back and re-take some lessons, or use the games as an exercise to practice what you’ve learned.
This typing software is intuitive, offers plenty of tools to help you learn and is exceptionally good at helping you assess how much you have progressed as you move through the lessons and practice sessions.
This typing program appeals to both adults and young children, especially with its generous assortment of brightly colored typing games. The images and games move the entire experience of learning-how-to-type away from what could be a dreary process and turns it into a more lighthearted effort that still instructs you well and produces results. Individual Software, the company that develops Typing Instructor Platinum, has a history of creating solid typing software products, and this one is no exception.
There is an option to change the existing settings on the application, allowing you to customize the typing software so that it best fits your needs. In addition, you have constant access to your WPM (words per minute) goal.
This is an easy program to install. Whether you order the disc or you download the software, the installation process is quick and effortless. Within a few minutes of beginning the installation, we were ready to type.
Typing Instructor Platinum is compatible with Windows 7 and older versions, such as Windows Vista and XP. Furthermore, this typing software is also one of the few products we reviewed that is compatible with Apple computers running Mac OS X. Most others are only compatible with computers running Windows.
Although we do not anticipate you’ll need help understanding how to use this program, there are outlets available if you do run into a problem. On each section of Typing Instructor Platinum, there is a help tab, which offers suggestions for the specific page you’re viewing. So, if you’re on the home page, the help tab offers suggestions on how to get started. If you’re on the Results page, it offers suggestions on how to read the results and how to calibrate them to offer a more precise evaluation.
Typing Instructor Platinum also offers useful technical support through the manufacturer’s website. You can contact customer service and technical support directly through email and phone, or even by fax (for tech support only). If you bought the software for a business, government or educational institution, there are separate tech support numbers and emails. If you have any questions before you purchase, Typing Instructor Platinum’s developer, Individual Software, will answer them and help you with your purchasing decision.
Unfortunately, you do not get any tutorials with this product, which can be quite helpful when it comes to typing software, especially for beginners.
We are quite pleased with the effectiveness of this typing software. Typing Instructor Platinum brings it all together with a vast array of features, an easy-to-use setup and an overall learning experience that delivers what it promises.
We especially like the result-tracking feature that breaks down every aspect of the progress you’ve made. The ability to change the theme of the interface to customize it to your liking, as well as being able to go back over lessons you don’t feel quite comfortable with, really give you the feeling of being in control of your learning.
Overall, Typing Instructor Platinum is an outstanding typing software application that will help you learn to type if you are a total beginner or just looking to jazz up your skills to professional standards in a relatively short time.
