Improve Your Handwriting to Score High Marks in Composition Writing {Top Performers' Secrets!}

Importance of Handwriting

Handwriting is one of the topics that are not well covered in school, yet it is a very important skill for a student. This post highlights the importance of handwriting as a skill for successful students. It is also a step-by-step guide on how you can improve your handwriting and wow your readers.

Let's dive in and learn this important skill.

This post covers the following topics:

1. The importance of Handwriting as a Skill for Successful Students

2. How do I Know that my Handwriting is Good or Bad?

3. How to Improve Your Handwriting {Write it like it was Typed!}

4. Practice Makes Perfect {It is a Process, not an Event}

5. What does handwriting have to do with Examinations?

Most students think handwriting is not very important. They argue that word processing softwares like Microsoft Word and WPS office are better and more fun to use than handwriting.

While their arguments are valid, there is more to it. Writing is a form of communication, just like speaking. The way you write reflects who you are. Remember, there are some situations that will still require handwritten work.

The inescapable truth is: handwriting is a tool for originality and authenticity. How will your composition teacher know that the work is yours if you type it? Will you blame the teacher for claiming that you downloaded someone's work from the internet and submitted it as your own?

In secondary schools and higher education, examinations are handwritten, not typed. Only assignments and projects might be typed. This, therefore, does not completely throw handwriting to the trash can. Remember you are writing text that is going to be marked by someone else. Clarity and neatness are therefore paramount.

How do I Know that my Handwriting is Excellent or Poor?

It is very simple. Give your written work to someone else to read. Are they struggling? If yes, then your handwriting is poor! Are they flowing smoothly? Then your handwriting is good!

Handwriting is an art. It is a deliberate process. It is not a sprint but a marathon. No one was born with good handwriting. Everybody learnt it. Ask anybody with good handwriting what it takes and they will tell you two things: learn, then practice!

The Best Handwriting in the World {Write it Like it Was Typed!}

Neat and Legible Handwriting

Are you looking for the best handwriting in the world? This guide can help you achieve just that, but it is not a walk in the park. Don't be fooled to think that improving your handwriting is an overnight event. Well, it is not. Is it a difficult task? Yes! But is it impossible? No! I normally like being candid with students. I will not lie to you just to make you happy.

If you want to improve your handwriting and write text that looks like it was typed, you have to be passionate and patient. It is like learning how to walk. While it will take a newborn baby six months to learn how to walk, it will take you only one month to write like a pro, if you dedicate yourself to it.There are two basic steps that you must take to improve your handwriting:

• Learn what good handwriting entails.

• Practice until you are pleased with what you see.

Let me me now break down these steps further for you to understand them better.

The Best Handwriting in the World: What Does it Look Like?

The best handwriting in the world does not have to belong to someone else. It could be yours. This is what it looks like:

Neat and Legible Handwriting

Good handwriting is also called legible handwriting. Legibility entails visibility and ease of interpretation. Simply put, the reader should see clearly and be able to interpret what you have written.

Neat and Legible Handwriting

The Best Handwriting in the World: 4 Important Tips

To achieve legibility in your handwriting and have the best handwriting in the world, you have to do the following:

1. Make sure your handwriting is visible

2. Shape your letters correctly

3. Space your letters properly

4. Space your words properly

Best Handwriting Tip 1

Make Sure your Handwriting is Visible

Visibility is key. The person reading your work needs not to struggle to see what you have written. Do not use a pen or a pencil that is too faint. Also, make sure you hold the pen or pencil correctly. Although you should not press too much, your hand should exert just enough pressure on the pen or pencil for your written work to be clearly visible. This is called legibility. It is a mechanical skill that requires practice.

The bottom line is, if we can't see it, then we can't read it. So, for us to effortlessly read it, which should be your aim, you have to make it so clear that we will not deny having seen it! It is as simple as that, really.

Best Handwriting Tip 2

Shape Your Letters Correctly

Most students with poor handwriting have one major problem: they do not shape their letters correctly. Letters such as b, d, h, k and t are ascending letters. Their upper tails should therefore be raised within the spaces they occupy.

Letters like g, j, p, q and y are descending letters. Their lower ends should fall to the spaces below them. A capital letter should occupy the full space or a large portion of it.

Lower case letters (small letters) should occupy half of the spaces.

Letters like a, b, d, e, g, p and q should be completely rounded. Avoid cases where g looks like y, e looks like t and so on. This will confuse your readers.

Without proper shaping, your handwriting will look ugly. You should therefore endeavour to shape your letters correctly for your handwriting to appear neat.

Best Handwriting Tip 3

Space your Words Correctly

You must space your Words Correctly. Just like letters, words ought to have spaces between them. The spaces between words should be a little bigger than those between letters. Also, make sure you are consistent with the spaces between your words. Don't make them too big though.

Best Handwriting Tip 4

Spacing and Punctuation Marks

Another mistake that poor writers make is squeezing punctuation marks between letters. This makes your handwriting look crowded. As a rule of thumb, always maintain the same space between words after every punctuation mark you use.

Practice Makes Perfect {It is a Process, not an Event}

Just like any other form of art, handwriting is a process, not an event! You don't perfect it overnight. You need time and action. Set aside at least 15 minutes per day to perfect your handwriting.

Assume your hand is a baby learning to walk.You will have to perform some repeated actions daily for at least one month until you are pleased with the results.

You can start with listing the letters of the alphabet over and over again from A to Z. Do this for both capital letters and lower case letters. Do not worry about speed at the beginning. You will improve your speed with time.

Once you are pleased with the way you are shaping your letters as you list them, it is time to move a notch higher. Craft a sentence that contains all the letters of the alphabet and write it over and over again. One such sentence is "The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog.

The final step is to improve your speed. Repeat the above two processes randomly with speed in mind. Within a couple of days, your handwriting will be neat and legible. Everybody who reads your work will admire your handwriting. You will have succeeded to write it like it was typed!

But we are not done yet! A baby who has learnt how to walk does not go back to crawling. That will be a downgrade! This is a mistake most students make. They go back to their sketchy style of writing when making notes for other subjects. They only think about handwriting rules when writing English notes or English assignments.

If you want to succeed, don't crawl when you have known how to walk. Instead, up your game and start running! Remember it is not a sprint, but a marathon.

Handwriting and Examinations

Handwriting in Examinations

What does Handwriting Have to do with Examinations?

I know you might be asking yourself this question. I used to ask it too, when I was in high school. In my first and second years in high school, I did not bother about my handwriting. It was in my third year when I decided to change. How did this happen?

Our English teacher called me to the staffroom one day. She told me that I had great potential as a budding writer. She was pleased with my vocabulary, sentence structure and punctuation. The problem was my handwriting. She asked me to improve it; she explained why I needed to. That is the explanation I am giving you now.

First impressions matter. Although handwriting is not examined, poor handwriting can negatively impact your grades, especially in composition or essay writing. If the person marking your work is not able to decipher your handwriting, they are most likely to award you lower marks. Legibility and neatness of your handwriting are therefore an integral part of the overall achievement of your composition.

Final Thought:

Let not your handwriting be a bottleneck to your success. Make a deliberate effort to improve it. This is good for your self esteem and academic achievement. This is an important step you must take if you want to be a successful student, and indeed, a successful writer.