Environment and posture
Pinyin drills with Chinese IME on, or English drills with Caps Lock stuck — wrong mode means wasted reps. Check input state before every session.
Tiny laptop keyboards and low screens encourage hunching. An external keyboard and stand are ergonomic investments, not luxuries.
Locked wrists and raised shoulders cause pain and slow typing. Elbows near ninety degrees, shoulders loose.
Finger technique errors
Index-finger hunting, fingers that never return home, and looking down for speed — the classic beginner trio.
Using the wrong finger for a correct letter still fails finger lessons on topzcphp.com. Shortcuts collapse later in Advanced.
Train weak pinkies in isolation instead of compensating with the wrist.
Practice strategy mistakes
Jumping into Games before home row is reliable cements bad movement patterns.
One-hour cram sessions lose to daily fifteen-minute reps because sleep consolidates motor skill.
Chasing Leaderboard rank while accuracy swings means foundations are shaky — drop back to Finger Course or lower Advanced.
Typing through errors and fixing an entire line later costs more attention than stop-correct-continue rhythm.
Weekly self-check
Before: correct input mode, posture, hands on home row?
During: eyes mostly on screen, immediate corrections, fingers returning home?
After: accuracy at or above 90%? If not, repeat tomorrow instead of unlocking.
Monthly: compare history on topzcphp.com — fewer error keys beats a one-day speed spike every time.