Speed vs Legibility

[ssarahj]

My handwriting is torture to read, and that's not counting the number of teachers commenting to watch my handwriting. Even when I'm writing slowly it looks pretty terrible; the closest mental image I can give is messed up calligraphy, but that's probably an understatement. And that's not even getting into what it looks like when I'm coming up with things on the spot....

Any tips to counteract this?

Hey teapancakes08! If you're serious about improving your hand writing you need to make a conscious effort to practise forming your letters the way you actually want them to look. You might feel stupid, but think back to when you first learnt to write back in primary school and you had to seriously think about every single letter you jotted on the page.
To help with this there's a few things you can try to do:
- let your arm and wrist do the work, not your fingers
- don't press down too hard on the page
- keep your grip light (try googling the correct pen grip, have a play and see what feels the best for you)

Also get yourself a bloody nice pen that flows beautifully. I stick to Papermate Kilometrico mostly cause I'm lazy but if you go to Officeworks and try all of the sample ones you might find a particular one you like   

In saying all this, letter formation is going to be the last thing on your mind during an exam so just do the absolute best you can if you're in the 2016 graduating class. Its worth sacrificing a bit of time and writing slower if it means your work can read! Markers are usually pretty good at deciphering weird handwriting, its just that neat writing is way easier for them. Good luck! 

[teapancakes08]

Hey teapancakes08! If you're serious about improving your hand writing you need to make a conscious effort to practise forming your letters the way you actually want them to look. You might feel stupid, but think back to when you first learnt to write back in primary school and you had to seriously think about every single letter you jotted on the page.
To help with this there's a few things you can try to do:
- let your arm and wrist do the work, not your fingers
- don't press down too hard on the page
- keep your grip light (try googling the correct pen grip, have a play and see what feels the best for you)

Also get yourself a bloody nice pen that flows beautifully. I stick to Papermate Kilometrico mostly cause I'm lazy but if you go to Officeworks and try all of the sample ones you might find a particular one you like   

In saying all this, letter formation is going to be the last thing on your mind during an exam so just do the absolute best you can if you're in the 2016 graduating class. Its worth sacrificing a bit of time and writing slower if it means your work can read! Markers are usually pretty good at deciphering weird handwriting, its just that neat writing is way easier for them. Good luck! 

Thanks for the advice 

Luckily, I'm part of the graduating 2017 class, so I still have a while before HSC (but a year does go by very fast...). That said, I'll keep that in mind when I'm working through practice papers and essays. I currently found a better way to grip the pen so I'm going to try to get used to it. I'm also probably going to have to go pen hunting too.

Thanks again. Best wishes to you too 

[ssarahj]

Thanks for the advice 

Luckily, I'm part of the graduating 2017 class, so I still have a while before HSC (but a year does go by very fast...). That said, I'll keep that in mind when I'm working through practice papers and essays. I currently found a better way to grip the pen so I'm going to try to get used to it. I'm also probably going to have to go pen hunting too.

Thanks again. Best wishes to you too 

Awesome you've got heaps of time! If you make it one of your focuses this year I'm sure you'll improve by the time exams roll around