How do you grip it?

[99.90 pls]

So I recently found out that I've been holding my pen incorrectly for my entire life.



Yes, I am aware I have beauteous hands. Ladies, please form a f(x) = x.

Using this grip, I have pretty neat handwriting, but my thumb kills after about ten minutes of intensive writing. I found out that I was holding it wrong when I looked up "how to write faster" a couple of days ago. It said "write tall and skinny" and "grip your pen properly" etc.

So now I've adjusted my grip to this and I've written about ten hours between Thursday night and tonight; I'm at about 80% of my former speed with about 70% of my former neatness. But I can write for hours upon hours without tiring.



Anyway, I was just wondering:
-Does anyone hold the pen the same way as I do?
-How DO you hold your pen?
-Which grip should I use for my Language Analysis SAC on Wednesday?
-Tips to write faster in general?

Discuss!

[SkiesTheLimit]

I use the grip from the second photo and it works quite well. I write extremely neatly and a relatively fast pace.
I don't know about changing it up for a sac, that's probably your decision and what you find easier/comfortable/best.
Personally, the finer details such as the grip of your hand when writing shouldn't matter too much. I'd encourage to write what it is you want to precisely and as quickly as possible without worrying too much.

I've found slanted writing works best to write faster, but maybe that's just because I'm left handed and write that way naturally but it works.

You've got to find a balance between being fast and neat though.

[99.90 pls]

I use the grip from the second photo and it works quite well. I write extremely neatly and a relatively fast pace.
I don't know about changing it up for a sac, that's probably your decision and what you find easier/comfortable/best.
Personally, the finer details such as the grip of your hand when writing shouldn't matter too much. I'd encourage to write what it is you want to precisely and as quickly as possible without worrying too much.

I've found slanted writing works best to write faster, but maybe that's just because I'm left handed and write that way naturally but it works.

You've got to find a balance between being fast and neat though.

This is before and after changing grips, writing at the same speed. Clearly, I'm more used to the previous grip, but that one kills my thumb. I can, however, go faster about 30% with the first one while retaining the neatness.

This is where I'm torn; I know that speed doesn't matter THAT much but I'm struggling to write an 800 word language analysis in 100 minutes, so I'm desperately trying to increase my speed.

[grannysmith]

I've always had the second grip, although a few years back I tried the first one cos almost everyone had that grip. It wasn't long until I switched back.

Lol I've legitimately seen people adding weights to their pencil/pen to train those hand muscles. I suppose it would work in the long run, as writing neatly is all about endurance in the end.

But I'd recommend you stick with the new grip considering it's helping you write for longer without fatigue.

[Joseph41]

Works for me!

[SkiesTheLimit]

(Image removed from quote.)

This is before and after changing grips, writing at the same speed. Clearly, I'm more used to the previous grip, but that one kills my thumb. I can, however, go faster about 30% with the first one while retaining the neatness.

This is where I'm torn; I know that speed doesn't matter THAT much but I'm struggling to write an 800 word language analysis in 100 minutes, so I'm desperately trying to increase my speed.

I'd say that the difference is minimal for a teacher marking you.

To peg it back on what someone else said, you could potentially handicap yourself in a non-sac situation by increasing the weight off the pen to get used to the pain.

For the coming sacs and judging by your post on how much study you need to do over the coming 3 days, I'd stick with what works. It's probably not right to be experimenting a few days before a sac, maybe have a look at your writing style after next week.

But hey! This isn't overly important, it's not going to be absolutely detrimental to your study scores and atar. (or well, at least I wouldn't have thought so).

[InNeedForHelp]

(Image removed from quote.)

Works for me!

I use that grip but it hurts my middle finger when gripping my mechanical pencil which has a plastic grip. On the side of the first joint of my middle finger, the skin is extremely withered and hard because of gripping it too tightly..

[brenden]

I usually pick up the pen, grip it and don't complain. How others grip their pens stands irrelevant to my success and ability to do better in school. But I recommend you to grip your pens about 1/6th of the length. I think A+s can be easily attained with the effectiveness of gripping your pen in a strategic manner.

Why bother writing this.

[appleandbee]

I grip the pen exactly the same way as the first picture. I tried doing it the ‘correct’ way in grade 5 for a while but didn't find it comfortable. Personally I don’t feel any soreness in my fingers. I don’t consider myself a fast write but I'm able to write 800-900 words an hour (plan on improving that speed for the English exam).

[Adequace]

Does anyone else naturally tend to grip their pen/pencil a little bit more tighter when taking an exam/test?

[literally lauren]

Pfft, ya'll are lightweights

Srsly dude, write taller!

One thing I recommend (courtesy of a friend studying hand anatomy  ) is that you make your writing taller. It's way more natural for you to make up-and-down hand movements (eg. like patting someone on the head) than it is to go from side to side (eg. waving goodbye to a friend who's weirded out by your patting.) So it's naturally quicker for you to write long, tall letters than it is to write short, compressed ones. Idk, it's a minor change, but if handwriting is impeding speed or clarity, it's worth spending some time improving it

I used to (and sometimes still do, when lazy) have horrible scrawly handwriting; legible, but it would cause me physical pain to write for more than an hour at my regular speed. When you're concentrating fine motor movements with a tense grip, you end up putting unnecessary strain on your hand in all the wrong places (usually resulting in a sore wrist for your first method or an indent in your thumb for the second.)

Regardless of your preferred pen-holding-method, elongating your writing to take up the whole line makes it much easier on your hand, even if it feels like you're exerting more effort by writing slightly bigger. It actually helps you form letters better (ie. your lowercase 'f' for fox in the second example wouldn't look so ambiguous, and the 'o' in dog would be a circle and not a barely perceptible loop.) These little things don't seem to impede legibility at the moment, but that might just be because you're writing words like 'fox' and 'dog' that can be inferred from context. In the exam, the assessors do occasionally have to stop and look twice - of course they're willing to forgive this under timed conditions - but if it's happening consistently, then it breaks to flow of your writing, and they stop focusing on the ideas you're trying to communicate.

You don't have to go full blown cursive, but taller, slanted writing is a lot smoother and faster than tiny spasmodic twitches.

Alternatively, there's always the 'Angry-Pre-Schooler-Gripping-A-Crayon^TM' approach, vis-à-vis above.

[Hannibal]

Does anyone else naturally tend to grip their pen/pencil a little bit more tighter when taking an exam/test?

I use the second one but have my third finger hold the pen on the side for added support, not sure if the OP does this as well because it's a bit hard to see.

But I suppose the real test of penmanship is your pen spinning abilities .

[MDMA]

I write sort of like Joseph's photo but I use my middle finger more than anything to push the pen around. I have like the fastest handwriting ever and when I was writing in VCE my handwriting wasn't the best but it was definitely readable. Definitely use Joseph's photo though. My hand didn't tire at all through a three hour exam or any of my other exams when I was writing non-stop.

[odeaa]

I just have the normal grip, but what I find makes the difference is getting a good quality pen and not using any pressure but just the weight of your hand and the pen. While it's a bit harder to control, and takes a bit of practise and is hard to keep up when under pressure, you will actually write faster and your hand will hurt so much less. With a good pen like a fountain pen or one of those flowy gel type pens, you dont actually need to push down on the paper to get the ink to come out, you just glide along the paper with no pressure and no hand soreness

[anna.xo]

Lol I've legitimately seen people adding weights to their pencil/pen to train those hand muscles.

I did this last year (with batteries) and I can honestly say it works.