These two close out the intermediate track. They are the left hand's mirror of O and P: the ring and little fingers reaching up, with all the same temptations to collapse the hand.
The new keys
- W — left ring finger, one row up from
S. - Q — left little finger, one row up from
A.
Q is rare, and that is the trap
Q is the least-used letter in English. It is tempting to decide it does not matter and hit it with whichever finger is nearest. Two reasons not to:
First, Q is almost always followed by U — quick, question, quiet, require, quality. That pairing is a specific two-hand movement (left little finger up, then right index finger up) and it is worth drilling as a unit rather than as two unrelated keys.
Second, and more importantly, the left little finger's upward reach is the same movement used for Tab, and its position is the reference for left Shift and Caps Lock. Those are not rare at all. Training the reach on Q is really training it for everything else that finger does.
W does the heavy lifting
W is far more common — with, what, we, will, would, was. Like O on the other hand, it is a weak finger doing frequent work, and like O it rewards patient practice.
The alphabet so far
With this lesson complete you can type every letter except V, X and Z, all of which sit on the bottom row and arrive at the start of the advanced track. Everything from here on is refinement: the remaining letters, then capitals, punctuation and symbols.
Practice notes
Watch the left index finger while you reach for Q. If it lifts off F, the hand is rotating rather than the finger extending. Type quick and require slowly a few times — both force the qu pair inside a real word, which is harder and more useful than drilling q alone.