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Rating: 
Summary: Unsuitable for younger children!
Review: Although Mavis Beacon Teaches Typing is marked as being suitable for children 8 and up, I can not recommend it for elementary and middle schoolers. The child is required to have a typing speed goal of 25 WPM, and 25WPM must be achieved with each lesson before the child is allowed to progress to a higher level. My 9-year-old is stuck typing "asdf" and "jkl;" until he is crying tears of boredom. After 50 minutes of practice, he had brought his speed up from 6WPM to 10WPM, so that 25WPM goal still seemed a long way away.I would prefer to see a younger child able to type homework mistake free at 15WPM, than have one who refuses to learn to type because he can't take being forced to practice "asdf" for endless hours.
Rating:
Summary: Unsuitable for younger children!
Review: Although Mavis Beacon Teaches Typing is marked as being suitable for children 8 and up, I can not recommend it for elementary and middle schoolers. The child is required to have a typing speed goal of 25 WPM, and 25WPM must be achieved with each lesson before the child is allowed to progress to a higher level. My 9-year-old is stuck typing "asdf" and "jkl;" until he is crying tears of boredom. After 50 minutes of practice, he had brought his speed up from 6WPM to 10WPM, so that 25WPM goal still seemed a long way away. I would prefer to see a younger child able to type homework mistake free at 15WPM, than have one who refuses to learn to type because he can't take being forced to practice "asdf" for endless hours.
Rating:
Summary: It seems inconsistent at beginner level - and buggy
Review: I am an old hand trying to finally touch type - so I'm using the beginner level and just learning the lower-case alphabetics. I amusing the Delux 11 version. a) The Chameleon game breaks after a while - intermittent but if you play Chameleon say 10 times in a row it seems guaranteed to happen - but not in same place - that when you hit a wrong key, instead of waiting for right key and continuing it breaks out of the game. b) There's at least one case of a double-quote instead of a single quote in an exercise (we're nowhere near at point where double quote has been mentioned - it's a bug) c) The messages are either very very smart or very very dumb - I get praise and admonishment - mainly the former - but disconnected in any way I can see to what I'm doing - for example - I get an error-free score fastest I've done all session and I get a "you didn't do very well". I freak out and get 7 errors and abysmal time and occasionally I get "well done, etc etc". d) Again, either very sophisticated or a bug - I get taken back to earlier levels time and time again - "lets try some new keys" (but I was introduced to them yesterday and once already this morning) - it does a few exercises with the right subset of keys, including the new ones, and then flips back to where I really am with those keys and more. Puzzling. e) The games with moving jerky, hard-to-read characters (Chameleon, Sea Breeze) are headache producing. I always get exactly the same unhelpful message on Sea Breeze that seems unconnected to what I'm actually doing - it looks like just a fixed message "you failed cos you need rhythm not speed". Maybe this all gets much better when you've passed the beginner level - I hope so. I was expecting some repetitive pieces so you'd get familiar with short sequences - es ed ing and so on - but no such luck - it seems to emphasize randomness. A bit dissapointing for the most popular typing program in its 11th edition - I feel I must have somehow gotten their 1st edition by mistake - by now surely there's tons of analysis of what keys you get right, what sequences you stumble over - but it aint obvious. I can't see a place to say this on the Mattel site - no fixes or FAQ or anything else I'd have emoted over there first.
Rating: 
Summary: The Best of the Best
Review: I first encountered Mavis while going to college to learn the computer. Many people in the class didn't know how to type yet. I did but it had been quite a few years and I needed to work on my speed and accuracy. This was an excellent program. Easy to understand for everyone even beginners. My typing speed increased so much I broke 100 wpm. I can't say enough about this program except that I would encourage everyone to try it out especially for brush up courses if you are testing for that special job.
Rating:
Summary: The Best of the Best
Review: I first encountered Mavis while going to college to learn the computer. Many people in the class didn't know how to type yet. I did but it had been quite a few years and I needed to work on my speed and accuracy. This was an excellent program. Easy to understand for everyone even beginners. My typing speed increased so much I broke 100 wpm. I can't say enough about this program except that I would encourage everyone to try it out especially for brush up courses if you are testing for that special job.
Rating: 
Summary: "Buggy" for sure!
Review: I gave this software as a gift. It looks like I'm going to have to buy another--NOT another copy of this one! A few wrong keys hit and the CD has been wiped clean and there is no help to be had. Mavis Beacon--if you see this review--please HELP!
Rating:
Summary: "Buggy" for sure!
Review: I gave this software as a gift. It looks like I'm going to have to buy another--NOT another copy of this one! A few wrong keys hit and the CD has been wiped clean and there is no help to be had. Mavis Beacon--if you see this review--please HELP!
Rating: 
Summary: Best Available but...
Review: We tested a variety of typing software programs and Mavis was clearly the best. All typing software programs purchased had software glitches including version 12. It is unfortunate to lose the "History" of your typing progress. Our program locked up regularly and we needed to sign in under another user. SAD..
Rating:
Summary: Best Available but...
Review: We tested a variety of typing software programs and Mavis was clearly the best. All typing software programs purchased had software glitches including version 12. It is unfortunate to lose the "History" of your typing progress. Our program locked up regularly and we needed to sign in under another user. SAD..
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