Symbols: Shift + Number Row (!@#$%)
! @ # $ % ^ & * ( )
The shifted symbols sitting above the number row — exclamation point, at-sign, hash, dollar sign, percent, and the rest — are used constantly in real digital life (emails, usernames, prices, social handles) but are almost never explicitly taught, since most typing courses stop at plain letters and basic punctuation.
This lesson opens the symbols unit of the path, and it's worth treating it as genuinely new material despite the keys physically overlapping with the numbers you already learned — the shifted symbol above each digit is a functionally separate key from the typist's perspective, not a variation of the same one.
If your typing rarely touches email addresses, prices, or social-media-style text, this lesson's practical payoff will be smaller than it is for typists who encounter these symbols constantly — it's still worth completing for full-keyboard fluency, but feel free to move through it more quickly if these symbols genuinely aren't part of your regular typing.
What This Lesson Trains
Each symbol here shares a physical key with the digit beneath it, so the finger placement is identical to the numbers lessons — the only new skill is holding Shift while reaching to the number row, combining two motions you've already trained separately (shift-timing from the capitals lesson, and the number-row reach from the numbers lessons) into one combined action. The at-sign in particular deserves attention since it's typed constantly for email addresses, and its position (Shift+2 on most layouts) is genuinely awkward for a lot of hands until specifically practiced.
The dollar sign and percent sign are worth calling out too, since they're the two symbols in this cluster most typists encounter in genuinely high-stakes contexts (prices, statistics, financial figures), where a mis-hit is more likely to be noticed and matter than a symbol error in casual chat text — a small amount of extra deliberate practice on these two specifically is a reasonable investment given how often accuracy actually matters when they appear. A further practical note: because these shifted symbols combine two skills you've trained separately (Shift timing and number-row reach), a persistent struggle here, more than on either skill alone, can be a useful diagnostic that one of those two underlying skills needs a brief refresher before continuing.
Practice Text
QWERTY layout assumed. Backspace corrects; uncorrected errors count against net WPM.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why aren't these symbols taught in most basic typing courses?
Most introductory typing instruction focuses on letters and basic punctuation and treats symbols as an advanced afterthought, even though symbols like @ and % appear constantly in everyday digital communication — email addresses, prices, and usernames all rely on them.
Is the at-sign (@) actually a commonly mistyped key?
It's a frequent source of errors for typists who haven't specifically practiced it, since its shifted position isn't reinforced by casual letter-typing the way ordinary letters are, despite how often it appears in email addresses and usernames.
Why do the dollar and percent signs get particular emphasis in this lesson?
They tend to appear in contexts (prices, statistics, financial figures) where an error is more likely to be noticed and actually matter, compared to a symbol slip in casual chat text — which makes a little extra deliberate practice on these two specifically a reasonable investment.
Is it normal for this lesson to feel slower than the plain numbers lessons earlier in the path?
Yes — adding the Shift hold on top of the number-row reach genuinely increases the coordination demand compared to typing plain digits, so a slower pace here relative to the earlier numbers lessons is expected rather than a regression.
Next lesson: Symbols: Brackets & Braces