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Mavis Beacon Teaches Typing Platinum V20 (Mac/PC) | 
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| From: Avanquest Software
Category: Software
List Price: £29.99
Buy New: £19.08
You Save: £10.91 (36%)
New (6) from £19.08
Rating:  16 reviews
Platforms: Windows Xp, Mac Os X, Mac Os X Intel, Macintosh, Mac Os X Leopard, Windows Vista
Media: CD-ROM
Operating System: Windows Vista
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.3
Dimensions (in): 7.6 x 5.4 x 1.3
EAN: 5016488118378
ASIN: B001AZ7Q10
Release Date: July 20, 2008
Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days
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| Customer Reviews:
Nice enough product - but set up for a US market October 24, 2008
Seren Ade (UK)
5 out of 5 found this review helpful
This is a well-structured product. It's clear and simple to set up and use (installed on my Vista-based laptop within 3 minutes) and provides a good range of exercises, assessments, skill levels, games and rewards - in the form of print-off certificates - to help users feel that their efforts are taking themselves somewhere. The instructions are clear and concise and it is easy enough to edit out unwanted features (such as the disappointing BLAH muzak that plays as a default to accompany exercises).
Users should be aware, however, that the program is clearly designed for a US market. This does have some impact on the content of the product: the American English spellings of several words used make it particularly necessary for UK users to ensure that they pay careful attention to typing out what appears on screen in front of them... rather than relying on knowledge of how a word is spelt in British English. This probably should make no odds to an experienced touch-typist, however as someone who was not typing trained, but is trying to improve their keyboard skills, I have been finding this quite hard to master... especially since, in some exercises, the difference between a UK and US spelling can result in a whole section of text being marked as mistyped.
Excellent for both the beginner and the improver October 19, 2008
Joanne K. Pilsworth (Cambridge, UK)
4 out of 4 found this review helpful
It's been a good few years since I did my typing training, so I thought this would be a good way of improving my speed (slipping!) and accuracy (depends on how tired I am!). I also thought it might be useful for a friend of mine who is just starting to learn.
The exercises are definately fun. The length of the practice passages gives a good workout, although I was not sure if the length is variable, depending on whether you are a raw beginner or not. The passages it threw up for me were approximately 450-520 words long. Also useful is that the package has both English and French passages, for those practising for linguistics. The games are also good fun, and quite challenging. What can look like a simple exercise, e.g. road race, proves to be quite challenging.
So why only four stars? Unfortunately, there is the odd tendency for the software to freeze. It is nothing that can't be solved by Cntrl-Alt-Del, but is irritaing nonetheless.
Overall, glitches notwithstanding, this is well worth the price for both beginners and improvers.
 A Fantastic Upgrade of Mavis... Well Done October 26, 2008
shaz17 (England)
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
I love this new version. I first bought Mavis Beacon over 7 years ago and what a change for the better.
There a lot more games to play too, 12 in total and as I am learning Spanish this was a tremendous help as I could type Spanish too. It would have been even better if it had French & German in there too. It does a French passage though.
I like the progress tracking report better too, and I could check on mine and my daughters and she is fast becoming more than a one finger typist. She thinks this is a fun program and while they are having fun they are learning.
It has 3 keyboard options, which is good if you have one of those split keyboards or one of those little notebook types with the small keyboards.
The interface and layout is absolutely fantastic and I cant find fault with this program in any way (Well except that it could have had more languages, as this is a brilliant concept, that I haven't seen in any other program of this nature)
And my 12 year old loves the fact that she could listen to her music while typing with this program. I like the fact she is reading some classics along the way, while she is learning her typing.
All my children have learnt to type with Mavis, and so this modern up to date version is a plus for me and my family.
Well worth the money any day.
A Fantastic Upgrade of Mavis... Well Done
Fast and easy to learn November 1, 2008
G. Cook (Essex england)
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
I must say the title of this CD did not grab me put i gave it a go! I was pleased to say it was fun and fast to pick up. I could already type but my speed improved and in a short time. Fun and easy to use, for work needs or just your own use! Think it would also be great for a beginner.
 Poor for people who want to improve ... November 2, 2008
Lawyer Girl (Northants, UK)
2 out of 3 found this review helpful
I can already type, to a certain extent, from years of using computers. Whilst using this program has marginally improved the way I type, it isn't an improvement worth spending money on.
My first issue with the software is that I can't tell whether it is aimed at children or adults. The lessons and practice area seem to be quite adult, but all of a sudden 'Mavis' throws in a game which looks like something a 5 year old would play.
The second issue is that the teaching isn't very thorough. I took the assessment at the beginning that worked out my typing level and I was judged a beginner, but the lessons actually kicked off at q, there was no run through of the basics. The first couple of lessons went quite slowly, so you had time to feel comfortable with the keys. After that the lessons moved on through the punctuation and numbers very quickly. At one point there was a message to say that I would only move on to the next lesson if I did well on a certain test - I got about 50% accuracy and 20wpm and I still passed! By the end of a session I had no idea what I had been taught and hadn't improved at all!
In the end I had to give up on the lessons altogether because the punctuation keys that were being taught did not match up with the keys on my laptop! I thought at first that they might have been moved around for laptops, but a quick check of my home computer shows that this is not the case. This means that only the first few lessons, looking at number and letter keys, are actually useable.
Finally, 'Mavis' herself is extremely annoying. After every quick test she tells you that you are an excellent typist or that your speed is above average (at 30wpm?!), regardless of how well you are actually doing.
To be fair, my typing technique has improved, but I think this is largely due to the fact that I have had to slow down and think about the keys I'm pressing. With a bit of discipline I could have achieved the same improvement myself - don't waste your money!
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