Please help me fix this lifelong handwriting problem

[Saaad]

I live in Pakistan. I have always had a mediocre/bad handwriting. This has always been a problem for me due to the fact that here in Pakistan, our teachers also enforce the need of having a good handwriting. Now you may be thinking why does handwriting matter in education? Only the master of concept and knowledge of the student should matter, but that's not the case. Somehow, exam checkers value beautiful handwriting, exams with margin lines drawn with a marker/pen, and marker written headings,  over normal handwriting such as mine. Due to all these useless and absurd reasons, our teachers constantly tell us to also focus on our handwriting. Now, I am not saying that asking to improve handwriting is bad. It's bad when it's said negatively implying that 'with this handwriting, you are not gonna marks'. It always baffled me, but a single person can't go against an established absurd system. 

 

I have heard such statements about my handwriting constantly for 2 years, and no matter how hard I try my handwriting does not improve. Infact, at this point, I have associated fear and anxiety (and a weird inferiority complex) with handwriting. All of this due to the absurd fact that my handwriting has a role in my marks. Handwriting has become a 'big' issue in my life and it shouldn't be this way. Love for handwriting can be 'big' but an issue that is due to handwriting shouldn't be 'big'. It doesn't feel right that mere handwriting is stopping me and making me anxious.

 

Now onto to my main issue. I have decided to go all out because even though I am anxious, the insults from teachers won't stop neither will the examination results. In the end, my only way is to fix the issue. My problem is that, I have tried practicing like others do, but I got nowhere. Or if I assume that I did get somewhere, it was not up to par with what the teachers/exams want. Can you guys please look at my writing sample and tell me the proper way to do handwriting? I will give it my all this time. I have to decided to write 24/7 (basically write whenever my hands are free from other tasks). I am extremely, and I say extremely angry of being seen as less than others due to mere handwriting. It's literally holding back my potential success.  It will only take some minutes to read and reply, but it will help me a ton :)

My Handwriting:
https://i.imgur.com/Yz5XvDW.jpg

 

Video of me writing:
Please point out all of my mistakes.

https://youtu.be/zMmBBKHg_kA

 

 

[arcfide]

Unfortunately, there isn't much to complain about your handwriting in terms of legibility, which means that there is likely something else that needs to be addressed. I think what would be very helpful is if you could find someone whom the teachers praise for their handwriting and ask for a sample of their handwriting, and maybe even a video if they are willing. If we do this, then we could figure out what is "missing" from your handwriting compared to them. 

 

Have you discussed with the teachers what exactly about your handwriting that they would like to see fixed? It's usually not good enough to just have "bad" handwriting, but to know why it is bad from the teachers perspectives. 

 

There are a few things that it could be:

 

* You're not fast enough while remaining legible

* You're not following an established script that is more conventional

 

That's about all I can think of right now. 

 

Finally, is the handwriting just becoming a proxy for some other issue? 

[Saaad]

@arcfide

 

My teachers always say, 'improve it, it's bad, this won't get you marks'. They want beautiful handwriting. Basically, my handwriting looks messy to them. Messy as in, the shapes and sizes of letters are not good as compared to others. I have tried but I can't get that picture perfect handwriting they want. And I asked some people about their handwriting, they said it came naturally without too much hardwork. As for me, it feels like my hand is gonna 'dance' on the paper as soon as I start writing. I don't have a better description that the word 'dance'. In other words, I wanna form something, but my hand loses control for a split-second and my desired shape is not formed. If you noticed in my handwriting. That's the reason most of my letters are not of same shape. 

About speed, yes I am considered slow by most. I can't get a video or sample of someone with a praised handwriting because most of my classmates will expose it to others and make fun of me. And about a script, I am sure most of us follow print, so that's not an issue. 

 

Quote

Finally, is the handwriting just becoming a proxy for some other issue?

 

No, it's just the constant insults and results have instilled anxiety in me.

 

Also, did you watch my handwriting video, is my pose, stance, and movement right?

 

Thanks for taking time to reply

Edited January 4, 2021 by Saaad

[A Smug Dill]

4 minutes ago, arcfide said:

there isn't much to complain about your handwriting in terms of legibility,

 

I agree. There may be minor improvements to be had, by changing the form of your lowercase 'r' to be more in line with the ‘printing’ handwriting style, making the bowls in your lowercase ‘h’ and ’n’ taller and narrower (as opposed to flatter and more spread out sideways), and perhaps making your lowercase 's' more upright like the others letters; but I don't think those are really at the crux of your teachers' criticism.

 

12 minutes ago, arcfide said:

which means that there is likely something else that needs to be addressed. ...‹snip›... 

There are a few things that it could be:

 

No offence intended to @Saaad, but if there's one thing that stands out as an overall impression of the handwriting, I'd say it looks like it was written by a hand of a child. I personally don't think it ought to factor at all in assessment of the validity, correctness and relevance of the content of what was written in answer to exam questions or assignment topics. However, it does make me wonder whether that is part of what the teachers imagine they're attempting to ‘correct’ by their critique or criticism of what was submitted.

[Saaad]

@A Smug Dill No offence taken. Yes, my teachers have often said that my handwriting looks like that of a kid's. But that's something of almost negligible priority infront of handwriting's importance in getting marks in National exams. They have told me that the bigger reason for asking me to improve is exam marks.

 

One thing to note here, I wrote as much or I am definitely sure more than my buddies but I still have a kid's handwriting lol. 

[A Smug Dill]

3 minutes ago, Saaad said:

… getting marks in National exams. They have told me that the bigger reason for asking me to improve is exam marks.

 

Exams for which particular subjects, if I may ask?

[Saaad]

3 minutes ago, A Smug Dill said:

 

Exams for which particular subjects, if I may ask?

Basically all subjects including the ones in which handwriting shouldn't matter. STEM.

[Carrau]

As others have pointed out, your sample is remarkably legible, so no one can object on that point.  There are a couple observations I can make.      1). There are rather large spaces between a number of the words on the page, and this may be subconsciously affecting the opinion of your critics.
2).  It appears that you are actually printing your letters/words, only occasionally joining letters together (examine most of the longer words, such as foolish, long-lasting, however, something, beautiful, in which there is a mixture of unjoined and joined letters, and many shorter words have no letters joined at all, such as Beaty, man, even, might).  The absence of joining in many words, and the admixture of unjoined and joined letters in the same word, may be giving your hand an incomplete appearance to your critics.  In short, it looks like printed words instead of writing, or, it looks like it is in some sort of transition.
 

These are observations, not criticisms.  Did you have formal training in cursive writing?

[A Smug Dill]

27 minutes ago, Saaad said:

Basically all subjects including the ones in which handwriting shouldn't matter. STEM.

 

As in science, technology, engineering and mathematics? I struggle to see how a teacher or examiner can mark your answers down for (your highly legible) handwriting if they are technically correct. For the sake of clarity, have you actually been marked down by your teachers for technically correct answers?

[Saaad]

@Carrau Your observations are remarkable. About spacing between words, it automatically happens as I flow. I will add it to my to-fix list. I will also stop joining words. I thought it looked cool. Thanks for your insight.

 

And no, I never had any training in cursive. I only did some joining due to the above mentioned reason.

[Saaad]

12 minutes ago, A Smug Dill said:

 

As in science, technology, engineering and mathematics? I struggle to see how a teacher or examiner can mark your answers down for (your highly legible) handwriting if they are technically correct. For the sake of clarity, have you actually been marked down by your teachers for technically correct answers?

It's actually part of a bigger problem. We have nationwide exams funded by the government. In these, due to the fact that my country isn't one of the most established ones, many of the exam checkers are less educated people. On top of that, they have tons of exams to check. It's basically slave labour for quick bucks. Ashamed to say this, but sometimes, they don't even know proper English, and basically have books infront of them or check based on their rote memorization. All the time, you are at their mercy for marks. You can even write the best, correct, and most precise answer and still get marked 0. You can't even refute it because there's literally a law that stops you from doing so. You can now imagine, when someone doesn't know the concept, they tend to also take into account handwriting. Sadly, this is a big problem that will hopefully be fixed in the upcoming years.

 

Edited January 4, 2021 by Saaad

[Carrau]

By the way, your English is very good.  
I think you need to decide whether you want to only print, or whether you want to learn cursive writing.  Joined letters are part of cursive writing, whereas printing essentially has no joined letters.  Regardless of your choice, spacing of letters within words, and spacing between words is important.  There are many recommendations for spacing, but uniformity is key, meaning the spaces between letters in a word should be as similar as possible.  One recommendation I follow for spacing between words is to keep a space about as wide as your letter ”n.”  There is a book I used in the past to help improve my writing, called WRITE NOW by Getty and Dubay, which works first with printing, then transitions to cursive writing.  It’s essentially a practice book, that you write in while you are reading, and I found it helpful.  It contains practice exercises to help develop rhythm and flow as well.  
Another observation about your hand, is that your letters are very upright.  There is nothing inherently wrong with that, but it may also be giving your critics the impression of it being child-like.  Developing a slant of a few degrees off the vertical may make it seem less “young” to the hypercritical eyes of your exam graders.  The brain, as I’m sure you know, is a complex thing, and studies have shown that our brains often complete “incomplete” pictures, because experience has taught us to expect certain things, especially visual things.  If your exam graders are expecting writing to match up with preconceived ideas about how it should appear, and someone’s writing is different from their expectation, it may slow them down, and perhaps irritate them if they are as busy as you say they are.  Remember your reasons for doing this are essentially window dressing to get better marks-there’s nothing about your hand that makes reading it difficult to my eyes.  Many of us have worked on our writing for our own satisfaction, or to improve legibility for others.

[I-am-not-really-here]

The first word in your sample, 'beauty' is spelled wrong.  
 

Maybe your instructors are biased for cursive or the calligraphic of Arabic and so printed words in Western style, however neat, look ugly in their eyes by comparison.  

 

[ParramattaPaul]

1 hour ago, Saaad said:

Somehow, exam checkers value beautiful handwriting, exams with margin lines drawn with a marker/pen, and marker written headings,  over normal handwriting such as mine. Due to all these useless and absurd reasons, our teachers constantly tell us to also focus on our handwriting. Now, I am not saying that asking to improve handwriting is bad. It's bad when it's said negatively implying that 'with this handwriting, you are not gonna marks'. It always baffled me, but a single person can't go against an established absurd system. 

 

Sadly, this is a reality of life that you and I have confronted in our own times and places.  Yes, it is judgemental and seems unfair.  At the same time it is a circumstance an imposed standard by which work needs to be appraised.  That is for us, and for them, something to accept and work with. 

 

I noticed in the video that you are also left handed, as am I.  We 'lefties' have our own peculiar handwriting problems.  That is also a reality of life which we must accept. 

 

That said, there is quite a lot we can do to improve our handwriting. What I am about to suggest, is what has worked for me.

 

The first, is to find someone (or more) whose handwriting that you admire.  Look at how their letters are formed, the relative size of the ascenders and descenders, the spacing, etc.  Try to mimic what you like, and practice, practice, practice.  The second is to get Rosemary Sassoon's book Improve Your Handwriting and use the lessons it offers to improve your handwriting.  It is reportedly the only book that is written specifically for adults.   Improve Your Handwriting (Teach Yourself): Sassoon, Rosemary, Briem, Gunnlaugur S. E.: 9781444103793: Amazon.com: Books

 

Regarding exam papers with ruled margins, etc., the best advice I can offer is to look at what others who are getting better grades are doing and use a similar format.  Again, that is what I did when I had to meet similar standards decades ago.

 

Best wishes for you in your studies.

[Saaad]

5 minutes ago, Carrau said:

By the way, your English is very good.  

Thanks for the compliment 😄

 

6 minutes ago, Carrau said:

I think you need to decide whether you want to only print, or whether you want to learn cursive writing.

I am going to only focus on only print for now, as my exams are in 5-6 months, and transitioning into a different script will take time. But later on, I definitely intend to learn cursive.

 

8 minutes ago, Carrau said:

Regardless of your choice, spacing of letters within words, and spacing between words is important.  There are many recommendations for spacing, but uniformity is key, meaning the spaces between letters in a word should be as similar as possible.  One recommendation I follow for spacing between words is to keep a space about as wide as your letter ”n.”

I will keep this in mind. Thanks!
 

8 minutes ago, Carrau said:

There is a book I used in the past to help improve my writing, called WRITE NOW by Getty and Dubay, which works first with printing, then transitions to cursive writing.  It’s essentially a practice book, that you write in while you are reading, and I found it helpful.

I will try getting that book. 

13 minutes ago, Carrau said:

Another observation about your hand, is that your letters are very upright.  There is nothing inherently wrong with that, but it may also be giving your critics the impression of it being child-like.  Developing a slant of a few degrees off the vertical may make it seem less “young” to the hypercritical eyes of your exam graders.  The brain, as I’m sure you know, is a complex thing, and studies have shown that our brains often complete “incomplete” pictures, because experience has taught us to expect certain things, especially visual things.  If your exam graders are expecting writing to match up with preconceived ideas about how it should appear, and someone’s writing is different from their expectation, it may slow them down, and perhaps irritate them if they are as busy as you say they are.

I never looked it at that way. That's quite insightful. I will also add some slanting to my handwriting. 

 

 

15 minutes ago, Carrau said:

Remember your reasons for doing this are essentially window dressing to get better marks-there’s nothing about your hand that makes reading it difficult to my eyes.

Yeah, you are absolutely correct, that's why I said in my first post that handwriting has become such an issue that shouldn't be existing. Marks are the main reason and the secondary reason is to prove that I can also do it.

 

 

17 minutes ago, Carrau said:

Many of us have worked on our writing for our own satisfaction, or to improve legibility for others.

Yeah, I am also trying to fall in love with handwriting for the sake of personal satisfaction (after I am done with my marks issue.)

[Saaad]

6 minutes ago, I-am-not-really-here said:

The first word in your sample, 'beauty' is spelled wrong.  

Yeah I know, it's a rough sample that's why I didn't care after I spelled it wrong

 

7 minutes ago, I-am-not-really-here said:

Maybe your instructors are biased for cursive or the calligraphic of Arabic and so printed words in Western style, however neat, look ugly in their eyes by comparison.

No, that's definitely not it. Infact, 99.9% of us don't even know Arabic calligraphy. We have Urdu but it's not Arabic and English is seen as superior to Urdu. I would say we actually admire English writing.

[ParramattaPaul]

39 minutes ago, Saaad said:

... basically have books infront of them or check based on their rote memorization.

 

With that, there is a very real possibility that your work is judged not on content, but solely upon appearance.  The message to you then, is that you know that working one presentation is as important as knowing the material and the content of your answers.

[Inky.Fingers]

You can start by watching italic lessons on youtube.  https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLy6-FkXJFXKwoLdEF0eATKJ80vE3IICGY

 

To get you started ...do this...

[Saaad]

10 minutes ago, ParramattaPaul said:

That is for us, and for them, something to accept and work with.

Yeah, finally came to terms with and decided to go all out, and prove I can also do it.

 

13 minutes ago, ParramattaPaul said:

I noticed in the video that you are also left handed, as am I.  We 'lefties' have our own peculiar handwriting problems.  That is also a reality of life which we must accept. 

Yeah, though it's unique in it's own way.

 

 

17 minutes ago, ParramattaPaul said:

That said, there is quite a lot we can do to improve our handwriting. What I am about to suggest, is what has worked for me.

 

The first, is to find someone (or more) whose handwriting that you admire.  Look at how their letters are formed, the relative size of the ascenders and descenders, the spacing, etc.  Try to mimic what you like, and practice, practice, practice.  The second is to get Rosemary Sassoon's book Improve Your Handwriting and use the lessons it offers to improve your handwriting.  It is reportedly the only book that is written specifically for adults.   Improve Your Handwriting (Teach Yourself): Sassoon, Rosemary, Briem, Gunnlaugur S. E.: 9781444103793: Amazon.com: Books

I will definitely see if I can get that book as well. Another user suggested one too. The writing I admire is the neat pure print style. I will try getting that style. 

 

 

19 minutes ago, ParramattaPaul said:

Regarding exam papers with ruled margins, etc., the best advice I can offer is to look at what others who are getting better grades are doing and use a similar format.  Again, that is what I did when I had to meet similar standards decades ago.

I do that. It has surely helped me somewhat.

 

20 minutes ago, ParramattaPaul said:

Best wishes for you in your studies.

Thank you! 😄

 

[Saaad]

15 minutes ago, ParramattaPaul said:

 

With that, there is a very real possibility that your work is judged not on content, but solely upon appearance.  The message to you then, is that you know that working one presentation is as important as knowing the material and the content of your answers.

Yeah, this really used to bugged me but now I have come to terms with it.