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Well, I mentioned at the end of my post on the January-February CWOPS Intermediate class that I was planning on taking the Advanced class in May-June and would let fellow LCWO members know how it went.

I would start by saying that this course was a big eye opener, in more ways than one.

The class was small with 6 students from 3 different continents.

Regarding my own progress, based on my notes, on May 2, I was head copying at 25wpm and could copy with great difficulty at 30wpm. As of today, I listen and copy at 35 wpm comfortably (I am actually finishing listening to one of Somerset Maugham's novels at 35wpm).

On May 2, I was sending at 27wpm with hiccups and as of this evening am sending quite comfortably at 33wpm.

Our advisor for the Intermediate class I took in January-February told us it was the hardest class of all and that is definitely true. I found the Advanced class to be more relaxed and easier as it is a matter of building on what has been already acquired, picking up speed in sending and improving head copy.

CWOPS allows only head copy and our advisor emphasized very strongly viewing CW as sound, hence the emphasis on speed as CW only becomes really musical from around 30wpm upwards.

The use of both keyboard and pencil was completely forbidden.

We also were not allowed to use any CW website which relied on keyboard input of the result (and the use of LCWO, among others such as RufZ, was therefore banned).

Instead, the emphasis was on pure listening. This actually made a dramatic difference to my personal results and I realised that keyboard input had been slowing me down without my even being aware of it.

I can only recommend the CWOPS program to anyone who wants to get CW under his or her belt. The advisors are brilliant and enthusiastic and it is extremely impressive to see the constant adaption and evolution of the teaching methods which draw on recent research in cognitive psychology.

I just received my Advanced certificate yesterday and feel I spent my time very well indeed!

Thanks Piotr for the information. So I was signed up for the advanced course a little while ago but unfortunately was not able to attend due to other commitments, but still look forward to taking it when I can. So from your post it definitely sounds like you made big gains. Curious about head copy, because I can head copy, and I do push myself up to 35WPM and do okay but even at 25 I just don't get everything all the time. Maybe because it is a unkwown name or a difficult word with multiple syllables. My question is did you have this problem and did this course fix this problem? Really curious because I too love head copy and have been able to get a decent speed but, 35 is pushing me to my limits and results vary. I too translate articles, books , topics of interest in CW to listen too...Thanks for any guidance you can give.

For head copy, the most important has been for me to listen to at least 30 mns of morse every day from a book or an article while maintaining a loose attention: not too tight but not letting one's mind wander either.

One's base head-copy speed is the speed at which one can copy call signs upon hearing them once, without writing them down, since they are pretty much random. Then one wants to train at 3-4 wpm above that for head copy and keep pushing as soon as one becomes comfortable.

Ideally, this would be a speed at which one gets the 100 most common words but not so fast that one basically gets nothing.

I have found it extremely helpful to to memorize the sounds of the 100 most common words in English and then those of the most common 200,300,400 and 500 words. You can use Morse Ninja's files or just make your own with an AI and the convert them using the "Convert text to CW" option here on LCWO (which is what I did).

Long and complicated words occur between these simple, well known ones and I find that I am focusing and then relaxing as I pass from the easy words to the more challenging and back.

Our advisor emphasized the feedback loop between practicing sending and head copy and I have found that to be very true. They are mutually complementary.

I must also say that putting in the hours really helps: I was listening to something yesterday and thought the text seemed rather slow (like 27-28wpm) and wondered whether I had made a mistake in converting the text to morse. I checked and it was still at 35wpm but my mind had adapted.

Hope this helps!

It does and thank you. I do listen to hundreds of words, usually starting at 42WPM and then repeating the same word at 4 different speeds, lowering to 28WPM before revealing the answer. I do understand them, some at 42 and others at 28. Thanks...Yes full sentences, stories at 35 is understandable to me but not all of it, and some days are better than others. I listen while riding my bike, usually for about a half hour, and then again before I go to sleep and in the car when travelling from one destination to another. It is so true what you said, when I relax but still have a focused head copy at 35WPM the sentence understanding seems to flow so much better. But I have to consciously get myself to that, for lack of a better word, zone, and it just flows. I am at a point trying to break another CW barrier so it flows easier. Okay I feel I am on the right path. Thanks again.