Dirty Secrets

Source

I have a dirty secret: I have conflicts and slop in my dictionary.
There. I feel better now with that off my chest.

They had us doing realtime pretty much right out of theory at the school I went to, so having perfect notes and being conflict-free was stressed. That's a great teaching style, and I agree with it, especially in early speeds. You're more likely to pass tests if your fingers have been trained to go to the right keys and when you don't accept sloppy writing.

That said, there came a point in my 190s, I think, where I started adding to a separate slop dictionary my repeated keying mistakes in order to make defining my untranslates and editing easier. In the 210s or so, a few teensy-weensy conflicts crept in, and I have no* idea how they got there. *some

But this dictionary atrocity is what helped me pass tests and get through the last leg of school. In addition to lots of daily high-speed practice, of course. I'd much rather have two or three choices while editing to figure out what I meant to write there. I'd prefer to have my CAT software translate my common slop instead of fumbling around trying to find out what that word's supposed to be.

Just be cautious, is my advice. And don't take my advice blindly, either. Any of it. Every stenographer is different.

The Waiting Game

Graphic as modified by me from the original version

Some things never change. When I was in school, if I'd take a test that I thought I passed, sometimes I'd almost be paralyzed in between its completion and when I heard back from my teacher about how I did. It was almost like a state of suspended animation where I didn't want to practice or do anything but see my results. Cue my current state of limbo while waiting to see the results from the November 5 RPR.

Thankfully, though, after several days off from practice, I started doing almost-daily practice again in the hopes of gaining additional speed to keep up with fast-talking attorneys. So as hard as it seems to keep practicing while waiting for your results, do it because you'll thank yourself later. After a small breather or reward of some sort, of course. Take a couple hours off, do something you enjoy, and then get back to practicing. You'll get through school faster and become a better, faster writer for it.

Gearing Up for the Big Event

How does a court reporter, CART provider, closed captionist, or student prepare for an important test? Whether its your national/state certification or your last test to move up to the next speed class doesn't matter. What you do to prepare is the same. After diligently training for weeks or months with a wide variety of material and techniques, you have built up your skill set, and this is what you have to work with on test day. You can't magically (physically) cram the night before and expect it to help you. Reviewing flashcards of steno outlines or reading steno notes can, however, benefit you.

Looking for the Good

Well, this was the first week back for summer session of the judicial reporting program at Madison Area Technical College AKA Madison College, and round one of testing is officially over. After anxiously awaiting the results of my first crack at 190 wpm Q&A, I was both frustrated and encouraged to see a big ol’ 94.1% at the top of my graded transcript. “A 94%," you say, "that’s an A, why so glum?” Yes, in any other program or class or academic setting, a 94% would be fantastic, but for gluttons for punishment known as steno students, a 94% is a big fat fail.

On one hand, I only turned that one in last night because I decided the previous semester to edit and submit at least one edited take a week, no excuses. In that light, I did much better than I expected to. I can also tell that despite being somewhat of a slacker as of late, my speed has actually improved since the end of the spring semester.

On the other hand, being a perfectionist, I hold myself to a standard of 100%. Anything less than that is extremely disappointing. Worst of all, there were a lot of rookie mistakes, like forgetting to capitalize “the Court,” and a superfluous comma after “so.” Get a hold of yourself, woman! Maybe (okay, probably) I’m being too hard on myself, but for goodness’ sake, I’ve been at this for almost two years now!

I’m strangely torn between these positive and negative emotions regarding my first test in about four weeks. It's hard for me to wrap my mind around something not being entirely positive or entirely negative, but I should probably just get used to it because that's life. The dark cloud usually does have a silver lining, but sometimes my binoculars just don't reach that far to see. This time, I've got a front-row seat to this cloud-lining check, so to speak.

With that, I’m going to take it upon myself to practice hard this week, focusing specifically on my weak spots (like contractions, apparently). Then I will "make it work" a la Tim Gunn on Project Runway and try again next Thursday with improved speed and all the moxie I can rustle up by then. 225, here I come!

Looking for the Good

Well, this was the first week back for summer session of the judicial reporting program at Madison Area Technical College AKA Madison College, and round one of testing is officially over. After anxiously awaiting the results of my first crack at 190 wpm Q&A, I was both frustrated and encouraged to see a big ol’ 94.1% at the top of my graded transcript. “A 94%," you say, "that’s an A, why so glum?” Yes, in any other program or class or academic setting, a 94% would be fantastic, but for gluttons for punishment known as steno students, a 94% is a big fat fail.

On one hand, I only turned that one in last night because I decided the previous semester to edit and submit at least one edited take a week, no excuses. In that light, I did much better than I expected to. I can also tell that despite being somewhat of a slacker as of late, my speed has actually improved since the end of the spring semester.

On the other hand, being a perfectionist, I hold myself to a standard of 100%. Anything less than that is extremely disappointing. Worst of all, there were a lot of rookie mistakes, like forgetting to capitalize “the Court,” and a superfluous comma after “so.” Get a hold of yourself, woman! Maybe (okay, probably) I’m being too hard on myself, but for goodness’ sake, I’ve been at this for almost two years now!

I’m strangely torn between these positive and negative emotions regarding my first test in about four weeks. It's hard for me to wrap my mind around something not being entirely positive or entirely negative, but I should probably just get used to it because that's life. The dark cloud usually does have a silver lining, but sometimes my binoculars just don't reach that far to see. This time, I've got a front-row seat to this cloud-lining check, so to speak.

With that, I’m going to take it upon myself to practice hard this week, focusing specifically on my weak spots (like contractions, apparently). Then I will "make it work" a la Tim Gunn on Project Runway and try again next Thursday with improved speed and all the moxie I can rustle up by then. 225, here I come!