How long to practice steno...??

[Amy Harris]

Hello. I'm a steno student (and a current voicewriting reporter). I've just finished Theory I learning the Phoenix Theory. I'm wondering how long I should practice on my machine each day.... I have a feeling like I'm not doing enough, but then when I practice more I feel like maybe I'm doing too much and burning myself out. Thoughts, ideas???? Thanks in advance for your help!!!

[Mary Jo Cochran]

If you feel like you're burning yourself out, then you are.

If you're just starting speed building, go through some of these blogs on here for students, they will give you some good advice.

Most suggest you break up your practice time, three or four times a day. It's good to build up your endurance, but if you get to the point where you are burned out, then it's unproductive.

[Patricia Babits]

It depends on how long you are on your machine in class. You should be on the machine 3-5 hours a day. If you're on the machine three hours a day in class, practice two hours at home.

Just curious why you are switching to steno reporting from voice or if you plan on doing both.

[Amy Harris]

Three to five hours, wow. Anyhow, I'm switching because I feel like eventually everyone will have to be realtime in order to stay competitive and I just don't think I could do that with voice. The voice recognition software is just too unpredictable. It'll also take me a lot less time to do transcripts. I also cover depos nationwide for another reporter and there are a few states that don't allow voice. :)

[Tami]

Amy,

I couldn't agree more!! Thanks for sharing your thoughts.


By the way, I practiced a lot and got out of school quick.

[Patricia Babits]

Good luck to you!! I never practiced very much in school, but it took me longer than it should have. Also don't think because you don't have two extra hours to practice that you shouldn't practice at all. Every bit helps, even if it's ten minutes!

[Sharla Preciado]

Our theory teacher told us to do 3-5 hours of practice each day. I did it, and it definitely worked for me. I came out of theory and passed from 60 wpm to 160 wpm that first quarter and got to 200 wpm the next quarter. Believe me, I don't say that to brag; I say that because I KNOW the 3-5 hours a day during theory is what got me there.

The 3-hour minimum is what it would take to practice each day's new material, do that day's homework from the book and that day's homework from the tapes. When I finished early, I did the homework from the book again, read through both sets of notes, kept the best one, chucked the other. I did those 3 hours at school.

The other 2 hours would normally be done at home. I would start at theory lesson 1 and work my way back through the book all the way up to that day's current lesson. I did that EVERY single day over and over. I forced myself to write the old lessons at a nice, steady rhythm -- not with a metronome, just a nice, comfortable, SLOW rhythm. Each day that rhythm naturally got faster and faster, but I always forced myself to keep it steady, controlled, and accurate.

When I could do more than 5 hours, I did. When I wasn't on my machine, I was on courtreportinghelp.com, reading articles written by teachers I'd never met, or I was googling anything and everything about the profession. I spent all day, every day immersed in the steno world and always felt that I just couldn't get enough. I'm not telling you this because I just feel like telling my story. I'm telling you this because that's what I've had in common with all the other students I've met, talked to, been friends with, or just heard about that have successfully finished the program quickly.

Once in speed classes, 3 hours a day were taken up by classtime, and the other 2 hours I spent on briefs and still going through my theory lessons and other hard copy drills. I didn't do a lot of other dictation because 3 hours of that in class each day seemed to be enough. The way it worked at my school, 1 hour was my current speed class, 1 hour was my trail class (the speed I had just passed), and 1 hour was my push class (the speed I would be in next, after passing out of my current speed.

If you think you're not doing enough, you're probably not.

If you feel like you're getting burned out, maybe you don't have the passion for steno that it takes to get through this program and do it for a living. That might sound harsh, but I don't mean it to be at all. If you love it, do it 3-5 hours a day, and you'll still go to bed at night writing in your sleep and looking forward to doing more the next day. If you don't love it like that, do something else.

What do you think? Do you love it?

[Amy Harris]

I love court reporting. I think it's just working already as a court reporter full time (often covering out of state depos), having two children, then adding steno on top of that... I do find myself thinking how to write words in steno. LOL. I think it'll take me a little longer to learn everything and get up to speed with everything else I already have on my plate.

[Sharla Preciado]

I was a little confused for a second, but then I went back and reread your original post and remembered that you said you're a voicewriting reporter.

Yeah, I can't imagine trying to work full time and learn steno at the same time. That's rough. I know I couldn't have done it, at least not very quickly. I had to make steno my full-time job in order to get through the program, and I was juggling two kids at home as well. So kudos to you for tackling such a big job!

Out of curiosity, why do you want to be a stenographic reporter? Are you planning to do that instead of voicewriting or in addition to it? Does it pay more than voicewriting? Will you have more opportunities if you can do both? What's the story?

[Amy Harris]

I'm switching because I feel like eventually everyone will have to be realtime in order to stay competitive and I just don't think I could do that with voice. The voice recognition software is just too unpredictable. It'll also take me a lot less time to do transcripts. I also cover depos nationwide for another reporter and there are a few states that don't allow voice. :)

[Kim Mohling]

Hi, Amy.

Just to be clear, you currently work as a voicewriter but not realtime?

Thanks!

Kim