Student seeks HELP!

[Mykael Cuadras]

I am a student in 100 speeds. I have been in the speed for the past two year and thinking about quitting since i can't get past such a low speed. I practice twice as much as other students and I'm getting frustrated which doesn't help either. Only option I see is to quit and look for another career.

As a last resort, does anyone have any tips or tricks to help me get out of a speed? The teachers I asked advice said I'm doing everything right. Baby steps are taking to long and I can't continue like this. It will take several years to get through this program and I've already been in for four years.

Thanks
Desperate student

[Sharla Preciado]

Hey Mykael,
I don't know if you've taken Mr. Shastay up on his offer, but I just thought I'd tell you that I found his articles and advice on courtreportinghelp.com to be extremely helpful when I was in school.

I found that site about a week before I started theory and incorporated the things I learned there very early on. I attribute much of my quick progress through speed classes to that site and to Mr. Shastay in particular. (Come to think of it, I should probably tell him so. I never had any contact with him. I just read his stuff.)

The most helpful thing I read on the web site was that you need to write with rythm, or at least practice with rythm. There's a whole process, how to do it and more importantly, WHY to do it. I remember a quote...something about if you conquer rythm at any speed, you've conquered it at every speed. I won't try to recreate here what was said there. If you've never checked out the website, I would strongly recommend it. Again, it's courtreportinghelp.com. Hope it helps!!

[Sharla Preciado]

*rhythm...sorry :)

[Kaleisha Straughter]

How often do you read your notes? Readback is a very important component to building speed. Also, you are probably analyzing your writing too much during tests. Try not thinking about every single stroke. Relax! Think about what you did to get to 100 wpm. You're capable of doing that same thing to get to 200 wpm!!!

[Mary Smith]

My best advise is to write to dense written material. Write it slowly and perfectly over and over. It might be from a newspaper or TIME magazine, but write each word clearly and perfectly and feel that you are doing such. Do that over and over for a few weeks, and you will be in the next speed without a doubt.

Good luck. Mary

[Janiece Young]

Mykael,
Writing a steno stroke begins in your brain. If you are having trouble increasing in speed that means you don't have the steno (theory) ingrained in your brain. The brian tells the hands what to do. The body follows the brain. One side of your brain writes the steno and the other side of your brain reads it. You must read back your steno outloud. You need to write, read it back and then write some more. Analyze what strokes or parts of your theory are making you have hesitations and your speed will increase. You can do it.
Janiece

[Mary Jo Cochran]

One of the things I did in school was to get a Wall Street Journal. I would write a paragraph, then read it back. Then write it over and read it back. I did that quite a lot. That helped too.

[Sono]

Hi, I'm a new student and enrolled in a community college for court reporting. They teach the Phoenix Theory and I am very concerned after reading all the negative posts and opinions on Phoenix. I would like to continue at this school because of the other courses and there don't seem to be any NCRA-approved schools that teach Magnum Steno theory. Do you think I could get the Magnum Steno books and incorporate this theory while taking my classes - sort of merge the theories as needed? My theory class begins on August 22nd so I'm a blank slate right now and don't want to learn any bad habits if possible.

[Aleece DePuey]

I learned Phoenix, use it as my base, and then reduced all my briefs and phrases to write them as short as possible. Some endings in Phoenix can be gotten around with
the help of some clever people on this site.

[Sono]

Thanks, Aleece -- I really needed to hear this as I'm just starting a program and am already worried about how difficult ANY program is to complete and achieve the speeds needed to pass the tests. All I need to know is that the theory I am learning is almost impossible and that I'd have to start over. I'd like to have a heads up asap. I plan to get the stenomaster theory/magnum theory books and tapes and supplement what I'm learning in my theory classes. I really hate to backtrack, waste time, energy and money, and acquire bad habits -- trying to avoid these things at all costs though I know it's impossible to do everything perfectly.

[Sono]

Thanks, Allison! I just ordered the Stenomaster Theory package today. As soon as I get more comfortable, I will join Mark's Magnum Steno Club to further fill in the gaps. I'm feeling overwhelmed right now as I've been reading many forums and haven't even started theory classes yet! I'm going to try to absorb as much as possible, so that I know what I'm doing and what I need to do. I am taking an online course so it may be easier to discard bad Phoenix habits, then if I had a teacher watching over my shoulder. If I feel uncomfortable with the classes, I may transfer or take one of the "at home" courses. I'm sure glad I came here and found out what I need to watch out for.

Thanks to everyone!

Sono

[Tami]

To juggle two theories right out of the chute, Sono, is going to be so tough, especially when those two theories are not very compatible with each other.

Have you thought of learning theory somewhere else besides the J.C. and then transferring back into the J.C.??

[Sono]

Hi, Tami -- thanks for the response! After reading all the negative posts on Phoenix, I tried to think of what my options were since my theory class starts on Monday. I couldn't really think of any except to order the Stenomaster Theory package (which I did yesterday and I'll get on Thursday, I believe).

Do you think that if I study Phoenix first and once I get that down, I can quickly start modifying my theory? Or will that set me back too much? What would your suggestions be knowing that I have to take the initial theory courses in Phoenix? I'm already commited to my Fall courses and I have limited means.

Also, what theory(ies) (besides Mark's Stenomaster/Magnum Steno) do you think are the best? StenEd, RealTime?

I really want to go about this in the most efficient way, so any advice, help, suggestions are very welcome!

Thank you!

Sono