Never add words to a test!!!

[Dana Mears]

FYI: This applies to any student that is taking speed tests. When you are transcribing from your notes and you know you're missing a word or two or three, the rule of thumb is to NOT add what you think the words are in on your transcript. Why, you ask? Because I said so. j/k Because 98% (sounds like a good percentage...) of the time, you'll be wrong, and you may get more errors than you would have had you just left it the way it was, with the missing words.

For example, your notes read: I ate today.
You THINK you remember being dictated: I ate "lots of yummy chocolate today". You add in "lots of yummy chocolate" to your transcription.

Let's say she really said: I ate that good candy today.

SO, instead of getting the 3 errors you would have gotten by following your notes, you get 5 errors for adding stuff in that wasn't even really there.

I know that example may seem unrealistic, but trust me, it happens. I can honestly say that EVERY time I've taken a chance on adding or fixing words that I had in my notes, I've gotten it wrong.

For example, you have in your notes: I eat it yesterday.

You change it to: I "ate" it yesterday. Afterall, who would say they eat it yesterday?

Turns out that it was really dictated as "eat". Remember that our tests are usually made from real transcripts, which means that regular ol' human beings like us were the ones talking. We make mistakes when we talk. In other words, don't fix it if you have something that doesn't make sense in your notes. Trust that you heard what you heard and transcribe it as such.

Sorry for the looooooooong-winded post, but I had to say it!

[Heather Ballard]

I will vouche for this... I took a test yesterday actually and I got part of two sentences and instead of just transcribing what I had in my notes I made stuff to try to make it make sense.... and instead of 3 errors I had 6 from one sentence. Had I just transcribed only what I had in my notes I would have had 91% instead of 86%.... Listen to Dana... She is smart:)

[Dana Mears]

Thanks for sharing! I am smart. LOL Learn from my mistakes. I've made plenty! :P