Advice on preparing for the Realtime Exam

[Janiece Young]

Hey, Everybody,
I am thinking about taking the Realtime Exam. I've been supplying realtime. I would appreciate any tips anyone who has taken it can give me, any things I need to do before I go and take the exam. I'm assuming, fix problems that you find in your dictionary. Any input you all have to give would be much appreciated.
Thanks,
Janiece

[Janiece Young]

Tami,
Thanks for the tip. I think I will do that. I got to attend a seminar that Mark put on here in the Kansas City area and it really helped me.
I'll do it as soon as I can.
Congrats on passing on the first try. I hope I can do that too. That's why I'm trying to get all the tips I can before I walk in the door.
Thanks again,
Janiece

[Tami]

Janiece,

I took the CRR in 1998 and passed the first time I took it. At that time there were only three CRR tapes available from NCRA. I feel the tapes of the past tests are what really helped me pass AND the fact that I had excessive speed. I think that actually is what really helps, excessive speed.

I'd recommend you join the MagnumSteno Club at magnumsteno.com. I guarantee you'll gain speed, and it's about as cheap as any speedbuilding program could be at $29.95 a month with no strings attached.

If you join, you'll need to listen to Mark's Speedbuilding 1, 2, 3, and 4 before diving in on the incredibly difficult dictation.

Good luck!

Tami

[Janiece Young]

Tori,
I left you a msg on your page but then I thought maybe it would be better to pose it here so all who are interested could read your answer. Where do you get your practice material? It's been a few years since I've been out of school. I'm a packrat so I still have some of my old speed tapes but do you get material from NCRA, old CRR tests or what do you find helps you the most?
Thanks for you input.
Janiece

[Glen Warner]

Hi, Tori.

You know, I saw somewhere that ALL CAPS or all small was an automatic fail ...? I think that was for the CRR exam.

No, check that ... it was from a 2007 version of "What is an Error?" for the RPR/RMR exam. Thought I had one for the CRR, but I guess not ....

--gdw

[Tori Pittman]

As a four-time test taker, here is what I've learned.

1. you MUST practice, even if you realtime every day
2. you should make sure all your equipment for the day of the test is in your bag (someone forgot a cable once, and you can't do it via wireless - she was lucky b/c someone had a cable).
3. go through your dictionary and get rid of all the junk you can - stuff you don't use, haven't used in a long time, and clear up as many of your conflicts as you can (although I love the AI, b/c as long as they're different parts of speech, most times the CAT will pick correctly.
4. Set up a format specifically for the test - output to ALL CAPS both in screen AND for your ASCII, pick first conflict IF the AI can't decide, convert your Q/A paragraphs to "regular" paragraphs (In Eclipse, I make it a "speaker continuation paragraph" type, make sure it does NOT record the audio automatically in this format type, make sure there is NO footer... and on and on.

Good luck! I'm going to try it again in DC. This time, though, I'll have practiced a lot more than the last time.

[Glen Warner]

Janiece --

When you get a chance, you might take a look at Hap's Catalyst Corner.

This piece of the Depoman.com forum is run by a man named Harry Palter, and he is a whiz at putting Case Catalyst through some extraordinary paces.

While it's not quite what you're looking for, anything that shaves a little time should be of use!

Good luck ....

--gdw
-------------------------
"For a Good (steno) Time ...."
http://www.cheapandsleazy.net

[Jenny Griffin, RMR CRR CCRR CRC]

Every time the CRR is taken, some reporters automatically fail because they haven't read and tested out the following:

What is an Error?
Grading Guidelines for the CRR/CBC/CCP Skills Test
Automatic Fails:
o Two drops of 10 or more words.
o A submitted ASCII diskette that does not contain printable data.
o At the conclusion of the dictation, you will be instructed to move away from your equipment. To touch either keyboard before being instructed to do so by the Chief Examiner will result in an automatic fail.
o Single-spaced transcripts.

This means the contents of your ASCII must be double spaced. Now is the time to figure out how to do that and not the night before the next exam.

http://ncraonline.org/NR/rdonlyres/7C0F0BFD-463C-495F-B37D-CA314EAB2736/0/WhatisanError_CRR.pdf

[Jenny Griffin, RMR CRR CCRR CRC]

Janiece, I see you are on CC. I checked your page! There are some good generic tips in the Eclipse group regarding the CRR.

http://www.csrnation.com/group/totaleclipse/forum/topics/crr-tips-for-eclipse-users

I hope you get lots of comments as this can be a very tricky test. I'll try to think of some more tips myself that are not software specific.