Student's Corner

Congratulations, students, on making the decision to enter into the court reporting profession! As well, we wish to thank you for becoming a student member of TCRA. You've taken the first step towards your career in court reporting. Because we recognize that students are the future of our profession, we want to help you and encourage you along the way. So whether you are just beginning theory classes or passing speeds at 80, 160, 200 or even 225 wpm, TCRA is here for you!

Student Mentoring Program
Do you need some extra help, personal attention or have questions regarding TCRA? If so, then sign up for our mentoring program and receive guidance or help from a professional, working court reporter. Working reporters understand what difficulties you face as students. We are willing to volunteer our time to get to know you, praise you for your achievements and lend encouragement for those tough times when you think you'll never be able to pass that test. Click here to sign up for a mentor today and let us help you soar through school!

Tips for Speedbuilding, Practice and Test Taking

• Get in the zone. Is your mind wandering during practice or test taking? Concentration is a huge part of this job and it's difficult to stop thoughts from coming to your mind at the wrong time. To start off, during your practice time, push any thoughts or distractions out of your mind and focus on the material you are listening to. Practice one-minute takes at first, increasing to two-minute takes and so forth until you can accomplish the complete five-minute take without distractions. You'll be passing tests before you know it!
• It's not how long you practice, it's the quality of your practice. As soon as you get home from school, set up your machine. If you find that you have five minutes of free time, pop in a speedbuilding tape. Focus your attention to one area, whether it is concentration, speed or accuracy, and try hard to achieve that specific goal. That devotion to only five minutes of hard practice and concentration will benefit you more than one, two or three hours of half-hearted practice.
• Use realtime. Realtime is your friend! It will help you build your dictionary, see your mistakes quickly and become a more accurate writer. You will soon begin to find it much easier to read back from your computer screen than your paper notes.
• Vary your practice. You don't always have to focus your attention on speedbuilding. Vary your practice routine by listening to material several speeds below your current level. During that practice concentrate completely on accuracy, stroking the words correctly, and using briefs for common words and phrases.
• Keep a new briefs notebook. Begin to devise a notebook full of common briefs and phrases. If you hear a word you don't know how to write, put it in your notebook and work out a stroke for it. Keep your notebook in front of you during practice so that the next time you hear that word or common phrase, it won't be unfamiliar anymore.

Tips for Identifying Speakers and Proper Names
There are many methods reporters use for identifying speakers that span from bald heads to colorful ties. Another method that has worked out well, especially in a situation of four or more speakers, is simply by using their last name as an identifier. For example, if you are at a board hearing or meeting in which various people will be speaking at various times, the first thing you would do is go around the room in the order of their seating and get everyone's names. Make a seating chart something like this:

1. Mr. Smith - SMIT*/SMIT*
2. Mr. Cole - KOEL/KOEL
3. Ms. Jones - JOENZ/JOENZ
4. Mr. Sandusky - SAND/SAND
5. Ms. Sanchez - SAN*Z/SAN*Z

In an instance such as a divorce proceeding where you know the parties will be referred to as Mr. Patterson and Mrs. Patterson, devise briefs for these names before the job begins. For instance, Mr. Patterson could be job defined as MR-P and Mrs. Patterson could be job defined as MR*P. They will translate on your realtime screen accurately and you will also be using fewer strokes.

Grandma's Wisdom Corner

• Practice, practice, practice.
• Persevere and never lose sight of your goals.
• Anything worth having in life requires hard work.
• Live your life like a bumble bee: Did you know that bumble bee's wings are designed too short to fly? So you might ask, Well, how does he fly then? Determination.