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It's been some time since my last edition of The Steno Life - it's been a busy year! Steno is headed in all different directions - laws are being changed - reporters are being hired - other reporters are being fired. You need a score sheet just to keep track of it all! So I'm going to keep things simple this issue and just focus on a few things. As always, please forgive punctuation errors and such. This newsletter is meant for content, not as an English lesson :) Past issues of The Steno Life - Issue
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5 Issue 6 Issue
7 Issue 8 Issue
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11 Issue 12 Issue
13 Issue
14 Issue 15 Issue 16 Issue 17 Issue
18 Issue 19 Issue 20 Issue 21 Issue
22 1 - "The Biggest Lie in Court Reporting - Diving Deeper!" Let me start off by saying that I own and operate the SimplySteno court reporting program. Some would say it's a conflict of interest for me to make negative comments about other court reporting programs (or just plain wrong). In fact, I'm not attacking schools - I'm attacking the system. When I first started commenting about the broken court reporting school system 7 or so years ago, no one confronted me. I was a little fish - what damage could I do? Now, I have a large program with over 120 students and almost 7,000 members here on StenoLife. A bigger fish - I get a lot more confrontational emails now. I suppose I could play it safe and keep my mouth closed...but that ain't me. When I see something is wrong, I tend to ask why that is, and how can we fix it. I won't be naming names in this article - that's not the point. I just want schools to step up - be honest with students - give students what they're paying for. Too much to ask? In the last edition of The Steno Life I searched for the elusive "2-Year Program." Didn't have much luck with that. And no school or program has taken me up on my "free advertising for life" offer if they can prove they graduate students from their program in an average of 2-3 years. I called a few schools and asked how long their court reporting program takes - the average answer was 26 months. Hmmm... So I decided to take things a step further this time. I called 10 schools and posed as a prospective student. I recorded the phone conversations in accordance with the laws of the state I am in, and the state I was calling. I asked a bunch of questions, but only really cared about the following questions - How long does the program take to complete? Is there an average amount of time it takes? Once I had the recordings, I then looked at various court reporting school websites for answers to those same questions. Below are some of my favorite answers to how long the program takes. I've shuffled the words around so they can't be easily Googled. Remember, it's not my intent to get specific schools in trouble. The on-site program will last around 25 months. The accelerated program lasts around 18 months. We have an online course that takes between 18-24 months, depending on the student. Over 50% of our graduates graduate inside 27 months. These are full-time students. Part-time students may take longer. A third of our students who complete our program take at least two years. The rest will take more than two years. That last one kills me. Last time I checked, 1/3 and 2/3 equals ALL of the students taking more than 2 years! And many other court reporting schools will say "It's designed as a 2-3 year program," meaning financial aid lasts that long - not that that's how long it will take a student to graduate. Kinda tricky. And now the fun stuff :) Below is a link to the phone recordings I did with several schools. The identifying info has been removed, and the voices have been altered. As I said, it's not my intent to nail any school. It's my intent to show that deceiving students, it seems, is considered acceptable - and it's been this way for as long as I've been involved in court reporting, some 16 years now. Of the 10 schools I called, the link below lets you listen in on the results of 7 that I feel...stretched the truth. 2 others said about 4 years. And 1 refused to give me any information unless I was sitting there across from them. I will tell you this...3 of the schools are NCRA-approved schools. The rest are not. So what does any of this mean? Well, schools are saying what they have to to get students enrolled. Despite the "school" label, they are still businesses as well. Let's not forget that. They believe if they said off the top that the average graduation time is around 4 years, enrollment would go down. And I agree - it would go down...at first! But I believe the truth would actually be helpful to schools in the long run. Right now, the bulk of students are staying in school longer than they were told. As a result, they are depressed - they feel below average - they quit. If schools told them the truth up front, the enrollment may be lower at first, but the graduation rate would rise, since students would feel less pressure, less resentment, and less like failures. And a growing graduation rate would eventually cycle itself into higher enrollment. Success breeds success. But this wouldn't be a quick fix. And I don't know that schools are ready to take a step back in order to take 2 steps forward. Right now, schools seem content to collect tuition for a couple years, then accept a dropped student. I believe we can get the graduation rate up to 20% by just being honest. But it will take a group effort from all schools. SimplySteno Closing Enrollment on June 7th! (back to top) Thinking of joining the SimplySteno online program? Make sure you sign up before 6/7/11. At that point open enrollment will be closing for at least a few months. We do this a couple times a year to keep the student number down. You DO NOT have to start right away. Once you join you have 3 months to actually start, so if you're sure you want to start within the next few months, now's the time to get in. When we open once more, the tuition will be going up slightly. Those joining BEFORE 6/7/11 will lock in the current tuition rate for as long as they are in the program. A Look Back at the RPR Exam (back to top) The RPR exam was a couple weeks ago - the next is in August. For those of you who don't know, the RPR exam is given by NCRA and considered the closest thing court reporters have to a national exam. I say "closest" because in some states you don't need to pass any exam. Other states have a CSR exam. And the bulk that DO have testing use the RPR exam. Whenever I have students going to the RPR exam (I had 7 this time), I ask them to make notes afterwards regarding their experience. Not about what's actually on the test - just about the experience - what they anticipated going in - what they felt during - how they felt after. I especially want first-time takers to write about it, because I think it helps them to get things down and look back. The common thread is always, "It wasn't as scary as I thought it would be!" This is from the first timers, of course. The test IS very structured, but all the helpers/proctors are very nice and want to help you. They want you to succeed. So they're going to answer any concerns you have. They're going to make sure you can hear the dictation. They're going to make sure you know where to go and how long you have. Here are the basic tips/advice I've put together over the years, based on the feedback I get - 1 - There's no need to take the WKT (Written Knowledge Test) way in advance to "get it out of the way." Take it closer to when you're ready to take the machine portion of the test. For 99% of students, it's not the WKT that holds them back, it's the machine. So don't stress out about the WKT. The machine's the thing. 2 - I suggest taking the RPR exam one cycle before you think you're ready. That means when you think you're writing about 200 2-voice, it's time to start thinking about it. The speeds will be close enough to your writing speed that you won't get blown away, but also close enough that you may just surprise yourself! It will also get you that first-time experience under your belt - wipe away all mysteries as to what to expect. 3 - Arrive to your testing destination early. The last think you want is added stress on test day. So make sure you triple check all your paperwork. Make sure you triple check all your equipment - machine - printer - computer - batteries. Don't leave anything to chance. 4 - Don't go in with the attitude that maybe you can "pass one leg." Why limit yourself before you even try? In fact, your goal shouldn't even be to pass any leg. Your goal should be to write your best - pure and simple. Passing or not passing will be a result of that. If you write your best, you walk out a winner, pass or not. 5 - Most of the test information is HERE. But some of it is buried deep, so if you don't find an answer to a question you have, don't hesitate to call NCRA and ask. Now's not the time to be shy. NCRA - 800-272-6272 6 - Finally, smile and laugh! It's proven to release chemicals in your body that relieve stress and change your focus. So hang out with funny people before the test :) iSteno Brief Machine App For Your Android! (back to top) When I created the iSteno Brief Machine app for the iPhone, I really didn't think I'd get a lot of orders. Well, to my surprise, we've had almost 400 downloads now!! If you have an iPhone, make sure to check it out here - iSteno Brief Machine. And because of that success, we're now working on a version for Android! It should be ready in a couple weeks, so keep checking back here for updates. If you're not familiar with the app, some images are below. And in the new version, the word "English" won't be spelled incorrectly! :) We're fixing that on the iPhone version as well. 400 downloads and only 1 person has mentioned it.
More Free Practice Dictations! (back to top) Happy to say that we've uploaded 2 new sets of free dictations! www.SimplySteno.com! These are NOT the dictations you would hear if you were enrolled in the SimplySteno program. The SimplySteno program dictations are much, much better - I think the best around. The freebie dictations are pretty good - good enough to practice with. The speeds range from 60 to 180, but the speeds are not marked. The durations are from 1 minute to 5 minutes, but again, are not marked. To access the free practice dictations, just head over to SimplySteno and click on the Free Dictations link. There are now 9 categories of dictations, with 10 other categories that I will be uploading over the next few months, so check back often. I do ask one favor...if you use these dictations, please visit www.StenoWatchdog.com and leave a review for ANY item you may have used in your steno experience. StenoWatchdog really helps students and reporters, so every review you leave makes a difference.
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