I did wind up passing the CBC/CCP at better than 98% accuracy (I forget what it was exactly). I'm so glad I finally passed it. It feels great to know I'll never have to take another test like that again, and I'm one of only about 230 people in the entire country with the CCP designation. People think 96% accuracy at 180 wpm isn't good realtime, but it's harder than it sounds.
Out of the 15 CART companies I applied to in December, I wound up getting work from two. One has still only been a few hours, but I got some meetings and regular classes from the other. I was hoping it would be a lot more, but I guess they have more captioners than work. That pretty much put the nail in the coffin of my "remote CART as a career" idea. I've slowly been trying to work my way into captioning.
I bought AccuCap, and I watched the Eclipse webinar on it. There doesn't seem to be too much to worry about in terms of learning new things. I understand how to blank and/or pass, and I made dictionary entries for that as well as moving the captions around the screen. I've already got a dictionary set up where a new line follows all punctuation. I set up some speaker IDs for the reporter, announcer, interpreter, etc. I've got parentheticals for applause and other noises already.
I did get a good idea from the AccuCap webinar, which was to make a "dirty words" dictionary that has text globals for any words that I don't want to go out on the air. That way if I had something like "damn" and I didn't ever want that to go out, I could do a text global and change it to "darn." Then if TM changed something to "damn," or if "damn" showed up for any reason, it would just get changed to "darn." I haven't set up that dictionary yet.
The big hurdle is getting all the equipment I need to connect to an encoder. I got one land line in anticipation of getting iCap software. I couldn't believe all I'd need was an internet connection, but it turns out it's true. The iCap software is free, so I downloaded it and tested it to make sure it's communicating with Eclipse, and I seem to be good to go.
I asked about captioning at the CART company I'm getting some hours from, but they don't do a lot of captioning. They're looking into getting me started for it, but even if they give me the okay, their technical person said they're "almost exclusively" on traditional encoders that won't work with iCap. It seems like it would just be a lot of prep for not a lot of jobs. I'm going to give them until Monday to get back to me, though, and then I'm going to move on to the next thing.
The next thing is that one company said once I can hook up to an encoder I should let them know and they'll watch me write some stuff and we'll go from there. I'm not sure if they have an EEG encoder (for iCap) or not, but I'm going to call Eclipse and see if they have one so I can make sure my connection's working. If that company doesn't do iCap, I guess I'll have to move forward with getting another land line and the rest of the equipment I need to connect to traditional encoders. Only working for one company that can offer me a couple of classes a semester at best just isn't a secure enough career option.
It really took a lot of time to get the land line set up; I had to actually buy a cordless phone, which meant I had to research cordless phones. I wanted one that I could use with my Bluetooth-capable headphones that have a built-in mic. And then the cable company sent a new "gateway," which was a router and modem in one, so I had to get that set up, and set up the phone, and everything.
It all takes so much time! I'm glad I'm getting started on it now. Hopefully I have my foot in the door somewhere by the time these classes are over. The last day is April 30th - only two months away! And I probably won't even get paid for the preceeding week because it will be finals week or something. I don't like not having any work lined up for the summer, and not knowing if I'll even get any classes next semester.
Showing posts with label Test-Taking. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Test-Taking. Show all posts
CCP/CBC Hopeful
This probably would've been a better post if I had had time to write it a little closer to the event, but c'est la vie. I was feeling a little under the weather when I took the exam this time, so instead of being nervous, I tried to focus on just feeling sick and being angry that I had to go take a test instead of being nervous. I cut time a little close on getting there; I wasn't sure if you had to be there half an hour before the exam started. I think I made that time by about 30 seconds.
I was kind of concerned about getting set up and entering the terms in time, but I didn't have anything to worry about. I got everything all set, worked out the terms, and got myself in a comfortable writing position, and then decided not to do any practice material. I never practice before I CART for real, so why practice then?
I didn't try to do any fancy briefs with the terms. I knew I wouldn't remember them and I'd default to stroking them out, anyway. I think I did make briefs for a couple, and I think I actually remembered to use them. But for the most part I just wrote the words a bunch of times and tried to get possible misstrokes in my dictionary.
I had to wait for the CRR to be given first. We had the unusual circumstance of a candidate taking the CRR, and then going over to the next room for the RMR. The chief examiner let us know that after the CRR, she wanted everyone to stay seated, and the CRR/RMR candidate would gather up his things and go to the other room before she played the CBC/CCP exam.
One of the candidates said something about a lot of "movement" during the exam, and the examiner said she saw it. I had decided to just sit with my eyes closed during the CRR and wait for it to be over, so I didn't see anything. I thought maybe a lot of people went by the door or something.
When it was time for my test, I was nervous I wouldn't have enough time to get comfortable and get in the groove, but it turned out to be fine. I wrote the warm-up minute, and it was pretty terrible at first, but I got things under control before the test started. I kept getting nervous and feeling like I was losing control, but I tried to focus on getting my arm comfortable. I can always write better if my arm feels like it's in a good spot.
I also continued my new strategy of looking down at something in the same spot my computer speakers are at home instead of looking up at the whiteboard, and that worked well. I could just kind of zone out/let my eyes glaze over, but also focus on something at the same time. I think it must be training from when I CART that when I look away from the screen, it takes pressure off and makes it easier to write.
There were a couple sections where I dropped the ball and it was a struggle to push through, but I did it. The topic we were given was "patriotism." I think the text was some kind of Presidential acceptance speech. It felt really comfortable and familiar since I've been doing a political science class all semester. That probably helped me be less nervous, too.
After the exam, one of the candidates was complaining about how the RMR candidate was "a mess," and was messing around with his equipment and stuff. I guess that's what was going on during the CRR. I don't think it would've bothered me even if it had happened during my test. I couldn't see anyone during my test, and I couldn't hear him doing stuff even with my eyes closed. The chief examiner said she would let NCRA know about it.
I feel really confident about the exam. Barring any formatting/equipment/other weird issues like that, I think I passed. It's about a million times harder to wait for what I think are passing results than it was to wait for what I was almost certain were failing ones. They said we should have the results by "mid-December," so I guess I've got about a week and a half left until I find out.
I was kind of concerned about getting set up and entering the terms in time, but I didn't have anything to worry about. I got everything all set, worked out the terms, and got myself in a comfortable writing position, and then decided not to do any practice material. I never practice before I CART for real, so why practice then?
I didn't try to do any fancy briefs with the terms. I knew I wouldn't remember them and I'd default to stroking them out, anyway. I think I did make briefs for a couple, and I think I actually remembered to use them. But for the most part I just wrote the words a bunch of times and tried to get possible misstrokes in my dictionary.
I had to wait for the CRR to be given first. We had the unusual circumstance of a candidate taking the CRR, and then going over to the next room for the RMR. The chief examiner let us know that after the CRR, she wanted everyone to stay seated, and the CRR/RMR candidate would gather up his things and go to the other room before she played the CBC/CCP exam.
One of the candidates said something about a lot of "movement" during the exam, and the examiner said she saw it. I had decided to just sit with my eyes closed during the CRR and wait for it to be over, so I didn't see anything. I thought maybe a lot of people went by the door or something.
When it was time for my test, I was nervous I wouldn't have enough time to get comfortable and get in the groove, but it turned out to be fine. I wrote the warm-up minute, and it was pretty terrible at first, but I got things under control before the test started. I kept getting nervous and feeling like I was losing control, but I tried to focus on getting my arm comfortable. I can always write better if my arm feels like it's in a good spot.
I also continued my new strategy of looking down at something in the same spot my computer speakers are at home instead of looking up at the whiteboard, and that worked well. I could just kind of zone out/let my eyes glaze over, but also focus on something at the same time. I think it must be training from when I CART that when I look away from the screen, it takes pressure off and makes it easier to write.
There were a couple sections where I dropped the ball and it was a struggle to push through, but I did it. The topic we were given was "patriotism." I think the text was some kind of Presidential acceptance speech. It felt really comfortable and familiar since I've been doing a political science class all semester. That probably helped me be less nervous, too.
After the exam, one of the candidates was complaining about how the RMR candidate was "a mess," and was messing around with his equipment and stuff. I guess that's what was going on during the CRR. I don't think it would've bothered me even if it had happened during my test. I couldn't see anyone during my test, and I couldn't hear him doing stuff even with my eyes closed. The chief examiner said she would let NCRA know about it.
I feel really confident about the exam. Barring any formatting/equipment/other weird issues like that, I think I passed. It's about a million times harder to wait for what I think are passing results than it was to wait for what I was almost certain were failing ones. They said we should have the results by "mid-December," so I guess I've got about a week and a half left until I find out.
WA CSR
I decided to sit for the Washington State Court Reporter Exam. I practiced takes at 200 wpm, one a day for two weeks. I had a really hard time finding any material at 200 wpm. I had some at 225, so I slowed it down to what should've been about 200. I did okay on the first few takes, but my accuracy got worse the more I did. When I ran out of those I started slowing down some at higher speeds, and I did even worse on those.
I wasn't really sure what my chances of passing were by the time the test rolled around. The information they sent said to go to the Technology Center, which was different from the building I go to for the NCRA exam. The TC was locked, but luckily the usual building wasn't very far, and that's where the exam was being held.
The staff was very friendly, and got me set up in a nice corner in the room. I had the option of writing the test on my laptop and then printing it on their printer, which was awesome. You have to bring your own printer for the NCRA exam, which I think is just silly. Luckily for the CBC/CCP you don't need a printer, anyway.
There was practice material playing, which was a little confusing because about 10 minutes before the test was supposed to start, the material said something along the lines of, "the practice is now over and we will begin the test." I didn't really want to practice much before the test. I figured with my arm problem it would just wear me out unnecessarily. I don't practice at all before I CART, and I do fine out of the gate, so I figured I don't need to practice for 20 minutes before an exam, either.
The proctor wasn't in the room at that time, though, so I thought surely that wasn't the test, and I took a chance and didn't write it. Luckily it wasn't the test. The gave me an envelope when I came in, to put my test in when I was done, and I looked inside it and there were instructions and grading rules. I was particularly interested in those since I hadn't been able to find them online before the test. I figured they were about the same as NCRA's anyway, though.
I was surprised to find out that you can turn in both transcripts if you want to, and they'll grade them both. The proctor read some instructions, and asked if there were any questions, and people actually asked questions, so I felt comfortable asking mine to verify about sending in both transcripts. The volume wasn't too loud, which was nice. It's always too loud at the NCRA exam, and it throws me off a little.
Part of the instructions for transcribing told you where each exam would stop/start being graded, since only 5 minutes out of a 7-minute take are graded. I didn't want to look at that before the exam, though, because I figured I would get nervous thinking "this is when the grading starts" or be anxiously waiting for when the grading would end.
When the proctor started the exam for real, there were two minutes of practic,e and then the exam. I did pretty well on it; not perfect, but I kept it together most of the time. I was expecting another two minutes of practice before the second take, so I was resituating and getting comfortable, and all of a sudden the second take started! I wasn't ready at all and I never regained my composure. It was a mess.
After the takes were over, we had 90 minutes to transcribe. It took me about an hour to transcribe the first take, and I felt like I had a maximum of about 11 errors. You're allowed something like 50, so I was feeling pretty good about it. One of the very first sentences said something about a man working somewhere for "# years," so that wasn't helpful at all. I had no idea what number I was trying to write. But it didn't really matter with that amount of errors.
Before the test, I thought I might turn in both transcripts. But since it took an hour to do the first one and I had mucked up the second one so badly, I didn't even look at it. I turned in my one transcript and left, and then I had the anxiety of worrying about "what if I didn't send in the right section" or "what if I didn't copy everything out of Eclipse properly," etc. Always something you can wish you had double checked.
The instructions said the results would be in after two weeks, but I thought that was a little too optimistic and tried not to think about them coming in at all. They really did come in about two and a half weeks later, though, so that's not bad at all. I was correct in thinking I had passed, so I'm now officially a WA CSR.
It's not really very exciting. It was definitely worth it to get some kind of certification, but it's not related to CART or captioning at all. It's a relief to know I can pass something at least.
I've got some new 180 takes I've been practicing this week for the NCRA exam next weekend, and I've been having mixed results. After seeing how many mistakes I made on the court reporter exam (that I was able to fix in the transcript), I felt like there was pretty much no chance of being able to pass the CCP this time. The CR exam was at 200 wpm, though, and the CCP is only 180, so maybe that will help. I think my nerves might get the better of me as usual, so I'm trying not to hold out much hope. I just have to keep trying, and sooner or later there will be an exam that's easy for me to write, and I'll pass it.
It's just so much pressure knowing I've only got one shot, and it has to be right the first time. I think knowing I got to fix it later and all I was trying to do was really get down notes for myself to be able to go off of helped a lot when I took the CR exam. I don't write well under pressure at all. Luckily when I CART I'm able to not think about the fact that someone's reading it and just do the best I can. I regularly get up to 260 wpm and I'm my accuracy is above 99%, so that works fine.
I wasn't really sure what my chances of passing were by the time the test rolled around. The information they sent said to go to the Technology Center, which was different from the building I go to for the NCRA exam. The TC was locked, but luckily the usual building wasn't very far, and that's where the exam was being held.
The staff was very friendly, and got me set up in a nice corner in the room. I had the option of writing the test on my laptop and then printing it on their printer, which was awesome. You have to bring your own printer for the NCRA exam, which I think is just silly. Luckily for the CBC/CCP you don't need a printer, anyway.
There was practice material playing, which was a little confusing because about 10 minutes before the test was supposed to start, the material said something along the lines of, "the practice is now over and we will begin the test." I didn't really want to practice much before the test. I figured with my arm problem it would just wear me out unnecessarily. I don't practice at all before I CART, and I do fine out of the gate, so I figured I don't need to practice for 20 minutes before an exam, either.
The proctor wasn't in the room at that time, though, so I thought surely that wasn't the test, and I took a chance and didn't write it. Luckily it wasn't the test. The gave me an envelope when I came in, to put my test in when I was done, and I looked inside it and there were instructions and grading rules. I was particularly interested in those since I hadn't been able to find them online before the test. I figured they were about the same as NCRA's anyway, though.
I was surprised to find out that you can turn in both transcripts if you want to, and they'll grade them both. The proctor read some instructions, and asked if there were any questions, and people actually asked questions, so I felt comfortable asking mine to verify about sending in both transcripts. The volume wasn't too loud, which was nice. It's always too loud at the NCRA exam, and it throws me off a little.
Part of the instructions for transcribing told you where each exam would stop/start being graded, since only 5 minutes out of a 7-minute take are graded. I didn't want to look at that before the exam, though, because I figured I would get nervous thinking "this is when the grading starts" or be anxiously waiting for when the grading would end.
When the proctor started the exam for real, there were two minutes of practic,e and then the exam. I did pretty well on it; not perfect, but I kept it together most of the time. I was expecting another two minutes of practice before the second take, so I was resituating and getting comfortable, and all of a sudden the second take started! I wasn't ready at all and I never regained my composure. It was a mess.
After the takes were over, we had 90 minutes to transcribe. It took me about an hour to transcribe the first take, and I felt like I had a maximum of about 11 errors. You're allowed something like 50, so I was feeling pretty good about it. One of the very first sentences said something about a man working somewhere for "# years," so that wasn't helpful at all. I had no idea what number I was trying to write. But it didn't really matter with that amount of errors.
Before the test, I thought I might turn in both transcripts. But since it took an hour to do the first one and I had mucked up the second one so badly, I didn't even look at it. I turned in my one transcript and left, and then I had the anxiety of worrying about "what if I didn't send in the right section" or "what if I didn't copy everything out of Eclipse properly," etc. Always something you can wish you had double checked.
The instructions said the results would be in after two weeks, but I thought that was a little too optimistic and tried not to think about them coming in at all. They really did come in about two and a half weeks later, though, so that's not bad at all. I was correct in thinking I had passed, so I'm now officially a WA CSR.
It's not really very exciting. It was definitely worth it to get some kind of certification, but it's not related to CART or captioning at all. It's a relief to know I can pass something at least.
I've got some new 180 takes I've been practicing this week for the NCRA exam next weekend, and I've been having mixed results. After seeing how many mistakes I made on the court reporter exam (that I was able to fix in the transcript), I felt like there was pretty much no chance of being able to pass the CCP this time. The CR exam was at 200 wpm, though, and the CCP is only 180, so maybe that will help. I think my nerves might get the better of me as usual, so I'm trying not to hold out much hope. I just have to keep trying, and sooner or later there will be an exam that's easy for me to write, and I'll pass it.
It's just so much pressure knowing I've only got one shot, and it has to be right the first time. I think knowing I got to fix it later and all I was trying to do was really get down notes for myself to be able to go off of helped a lot when I took the CR exam. I don't write well under pressure at all. Luckily when I CART I'm able to not think about the fact that someone's reading it and just do the best I can. I regularly get up to 260 wpm and I'm my accuracy is above 99%, so that works fine.
180
I really like doing CART. It's great not having to work weird hours like I would have to for captioning. And lots of times I wind up not having to actually do anything and I still get paid, which would never happen with captioning. Something's always going to be on the air, whether it's what you did prep for or not. The only bad part is that the audio isn't always that great. But I can only work with what I've got, and so far I don't think I've missed writing anything vital because of it.
I'm always more surprised by what's in my dictionary properly than by what isn't. "Hieroglyphics" came out perfectly the other day, and I already had "Micah" in there. Who knew? I have a bunch of math symbols in, like +, -, etc., and I've even got superscript set up. Auto Brief comes in handy a lot. In one of my classes, the instructor kept saying "prepositional phrase," which I write as PREP/SIGS/NAL/FRAIS, or PREP/SILGS/FRAIS if I'm feeling really confident. Auto Brief suggested "PRO*EP," which was a whole lot easier, and I wound up using that brief 30 times just for that one session.
My arm being messed up has really slowed down my progress on the Phoenix speed drills. It's just impossible to try to build speed with any kind of accuracy at this point. But I keep plugging along anyway, and sometimes I have good days with it. I finally hit a major milestone: I've got a speed of 180 wpm or better on every drill, and my average speed is 185 wpm now. Maybe that means I can finally pass the CBC/CCP this time. I'm not going to a concert the night before specifically so I won't have any regrets about it after the test, so it had better be worth it.
I've been getting some good dictionary maintenance in. I spent a couple hours on it one day, and added 956 entries. Per is P*ER because PER is per-, so I made sure all 253 -per entries were defined with P*R. I decided VAL should be Val, so I defined 84 -val entries as VA*L. I do -in and -en both as -N, so I made sure 993 -in entries and 1524 -en will work. And I guess there was something wrong with -eous words, because they were on the list, so I wrote all 126 of those.
I'm always more surprised by what's in my dictionary properly than by what isn't. "Hieroglyphics" came out perfectly the other day, and I already had "Micah" in there. Who knew? I have a bunch of math symbols in, like +, -, etc., and I've even got superscript set up. Auto Brief comes in handy a lot. In one of my classes, the instructor kept saying "prepositional phrase," which I write as PREP/SIGS/NAL/FRAIS, or PREP/SILGS/FRAIS if I'm feeling really confident. Auto Brief suggested "PRO*EP," which was a whole lot easier, and I wound up using that brief 30 times just for that one session.
My arm being messed up has really slowed down my progress on the Phoenix speed drills. It's just impossible to try to build speed with any kind of accuracy at this point. But I keep plugging along anyway, and sometimes I have good days with it. I finally hit a major milestone: I've got a speed of 180 wpm or better on every drill, and my average speed is 185 wpm now. Maybe that means I can finally pass the CBC/CCP this time. I'm not going to a concert the night before specifically so I won't have any regrets about it after the test, so it had better be worth it.
I've been getting some good dictionary maintenance in. I spent a couple hours on it one day, and added 956 entries. Per is P*ER because PER is per-, so I made sure all 253 -per entries were defined with P*R. I decided VAL should be Val, so I defined 84 -val entries as VA*L. I do -in and -en both as -N, so I made sure 993 -in entries and 1524 -en will work. And I guess there was something wrong with -eous words, because they were on the list, so I wrote all 126 of those.
CBC Strike Three
I went into this test with a more chill attitude. I did great on all my practice takes. I did about 10, and I got them all on my first try with 96% or better accuracy. I wasn't super rushed leaving the apartment, or getting set up. I was the first one there last time, but about three people beat me in this time.
I didn't practice any of my words this time; I didn't have time. There was practice material playing the whole time, so I tried it out, but I didn't do very well on any of it. The words for the test were super easy this time. I think last time it was something like Harley, and some other weird stuff, but this time it was just William, piano, Canada, and Hawaii. Hawaii is super easy for me to write. Canada's fine, so I decided it would only trip me up to write a brief for it. William trips me up sometimes (I'm supposed to put an asterisk in the YAM part), and so does piano, so I made an easy brief for both of those.
I didn't really feel comfortable with my writing at any point. I was super nervous during the 1-minute warm up. I tried to just be relaxed and calm. My mouth gets really tense when I get to tricky parts to write, and it was tensing up right away, so I tried to just relax it. That seemed to help a little. I just got like a deer in the headlights again. My hands wouldn't do what I wanted them to, and the more I tried to force it, the stiffer they got. I managed to keep going, but it wasn't good writing.
I couldn't stop thinking about things, and being upset that I had blown it already and it wasn't working. My fourth minute was great for some reason. I calmed down and wrote everything perfectly. It just kept going on forever, and I psyched myself out, and made some mistakes in the last minute. I didn't pass. Maybe next time. I forgot to use my brief for William, and then remembered, and screwed myself up by deleting "will" and writing my brief. I wrote "C*AN" for Canada instead of "CAN/D*A," so that cost me two points, since "C*AN" comes out as ^can.
It wasn't a hard test. The words were easy, the speed was slow. Easiest test you'll ever fail, for sure. It sucks that I have to wait until November to take it again. Doing it twice a year makes the pressure way worse. I don't know why they only let us have one take. Even if they would do 15 minutes of audio and pick a random 5-minute sample to grade, it would be better.
I got to do the CBC first this time, instead of having to listen to the CRR first. I liked that better, but then it was really boring sitting and waiting for the CRR to finish. I don't like that I have to send a SASE with my flash drive. I think I pay enough for the test that they could send it back to me for free.
Failing the CBC sucks. It's such a huge disappointment, especially when you know there's no reason you shouldn't have passed it. I might try watching the screen next time. I thought it would throw me off, and I would get freaked out when I saw mistakes, but it's really weird not watching it. Maybe if I had the usual distraction of reading as I write, my mind wouldn't be so free to freak out. I'll try it out when I start practicing in October and see how it goes.
I'd kind of like to sit for the state court reporter exam, just so I have some kind of certification. It's two 7-minute QA takes at 200 wpm. You transcribe whichever one you want, and they grade a random 5-minute part of it. It's so totally different from captioning/CART, though, and I don't have any practice material. I hate RTC. The material is so dense. Even at 180 wpm it takes me like 6 times to get 96% on a take. I want some nice, normal stuff to practice. It's also hard to rationalize sitting for, because it's in October, and the CBC is in November. I know I can pass the CBC, so it's hard to take the CR exam when I'm just about to, theoretically, pass the CBC.
I didn't practice any of my words this time; I didn't have time. There was practice material playing the whole time, so I tried it out, but I didn't do very well on any of it. The words for the test were super easy this time. I think last time it was something like Harley, and some other weird stuff, but this time it was just William, piano, Canada, and Hawaii. Hawaii is super easy for me to write. Canada's fine, so I decided it would only trip me up to write a brief for it. William trips me up sometimes (I'm supposed to put an asterisk in the YAM part), and so does piano, so I made an easy brief for both of those.
I didn't really feel comfortable with my writing at any point. I was super nervous during the 1-minute warm up. I tried to just be relaxed and calm. My mouth gets really tense when I get to tricky parts to write, and it was tensing up right away, so I tried to just relax it. That seemed to help a little. I just got like a deer in the headlights again. My hands wouldn't do what I wanted them to, and the more I tried to force it, the stiffer they got. I managed to keep going, but it wasn't good writing.
I couldn't stop thinking about things, and being upset that I had blown it already and it wasn't working. My fourth minute was great for some reason. I calmed down and wrote everything perfectly. It just kept going on forever, and I psyched myself out, and made some mistakes in the last minute. I didn't pass. Maybe next time. I forgot to use my brief for William, and then remembered, and screwed myself up by deleting "will" and writing my brief. I wrote "C*AN" for Canada instead of "CAN/D*A," so that cost me two points, since "C*AN" comes out as ^can.
It wasn't a hard test. The words were easy, the speed was slow. Easiest test you'll ever fail, for sure. It sucks that I have to wait until November to take it again. Doing it twice a year makes the pressure way worse. I don't know why they only let us have one take. Even if they would do 15 minutes of audio and pick a random 5-minute sample to grade, it would be better.
I got to do the CBC first this time, instead of having to listen to the CRR first. I liked that better, but then it was really boring sitting and waiting for the CRR to finish. I don't like that I have to send a SASE with my flash drive. I think I pay enough for the test that they could send it back to me for free.
Failing the CBC sucks. It's such a huge disappointment, especially when you know there's no reason you shouldn't have passed it. I might try watching the screen next time. I thought it would throw me off, and I would get freaked out when I saw mistakes, but it's really weird not watching it. Maybe if I had the usual distraction of reading as I write, my mind wouldn't be so free to freak out. I'll try it out when I start practicing in October and see how it goes.
I'd kind of like to sit for the state court reporter exam, just so I have some kind of certification. It's two 7-minute QA takes at 200 wpm. You transcribe whichever one you want, and they grade a random 5-minute part of it. It's so totally different from captioning/CART, though, and I don't have any practice material. I hate RTC. The material is so dense. Even at 180 wpm it takes me like 6 times to get 96% on a take. I want some nice, normal stuff to practice. It's also hard to rationalize sitting for, because it's in October, and the CBC is in November. I know I can pass the CBC, so it's hard to take the CR exam when I'm just about to, theoretically, pass the CBC.
4.30.13
I finally got to do some CART work. My first day, I wound up covering four events. Two classes, one bidder's meeting that ran short, and one council meeting that I covered the last hour of because it ran long. I wound up working from about 8 in the morning until 11 at night, trying to get all the transcripts out. It was a crazy day.
I was supposed to cover a class the next day, but it got cancelled. I did a couple the day after that, and that was last week. I did another one this morning. I haven't officially checked my accuracy, but it's looking good. I didn't have any drops, and everything made sense. I think the semester's about to end, though. There might not be any classes to cover after this week.
It took me less than the length of the class to edit my transcript today. It probably shouldn't take as long as it does, but I like to go through and global everything, and make the transcript look perfect. It'll take less time the more practice I get.
I'm also trying to focus on practicing for the CBC. That's been going well. The 180 takes are a lot easier this time around than they were in January. I'm just trying to focus on staying calm. Lots of times I've written a take for the first time, and thought I didn't get it, but I did. So that's giving me confidence to just keep focusing, keep going, and know that there's a real possibility that even though it doesn't feel like it, I might pass the take.
I finished -i endings, and I'm working on 1765 for -o now. I don't remember why I wrote down that I need to work on -o. I write it "OE," which hasn't changed. But it doesn't hurt to write a bunch of words; lots of them aren't defined the way I'm writing them.
I found a bizarre dictionary hole. "Pens" wasn't in my dictionary as PENZ, and it translated as "ends." I also discovered, during CBC practice, that I need to take out my glue stroke when I take the test. I have it in as DRA*ES, since I use it before a web address. DRAES is just "address." I wrote DRA*ES in a take without realizing it, and glued the entire rest of the take together! That would've been an instant fail.
I'm still working on positioning. My left arm still isn't cooperating. I can almost never seem to get it in a position that's comfortable. I don't know what the problem is, but I wish I knew what to do about it, because it makes it really hard to write for more than about 10 minutes at a time. It's supposed to be so much better to write on the LS, but it's just not working.
It didn't work on the Stentura, either, so it's not the LS' fault, but I know I would write a lot better if I could ever get the positioning down. It's gotten to the point where I dread having to CART a class because I know it's going to hurt. It shouldn't be that way, but I just don't know how to fix it. It only hurts when I write, so it's got to be something about the way I sit or hold that arm when I write. I don't have any problem at all with the right arm. If only I could figure it out!
I was supposed to cover a class the next day, but it got cancelled. I did a couple the day after that, and that was last week. I did another one this morning. I haven't officially checked my accuracy, but it's looking good. I didn't have any drops, and everything made sense. I think the semester's about to end, though. There might not be any classes to cover after this week.
It took me less than the length of the class to edit my transcript today. It probably shouldn't take as long as it does, but I like to go through and global everything, and make the transcript look perfect. It'll take less time the more practice I get.
I'm also trying to focus on practicing for the CBC. That's been going well. The 180 takes are a lot easier this time around than they were in January. I'm just trying to focus on staying calm. Lots of times I've written a take for the first time, and thought I didn't get it, but I did. So that's giving me confidence to just keep focusing, keep going, and know that there's a real possibility that even though it doesn't feel like it, I might pass the take.
I finished -i endings, and I'm working on 1765 for -o now. I don't remember why I wrote down that I need to work on -o. I write it "OE," which hasn't changed. But it doesn't hurt to write a bunch of words; lots of them aren't defined the way I'm writing them.
I found a bizarre dictionary hole. "Pens" wasn't in my dictionary as PENZ, and it translated as "ends." I also discovered, during CBC practice, that I need to take out my glue stroke when I take the test. I have it in as DRA*ES, since I use it before a web address. DRAES is just "address." I wrote DRA*ES in a take without realizing it, and glued the entire rest of the take together! That would've been an instant fail.
I'm still working on positioning. My left arm still isn't cooperating. I can almost never seem to get it in a position that's comfortable. I don't know what the problem is, but I wish I knew what to do about it, because it makes it really hard to write for more than about 10 minutes at a time. It's supposed to be so much better to write on the LS, but it's just not working.
It didn't work on the Stentura, either, so it's not the LS' fault, but I know I would write a lot better if I could ever get the positioning down. It's gotten to the point where I dread having to CART a class because I know it's going to hurt. It shouldn't be that way, but I just don't know how to fix it. It only hurts when I write, so it's got to be something about the way I sit or hold that arm when I write. I don't have any problem at all with the right arm. If only I could figure it out!
Step Back
I don't know why stenography has to be such a two steps forward, one step back kind of deal. Every time I think I'm getting somewhere, there's a setback. I felt like I was making real progress with my realtime. I was becoming more aware of what I wrote as I was writing it. FREX, I wrote "BLOGD," and it didn't tran, so I wrote BLOG/D, easy as pie, during realtime. I felt like I was understanding better, as I wrote, why things weren't translating them, and I was getting better at fixing them without getting tripped up.
I had the opportunity to go sit in with a captioner, and she reviewed a half-hour file I did of the local news. She pointed out something that I saw when I was looking over the file myself. Since I learned to start dashing for corrections, and not counting it as an error if I dashed, I would often write things like "An air ryaner crashed in Baltimore today -- liner. Five people were killed." And I wouldn't count it as an error. But in reading that particular file, I realized that doesn't really help. It's completely out of context, and I should count it as an error.
She also said I needed to pick my speed up just a bit, and not drop quite as many sentences. I can agree with that. But when I try to force myself to go fast, I just get nervous and I make tons of mistakes, that I then try to fix, and then I'm even more behind, and it's a huge mess. I haven't ever been able to force myself to go faster that way.
I spent about a week trying to do it anyway, combined with trying to write (or re-write) more words around my corrections to give them context. I also practiced letting errors go more without trying to fix them, if I wasn't going to have time to give them context, or if I was going to drop a lot trying to make the correction. My accuracy tanked. For about another week, I tried to go back to my old style - more "smart" writing and telling myself I only had to get the important stuff, even though I'd wind up getting most of it. It didn't work. I still felt nervous about it, and my accuracy still sucked.
I started having problems getting into the groove of writing. I felt like my hands would go fast, no problem, but they kept stroking the wrong things. I even started stacking things I'd never stacked before! Ugh. I finally had one good day yesterday. I barely dropped anything at all, and nothing that was important. I had context around all of my corrections. My accuracy was 98.79%.
I'm not going to be able to find out if that particular streak would continue, because for the next two weeks I'm going to switch to metered verbatim practice for the CBC/CCP. Which we have to bring a printer for. Kind of silly, I think. I wonder if anyone ever gets together and says, "You bring the printer, and we'll all use it, and give you a few bucks for your trouble?"
I'm still forging on ahead, but I feel like I'm right back to square one again, feeling like I haven't made any progress in who knows how long. It's got to be there, though. Someone used to tell me, "When you used to be able to do something, and you can't anymore, that's just your body changing and evolving. It means you'll be able to do it soon again, better than before." It's a nice thing to pretend is true, whether it is or not.
I had the opportunity to go sit in with a captioner, and she reviewed a half-hour file I did of the local news. She pointed out something that I saw when I was looking over the file myself. Since I learned to start dashing for corrections, and not counting it as an error if I dashed, I would often write things like "An air ryaner crashed in Baltimore today -- liner. Five people were killed." And I wouldn't count it as an error. But in reading that particular file, I realized that doesn't really help. It's completely out of context, and I should count it as an error.
She also said I needed to pick my speed up just a bit, and not drop quite as many sentences. I can agree with that. But when I try to force myself to go fast, I just get nervous and I make tons of mistakes, that I then try to fix, and then I'm even more behind, and it's a huge mess. I haven't ever been able to force myself to go faster that way.
I spent about a week trying to do it anyway, combined with trying to write (or re-write) more words around my corrections to give them context. I also practiced letting errors go more without trying to fix them, if I wasn't going to have time to give them context, or if I was going to drop a lot trying to make the correction. My accuracy tanked. For about another week, I tried to go back to my old style - more "smart" writing and telling myself I only had to get the important stuff, even though I'd wind up getting most of it. It didn't work. I still felt nervous about it, and my accuracy still sucked.
I started having problems getting into the groove of writing. I felt like my hands would go fast, no problem, but they kept stroking the wrong things. I even started stacking things I'd never stacked before! Ugh. I finally had one good day yesterday. I barely dropped anything at all, and nothing that was important. I had context around all of my corrections. My accuracy was 98.79%.
I'm not going to be able to find out if that particular streak would continue, because for the next two weeks I'm going to switch to metered verbatim practice for the CBC/CCP. Which we have to bring a printer for. Kind of silly, I think. I wonder if anyone ever gets together and says, "You bring the printer, and we'll all use it, and give you a few bucks for your trouble?"
I'm still forging on ahead, but I feel like I'm right back to square one again, feeling like I haven't made any progress in who knows how long. It's got to be there, though. Someone used to tell me, "When you used to be able to do something, and you can't anymore, that's just your body changing and evolving. It means you'll be able to do it soon again, better than before." It's a nice thing to pretend is true, whether it is or not.
CBC Strike Two
I did much better this time. I still didn't pass, but I think I improved my score by leaps and bounds. I'm estimating about a 94%, which is a lot better than the 85% I got last time.
Last time, even though I arrived almost an hour early, I was the last one in the room. This time, I got there first, even before the chief examiner. It was nice to be able to set up without anyone else there. I still had to leave my seat about halfway through my warmup to check in. I managed to stay fairly calm while I was warming up, but it was really distracting that the examiner started playing some practice takes to "test the audio system."
She started playing the audio, and then left the room. It seemed to go on forever. I didn't want to listen to it! When she got back, she asked if we wanted to practice to that or our own material. I said I'd prefer our own material, so she didn't play anything else...until a little while later, when she asked again, and unfortunately someone said they wanted to hear it.
I was just about to start my own speedbuilding practice for the first time that session. I think it was about 8:10. I figured the best strategy for me would be to start with the non-audio stuff I do at home before I start speedbuilding practice, and then do a nice easy speedbuilding take that I already had the hang of to calm me down and get me in the groove of "getting" it.
So when the examiner started playing a different audio, I was less than thrilled. I turned up the volume loud enough that I could hear my own audio over what was coming out of the overhead speakers, and then took my earbuds out to make sure I wouldn't be bothering anyone else. It was distracting writing that way, to say the least.
Finally both sets of audio ended, and the examiner said they'd be doing the CRR first, again. I didn't listen to the recorded instructions because I thought they'd be played again before the CBC/CCP. Then I had to sit for 7 minutes and listen to the CRR practice and exam. It seemed way too fast. I didn't want to write it, get all tripped up, and have that be my mindset going into the CBC.
I also didn't want to sit there and do nothing for 7 minutes when I was all warmed up and ready to go. I wound up doing a little of both; not writing for most of the time, but jumping in once or twice to slowly see if I could get anything. Being Q&A, it wasn't geared toward what I'd been practicing at all, so it was hard not to stumble over the material.
Eventually it ended, and the examiner asked if it was okay if she didn't re-play the instructions. Ugh. Hope I didn't miss anything important. I did okay for a while once the CBC started, but I think I lost it a minute or two in. I just wasn't able to relax and write my best. I didn't "drop" any words this time, so much as I just couldn't exactly remember what the speaker said anymore by the time I was ready to write it, so I just kind of made something up that made sense. It's so much easier to write things when they don't have to be verbatim!
Last time, even though I arrived almost an hour early, I was the last one in the room. This time, I got there first, even before the chief examiner. It was nice to be able to set up without anyone else there. I still had to leave my seat about halfway through my warmup to check in. I managed to stay fairly calm while I was warming up, but it was really distracting that the examiner started playing some practice takes to "test the audio system."
She started playing the audio, and then left the room. It seemed to go on forever. I didn't want to listen to it! When she got back, she asked if we wanted to practice to that or our own material. I said I'd prefer our own material, so she didn't play anything else...until a little while later, when she asked again, and unfortunately someone said they wanted to hear it.
I was just about to start my own speedbuilding practice for the first time that session. I think it was about 8:10. I figured the best strategy for me would be to start with the non-audio stuff I do at home before I start speedbuilding practice, and then do a nice easy speedbuilding take that I already had the hang of to calm me down and get me in the groove of "getting" it.
So when the examiner started playing a different audio, I was less than thrilled. I turned up the volume loud enough that I could hear my own audio over what was coming out of the overhead speakers, and then took my earbuds out to make sure I wouldn't be bothering anyone else. It was distracting writing that way, to say the least.
Finally both sets of audio ended, and the examiner said they'd be doing the CRR first, again. I didn't listen to the recorded instructions because I thought they'd be played again before the CBC/CCP. Then I had to sit for 7 minutes and listen to the CRR practice and exam. It seemed way too fast. I didn't want to write it, get all tripped up, and have that be my mindset going into the CBC.
I also didn't want to sit there and do nothing for 7 minutes when I was all warmed up and ready to go. I wound up doing a little of both; not writing for most of the time, but jumping in once or twice to slowly see if I could get anything. Being Q&A, it wasn't geared toward what I'd been practicing at all, so it was hard not to stumble over the material.
Eventually it ended, and the examiner asked if it was okay if she didn't re-play the instructions. Ugh. Hope I didn't miss anything important. I did okay for a while once the CBC started, but I think I lost it a minute or two in. I just wasn't able to relax and write my best. I didn't "drop" any words this time, so much as I just couldn't exactly remember what the speaker said anymore by the time I was ready to write it, so I just kind of made something up that made sense. It's so much easier to write things when they don't have to be verbatim!
Breaking the Habit
I'm going to try to stop avoiding
updating this blog, and to post things when they come to me, rather than
saving them up for so long that I have to divide them into 5 different
posts.
I've been trying to get into the habit of dashing instead of "backspacing" with the asterisk. It's definitely a lot cleaner. I "talk" to myself a lot when I do my steno practice. I write what I'm "saying." If I made a mistake, I would often write "or [correction], rather." Instead of doing that, I've been training myself to dash and re-write the phrase.
That didn't really come in handy when I did my practice for the CBC exam. It doesn't do any good to dash on the exam. In fact, it's actually detrimental. If you do that, you're just giving yourself more of a chance to mess up on the "correction," and you're going to lose points for the incorrect words whether they're followed by a dash or not. It really just gets you farther behind for no reason.
So on the exam, if you have time to delete something, great - if not, you're better off just moving on than dashing and trying to clear it up for a potential reader.
It's kind of bothersome how I was originally training to do verbatim, not looking at the screen, and in order to do CART/captioning, I have to switch out of that mindset - but then to test, I have to switch back into it. Break a habit, intentionally re-form it, break it again..
I've been trying to get into the habit of dashing instead of "backspacing" with the asterisk. It's definitely a lot cleaner. I "talk" to myself a lot when I do my steno practice. I write what I'm "saying." If I made a mistake, I would often write "or [correction], rather." Instead of doing that, I've been training myself to dash and re-write the phrase.
That didn't really come in handy when I did my practice for the CBC exam. It doesn't do any good to dash on the exam. In fact, it's actually detrimental. If you do that, you're just giving yourself more of a chance to mess up on the "correction," and you're going to lose points for the incorrect words whether they're followed by a dash or not. It really just gets you farther behind for no reason.
So on the exam, if you have time to delete something, great - if not, you're better off just moving on than dashing and trying to clear it up for a potential reader.
It's kind of bothersome how I was originally training to do verbatim, not looking at the screen, and in order to do CART/captioning, I have to switch out of that mindset - but then to test, I have to switch back into it. Break a habit, intentionally re-form it, break it again..
CBC Strike One
I had an interesting
time sitting for the CBC skills exam in November. The test site is about
half an hour away, and I got there about an hour before the exam was
scheduled to start. The RTC site was going up and down for some people,
and we weren't sure how we were going to test. I got some practice in,
but I was annoyed that I could hear other people's practice
recordings through their headphones. About 10 minutes before we were
scheduled to test, the chief examiner asked everyone to leave the room
so she could make sure the CD was working.
I think a couple of people stayed, because after a few minutes, one of them let us know we could come back in. I didn't like having to get up right before the test like that. I need some time to get settled into a spot before I'm ready to write. The CRR was played first. I can't remember if they had a pause between the minute of practice and the actual exam or not. The chief examiner gave the CBC testers a choice of having one or not. No one had a preference, and we got the opposite of what the CRR testers had. I remember thinking I would've preferred what they got.
Once the actual test started, my nerves got the best of me, and I felt like I was writing complete slop. I couldn't feel where the keys were, and I couldn't focus on the recording. I think I even dropped a setence or two because I was so zoned out. It was really disappointing, especially since the recording seemed really easy. It felt like something I should've been able to write, which made failing that much harder to take.
I got an 85% on it, which I guess isn't abysmal. I really lucked out, though; since there were problems with giving the test via RTC, it's being offered again for my site (and others) at half price on January 26th. I'll be taking it again, of course, and since I passed both the CBC and CCP written exams in October, I won't ever have to do those again.
My practice strategy, such as it was, was to carry on with my normal 2-hour practice routine every day, and to include the RTC practice take once a day for the week preceeding the exam. The take was a struggle at first, but by the end of the week I had it down pat. This time, for the two weeks preceeding the exam, I'm going to switch out the news portion of my practice for an hour of speedbuilding takes at 180 wpm. Getting back in the groove of metered verbatim is a huge hurdle, but hopefully two weeks will be enough to clear it.
I think a couple of people stayed, because after a few minutes, one of them let us know we could come back in. I didn't like having to get up right before the test like that. I need some time to get settled into a spot before I'm ready to write. The CRR was played first. I can't remember if they had a pause between the minute of practice and the actual exam or not. The chief examiner gave the CBC testers a choice of having one or not. No one had a preference, and we got the opposite of what the CRR testers had. I remember thinking I would've preferred what they got.
Once the actual test started, my nerves got the best of me, and I felt like I was writing complete slop. I couldn't feel where the keys were, and I couldn't focus on the recording. I think I even dropped a setence or two because I was so zoned out. It was really disappointing, especially since the recording seemed really easy. It felt like something I should've been able to write, which made failing that much harder to take.
I got an 85% on it, which I guess isn't abysmal. I really lucked out, though; since there were problems with giving the test via RTC, it's being offered again for my site (and others) at half price on January 26th. I'll be taking it again, of course, and since I passed both the CBC and CCP written exams in October, I won't ever have to do those again.
My practice strategy, such as it was, was to carry on with my normal 2-hour practice routine every day, and to include the RTC practice take once a day for the week preceeding the exam. The take was a struggle at first, but by the end of the week I had it down pat. This time, for the two weeks preceeding the exam, I'm going to switch out the news portion of my practice for an hour of speedbuilding takes at 180 wpm. Getting back in the groove of metered verbatim is a huge hurdle, but hopefully two weeks will be enough to clear it.
5.16
I just finished fixing what was lost between Wednesday and Friday, to the best of my ability, so that's exciting. I guess it's good that that happened so early in the life of this blog, though, because now I know that I need to keep a backup of all of my posts.
I think writing with shorter nails is quieter, as you would expect it to be. It almost seems like my fingers make a squishy sound on the keys now, though. I noticed during my drill practice that I have a real problem writing "-SH" when I mean to write "-CH." I definitely didn't feel like I made any progress on my two minutes together today, but for this last minute, I picked up on something that Gregorio mentioned on depoman. He was talking about how to pass tests, and he said that during practice, you should always make your last take a good one, and write it at a speed you're comfortable with. Of course, I've heard that many times from different sources, including other people on the forum and my professor at STLCC. I never actually did it, though.
People always seemed to say the reason was so that you would leave feeling good about your practice, no matter how poorly you actually did that day, and I always thought I was strong enough that I didn't need that. My professor also put it in terms of "writing for control" after speedbuilding, but I basically write for control the entire time, so I didn't feel like I needed to do that, either. But when Gregorio talked about it in terms of helping pass tests, I decided to give it a try, and I really like it. It's really nice to be able to write the thing that I just spent an hour failing to write, because after failing for a week (or three) straight, I start to feel like it's something that I'll never be able to do, and even though it's at a slower speed, it makes me feel better to be able to write it. I don't think that had anything to do with me getting that last minute so fast (comparatively) either, though.
Background
I'm 25 years old. I've lived in St. Louis, MO, my entire life. When I have the money, I want to move somewhere warm, probably California. I graduated high school with a 4.3/4.0 GPA, and in December 2007, I graduated from Lindenwood University with a 4.0 and Bachelor's in Spanish. I taught Spanish for a semester at my old high school, and then I taught for a semester at another high school. I was mostly interested in the career for the retirement benefits, and after a year, I decided they weren't worth being miserable for 30 years. I wanted something a little less interpersonal, so I had to find a new career.
I found out about court reporting by looking in the big book of jobs and how much they paid at the library. I was already thinking about medical transcription, since I could type 100 wpm and I didn't think I would get bored doing it, but I really wasn't interested in anything medical. Court reporting seemed easy enough, and in looking into it, I found out about captioning, which seemed even better. I love watching TV, so it seemed like it would be a pretty sweet gig to just type whatever I heard on TV.
I found out about court reporting by looking in the big book of jobs and how much they paid at the library. I was already thinking about medical transcription, since I could type 100 wpm and I didn't think I would get bored doing it, but I really wasn't interested in anything medical. Court reporting seemed easy enough, and in looking into it, I found out about captioning, which seemed even better. I love watching TV, so it seemed like it would be a pretty sweet gig to just type whatever I heard on TV.
I found a school based on which ones were NCRA accredited. I thought about a couple of online options, but I didn't like the idea of having to lay out $5,000 right at the outset. The only school in Missouri that was even participating (they weren't accredited at the time, although they are now) just happened to be the local community college, St. Louis Community College. I was able to enroll in classes about a week after they officially started, which turned out not to be a big deal at all. I wound up doing the entire program online. I took the first theory class that spring, and the second and last theory class that summer. Learning it was a breeze.
I did very well in all of my speed classes, and managed to stay almost a full semester ahead. Once you got to a certain point, though, if you were in the captioning program, you stopped doing the court reporter speedbuilding classes and started just using Realtime Coach for practice and testing. My teacher didn't think I really needed to do that, so I just signed up for Realtime Coach and started practicing on my own. I took both of the "Broadcast Captioning" classes at STLCC, but all they entailed was writing to TV and adding words to your dictionary based on what you wrote, as well as journaling about your reactions to each type of broadcast.
The next step after that was a captioning internship, which I had the required speed for, but the professor didn't feel comfortable having me represent the college because I hadn't taken medical and legal terminology. She suggested I talk to some captioning companies and see if I could work out some training with them. I'm sure that would have turned out great, since I could barely write at 180 at that point.
Ever since then I've just been using RTC to practice away on my own. I've been practicing about 2 hours a day the entire time I've been student, which I know isn't much compared to some people, but it's also more than others. I'm hoping to get in to the Caption Masters course, but you have to be at "court reporter speeds," and while I'm sure I'd easily be testing there now if I had kept taking tests, as it stands I've fallen out of test-taking mode and I'm not used to writing raw material even as slow as 180, although I'm practicing at 230.
I got my LightSpeed writer about two months ago, and learning to write on that has been a challenge. It allows me to write much faster, which isn't always a good thing, because I get tripped up trying to go so fast.
Somewhere back in September when I was still in the broadcast captioning class, I discovered Mark Kislingbury's StenoMaster theory and thought it was the greatest thing ever. I even bought the $260 book. I tried to write everything as "short" as I could, and lost a lot of speed trying to get my fingers into complex positions for briefs. That wasn't such a great idea, and now I just incorporate a few of the principles, like tucking K, R, S, and G.
I had the opportunity to observe a CART provider about a month ago, and although at first, when I thought CARTing was just following a deaf person around at school, I didn't like that idea at all, now that I know more about what CARTing is, I think that might be a great way to go, too. You can do remote CART from home, which I think I would like, but I also like being in the classrooms, so I think doing it in person would be fun, too. It seems like there's less pressure than with captioning, although I know it's still important to be the best you can and provide quality text.
I wrote this on my steno machine, and it's interesting how different my writing style is from when I type on a keyboard.
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