Steno Divas in Training

Hello, Texas!!!! Sometimes it's a Sign!! A spider distracted Nicole during her last CSR test!! She was so fixated on the spider that she wished she could shoo away, that her nerves that day went away for the most part! All she was worried about ws getting climbed on by a Spider!! But it was a SIGN!!!

The Itsy Bitsy Spider Climbed up the Water Spout!!!

The moral of "The Itsy Bitsy Spider" is that challenges are inevitable, but success comes from resilience, perseverance, and determination. No matter how many times the rain washes the spider down, it refuses to give up and starts climbing again when the sun comes out.

So Congratulations to Nicole Harrison who Passed Her Texas CSR Test!!!! It wasn't an Easy Road But She DID IT!!!!!

WoooHooo!!!!!

Can you Write it All out and Still Pass Your CSR or RPR?? Of course You Can!! But why not make thing easier on yourself and start incorporating shorter writing NOW!!!

Right out of theory, you should learn Briefs for the most frequently used words!

PRACTICING = PRAK/TIS/-G or PRA-G
EDUCATION = ED/U/KAIGS or YAIGS
SCENE OF THE ACCIDENT = SKAOEN -FT SDENT or SDEX

The past week I added up all the extra strokes that a student had written at a 200 QA, just the first 1.5 mins. And we added up 20 extra Strokes. That's almost the complete difference between 200 and 225. So those Strokes Add up and THEY CAN MAKE A DIFFERENCE!

So Start Practicing Every Dictation like a Realtime Exam (When you're trying to learn new briefs) and Master those New Briefs! Writer Smarter! Not Harder!

Learning the Steno Machine is a Specialized Skill!! What's Your Super Power? www.projectsteno.org

We Celebrated Shelby Tonight!! So Happy for Her!!

I don't think I have wanted to cry as much as I want to cry tonight!! Shelby Kristina Flores started court reporting school in 2011 in California. She graduated court reporting school in 2020 during COVID. She moved to Texas. Became a member of Steno Divas when we started the group. Has been working as a Texas apprentice for the past two years and right before her apprenticeship was set to expire and two months before her 55th Birthday, She got news that she passed her Texas CSR Test!!!!!

Dreams Do Come True!!! She stuck with it and never Gave Up!!! WoooHooo, Shelby, Welcome to Your Texas Profession!!!!

Guess who just passed her RPR JC?? Brittany Saldana is a full-time employee and attends ACI at night!! She joined Steno Divas a few months ago and is doing Fantastic!! Congratulations to Brittany!!!

STUCK!!??
I've seen a lot of posts about machine students being stuck at a speed. First of All, EVERYBODY is Different. BUT what I can Honestly tell you from My personal Observations working with students, the Best Advice I can give to Help the Majority of all the Students is this.

SLOW IS SMOOTH = SMOOTH IS FAST

Meaning, Stop and Analyze Your Writing!!
Are you making a lot of misstrokes? Why?
Are you just flat-out hitting the wrong keys or stroking the wrong words? THIS instead of THAT, WHO instead of WHAT
Are you hesitating on words that you're unsure of?
Can you automatically stroke out unfamiliar multisyllabic words?
Are you practicing mistakes over and over and never fixing them?
Are you using brief phrasing? NO*ID = I have no idea
Are you practicing QA Briefs to memory? Scene of the accident = SDEX
Are you shortening your writing? Inadvertent = NERT
Are you missing all the word endings? -D, -S, -G
Some of you might be practicing the wrong speed.
What is your controlled and comfortable speed? Find it and work from there.
Are your fingers flat or curled?

The more you KNOW YOUR STENO, the Faster your Automatic recall will be!

Life gets in the way a lot and that's why it takes some students longer. But if you are "stuck" for months and months and you're practicing 5 x a week and making no better scores on your tests, then you really need to analyze your writing. See what you can improve. The better writer you are, the smoother your writing will be and the faster you'll be able to go.

Can students finish machine in 18-24 months? YES, OF COURSE, It Can Be Done! But you have to make sure you are not making the mistakes that can slow your progress down!

And Lastly it's QUALITY of practice over QUANTITY of practice. Always Strive to be a Better Writer than You were when You Sat Down at the Machine to Practice!

And As Always, Reach Out for Help!

Celebrated our recent Texas CSR passers!!

Congratulations to these Lovely Ladies For Passing some of their RPR Legs This Week!!!

Abigail Kelly = RPR 180 Lit
Angelina Ontiveros = RPR 180 Lit (Has RPR JC)
Abigail Ramirez = RPR 180 Lit and RPR 200 JC