#Tips

#Tips For Practice in Shorthand
Hello friends,
We quite often get to know (from all) that the skill of learning Shorthand requires a lot of practice at any stage of the learning/growing whatsoever. Practice, of course, is required to increase the accuracy and speed of the shorthand/typing.
But how to do practice and how much to do is an area which has not been explained much.
Before we discuss about the practice, let us understand what is “Accuracy and Speed”.
In fact my interpretation of the speed in shorthand is the speed at which one is able to transcribe (NOT WRITE ONLY) the dictation with less than 5% mistakes and the speed in stenography is when he/she is able to transcribe the same on computer in the defined time/accuracy.  Hence, It is not only writing the shorthand without taking into account the number of mistakes and the time taken for transcribing.
I have taken 5% mistakes for the reason that this is the permissible limit in most of the exams.
Whenever we ask the students about their speed in shorthand, they normally take the speed at which they are able to write, irrespective of the number of mistakes in their transcription. And because of this mis-conception, they jump to the next higher level of the speed (without knowing/realising the consequences thereof) but ultimately fell into a trap and are not able to clear their exam because of wrong notions. Perhaps it may be that they are not guided properly in this regard.
We should not think of having a jump in the speed (of 5-10 wpm) unless we attain 5% or less mistakes in our transcription. This is what I have emphasised in my earlier videos.
Now I come to another point - as to how to do the practice.
1. First of all we should transcribe an unseen passage and not seen one because transcription of seen passage does not add any value to our performance.
2. After we check our transcription and notice the new/difficult words/phrases, we need to practice according to their difficulty level for us. I mean, those which are new but easy and those which are new but difficult.

3. We need to practice from a few lines to a few pages for a word/phrase and not to take the practice lightly.
4. Write a word/phrase you want to practice and leave a bunch of lines. Then write a word/phrase and leave half a page. Then write a word/phrase and leave the entire page for practice. And then write a word/phrase and leave a few pages depending on the need you feel. When you leave the specific space for practising, you are forced to do that much practice.
5. Divide your practice in such a manner that you practice for 3-4 hours in a day.
Some people just practice for a few minutes and when they feel they remember the outlines, they just stop. But when they write the same passage next time/day, it becomes very difficult to write, the reason being the practice being inadequate.
I know there can be limitation with the people already in employment and they can do to the extent possible.
I remember at that time, Sir Kailash Chandra himself used to stand at the entry door of the class room and before entering all the students were supposed to handover the practice sheets to him. He used to weigh the same and finding short/light in weight used to warn the student not to repeat and be prepared to leave if he/she was not able to meet his standards.
Of course, regularity and punctuality was of utmost importance for him.
Focus on practice and accuracy was prevalent at that time and there was seriousness in the tutors also.
I am sharing these contents for the benefits of the students so as not to allow them being under a wrong impression and help them proceed in the right direction.
In the end, I would just share the words of Martin Luther King Jr.(an American Christian minister and activist) who said -
Martin Luther King Jr. said -
“If you can't fly then run, if you can't run then walk, if you can't walk then crawl, but whatever you do you have to keep moving forward”
That’s all I wanted to share today.
THANKS
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