I recently noticed that I was in a really positive mood about school. It got me wondering, because if you read my columns, you may have noticed that I wasn’t feeling great about school at the beginning of the term. What changed? Well, In January I felt bad about CR, but I decided to give it one last try. I scheduled practice, attended class, and started to feel better. About the middle of the semester, I got sick. I missed about a week of school and was barely making it to class for a couple weeks after that. I was definitely not practicing. Then I started to feel better physically. But I was back to feeling rotten about school. Help!
At the beginning of the semester, I had made a promise to myself that I would treat practice time as a class and attend every single day. So last week I made the effort to attend "practice class" faithfully. Suddenly, I started feeling better about school again. I began to see a connection. When I practice, I feel good about school; when I feel good about school, I practice. It also works the other way. Now the trick is to remember that feeling and get right back on the horse whenever I fall off.
-- Colleen Crosby
It was 24 years ago when I started court reporting school. I’ve seen the profession go through drastic changes. We didn’t even use computers when I started working, and the very first computers cost $100,000 and up! My first system was $40,000 -- more than my house! In court reporting, there have been lean years and plentiful years. There have been gains and losses. There have been a lot of changes.
Technology arrived, and it was assumed for sure that court reporters would be replaced by video cameras and tape recorders. Many reporters left the field in a panic. Instead, the court reporters incorporated and mastered the available technology and produced a superior product ensuring longevity in their careers.
We have recently been through a long dry spell, yet still our graduates went to work and found their place in the profession. There are some political struggles that are ongoing between groups of court reporters, as well as with others in the legal system or business. The result has been duplicative of what has happened many times before: fewer students entering and completing court reporting school.
I anticipate the result of this will be the same as many times before: an upcoming shortage of court reporters. I also anticipate a burst of growth in the broadcast closed captioning field as the ADA standards take effect.
What does a shortage of court reporters mean? It means you will be in huge demand. Hang in there; I think it will be worth your while!
-- Vykki Ruvalcava
Kelle Collins, who completed the court reporting program at Cerritos College, has been a working deposition reporter for over three years. She recently agreed to be interviewed For the Record.
Q Do you have any advice for students who might be feeling discouraged?
A You have to want it. You have to want it and know you’re going to be a court reporter. If you have any doubts, it’s going to take you longer to convince yourself that you want it. You have to know you want it and go for it as hard as you can.
Q At our court reporting club meetings, we try to have a topic to discuss, such as "methods of successful practice." Do you have any practice tips for us?
A One thing that I did was go to the library and do the medical tapes. Now, I almost wish that I had practiced foreign language tapes, so I could really get truly phonetical. I kind of threw in some brief forms, and I wasn’t really conflict-free.
Q So do you recommend that people stay away from briefs and work more with –
A Yes! Yes! And I know all the teachers always tell you that, but I was one of the worst people. I wanted them all. Give me all the briefs I can handle. I didn’t go overboard and use some of them that were unreasonable, but if it came up a million times, I used it.
Q So you felt that it would have helped you now?
A Yes. When I became a reporter, I dropped a lot of those briefs. You don’t use a lot of them, and you never know what you’re going to use. And then I had to come up with different ones that I do hear all the time, like in stipulations and admonitions.
I thought doing medical or even a foreign language tape and then being able to read it back would help. And you’re going to need the medical when you’re a reporter.
-- Colleen Crosby
It’s confusing enough to enter the wonderful world of court reporting, but every now and then you hear something like, "She’s a CSR who got her RPR from NCRA, and then she finished her CRR after her RMR, and now she’s thinking about trying for the RDR through NCRA because CCRA doesn’t have that test."
HUH? What did you say? Allow me to explain:
The CSR (Certified Shorthand Reporter) is California’s state exam. It is currently a two-day test given twice a year. In May it is in San Francisco. In November it is held in Los Angeles. It consists of the following:
WKT (Written Knowledge Test)given on a Friday covering English, grammar, punctuation, medical, legal, vocabulary, professional practices and codes.
200 wpm (words per minute) 4-v (four voices) dictation for approximately 12 minutes given the next day.
Ten minutes of the dictation is transcribed during a three-hour period. 97.5% accuracy is required.
In order to even attempt to take the CSR, a student must qualify for the exam. The usual way to qualify is to pass the "Qualifier" at a CSR-approved school. Since the CSR is still using typewriters to type the test, we have the high-speed qualifying students use the typewriters instead of the computers to transcribe their tests. That’s why you can’t get in the typing room on certain days when the qualifiers are typing.
The association that administers tests nationally is NCRA (National Court Reporters Association). Some states utilize NCRA tests to hire reporters. All of the NCRA tests require more speed or a specific skill than our CSR exam.
The RPR (Registered Professional Reporter) is a designation earned by reporters who take the NCRA RPR test which consists of the following:
180 wpm for 5 minutes literary
200 wpm for 5 minutes jury charge
225 wpm for 5 minutes Q and A (question and answer).
WKT consisting of 100 questions.
The machine portions must be passed with 95% accuracy. If a reporter passes all parts of the test, they are granted RPR status, which must be maintained by participating in accruing CE (continuing education) credits. Then the reporter can put "RPR" after her or his name. That denotes a higher level of skill than simply a CSR.
The next test up is called the RMR, which stands for Registered Merit Reporter. In order to take the RMR, one must have their RPR. The RMR consists of the following:
200 wpm for 5 minutes literary
240 wpm for 5 minutes jury charge
260 wpm for 5 minutes Q & A
WKT of 100 questions
The machine portions must be passed with 95% accuracy.
The next test up is the RDR, or Registered Diplomate Reporter. It is a WKT only. In order to take this exam, one must have passed both the RPR and RMR. RDR alone is sufficient to indicate that the reporter has passed all three exams. So when you see, "Suzy Jones, CSR # 11111, RDR," you’ll know it’s actually, "Suzy Jones, CSR # 11111, RPR, CMR, RDR."
Then there is the really hot exam for today, the CRR, or Certified Realtime Reporter. I’m going to have to do some research myself to see exactly what that exam consists of. I’ll check it out and report back to you in a future column.
NCRA also has a CLVS certification, which stands for Certified Licensed Video Specialist.
Some other things we’ll want to address in the future are the Superior and Municipal Court tests, the State Hearing Reporters test, and the tests offered by CCRA and DRA.
See, that wasn’t so bad. Now you know what all those letters stand for!
-- Vykki Ruvalcava, CSR #3335, RDR
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