Basic Analysis of
Steno Students

1. Student has sloppy notes.  Sloppy notes are defined as any type of notes that cannot be read with at least 95% accuracy at all times.  SOLUTION:  Student must slow down until notes clear up.  Speed will be gained, not lost, by doing this.
   
    


2. Student has hesitation for any reason.  SOLUTION:  Student should be taught to make the choice of writing immediately or dropping immediately.  Hesitation should not be tolerated for any reason.
   
    


3. Student has nerves for any reason.  SOLUTION:  Student should not try to suppress nerves.  They are very beneficial when used correctly.  Instead, student should employ the nerves for their proper function which is to warn against bad situations.  Nerves should be used to warn against sloppy notes, hesitation, and/or carrying.
   
    


4. Student has no time to practice.  SOLUTION:  Under all circumstances, student should find time to practice.  However, the practice may not be the recommended traditional practice.  Ten minutes of drill, three times daily, is worth at least a one-hour block of practice.  Review of briefs, phrases, and the theory book does not require the hands on the machine.  Much of our training for our hands-on profession does not require that the hands be on the machine.
   
    


5. Student is substantially slower than the rest of the class.  SOLUTION:  There is no obvious problem here.  All students, at times, will be slower than the class in general. 
   
   
    


6. Student is becoming slower or sloppier despite large amounts of practice.  SOLUTION:  Student is trying to do too much too soon.  Slow the student down until the clean notes return.  Then have student do short drills at increasingly higher speeds.  Stress the importance of slow drills in between the fast ones.
   
    


7. Student is very sloppy at beginning of test.  SOLUTION:  Student is trying to avoid falling behind the speaker.  Instead, the student is creating a new problem: sloppiness.  In a nutshell, you can’t write it until you give your brain a chance to think of the stroke.  This is one of the rare cases when the student should be advised to trail the speaker a few more words.  CAUTION:  This particular type of sloppiness happens only at the beginning of a drill or test.  Do not advise all students to trail
   
   
    


8. Student does not have nerves and performs well until Minutes 3, 4 or 5 on test.  SOLUTION:  Student is probably tiring in the middle.  Most teachers recommend endurance drills.  These are drills which are substantially longer than a test.  These may help, but probably not as much as you might think.  Instead, the student should be taught to think of each day’s practice as a warm-up for the test.  Most students try too hard during practice which leaves them drained by the time the test time arrives.
   
    


9. Student has nerves and performs well until Minutes 3, 4, or 5.  SOLUTION:  This phenomenon only appears on a good test because student is focusing on the possibilities of passing the test.  Student should be advised to ignore how well the test is going.  Instead the focus should be on writing clear, removing hesitation, keeping up with the speaker.
   
    


10. Student has nerves and performs badly for a time and then the miraculously the nerves disappear.  SOLUTION:  Student has out-of-control nerves.  However, they dissolve into thin air as soon as the test has been lost.  Student should be strongly counseled that if the student can perform well at any time, then the student can perform well at all times.
    
     


11. Student does not use punctuation.  SOLUTION:  During readback, the teacher should insist that the students read their punctuation.  Make it the students’ responsibility to indicate that they have finished their section of the readback by saying “period” or “question mark.” Any student who begins to read the next sentence because of lack of punctuation should be forced to read that sentence – and the next and the next and the next – until the student begins to insert the proper punctuation. 
    
    
     


12. When corrected during readback, the student always replies, “I have that in my notes” or something similar.  SOLUTION:  Student should be counseled that an error is anything that is dropped, misread, mistyped or too sloppy.  Many students fail their certification tests because they failed to read what was in their notes.
    
     


13. Student is easily distracted by noise, traffic, classmates, etc.  SOLUTION:  These distractions may be annoying, but they are a part of life.  They will occur over and over again.  Sympathize with the student if you wish, but the true solution lies in recognizing that there is no real problem.  At the very worst, distractions cause a temporary, but easily surmountable, problem.
    
     


14. Student reports the same proficiency at high speed as at goal speed, but cannot pass a test.  SOLUTION:  Do not, under any circumstances, urge this student to do high-speed drill.  Looking at this problem in reverse, the student performs just as poorly at goal speed as at high speed.  The answer lies in attention to detail, clarity, basic stroke proficiency, etc.  Low speed drill will identify the problem easily.  High speed drill will mask the problem.
    
     


15. While transcribing the test, student frequently misspells easy soundalikes or one word/two word phrases.  SOLUTION:  First, student should buy a dictionary.  Second, student should be taught to use it.  Third, many students cure this problem by keeping a list of their problem words for reference while transcribing.