GRADUATION CELEBRATION!!!

Yesterday we had our graduation celebration at DAS (Downey Adult School).  It was awesome to finally graduate!!! :)

BIG CONGRATS to my fellow grads and CSR exam candidates.  I'm really happy to be surrounded with a great bunch of positive, kind, and smart court reporters! :)

My hubby was able to attend and show his support.  I'm so glad he was there since he's my biggest fan! :)

Certificate of Accomplishment!

Proud Smile!

Celebration Cake!

I made little gifts for our teachers to show my appreciation.  I'm really grateful that I came to DAS and learned under their guidance.  

I also made goodie bags for my fellow grads.  By graduating the court reporting program, they have accomplished a feat that 90% or so of those who first start the program, never achieve.  So kudos to us!!! :)

It was so fun putting these presents together.  Here are some pics:

A BIG THANK YOU to my husband, family, and dear friends who have cheered me on and prayed for me throughout my court reporting journey in school.  This phase in my life will soon come to an end, thankfully, and my new phase as a working licensed reporter is just around the corner.  ALL GLORY TO GOD!!!  YAY!!!  I'M SO EXCITED!!! :) :) :)

Lastly, let me encourage those who are in court reporting school.  I know how frustrating and difficult this program is... BELIEVE ME, I DO!!!

• I urge you never to quit.  If you never quit, you'll eventually get to your destination!  
• Keep a positive attitude.  You can't go far with negativity, but when you're positive, open, and humble, wonderful things happen.  
• Surround yourself with people who will cheer you on.  Stay away from those who gossip, malign, or refuse to truly support you in your court reporting journey.  
• Set mini goals, meet them, and get an instant boost of confidence.  You should have goals for the day, week, month, and quarter.
• Learn more and more briefs.  They'll only help you gain more speed, if you use them without hesitation.
• Don't be afraid to ask your teachers for help.  They want you to succeed and they've been in the field for a number of years.  They know a tip or two to share with you, if you'll just ask.
• Reach out to fellow students and court reporting mentors who are an invaluable source of inspiration, guidance, and resource.  We're truly the only ones who understand one another, so keep in touch.
• Track your achievements and count them.  Pat yourself on the back if you raised your accuracy rate by 5% instead of beating yourself up because you didn't pass today's test.  You're inching your way toward passing that test, so you're going in the right direction.  It's only a matter of time till you pass, if you never quit trying.
• Have a life outside of court reporting.  Sometimes we can get so focused and overwhelmed with passing a speed, that we have too much tunnel vision and then suffer from it.  What kept me sane was going out to movies with my hubby, getting creative with photos, cakes, and presents, and hanging out with good friends.  Find your balance.  Often when I'm relaxed, I do much better in class. 

Anyway, those are some tips I can think of offhand.  If you ever need more specific encouragement, please never hesitate to email me at StenoNerd@gmail.com.  One of the biggest reasons I have this blog is to help fellow court reporters out there... because I've been helped by others, too.  Let's keep this wheel of court reporting love turning. :)

NIGHTTIME JITTERS

Coffee works a little too well for me!  Yesterday, Monday, I didn't stay in school very long at all.  As soon as the Qualifier was given, I packed my things to go home because I had a tummy ache.  I think it was something I ate at my mom's little birthday party on Sunday.  Maybe the food had been sitting out too long, and it was super hot.  Perhaps the culprit was my own homemade birthday cakes that I had made for my mom and my good friend, both July babies.

Check out my first attempt at baking a cake!  Haha!  Seriously, it was my very first time ever to bake a cake... and I went ahead and did two! :P Why?  Because I wanted... needed (!) to do something creative since I've been practicing like a madwoman and thinking of the CSR exam... um, almost every single second of every single day!  I needed a break in my one-track mind! :)

Anyway, as I was saying, I left school early yesterday and didn't practice very well at home because of my tummy ache.  Finally, around 4:00 p.m., I felt better.  Because I hadn't been practicing very well, I made myself some homemade iced coffee (just brewed a regular cup at home and immediately put it in the fridge to cool) to help me stay alert to practice well.  Um... it worked... too well!  I practiced at home, then tried to sleep around 10:00 p.m... and it is just not happening!  I finally got up at 2:00 a.m. and practiced some more on my steno machine!  Now, I'm on here posting this. :)

I thought... why not just get up and practice?  I'll probably be this anxious the night before the CSR exam anyway, so why not just practice as though the CSR exam is tomorrow and see how I do.  That's what a good friend of mine did when she passed the CSR exam on her first attempt.  She was so excited and anxious for the CSR exam that she hardly slept at all the night before... but she didn't let that lack of sleep get in her way at all!  She managed to get in a few winks of rest, woke up super early, practiced a bit, got dressed as if she was going on a job, and then killed the CSR exam!  I would love to follow in her amazing footsteps!

This not being able to sleep also reminds me of Michael Phelps and what happened to him during the 200-meter butterfly at the 2008 Olympics.  He had a "wardrobe malfunction" with his goggles and they started to fill up with water.  He couldn't see a thing!  Check this out...

Phelps' coach had been training Michael to fight for his wins no matter what crazy thing happened... whether Phelps wasn't feeling well, whether his goggles filled with water, whether a competitor tried to play mind games... through anything and everything, Phelps was trained to remain focus and swim to win.  And he definitely did!

That's how I believe we CSR candidates should be going into the CSR exam.  Prepare for the worst, hope for the best.  Push through no matter what happens!  There's bound to be a chair we're not comfortable with, a person whose machine is too rattly, a speaker with an awkward accent, an AC vent blasting in your direction, a fire engine blaring down the street, a sneeze.  Through anything and everything, we have to remain calm... focused.... and write to pass.

DON'T LET THIS HAPPEN TO YOU! (MY LESSON LEARNED)

I have good news to share... and a lesson learned to share...

The Good News:  I passed a 3rd Qualifier on June 24th... and a 4th Qualifier on July 2nd!!!  WOO HOO!!! :D :D :D THANK GOD!!! :D :D :D 

I'm very happy with the passes!!!  I'm just hoping and praying that these mock CSR exams (what Qualifiers are, essentially) will also translate into a pass at the actual CSR exam on July 19th.  Yikes!  Only 11 more days away!  As my husband has encouraged me to say... BRING IT!!!

I think I've prepared my butt off for the fateful day, so whatever happens... happens.  I'm ready.  I won't have any regrets because I know I've prepared myself as best as I can.  I've given myself my best opportunity for a pass.  If I don't pass it on my first attempt, that's okay.  There's another opportunity waiting for me in November.  I won't look at myself as a failure at all... because I, along with my fellow CSR candidates, have done what very few can say... completed court reporting school, passed Qualifier, and made it all the way to the CSR exam.  It's now all just a matter of time on when I get that coveted California Certified Shorthand Reporter license.  I'll keep digging till I hit gold!!!  AKA I'll keep testing till I pass that exam!!!  No worries. :) I shall...

Now for the Lesson Learned: I could have passed a 5th Qualifier in the last week of June!!! :( The problem was my proofreading skills were seriously lacking... and honestly, I got sloppy and perhaps overly confident.  I always print a rough draft before turning in my final transcript for a re-grade.  In my attempt to save paper, though, I only re-printed the pages that I had marked up on my rough draft and then collated those into the original pages I had printed earlier.  Well, something screwy happened with my CAT software and it duplicated a whole entire line... and I didn't catch it... and it cost me 9 errors... putting me over a 52 total errors... which is not a pass at 97.4% accuracy. :( A pass is 50 errors at 97.5% accuracy.  I missed it by only 2 points and 0.1%.  Talk about frustration!!!

So what I've learned: Always, always print out everything and always, always go over the final hard copy one more time before submitting it.  I'll never make that mistake again!!!  My husband told me that it's a good thing that this happened during school and not at the CSR exam... and he's right.  Perspective.  So I'm grateful that this lesson has been learned on this side of my first CSR exam attempt.

Tomorrow is the day we get our diplomas!!!  So excited!!!  I'll share with you all about it soon!  Till then...

Thanks for reading... :)

UPDATES!!!

Hello, Fellow Steno Nerds!

It's been way too long since I've given an update... and a lot has happened!  I have good things to share! :)

Biggest one is...

I QUALIFIED TO TAKE THE JULY 19TH CSR EXAM!!!  WOO HOO!!!  I AM OFFICIALLY DONE WITH COURT REPORTING SCHOOL!!!  I DID IT!!!  I FINALLY ACCOMPLISHED MY GOAL!!! :D :D :D

 After a long, long time -- because of my awesome, supportive husband, family and friends, with GOD's help and the burning passion HE placed in my heart about stenography years ago, and my perseverance and never-say-die optimistic bulldog stubbornness -- I passed the Qualifier TWICE (so far!) from Downey Adult School's Court Reporting Program.  First time was on April 25th and second time was on May 7th.  There were a handful of other times when I missed passing it a third time by a few points... darn!  There's still a few weeks before the July 19th CSR exam date, and my goal is to pass at least one more Qualifier by then.  Let's see if I can do it!  If not, though, I'm really happy and satisfied that I was able to get two under my belt! :)

At DAS, we have a total of SIX newly qualified students who will take the CSR for the first time, myself included.  I'm blessed to be able to go to the LA CSR with an awesome bunch of great gals!  BIG CONGRATS to Joanne, Caryn, Michelle, Mindee, and Allison.  Let's see who else will qualify before the deadline for this upcoming CSR exam!  Hopefully, lots more will join us! :)

 Other awesome news...

I won a $500 scholarship!!!  It was given by the Woman's Club of Downey, and I received it on June 5th.  What's amazing about this is I never even thought of applying for a scholarship since I'm exiting out of the program.  But my awesome teacher and court reporting director, Cindy, encouraged me to apply anyway, so I did... and they chose me!  That same week that I wrote my personal statement, I was stressing out big time about having to soon upgrade into a professional steno machine AND a professional CAT software... which cost approximately $5,000 EACH!!!  GOD totally provided by giving me this scholarship! :) It's not the full amount of what I need, but, hey, $500 is better than 0! :) I'll gladly take it! ;)

The women at DWC were soooooooooooooooo friendly and cute!  It seems their club exists simply to raise funds so that they can give back to the community.  How awesome are they???

Click here for the article about the scholarship ceremony on June 5th.  The same article will be printed next week in Downey's "The Patriot" newspaper.  I'm getting loads of copies!  Haha!  

DWC chose one student each from Downey High School, Warren High School, and Downey Adult School to award these annual scholarships to.  The high school grads will be attending Harvard and UCLA respectively this fall.  I, of course, plan to work as a freelance depo reporter in the fall... given I have my CSR license by then. :) The young lady in the blue dress (see pic below) won a recurring scholarship, which DWC renewed every year!  She just graduated from Brigham Young University and came to the scholarship ceremony to give her thanks.  The lady in the red is the immediate past president and the lady in the cream pant suit is the immediate past secretary.

 The Woman's Club of Downey Foundation board members, Linda Dong and Shirlee MacDowel.

I really wish I had applied to many more scholarships in the past!  You will always get a "no" if you never submit... but if you do submit, you have a chance... and you just might be the winner!  Lesson learned.

So yeah, good news all around... I can't complain! :) THANK GOD FOR ALL THESE BLESSINGS!!! :D Right now I'm keeping busy with trying to hone in my nerves and tighten my skills for the July 19th CSR exam.  Right after that, I'll be studying for the WKT (written knowledge test AKA academics) portion of the CSR exam.  So study, study, study... then hopefully, by the end of the year, I'll have my CSR license!  If not, though, I will NOT sweat it... because another CSR exam test is roughly 3 months away... and I'll keep taking that sucka' until I pass it!  No worries! :) Please keep me in your thoughts and prayers for the CSR exam... and if you have any tips for the big day, please let me know!!!  THANKS! :)

YELP REVIEW OF DOWNEY ADULT SCHOOL COURT REPORTING PROGRAM

Hi, all! :)

I just posted a Yelp review of my school, Downey Adult School of Court Reporting.  Somehow, though, Yelp isn't showing my review... plus I want to endorse DAS here too so... here it is! :) I know my praises for DAS may sound "exaggerated," but I assure you... I really am THAT excited about DAS!  It's the best court reporting school in So Cal in my humble opinion! ;)

6/13/2013

 

I've gone to 2 other court reporting schools, including 1 online program before coming to Downey Adult School's Court Reporting Program.  What a huge difference!

- There are way more speed classes at DAS, including a Qualifier given EVERY SINGLE DAY!!!  At the other schools, they didn't have that... plus the other schools were MORE EXPENSIVE!!!  How does that figure???

- DAS has a great, updated, and well-stocked practice lab full of free resources, as well as student website full of free briefs galore and other helpful handouts.

- DAS has an amazing CART class (taught by Maggie O.) that provides hands-on training and really opens the way for students to enter a fast-growing niche in the CR field.  I found this class to be extremely helpful as I was in the dark (like most of us are!) before taking this class.  Maggie also scheduled many guest speakers to talk to us about their CART experiences, which was awesome!

- DAS has some of the friendliest staff around!  Cindy G., the program director, is always on top of everything yet is so chill. :) Suzi C. reads high-speed dictation like a boss! :) They drill, throw in briefs and tips, and warm us up well before giving out dictation tests, which I feel is super important!

- Not only are the CR teachers nice, but even the janitor (Greg) is super friendly!  The CR students are also generally very helpful and supportive of one another, which is a positive, especially getting through a difficult, intense program such as court reporting!

I'm SO GLAD to have found DAS!  I just wish I had found it sooner!  I always encourage other CR students or potential CR students to ALWAYS check out DAS first!  They even give a free week of sit-ins, so you can really get the "feel" for the program before you commit.  How cool is that???

I'm so proud to be graduating this July from DAS' CR Program and taking the CSR exam.  I couldn't endorse them any higher! :)

P.S. Don't worry that DAS is not an NCRA-approved school.  My 2 previous schools were BOTH approved by the NCRA, and I feel that they were actually LACKING as a CR program!  When you get hired as a court reporter, especially here in California, the agency or court that hires you isn't going to ask if you went to an NCRA-approved school! :P They just want to make sure you have the necessary SKILLS with the appropriate accreditation to do the job... which is your CSR, RPR, CBC, CCP license and whatnot.  There's a REASON why several, several students transfer from other schools to go to DAS.

So yeah... like I said, I really wish I had found DAS sooner to avoid student debt. :P Oh well.  I guess that's why I REALLY appreciate DAS for all it is and probably love it more than those who started theory at DAS.  I know how "rough" it is out there with NCRA-approved schools and their RIDICULOUSLY high tuition fees.  Haha!