HI Court Reporter study plan

Transcribe three 5-minute dictated passages at 95% or better verbatim accuracy, then proofread and correct each against the audio

Build a personal brief-form and phrase list of 40 entries covering the most frequent courtroom collocations (e.g., 'your Honor', 'may it please the court', 'let the record reflect')

Drill punctuation and speaker-attribution conventions by reformatting two raw transcripts into clean Q&A deposition format

Log every mistroke and misheard word in a running error journal, categorized by cause (speed, unfamiliar term, homophone)

Increase dictation speed by transcribing four passages at a pace 10 words per minute above week 1, timing each attempt

Compile and memorize 30 legal and medical terms common in Hawaii personal-injury and family-court testimony, verifying each spelling against a dictionary

Practice realtime editing: clean up two machine-drafted transcripts for homophones, dropped words, and run-on sentences

Draft a one-page style sheet governing capitalization, numbers, and exhibit references that you will apply consistently all term

Transcribe a full mock deposition from start to finish, including caption, appearances, index, and certificate page

Identify and apply the structural components required in a deposition transcript by comparing your output to a checklist you build from the applicable court rules

Annotate a sample transcript to mark where colloquy, objections, and off-record discussions must be captured or excluded

Role-play the reporter's spoken duties at the start of a deposition: swearing the witness and placing appearances on the record

Map the sequence of a jury trial from voir dire through verdict and note the reporter's specific duty at each stage

Write out the exact oath wording you will administer for a witness, an interpreter, and a juror, and rehearse each aloud

Distinguish on-the-record from off-the-record exchanges by coding a 10-page sample transcript with margin tags

Explain in writing how to handle an objection, a request to read back testimony, and a side-bar so that each is preserved or excluded correctly

Locate and outline the Hawaii statutes and court rules governing court reporters, including certification, transcript format, and filing deadlines

Summarize the continuing-education and renewal obligations that apply to Hawaii reporters, noting the reporting cycle and hour requirements

Draft a citation table linking each procedural rule you rely on to the specific transcript practice it controls

Compare Hawaii transcript-production deadlines and fees with the general standards you already know, flagging any Hawaii-specific differences

Write a plain-language summary of the confidentiality and sealed-record rules that constrain what a reporter may disclose and to whom

Analyze three hypothetical conflict scenarios (a friend's case, a subpoena for your notes, an attorney asking you to alter a transcript) and state the correct response with the governing rule

Outline the business obligations of a freelance reporter: fee agreements, billing for expedited and rough drafts, and retention of notes and audio

Identify the ethical limits on ex parte contact with a judge or juror and on accepting gifts from counsel

Draft a client-ready fee schedule and engagement letter covering deposits, per-page rates, expedite surcharges, and cancellation terms

Complete two timed transcription sprints under simulated deadline pressure, then self-audit both for accuracy regressions

Build a records-retention and backup plan specifying how long notes, audio, and drafts are kept and how they are secured

Rehearse a scripted conversation in which you decline an improper request from an attorney while preserving the working relationship

Take a full-length timed practice exam across all four domains and score each domain separately to expose weak areas

Re-drill your accumulated error journal, retranscribing the ten passages that produced the most errors

Review your citation table and ethics memo against the practice-exam misses and patch every gap you find

Assemble a one-page pre-exam reference card of oath wordings, deadlines, and rule citations for final review