ITI/NCVT Stenographer Secretarial Assistant (AITT Theory) cheat sheet

Pitman shorthand is written from left to right along a horizontal baseline; strokes are light (thin) or heavy (thick), and consonant direction follows a fixed table, not the writer's preference.

Pitman stroke length encodes voicing: the light stroke is the voiceless sound (e.g., /p/, /t/, /k/) and the heavy stroke is its voiced pair (/b/, /d/, /g/).

Gregg shorthand is written left to right with all strokes light; vowel sounds are represented by hooks and circles attached to consonant curves, so vowels are read from context.

Shorthand speed is measured in words per minute (wpm) computed as total transcribed words divided by elapsed minutes; 80 wpm is the usual minimum entry standard for a stenographer post.

In Pitman, vowel places are three positions relative to a consonant: before, after, or between strokes, giving first, second, and third place vowels.

Phrasing joins words written without lifting the pen; the phraseogram is read as one unit, and a phrase must be recognisable in isolation to be legitimate.

A brief form is a single stroke standing for a whole word (e.g., a stroke for 'and', 'the', 'of'); brief forms must be memorised, not improvised, to keep transcription unambiguous.

Transcription accuracy is graded separately from speed: one uncorrected error per 100 words typically fails a shorthand dictation test even if the wpm target is met.

Touch typing keeps the eight fingers on the home row (A S D F / J K L ;) with the thumbs on the space bar; the F and J keys carry tactile bumps for locating position without looking.

Gross words per minute = total keystrokes ÷ 5 ÷ minutes elapsed; net speed = gross wpm minus (errors × 10) for a 10-word penalty per error.

Typewriting accuracy percentage = (total words typed − errors) ÷ total words typed × 100, calculated over the whole test copy.

The standard line spacing controls are single (1), one-and-a-half (1.5) and double (2); a double-spaced page holds about half the lines of a single-spaced page.

Margins in a business letter are conventionally 1 inch (25 mm) on all sides; a 60-stroke line is the traditional Indian typing standard, with 85-stroke lines used in some tests.

Paragraph indentation is either block style (no indent, blank line between paragraphs) or the traditional indented style (first line indented five spaces).

The carriage return or Enter key must not be struck when the bell or margin warning sounds; the line-end signal exists so the operator breaks at a word boundary.

The secretary's core duties are receiving and screening calls, managing the executive's diary, handling inward and outward mail, filing, and drafting routine correspondence for signature.

Inward mail is date-stamped and sorted before distribution; outward mail is entered in a dispatch register with date, addressee and postage so proof of posting exists.

A reminder or tickler file is arranged by due date, not alphabetically, so that follow-ups surface on the day action is required.

The executive diary is written in pencil or digitally editable form until confirmed, because confirmed appointments may need rescheduling.

Minutes record decisions and action points with the responsible person and deadline; verbatim speech is not normally recorded unless the rules of the meeting require it.

A notice of meeting states date, time, place and business; for a statutory meeting the notice period is laid down by the governing Act and by the company's articles.

Confidential files are kept under lock with a controlled issue register so that the person who removed a document can be traced.

The seven Cs of business writing are clarity, conciseness, concreteness, correctness, coherence, completeness and courtesy; each is a testable property of a draft.

A business letter has a heading (sender's address), date, reference number, inside address, salutation, subject line, body, complimentary close, signature block and enclosures.

Formal salutations pair with formal closes: 'Dear Sir/Madam' pairs with 'Yours faithfully'; 'Dear Mr Sharma' pairs with 'Yours sincerely'.

In a full-block letter every line starts at the left margin; in the modified-block style the date, close and signature are indented to the centre or right.

The subject line is placed after the salutation and before the body, and is underlined or bolded but not punctuated with a full stop.

A memorandum omits the salutation and complimentary close and uses a heading of To, From, Date and Subject; it is for internal circulation.

Active voice is preferred in business writing because it names the doer and shortens the sentence; passive voice is reserved for bad news or unknown actors.

A circular is a single message sent identically to many recipients; a notice is displayed, while a memo is addressed to named internal staff.

MS Word shortcut set: Ctrl+S save, Ctrl+P print, Ctrl+Z undo, Ctrl+Y redo, Ctrl+F find, Ctrl+H replace, Ctrl+Enter page break.

In MS Excel a formula begins with '='; a cell reference such as A1 is relative, $A$1 is absolute, and A$1 is mixed (column absolute, row relative).

Excel functions worth memorising: SUM(range), AVERAGE(range), IF(test, true, false), VLOOKUP(value, table, column, FALSE) and COUNTIF(range, criterion).

MS PowerPoint: F5 starts the slide show from the beginning, Shift+F5 starts from the current slide, and Esc ends the show.

File extensions identify the application: .docx (Word), .xlsx (Excel), .pptx (PowerPoint), .pdf (portable document), .csv (comma-separated values).

A mail merge in Word combines a main document with a data source (Excel or Access list) to produce one personalised copy per record.

Ctrl+Alt+Del opens the security screen; Ctrl+Shift+Esc opens Task Manager directly, which is used to end a non-responding application.

Filing systems: alphabetical (by name), numerical (by number), chronological (by date), geographic (by place) and subject (by topic); the choice follows the retrieval question most often asked.

Centralised filing keeps all records in one registry under one custodian; decentralised filing places records with the department that uses them most.

The record life cycle is creation, distribution, use, maintenance and disposal; retention periods are set before disposal, not after.

A retention schedule states, per record class, how long records are kept and whether disposal is by shredding, transfer to archive, or permanent preservation.

The office layout types are open-plan (low partitions, shared space) and cellular or closed-plan (separate rooms); open plan reduces floor area per employee but raises noise.

Office stationery control uses a bin card or stock register recording receipts, issues and balance; reorder level = (maximum usage × maximum lead time) as a simple safety trigger.

Ergonomic workstation rules: screen top at or just below eye level, elbows near 90 degrees, feet flat, and the keyboard close to the body to reduce reach.

A contract requires offer, acceptance, lawful consideration, capacity of parties, free consent and lawful object; absence of any element makes it void or voidable.

Consideration means something of value exchanged; it must not be past, and it must be real, though it need not be adequate.

Under the Sale of Goods Act the seller must have title, goods must correspond to description, and where goods are sold by sample the bulk must match the sample.

A negotiable instrument (cheque, bill of exchange, promissory note) is transferable by endorsement and delivery, and a holder in due course takes it free of prior defects.

A cheque is a bill of exchange drawn on a banker payable on demand; crossing a cheque (two parallel lines) directs payment through a bank account rather than over the counter.

Stamps on instruments, registration of documents and limitation periods are statutory formalities; a time-barred debt cannot be enforced by suit.

An agent acts for a principal and binds the principal to third parties within the agent's authority; an undisclosed principal may still be sued or sue on the contract.

The accounting equation: Assets = Liabilities + Capital (Owner's Equity); every transaction keeps this equation balanced.

Double entry: every transaction has equal debits and credits; debit the receiver and credit the giver is the traditional personal-account rule.

The trial balance lists debit and credit balances; if totals do not agree, an error exists, but an agreeing trial balance does not prove the absence of errors.

Errors that do not affect trial balance agreement include errors of principle, compensating errors, errors of complete omission and posting to the wrong account on the correct side.

Gross profit = Sales − Cost of Goods Sold; Cost of Goods Sold = Opening Stock + Purchases + Direct Expenses − Closing Stock.

Net profit = Gross profit + Other income − Indirect expenses; it is transferred to the capital account at year end.

Depreciation is a non-cash charge allocating an asset's cost over its useful life; straight-line = (Cost − Residual value) ÷ Useful life.

The petty cash imprest system fixes a float; the cashier reimburses exactly the amount spent, restoring the float to its original figure.

A fire needs fuel, oxygen and heat; removing any one of the three extinguishes it, which is why electrical fires use CO2 or dry powder, never water.

Extinguisher classes: A for ordinary combustibles, B for flammable liquids, C for gases, D for metals, and electrical fires are treated with non-conducting agents.

PASS technique for a fire extinguisher: Pull the pin, Aim at the base, Squeeze the handle, Sweep side to side.

A first-aider's priorities are to secure the scene, check response and breathing, call for help, and give care within trained limits; an untrained person should not move a casualty with suspected spinal injury.

Electrical safety: switch off and isolate before working on equipment, use earth-leakage protection, and never overload a socket with daisy-chained extension boards.

Ergonomic hazards in a secretarial job are repetition, static posture and screen glare; controls are micro-breaks, posture adjustment and screen tilt.

E-waste and used toner cartridges are hazardous waste and must go to authorised recyclers, not general refuse; paper is segregated for recycling.

A résumé states experience and education in reverse chronological order and is usually one to two pages; a cover letter is tailored to the specific vacancy.

A group discussion is assessed on content, communication, listening and leadership behaviour; interrupting others and repeating points score negatively.

Interview preparation includes researching the employer, matching one's skills to the advertised duties, and preparing questions about the role.

Entrepreneurship is the process of identifying an opportunity, arranging resources and bearing risk for profit; the entrepreneur bears uncertainty, the manager does not.

A business plan covers the product, market, competition, operations, management and financial projections; a break-even analysis shows the sales volume at which total revenue equals total cost.

Break-even units = Fixed costs ÷ (Selling price per unit − Variable cost per unit).

Small enterprise support in India includes registration under the Udyam portal, access to MSME credit schemes, and skilling through industrial training institutes.

Digital literacy, spreadsheet use and email etiquette are baseline employability skills for office roles; a portfolio of verified certificates supports the claim.