UPMSP Shorthand & Typewriting cheat sheet

Standard dictation rates for UPMSP-style tests: 80 wpm for the junior/ordinary level and 100 wpm for the senior level; transcription time is typically 35 minutes for 80 wpm and 40 minutes for 100 wpm - confirm against the current official advertisement before the exam.

Dictation word count is fixed per passage (commonly 400-500 words for 80 wpm, 500-800 words for 100 wpm); speed credit is calculated as total dictated words divided by elapsed minutes, so missed words reduce both speed and accuracy.

Transcription accuracy is computed as (correct words / total dictated words) x 100; a common qualifying benchmark is 90-95 per cent, with each mis-spelt or omitted word counted as an error.

A word dictated but omitted in transcription is an error of omission; a word written twice is an error of repetition; both are penalised at the same rate as a wrong word.

Punctuation marks dictated aloud (full stop, comma, paragraph, hyphen) must be inserted in transcription; failure to insert a dictated punctuation mark counts as an error.

Before transcription begins, read back the full shorthand outline once and insert punctuation and paragraph marks; this 'reading back' step is permitted and reduces errors more than starting to write immediately.

Familiarity with the passage topic aids recall: proper nouns, numbers and figures should be written in shorthand digits or longhand figures directly during dictation rather than reconstructed later.

Common transcription errors to self-check: similar outlines (e.g., 'principle/principal', 'there/their'), omission of final -s or -ed, and confusion of 'tion' and 'sion' terminations.

Gross speed in wpm = (total words typed / minutes elapsed); a 'word' is standardised as 5 characters including spaces, so 1,250 characters in 5 minutes = 250 words / 5 = 50 wpm gross.

Net speed = gross speed minus (errors x penalty); in most manual-typewriting tests each error is penalised as 10 words, so 50 wpm gross with 3 errors = 50 - 30/elapsed-minutes-adjusted net speed - check the current rule, which is usually 10 words per error deducted from the total.

Accuracy percentage = (correct words / total words typed) x 100; qualifying standards commonly require 90-95 per cent accuracy alongside the speed requirement.

An error includes: a wrong character, an omitted character, an extra character, a transposition of two characters, and a word run together or wrongly spaced.

In manual typewriting, the carriage return and line spacing are part of the timed operation; a slow carriage return reduces net speed even when keystroke speed is high.

Sustained speed is measured over a fixed duration (commonly 5, 10 or 15 minutes); the first minute is usually slower, so practise pacing to reach target speed by minute two and hold it.

Correct posture rules that affect speed: feet flat, wrists not resting on the machine, elbows close to the body, eyes on the copy not the keyboard - touch typing with a consistent home-row position.

Pitman shorthand is written on a three-line ruled paper; consonant strokes are classified by position relative to the line: first position (above the line), second position (on the line), third position (through the line).

Stroke thickness carries meaning in Pitman: light strokes are voiceless consonants (p, t, k, f, s, sh, th) and heavy/dark strokes are voiced counterparts (b, d, g, v, z, zh, dh).

Vowel places in Pitman: first-place vowels (ah, a) are written at the beginning of a stroke, second-place vowels (e, o) at the middle, third-place vowels (i, u, oo) at the end; a dot or dash placed at the correct place distinguishes them.

The six simple long vowels are represented by dots and dashes: dot at first place = 'ah', dash at first place = 'a'; dot at second = 'e', dash at second = 'ay'; dot at third = 'i', dash at third = 'oi'.

Gregg shorthand is written on unruled paper and is based on curves and ellipses; the position of a stroke relative to the line of writing is not significant, unlike Pitman.

In Gregg, the length of a stroke distinguishes pairs: 't' is a short upward stroke and 'd' a longer one; 'k' short and 'g' long; 'r' short and 'l' long.

Phrasing joins two or more outlines without lifting the pen; common phrases (e.g., 'to be', 'in the', 'as soon as') are written as single joined outlines to save time.

Brief forms (Pitman) and brief forms/blends (Gregg) are fixed abbreviations for high-frequency words; they must be memorised exactly because an altered outline becomes a different word.

Standard business letter layout: date at top (or below the letterhead), inside address, salutation, body, complimentary close, signature block; block format aligns everything at the left margin, modified block indents the date, close and signature.

Margins on A4 for a business letter: typically 1 inch (2.5 cm) left and right, with the body starting about 2 inches from the top when no letterhead is used.

Paragraph spacing: single spacing within a paragraph, double spacing (one blank line) between paragraphs; in indented format the first line of each paragraph is indented 5 spaces.

Tab stops: default tab stops are usually every half inch; the first tab from the left margin for an indented paragraph is set at 0.5 inch.

Envelope addressing on a standard DL envelope: the address block is placed about 4 inches from the left edge and 2 inches from the top, in block form with no punctuation at line ends.

A table requires column headings centred over each column, with figures right-aligned and text left-aligned; the table title is centred above the table in capitals.

Manuscript/heading rules: main headings in capitals and centred, sub-headings in title case and left-aligned or centred; page numbers are placed at the top right or bottom centre consistently.

Proofreading marks: 'stet' means let it stand (ignore the correction); a caret (^) marks an insertion; 'tr' means transpose; these are used when correcting typed drafts.

Subject-verb agreement: a singular subject takes a singular verb; collective nouns (team, committee) take a singular verb when acting as a unit, plural when members act individually.

Articles: 'a' before consonant sounds, 'an' before vowel sounds (an hour, a university); 'the' for specific or previously mentioned nouns and for superlatives.

Tenses: present perfect (has/have + past participle) for past action with present relevance; simple past for a finished action at a stated past time.

Prepositions of time: 'in' for months/years, 'on' for days/dates, 'at' for clock times; 'since' with a point in time, 'for' with a duration.

Direct to indirect speech: present tense in the reported clause changes to past when the reporting verb is past; 'today' becomes 'that day', 'tomorrow' becomes 'the next day'.

Active to passive: object becomes subject, verb becomes 'be + past participle', and the agent is introduced by 'by'; only transitive verbs can be made passive.

Hindi grammar basics: noun gender (पुल्लिंग/स्त्रीलिंग) governs verb and adjective agreement; postpositions (में, पर, से, को) follow the noun and case marking changes the pronoun form (मैंने, मुझे, मेरा).

Common Hindi spelling confusions: श/ष/स and व/ब distinctions, अनुस्वार (ं) versus अनुनासिक (ँ), and the correct use of नुक़्ता (क़, ख़, ग़, ज़, फ़) in words of Perso-Arabic origin.

Uttar Pradesh state facts: capital Lucknow, High Court at Prayagraj (Allahabad), Chief Minister and Governor are current office-holders - verify names against the latest official source before the exam.

UP has 75 districts and 18 divisions; the largest city by population is Kanpur, and Noida/Gautam Buddha Nagar is the main industrial and IT hub.

UPMSP (Uttar Pradesh Madhyamik Shiksha Parishad) is headquartered at Prayagraj and conducts the High School and Intermediate board examinations; its motto and founding year (1921 as the Board of High School and Intermediate Education) are frequent questions.

National symbols: national bird peacock, animal tiger, flower lotus, fruit mango, river Ganga, sport field hockey - and the national emblem is the Lion Capital of Ashoka at Sarnath, near Varanasi in UP.

Indian polity basics: the Constitution came into force on 26 January 1950; the President is head of state, the Prime Minister heads the government, and the Rajya Sabha is the permanent house.

Current affairs for a board-level exam typically cover the last 12 months: union budget highlights, sports championships, awards (Bharat Ratna, Padma awards), and appointments to constitutional posts.

Geography of UP: bounded by Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh to the north, Haryana and Delhi to the west, Madhya Pradesh to the south, and Bihar to the east; the Ganga and Yamuna are the principal rivers, meeting at Prayagraj.

Sources to trust for current affairs: official government press releases (PIB), the state government portal, and the Election Commission of India - avoid unverified social media claims for exam facts.