MO Court Reporter study guide
MO Court Reporter · Work through your exam, one topic at a time.
The Missouri Certified Court Reporter credential is a state-level certification for verbatim reporters who produce transcripts of depositions, hearings, and trials in Missouri courts. It signals to judges, attorneys, and litigants that a reporter can capture proceedings at speed and convert them into an accurate, properly formatted record. The MO Court Reporter study guide has 7 sections and about 2,263 words.
01Literary Dictation and Transcription
Literary dictation assesses whether you can convert continuous, formal English into an accurate, readable transcript. Passages often contain subordinate clauses, quoted material, dates, abbreviations, and proper names, so the grader is checking punctuation, paragraphing, capitalization, and spelling at speed rather than literary interpretation.
317 words, about 2 min02Jury Charge Dictation and Transcription
Jury-charge dictation requires exact reproduction of instructions the judge will read and the jury will take into the deliberation room. In Missouri, civil and criminal charges are commonly built from the Missouri Approved Instructions (MAI-CIV and MAI-CR), so the reporter must capture instruction numbers, statutory citations, defined terms, verdict directors, and damage paragraphs with no paraphrase.
349 words, about 2 min03Testimony (Question-and-Answer) Dictation and Transcription
Question-and-answer dictation tests speaker attribution and the conventions of a deposition or trial transcript. You must distinguish examiner, witness, judge, and counsel, preserve interruptions and objections, and record colloquy that occurs off the record only when the record is reopened.
368 words, about 2 min04English Usage, Grammar, Punctuation, and Spelling
This domain checks control of standard written English under transcription conditions: agreement, pronoun case, modifier placement, punctuation, capitalization, hyphenation, and spelling of legal and ordinary words. A collective noun such as 'court,' 'jury,' or 'board' takes a singular verb when it acts as one unit: 'The jury has reached a verdict.' Use 'who' for subjects and 'whom' for objects; 'whoever' and 'whomever' follow the same case logic inside the clause.
301 words, about 2 min05Court Reporting Professional Practice and Ethics
Ethics questions test your conduct as a neutral officer of the record: confidentiality, impartiality, conflicts, ex parte communications, transcript integrity, fee practices, and retention. Missouri court reporters are expected to follow the state's certification framework and the court's directives, not a party's preference.
325 words, about 2 min06Legal and Judicial Terminology and Procedure
This domain tests the vocabulary and procedural sequence of Missouri courts. You need to recognize terms quickly enough to spell and capitalize them correctly and to avoid substituting a similar-sounding term.
298 words, about 1 min07Transcript Format, Certification, and Recordkeeping
Transcript format, certification, and recordkeeping test whether the finished product is usable on appeal: consistent page and line numbering, a proper caption, appearances, index, exhibit list, and a signed reporter's certificate. Use a standard transcript page with numbered lines (commonly 25 per page) and continuous page numbers.
305 words, about 2 min