Literary Dictation at 180 WPM (Realtime, No Editing)
Literary dictation at 180 wpm
This domain tests realtime writing of continuous literary prose at 180 words per minute with no editing pass. The material may include narration, dialogue, description, proper names, and punctuation that carries meaning. Because the file is judged as written, every hesitation or unresolved homophone becomes a visible error.
Core rules
- Write in phrase groups, not isolated words. Keep the stenotype rhythm steady and use briefs for high-frequency forms such as and the, of the, in the, and common pronouns.
- Punctuate from grammar and intonation together. A comma often marks an introductory phrase, a nonrestrictive clause, or a direct-address element; a period must close a complete sentence even if the reader pauses elsewhere.
- Treat dialogue as a separate layer: opening and closing quotation marks, comma before the attribution when the spoken sentence continues, and a capital for the first word of the quotation.
- Decide homophones by syntax, not sound. Plain/plane, rain/reign, council/counsel, and capital/capitol are common literary traps.
- Capitalize proper nouns and titles consistently; do not promote a common noun to a proper noun just because the reader stresses it.
Worked example
Dictated: “The colonel’s counsel waited while the rain fell on the plain.” Reasoning: colonel is a military rank but is lowercase here because it is not attached to a name; the possessive needs an apostrophe. Counsel means legal adviser, not council. Rain is weather, not reign. Plain is the open land, not plane. The sentence has one independent clause, so the period comes after plain, not after fell. In realtime, the writer must select these forms as the words arrive; a later dictionary fix is not available.
Traps that cost marks
- Over-briefing unfamiliar words and then guessing at the output.
- Dropping articles or auxiliary verbs while chasing speed.
- Using a comma splice because the reader paused.
- Missing quotation marks or capitalization at a dialogue boundary.
- Writing their/there/they’re or its/it’s from sound alone.