NVRA Realtime Verbatim Reporter study plan
NVRA Realtime Verbatim Reporter · Give each week a clear focus.
8 weeks · About 7 hours per week
Literary dictation at 180 wpm (realtime, no editing)
Take a baseline 3-minute literary dictation at 140 wpm and log every error by type: word, punctuation, or paragraph break.
Drill literary punctuation and paragraphing in one-pass dictation, applying comma, dash, semicolon, and quotation rules to 10 short passages.
Build a 40-entry personal glossary of literary proper nouns, archaic spellings, and foreign phrases, and write each entry from dictation.
Transcribe three 5-minute literary passages at 160 wpm without stopping, rewinding, or editing.
Your checkpoint
Two 5-minute literary transcripts at 160 wpm, one pass each, with at least 97% word accuracy and correctly placed paragraph breaks, plus a categorized error log.
Literary dictation at 180 wpm (realtime, no editing) & Jury charge dictation at 180 wpm (realtime, no editing)
Raise literary dictation speed to 170 wpm across four 5-minute takes while keeping no-edit conditions.
Transcribe one 6-minute literary passage at 170 wpm with at least 98% word accuracy and no editing.
Map standard jury charge structure, including preamble, numbered instructions, definitions, and closing, using two sample charges.
Build a 50-entry jury charge glossary covering legal terms, case citations, and Latin phrases, and write each entry from dictation.
Your checkpoint
One 6-minute literary transcript at 170 wpm with at least 98% word accuracy and one 3-minute jury charge transcript at 150 wpm with correct instruction numbering and paragraphing.
Jury charge dictation at 180 wpm (realtime, no editing)
Transcribe four 5-minute jury charge passages at 160 to 170 wpm in a single unedited pass.
Apply capitalization rules for statutes, case names, court titles, and legal terms in dictated jury instructions.
Format enumerated jury instructions with correct numbering, indentation, and paragraph breaks without editing.
Discriminate 30 legal homophones and near-homophones, such as lien and lean or tort and taught, in dictated sentences.
Your checkpoint
Two 5-minute jury charge transcripts at 170 wpm with at least 97% word accuracy and fully correct instruction numbering.
Jury charge dictation at 180 wpm (realtime, no editing) & Literary dictation at 180 wpm (realtime, no editing)
Sustain 180 wpm for 4 minutes on a jury charge passage with no editing.
Sustain 180 wpm for 4 minutes on a literary passage with no editing.
Analyze error logs from weeks 1 through 3 to identify the top five recurring errors, then drill each error in isolation.
Complete one 10-minute mixed dictation combining literary and jury charge material at 170 to 180 wpm.
Your checkpoint
A 4-minute jury charge transcript and a 4-minute literary transcript, each at 180 wpm with at least 96% word accuracy, plus a one-page top-five error analysis.
Two-voice question-and-answer dictation at 180 wpm (realtime, no editing)
Format two-voice question-and-answer dictation with speaker labels, question and answer paragraphing, and colloquy markers in one pass.
Transcribe three 5-minute two-voice passages at 160 to 170 wpm, switching speakers without pausing.
Build a 40-phrase bank of courtroom question stems, answers, and objections, and write each phrase from dictation.
Handle interruptions, parentheticals, and overlapping speech by applying consistent notation rules.
Your checkpoint
One 5-minute two-voice question-and-answer transcript at 170 wpm with at least 97% word accuracy and at least 98% correct speaker attribution.
Two-voice question-and-answer dictation at 180 wpm (realtime, no editing) & Literary dictation at 180 wpm (realtime, no editing)
Raise two-voice question-and-answer speed to 180 wpm for 5 minutes with no editing.
Drill rapid speaker changes at 180 wpm using 10 one-minute alternating-voice bursts.
Maintain literary dictation at 180 wpm with one 5-minute unedited take.
Review and correct speaker attribution errors from weeks 1 through 5 by re-dictating the affected passages.
Your checkpoint
One 5-minute two-voice transcript at 180 wpm with at least 96% word accuracy and at least 98% speaker attribution, plus one 5-minute literary transcript at 180 wpm with at least 97% word accuracy.
Literary dictation at 180 wpm (realtime, no editing) & Jury charge dictation at 180 wpm (realtime, no editing) & Two-voice question-and-answer dictation at 180 wpm (realtime, no editing)
Complete three 6-minute dictations, one per domain, at 180 wpm, each in a single unedited pass.
Simulate exam conditions with no pauses, no rewinds, and no editing, using a timer and an error tally sheet.
Reduce total error rate to 3% or less across all three domains.
Build stamina with one 30-minute continuous dictation session that alternates among all three domains.
Your checkpoint
Three 6-minute transcripts, one per domain, at 180 wpm with at least 97% word accuracy and a completed error tally sheet.
Literary dictation at 180 wpm (realtime, no editing) & Jury charge dictation at 180 wpm (realtime, no editing) & Two-voice question-and-answer dictation at 180 wpm (realtime, no editing)
Complete two full mock exams, each covering all three domains at 180 wpm for 15 minutes per domain.
Score each mock exam against a self-made rubric for word accuracy, punctuation, paragraphing, and speaker attribution.
Drill the top three residual error patterns until each is eliminated in two consecutive takes.
Stabilize speed at 180 wpm with no editing and no more than one pause per 5-minute segment.
Your checkpoint
Two 45-minute mock exams at 180 wpm across all domains, each scored at 98% or higher word accuracy, with a written remediation note for any remaining error.
Milestones
Week 2: Transcribe a 6-minute literary passage at 170 wpm in one pass with at least 98% word accuracy and no editing.
Week 4: At 180 wpm, sustain 4 minutes in Domain 1 and Domain 2 at 96% or higher word accuracy with no editing.
Week 6: At 180 wpm, sustain 5 minutes of two-voice question-and-answer dictation at 96% or higher word accuracy with at least 98% speaker attribution.
Week 8: Score 98% or higher word accuracy on two 45-minute mock exams covering all three domains at 180 wpm with no editing.