I’ve proofed court transcripts for 8 years and hold punctuation and colloquial contractions to Morson’s by the letter; for those who transitioned, how long did you need to sustain 200 wpm with clean, court-usable notes? I’m committing 45 minutes before work daily on Case CATalyst drills and want a realistic benchmark for when my accuracy meets courtroom standards.
Assuming your 45 minutes in Case CATalyst are focused on Q&A, figure 4–6 months to hold ‘200 wpm’ court‑clean; it took me five, using RPR practice takes to hit 95%+ raw and under 1 drop per minute (Certification | NCRA). Split that time into two 20‑minute bursts plus a 2–3 minute 220–230 overspeed, and track untranslates per 100 words as your go/no‑go. Are you building a separate realtime dictionary yet, @OP?
I didn’t hit “court-clean” at 200 until I pushed past the 45 minutes — do one 60–90‑minute live Q&A block weekly with crosstalk — and set a Case CATalyst target of 97%+ realtime and ≤1 untran/page. Took me five months; @c_lopez89 is right, but the big bump was building briefs for your colloquials (gonna/kinda) mapped to your Morson’s choices so the translation stays clean. Can you hold 30 minutes at 200 with no drops and still edit about 10 pages/hour after — if yes, you’re courtroom-ready.
After pre-work CATalyst drills, do a 10-minute readback aloud; it tightens punctuation instincts: https://www.ncra.org/home/discover-the-profession/practice-dictation.
I’d stop measuring in months and start tracking drops: at 200 Q&A, I called myself ready when I could do two 10‑minute takes back to back with ≤1 drop total and under about 1% untranslates in CATalyst, then clear conflicts immediately. Your “Morson’s by the letter” habit will carry you on readback, but , the 180–200 plateau didn’t budge for me until I added daily 3‑minute steno‑only drills for my real depo briefs (no audio). What’s your current drop/untran count over a 5‑minute take at 200?
the crosstalk is what really exposes your dictionary. Since you’ve already got 45 minutes on Case CATalyst, swap one session each week for a straight 20‑minute live hearing or council feed with Realtime Statistics on, and don’t get up until your untranslates are under five and conflicts are handled on the fly — once that’s consistent at 200, you’re there. @c_lopez89’s readback tip meshes well; what’s your current untranslate count at 200?
Weekly benchmark that worked for me: run a 3x3 spike — three 3‑minute bursts at 220 with 60‑second breathers, then a 6‑minute settle at 200 — and call it court‑ready when untranslates stay under 5/1,000 and your speaker tags are clean on overlap; @v_davis34 is right about layered voices, so use a livestream or two tracks to test it. What’s your current untranslate rate?
Use your ‘45 minutes’ to log realtime %, not just speed; aim about 98%. Current Case CATalyst accuracy?
What moved the needle for me was a weekly “cold readback”: grab a random 30‑second two‑voice clip at 200 from real court audio, write it, then read it back immediately with at most one stumble — when I could do that three weeks straight, my notes were courtroom‑clean. To keep it honest, count drops per page (aim under 1%) and build briefs for the usual offenders like “Your Honor,” “Objection,” and fast speaker IDs; @andrews92’s realtime tip pairs well with this. Which venue are you aiming at — criminal or civil — since the pace difference is like jogging versus dodging traffic?