TIPS: How to pass 100wpm shorthand

Sadly there is no magic formula to passing your shorthand. You've just got to learn the outlines and practise, practise, practise!

I can't stress enough how important shorthand is going to be throughout your career as a journalist especially when covering a court case or doing an interview where you only get one hit at questioning.

In both cases you have got to be able to write at speed and to be able to accurately record what you’ve written when you come to write your story.

And in a court of law especially there is no margin for error. You can’t make up quotes or guess what people have said just because you haven’t been able to write it down fast enough.

So what’s the best way to practise your shorthand?

Attend shorthand classes: If you're doing a degree or diploma course in journalism make sure it includes shorthand (in the UK an NCTJ accredited course is preferred) and attend the lessons on the course. I wouldn’t advise you to skip any of your lessons but missing the shorthand classes is not the same as missing a textbook-based class that you could catch up with at a later late. And lagging further and further behind your classmates in shorthand is likely to make you feel demoralised and not wanting to learn. So no skipping shorthand, however dull, repetitive or hard it seems!

Online shorthand recordings: Youtube has loads of recordings to practise your shorthand. Make sure you are using a credible recording though and one that matches the speed you require for your current level. If your shorthand is only 40wpm but you’re practising with recordings aimed at people whose speed is 90wpm, you may struggle and could easily get disheartened. On the other hand, you might find a faster speed easier I know I did, so soldier on and keep on practising at the speed you feel you can achieve.

Record and watch TV news: I always found that watching the TV news was good practise, especially the BBC news where newsreaders tend to talk in short bursts, have a clear voice and speak at a steady, realistic speed. If you record the news you can re-play it to see how much of it you managed to get down before having another go to see if you can improve your ‘score’.

Go to court and public meetings: Similar to listening and recounting TV news in shorthand, you could attend a public court or meeting to get some ‘real life’ practise. Always make yourself known to the court usher or chairperson of the meeting though, tell them what you want to do and that it’s only for your personal practise and not for publication. They’re likely to be okay with that and happy that you have opted to attend the court or meeting as part of your studies. It will be good practise watching a real court or public meeting in full swing too.

Read outlines: Visualise the outlines for words as you read a newspaper, book or magazine etc. Get a notepad and pen and try to transcribe a short passage into shorthand. Say the words out loud as you are writing them in shorthand. Put the shorthand version aside for an hour or so before seeing if you can translate it back into words. Done right, this is a great exercise for practising how to write shorthand outlines so they end up being something you can read and not just pages of squiggle.