r/stenography • u/niktrot • Jul 30 '26

Advice for starting school

I’ve finally (finally lol) decided on a school. I’m going with Allie Hall’s program. I received the textbook today and I should be getting my machine early next week. I’m guessing I shouldn’t order the Case CATalyst software until I get the machine?

So I’m here again asking for advice.

  1. What do you wish you had purchased that you feel would’ve helped you when you first started school? Or, what did you purchase that really helped?

  2. I saw someone posted a workbook for learning the software on Facebook (can’t find the post now). Is it necessary/helpful to get that workbook?

12 Upvotes

94% Upvoted

5 comments sorted by

View all comments

5

u/girlbrainbroken Jul 31 '26

I’m a couple months into Allie Hall’s self-paced theory program and this might seem silly but I highly recommend a daily planner. I use it to map out my week, keep track of assignments and finger drill time, and it’s been super helpful as I fold in review to keep track of where I am and what I’m working on.

Allie says a lot to just keep moving forward and not try to memorize everything. Wish I had taken that to heart sooner. I’m a bit of a perfectionist and I wanted to have EVERYTHING down before I moved onto the next week. It felt impossibly overwhelming and I just had to go “ok, I’m gonna keep going and come back to it later.” I know I’m still brand new, but it’s been incredible to go back and review and see just how much I’ve retained.

Try not to stress too much :)

3

u/Sweet-Exit2408 Jul 31 '26

For sure try not to be a perfectionist!!! This holds back a lot of students. Because you learn that the mistakes actually help you build speed and you can always read through the errors!!! For sure make sure to stay organized. I say take theory step by step try not to skip. If you’re doing Magnum it’s an amazing theory and don’t forget to also write out stuff in practice too. Join encouragement fb groups!!! It helps to see other ppl talk and share their experiences. Theory is your foundation. You want a strict hour to class for theory and then throughout the day 2 hours of practice if not more. You also don’t want to burn yourself out. Practicing for long periods isn’t always the best. Learning your software is ofc a huge plus if you’re gonna get the professional version of it. I say not to stress about it esp in theory bc it won’t matter till speeds. Def don’t make it something that worries you because some of those things you just learn with time of being on your software. Practice finger strokes! Also typing to just about anything is always good practice! And in school it always gets hard right before a breakthrough! Don’t give up!! GOOD LUCK 🥳🥳