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Rather than use a system that is set up that you have to learn and remember rules for, how about try to develop short cuts that work the easiest for your brain.  Me, personally, I don't want to have to remember what the first three and then the last 1 or 2 letters of a word are.  That would slow me down like mad.  I looked at the ABCZ system and went "huh?" and kept right on moving on.

For abbreviations for one word I use abbreviations that I used in my hand writing life - agmt for agreement, prd for proceed, info for information, etc.  For multiple word abbreviations I use the first letter of each word, i.e., COT = continuation of treatment,CIT = comes in today, FE = further evaluation.  I have CA for cancer and then rbca for right breast cancer, lca for lung cancer, etc. If I have an abbreviation where I've used TM and I want to put in two months, then I use the first letter of each word and the second letter of the second word, i.e. tmo for two months since TM is taken for something else.

This probably makes sense only to me, but that's sort of my point.  Find something that works with your brain that you don't have to really think about that just comes organically .  Pretty soon you'll find yourself starting to think in your abbreviations.

Anything and everything that is multiple words or letters that can be cut down to a very few letters needs to be so.  If you do a lot of headings for your reports where you have to put them in all caps and bold, for instance, then set up a macro to do that for each heading.  It'll take a while to set up, but it'll save you hours in the long run.

Good luck.

>>>you end up fixing things like changing "were" to "are", "a" to "an", that kind of thing. 

Like I said, it's all in the training process, which includes ar-ti-cu-lating correctly. You have to feel the words form in your mouth. If you don't, you're going to have errors like these. Also, did you use add phrases to the vocabulary? You sometimes have to do that. What about the microphone? If you used one of those right out of the box, that could be the problem. And your sound card? Did the program analyze thousands of documents? --- You can't just install the program and off you go. Like many an expansion program, you have to put time and effort into it ... but the gains are worth it (at least, they were for me).

>>>Easier in my opinion to type from scratch,

It depends upon the individual. If you're a relatively fast typist (100+) who can remember ten of thousands of abbreviations, or you're a whiz bang with ST or IT (which still ultimately requires memorization) you're certainly not going to benefit from the program aside from alleviating any pains and discomfort you might have as the result of RSI. But to those of us who who aren't whiz kids or are experiencing physical discomfort from years of clicking the keyboard, VR is blessing.

>>>not to mention that you are usually making half what a normal line rate is to do VR.

I can dictate and proof an average of 350 lph. Multiply that by 7 hours in a day.

My apologies if posting on wrong forum, but I am beginning to get paranoid and am wondering if I'm not doing something correctly.  When I respond to an ad on MT Stars, I click on the "Apply now" button, fill out the boxes appropriately with MY email address, etc., and then click "Submit."  It tells me it has sent the message to the "Desired recipient" (employer).  Am I doing this correctly?  I have applied for so many positions, am an experienced radiology MT with 30 years' experience, and am having a hard time accepting the fact that absolutely no one is responding to my applications. I've tried Keystrokes (needed 15 MTs for rad) and others.  I check every hour to see what new ads are posted and respond within that time frame.  I know it can take a couple of weeks or longer to hear anything, but when I hear that others hear back the next day I have to wonder if I'm just not performing the application process correctly.  Any feedback would be appreciated.  I'm getting worried and cannot find work.  Thanks.

I've been taking tests because I'm looking for a new job, and man, these tests take a lot out of you. For lots of companies, you have to take a screening test, an objective test, and a transcription test. If you take a lot of these for several different companies, it can be so tiring.

I wish that companies would shorten their tests. Half the time you don't even hear back from these companies anyway.

I had to take an objective test and then transcribe 4 reports and QA 3 reports.  For the transcription and QA part, they were supposed to give me instructions on downloading the files from their FTP site except I never received an email.  So when I emailed back, they said "oh sorry, I thought I sent this to you already."  So I took the transcription/QA portion, and then within five minutes of me returning the completed reports they said the position had been filled!

They didn't even grade my test!  It's that kind of crap that puts me off.  I took the time to take their test and to follow up with them when they had fallen down on the job and then they don't even bother to grade my test?  Not to mention before I started transcribing the reports, they probably knew they were hiring someone else anyway!

All I have to say to these MTSOs is get a clue!  You want us to behave professionally, how about returning the favor?  Our time is just as valuable as yours.

Does anyone know how to use your foot pedal while testing for companies?  I am having to use my mouse to start and stop the dictation and it is taking me FOREVER......help.....

Thanks.