I'm about to start up at career step and have been putting in my research. I'm curious what the average WPM is for all you out there? What is a decent speed? I average 55 WPM but I haven't had a computer for the past 5 months so I'm a bit out of practice. Also any imput on Career Step would be nice!

Hi Lauren,

There is a big difference between words typed per minute and words transcribed per minute. If you have to stop and look up every word while you are transcribing your speed is going to suffer. That is why it is so important to learn as much as you can while you are in school. Regardless of your experience, there will always be some words you will have to look up, but the less you have to, the better your speed.

Getting your keyboarding speed up as high is possible is helpful, though don't forget that knowing what you are transcribing is just as important.

As far as Career Step, they have a good reputation and are approved by AHDI. You might check out the other approved schools on AHDI to see if there might be a better fit for you, as courses tend to cater to different learning styles. I would say that Career Step definitely has a lot of students. I would make sure the course included the AHDI Book of Style, either furnishing it as part of the course or you purchasing it and learning it on your own if you realize that transcription is the career for you. Most national companies use this as their style reference.

Try googling "Career Step transcription reviews" (no quotes) and you might get a good idea of the pros and cons. I believe they have an affiliation with some national transcription services as far as obtaining employment after the course.

I found this article of particular interest regarding transcription schools in general:

http://undress4success.com/medical-transcription-scam-alert/

Hope this helps!

KKB-
The article you included made me feel much better about spending the extra money for a good school! I guess no matter what everyone starts out a fearful. I was so excited, then as time got closer I was questioning
*Am I a good enough typer?
*Can I learn all of this stuff and work full time with my family to care for?
*Is it a good enough school?
Since I've joined this site its been easier to tell myself this will be a good thing for me. I just can't wait to start!

Glad you feel better. There are schools that are more expensive than others, but you need to do your homework and see if there is a reason for this. Good reasons would be that the staff are all Certified Medical Transcriptionists (i.e., they have the credential because they sat for the exam which is administered through AHDI--having a certificate from a school DOES NOT mean one is certified), they furnish more books/equipment than another program, they are easier to contact regarding coursework, and they have a reputation for employers hiring their graduates.

Keep us updated on your progress!

Don't worry about your typing speed too much. You will find with the exercises when you are doing your studies with Career Step that it will definitely improve. Besides, once you are working you will see that most accounts are VR (voice recognition), so most likely you will be doing 80-90%, if not more, VR work, which is editing - relatively little keyboarding, at least compared to straight typing accounts. I would say, with the nature of the industry at present, editing skills are as important as typing skills. As far as Career Step goes - well, as a graduate and someone who has been working virtually from the moment I graduated, I have nothing but good things to say about it!

Hey Lauren,
I am a Career Step student and I love the school. They do provide you with 14-months of: Book of Style, Benchmark with Stedman's medical dictionary and additional resources. I only have a few hours a day to put into school so I have had to get an extension on my time and maybe even a second in a few months. My speed has increased exponentially over the last year, and I have found IT (Instant Text- a word expander) and it has made such a difference. The nice thing is that people are getting hired right after passing the final. People that graduate with high honors don't even have to take the entrance exam in most companies.
Kim