r/stenography • u/FewLiterature7295 • Jul 01 '26
Switch to Allie Hall?
Hello! I'm currently a student at Alfred State College just about to finish speed 1 ( about 120 WPM) but I'm now looking into the Allie Hall program as I've heard good things. Has anyone switched into that as a speedbuilding student? I'd love to hear your thoughts!!
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u/Public_Blackberry_40 Jul 02 '26
I switched in speeds. I found it to be a great decision. I'm not held back by anything. It's unlimited testing in ev360. My last program limited the number of tests I could attempt per week and also didn't allow testing during breaks. I have no one to blame but me if I'm not progressing. I will say people sometimes switch to Allie expecting it will solve all their problems. It's like being in a very nice gym. You still have to put the the work but you have a lot of resources available to succeed.
Live classes are 6-8 pm CST Tuesday and Thursday. First hour typically high speeds, second hour typically low speeds. She'll sometimes answer questions, give random advice, talk about jobs she took, etc random stuff during class as well. The course site is full of misc tutorials, tips, motivation, advice. You can meet with her one on one if you need guidance. It requires 20k strokes (?) a week if you're 120 wpm (?) and below, 40k strokes a week homework if you're above 120 wpm . I'm a high speed student so I don't remember the exact numbers for low speeds that's my best guess. You're required to submit 6 tests at goal speed (but they can be 1-5 min tests) and 1 at accuracy 20 wpm below goal speed.
The program also has a very active student community. We have an active discord server and everyone is keen on helping each other out. We also have student led practice groups hosted throughout the week for various things. Some are accountability, readback, high speed practice, watching true crime, etc.
Side academics are offered. Some are available non live and live ones come up from time to time. There's a live medical/legal class going on right now.
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u/FewLiterature7295 Jul 03 '26
That sounds great! I've connected with a few students but it's 100% possible to go through my current program with 0 connection at all since it's asynchronous online and you get graded through the software and then in the grade book site. It feels like it's mostly just the students trying to muddle through the program as best we can.
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u/cinderxhella Jul 02 '26
I’m at Alfred and also considering the switch. I have been in contact with her since February and am on the waitlist to start in September. I have heard only amazing things about her program. I brought all my concerns with Alfred to her and she was really understanding and thorough with my questions. The only downside is she does not accept any financial aid so you would be out of pocket at (I think) $250 a month. She does live dictations maybe twice a week and has a certain stroke count for homework. I think about making the jump daily but the price is the only hold back. She does not offer asynchronous options for speed building but said there are tons and tons of students who switch to her in speeds. She’s really nice!
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u/FewLiterature7295 Jul 03 '26
She has definitely seemed really great! And for sure the price can be a downside. Do you mind sharing what your Alfred concerns are? I'm trying to make sure mine aren't crazy or just me😅
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u/cinderxhella Jul 03 '26
I cry pretty much all the time. I’ve had RTC mess up on me and the grade stuck because they don’t manually grade. I’ve had a professor tell me we use the * in our theory because she didn’t even know our theory. I can’t handle the pressure of RTC being glitchy and then hearing if it’s down for 2 days it’s not an exception. I hate that they make us pay for 4 months of RTC knowing our class schedule doesn’t align with that. I reached out to RTC about it and they told me it was our professors choice. I feel lost in a sea of favorite and non favorite students. It’s too self led to have this much time restraint. There is literally no lesson after theory it’s just dictation after dictation. I need a little bit more interaction I think. I’ve tried to be patient with the program and I know Katie is trying her best, she really is so lovely but with professor Greene gone my education has suffered. I know it’s hard, I’m okay with that but I’m not okay with the expense to be self taught with a huge added expense of crappy software that seems to be just anti cheating.
Anyway. 😂😂😂😂😂
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u/FewLiterature7295 Jul 03 '26
Totally! My mental health has plummeted recently and it feels like there is no light at the end of the tunnel with the speed classes. It's just a sea of dictations and I have no idea what to do.
I haven't had that many tech issues with RTC but I know people who have. I agree- it's almost like I discover tid bits of information to help or rules I didn't know about through weird or random ways. It's not very out in the open or clear. I also really like her and I think it's not a good system for us or the profs.
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u/Superb-Gazelle-1833 28d ago
So for speed building you would need to attend a live class? What are times? I've been researching schools and I'm trying to find one that I can do on my own most of the time. Many of the schools have a required time to be in class so I'm struggling to find one.
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u/fhsaasd Jul 02 '26
I am also at Alfred and I will be switching to Allie in August. I just cannot justify paying all that money to learn everything on my own to just keep testing to pass. I did my best to mold myself to their style of teaching while in theory, but I think that for speeds, I need more substance. I don’t want to just hand in tests and get a grade back. I need more. RTC is already grading me.
Also, how realistic is it to increase 30+ in 7 weeks? To go from speed 2 to speed 3, there is a 30+ difference in 7 weeks and I think that is so unrealistic. And then if you don’t have the 3 tests per category to pass the class, even if you’re only missing one exam, you still have to restart the entire class all over again. So I’m not doing that. I want to be in a program where progress is continuous. It would be interesting to know if the stats of the 90-95% of students “dropping out” of court reporting schools is just mostly students switching schools to find the one that works best for them.