Free shorthand practice material for all levels. Download exercises and start practicing today.

Practice Material Categories

Daily Practice Sets

• Basic stroke exercises (20 reps each)
• Common word practice (50 words)
• Sentence writing practice (20 sentences)
• Dictation practice (10 min daily)

Speed Drill Material

1. Common English phrases
2. Legal vocabulary
3. Business terms
4. News article excerpts

Tips

Practice daily for minimum 1 hour. Track progress weekly. Focus on weak areas.

Organising Your Practice Material

Downloaded material is only useful if you can find it when you sit down to practise. Set up a simple folder structure once and maintain it as you go:

1. Create a level-wise folder for beginner, intermediate, advanced and exam-level material. Do not keep everything in one downloads folder.
2. Name files by topic and date, such as strokes week one or dictation passage legal vocabulary. A clear name saves you from opening ten files to find the right one.
3. Keep a printed set for handwriting drills. Shorthand is written by hand, so keep the passages you use most in physical form next to your notebook.
4. Maintain a separate error file. Every passage where you scored badly gets a printed copy with corrections marked, ready for a repeat attempt later.

Turning Downloads into a Weekly Routine

Material sitting in a folder does nothing. Convert it into a fixed rotation so each type of exercise gets its turn:

Repeat the same passages across several days before moving to new ones. Familiar text lets your hand focus on outlines; constantly new text forces you to process meaning and writing at once, which slows progress.

Common Mistakes to Avoid

• Downloading dozens of PDFs and finishing none of them.
• Practising only the material you find easy, which quietly stalls your growth.
• Skipping the read-back step after each exercise set.
• Doing dictation without ever transcribing it on a computer.
• Changing your practice source every week instead of completing a full level.

Frequently Asked Questions

How much material should I cover in one day?

Far less than you think. One stroke set, one word list and one short dictation, all reviewed carefully, beat three shallow sessions. Depth of correction drives progress more than volume.

Can I make my own practice passages?

Yes, and it helps. Convert newspaper paragraphs, official notices or speech transcripts into dictation by recording them at a steady pace. Writing your own material also forces you to confront unfamiliar vocabulary early.

What should I do when a passage feels too hard?

Drop one level for that topic, drill the weak outlines slowly, and return to the passage a few days later. Skipping hard material entirely leaves the same gap waiting for you at exam time.

Should I keep old practice sheets?

Keep them. Old sheets double as progress markers and as ready-made revision drills. Flipping back to your first page after a few months of steady work is surprisingly motivating.

Final Tips

Free material is abundant; disciplined use of it is rare. Organise your files, rotate them on a fixed schedule, and review every mistake deliberately. Do that daily and the same simple sheets you downloaded today will still be carrying you forward months from now, at speeds that once felt out of reach.