NVRA Certifications

NVRA certifies voice writers and steno writers as court reporters, realtime reporters, CART providers, and broadcast captioners, as well as other related professionals. Beyond any licensing considerations, NVRA certification clearly demonstrates that the voice writer, steno writer,  or other related professional has attained a level of professionalism and skill well above that of others in the field.
 
In most states having certification or licensing requirements, NVRA's certifications are accepted in lieu of state testing. National certification through NVRA has a great value because our certifications are honored in so many states. As a result, the voice writer, steno writer, or other related professional can move or work from state to state without the need to retest. Most people also find NVRA testing beneficial due to the "Readiness Workshop" and the total immersion of the test weekend experience.
 

NVRA offers the following national certifications:

• Certified Verbatim Reporter (CVR)
• Certified Verbatim Reporter - Stenotype (CVR-S)
• Certificate of Merit (CM)
• Certificate of Merit - Stenotype (CM-S)
  
• Realtime Verbatim Reporter (RVR)
• Realtime Verbatim Reporter - Stenotype (RVR-S)
• Realtime Verbatim Reporter - Master (RVR-M)
• Realtime Verbatim Reporter - Master - Stenotype (RVR-M-S)
• Registered Broadcast Captioner - Master (RBC-M)
• Registered CART Provider - Master (RCP-M)

The NVRA certification testing program is available to all members. Tests are held at regular intervals throughout the year in various locations across the country. Click here to view the testing schedule.
 
Voice writers work as CART providers and Captioners nationwide.  Voice writing court reporters are able to practice in state court systems in the following states and the District of Columbia: Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Nevada, New Hampshire, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin, and Washington, DC.  In addition, voice writing court reporters work in the Federal Judicial System nationwide, the Military Court System internationally, and the U.S. Congress.

In order to retain these certifications, continuous membership in NVRA must be maintained. If membership is not maintained, the certification is revoked. Retesting would be required in order to regain certification.
 
In addition, 20 continuing education credits during each two-year cycle must be obtained. Requirements for CE credits are defined in NVRA's CE Handbook.

Complete information can be found in the NVRA Rules, Policies, and Procedures Manual for each designation. Links to these manuals will be found on the Test Schedule Downloads tab.
 
NVRA’s certification examinations meet the Standards for Educational and Psychological Testing (1999) and have been approved by a registered psychometrician.
 
For more information, contact:  membership@nvra.org
 
 

Criteria for certification are as follows:

CVR/CVR-S:

Candidates must be a high school graduate and provide documentary proof of high school graduation, GED, or passage of an independently administered test approved by the U.S. Secretary of Education. Documentation of a higher education degree is also acceptable. Candidates must be a General, Military, Student, or Honorary member of NVRA in good standing.
 
Candidates may attend an optional Test Readiness Session prior to testing. The fee for the session is $125.00. Should a candidate wish to attend additional sessions, the fees are as follows: second session $75.00; third and subsequent sessions $125.00.

Candidates must pass the Dictation Skills Test consisting of the dictation and transcription of three five-minute test segments with accuracy of 95 percent. The segments are a 180 word-per-minute literary, a 200 word-per-minute jury charge, and a 225 word-per-minute two-voice question and answer.

Candidates must attain a score of 70 or greater on the Written Knowledge Test designed to test their knowledge of reporting the verbatim record, transcript production including vocabulary and punctuation, transcript distribution, professional responsibilities, and ethics.  NOTE: A passing score on the Written Knowledge Test is valid for a period of three years provided continuous NVRA membership is maintained. If you held a passing score on the Written Knowledge Test as of December 1, 2017, that score expires on November 30, 2020. After that date, you must retake the Written Knowledge Test in order to achieve your CVR/CVR-S.

Candidates must pass the Skills Test consisting of the dictation and transcription of three five-minute test segments with accuracy of 95 percent on each. The segments are a 180 word-per-minute literary, a 200 word-per-minute jury charge, and a 225 word-per-minute two-voice question and answer.
 
NOTE:  Members currently holding a Registered Professional Reporter (RPR) NCRA designation shall be granted a Certified Verbatim Reporter - Stenotype (CVR-S) certification without examination upon receipt of a $50.00 processing fee, NVRA General Member dues ($225), and documentation to verify current NCRA certification.  This reciprocity agreement ended December 31, 2024.
 

CM/CM-S:

Candidates must hold a valid CVR®, CVR-S, or CVR®-M, and be a General, Military, or Honorary member of NVRA in good standing to test for the CM. For those in the process of earning the CVR®/CVR-S, CM/CM-S segments may be achieved prior to the completion of the CVR®/CVR-S. However, the CVR®/CVR-S designation must be achieved before the CM/CM-S can be attained.
 
Candidates must pass the Dictation Skills Test consisting of the dictation and transcription of three five-minute test segments with accuracy of 95 percent. The segments are a 200 word-per-minute literary, a 240 word-per-minute jury charge, and a 260 word-per-minute two-voice question and answer.
 
NOTE:  Members currently holding a Registered Merit Reporter (RMR) NCRA designation shall be granted a Certificate of Merit - Stenotype (CM-S) certification without examination upon receipt of a $50.00 processing fee, NVRA General Member dues ($225), and documentation to verify current NCRA certification.  This reciprocity agreement ended December 31, 2024.

RVR/RVR-S:

Candidates must hold a valid CVR®/CVR-S, or CVR®-M, and be a General, Military, or Honorary member of NVRA in good standing to test for the RVR®/RVR-S.
 
Candidates must pass the Dictation Skills Test consisting of the dictation and submission of at least one of three eight-minute segments with accuracy of 95 percent. No editing is permitted following the end of the dictation. The segments are a 180 word-per-minute literary, a 180 word-per-minute jury charge, and a 180 word-per-minute two-voice question and answer. Segments will be graded in full-minute increments comprising five consecutive minutes. The lowest error total on a continuous five-minute segment will be considered the score.
 
Candidates may dictate any and all segments, and all submitted segments will be graded. Any passing segment will result in certification.
 

RVR-M/RVR-M-S: 

Candidates must hold a valid CVR®/CVR-S, or CVR®-M, and be a General, Military, or Honorary member of NVRA in good standing to test for the RVR-M®/RVR-M-S.
 
Candidates must pass the Dictation Skills Test consisting of the dictation and submission of one eight-minute segment with accuracy of 96 percent. No editing is permitted following the end of the dictation. The segment is a 200 word-per-minute two-voice question and answer. The segment will be graded in full-minute increments comprising five consecutive minutes. The lowest error total on a continuous five-minute section will be considered the score.
 
NOTE:  Members currently holding a Certified Realtime Reporter (CRR) NCRA designation shall be granted a Realtime Verbatim Reporter - Master - Stenotype (RVR-M-S) certification without examination upon receipt of a $50.00 processing fee, NVRA General Member dues ($225), and documentation to verify current NCRA certification.  This reciprocity agreement ended December 31, 2024.
 

RCP-M:

Candidates must be a high school graduate and provide documentary proof of high school graduation, GED, or passage of an independently administered test approved by the U.S. Secretary of Education. Documentation of a higher education degree is also acceptable. Candidates must be a General, Military, Student, or Honorary member of NVRA in good standing.
 
The Dictation Skills Test for Registered CART Provider - Master (RCP-M) certification is comprised of one 22.5 minute dictation at variable speeds up to 225 wpm. The dictation simulates an actual CART environment and includes one main speaker, occasional comments from participants, and four (4) environmental sounds. The Dictation Skills Test must be passed with a minimum score of 97.5% with a standard drop down rate of 5 seconds or less.
 
Candidates must attain a score of 70 or greater on the Written Knowledge Test designed to test their knowledge of preparation and performance including hardware and software configurations, voice recognition technology and development, vocabulary and punctuation, the understanding of the needs of the deaf and hard of hearing community and proper interaction therewith, professional responsibilities including FCC regulations, and ethics.
 

RBC-M:

Candidates must be a high school graduate and provide documentary proof of high school graduation, GED, or passage of an independently administered test approved by the U.S. Secretary of Education. Documentation of a higher education degree is also acceptable. Candidates must be a General, Military, Student, or Honorary member of NVRA in good standing.
 
The Dictation Skills Test for Registered Broadcast Captioner - Master (RBC-M) certification is comprised of one 22.5 minute dictation at variable speeds up to 225 wpm. The dictation simulates an actual broadcast captioning environment and includes two speakers (Anchor: news, weather, sports; Station Reporter: a package) and four (4) environmental sounds. The Dictation Skills Test must be passed with a minimum score of 97.5% with a standard drop down rate of 5 seconds or less.
 
Candidates must attain a score of 70 or greater on the Written Knowledge Test designed to test their knowledge of preparation and performance including hardware and software configurations, voice recognition technology and development, vocabulary and punctuation, the understanding of the needs of the deaf and hard of hearing community and proper interaction therewith, professional responsibilities including FCC regulations, and ethics.