Once you've established yourself as an RPR, your next step is to become an advanced-level court reporter by passing the Registered Merit Reporter (RMR) Exam.
With your RMR, your peers and clients will recognize you as one of the top court reporters in the country. Your RMR gives you...
- More opportunities for challenging and lucrative job assignments
- An opportunity to compete in NCRA's National Speed Contest
- The inspiration to enhance your skills and become an even more valuable part of the judicial system
- Eligibility to become an RDR
- .5 CEUs for passing each leg of the exam
- In its comprehensive analysis of reporting, Hay Management Consultants refers to the RMR--which 16% of RPRs have earned--as a level of achievement worthy of a higher salary and more recognition. NCRA now boasts over 3,000 RMRs.
Who is Eligible to Sit for the RMR Exam?
To apply for the RMR skills test you must be a member of NCRA and an RPR.
To apply for the RMR written knowledge test a member must be an RPR and have three (3) years of current and continuous membership commencing with Participating or Registered member status.
How to Register for the RMR Exam
Effective with the fall 2007 exams, the NCRA written knowledge and skills tests are being offered on separate days and at separate testing centers. Please visit NCRA’s Online Certification Center at www.NCRAonline.org/testing for more information.
Because the tests are being offered separately, candidates must register for the written knowledge and skills tests separately. For registration dates and deadlines, please visit NCRA’s Online Certification Center at www.NCRAonline.org/testing for frequent updates.
Job Analysis
An RMR Job Analysis that explains the relevant job experience, practice domains and tasks, and underlying knowledge and skills essential for a merit reporter is available online. [Adobe Acrobat]
What it Takes to Pass the RMR Exam
The RMR Exam consists of a 105*-question Written Knowledge Test (WKT) that focuses on four areas of knowledge--reporting (47%), transcript production (41%), administration (6%), and professional issues and continuing education (6%). Your scaled score** must be a minimum of 70 to pass the WKT.
* In order to provide candidates with a valid and reliable examination, NCRA has started to pretest items for the RPR, RMR, and RDR examinations. Pretesting ensures that all items on an examination are items with good statistics and no brand new, untried items will appear on any examination. Starting with the November 2006 administration, the RPR, RMR, and RDR examinations will include items for pretesting. This means that the examinations will now have 105-110 items instead of 100 items. These items will not be scored, so the exams are still based off of 100 points. Candidates will not know which items are pretest items. Also, with the addition of the items, the RDR will now be 105 minutes instead of 90 minutes to allow candidates sufficient time to finish the examination.
** Scaled scoring is a means of assuring fairness and consistency in the difficulty level from one test administration to the next, achieved by applying two widely accepted standard-setting methods to each individual test question. This evaluation, recommended by NCRA's testing consultant and done by the Test Advisory Committee in conjunction with the Certification Standard Setting Task Force, has been in use since November 2003 and ensures that NCRA's program continues to meet testing industry standards.
To earn your RMR, you'll also have to pass three sections of a skills test that evaluates you in three areas--Literary at 200 wpm, Jury Charge at 240 wpm, and Testimony/Q&A at 260 wpm. After dictation, you have 75 minutes to transcribe your notes from each leg. You must have 95% accuracy on each leg to pass.
You do not have to pass all sections of the exam at one sitting. As long as you maintain your NCRA membership, you will retain credit for the sections passed. There is no time limit for earning the RMR.
Differences Between the RMR Program and the Former CM
All NCRA members who were members in good standing at the time of conversion (on November 4, 1994) were automatically converted to the new program as RMRs, unless they requested otherwise. Nonmembers will retain their CM designation.
In order to maintain your RMR, you'll need to maintain continuous membership and your RPR certification. You'll renew both your RPR and RMR simultaneously with the same 3.0 CEUs. In other words, you won't have to earn a total of 6.0 CEUs to renew your RPR and RMR.
By participating in NCRA's Continuing Education program, RMRs will maintain their skills and stay on top of the latest changes in the court reporting profession.
Note: If you are already a tested RMR, you can earn 0.5 CEUs in academics for re-passing the Written Knowledge Test (only) portion of the exam.
Recognition of Your Achievement
After you've earned your RPR, you'll receive a handsome certificate to display in your home or office. Your RMR also gets you recognition in the Journal of Court Reporting, the Court Reporter Sourcebook, and on NCRA's Web site.
And, over 1,500 universities will recognize your RMR designation with three additional hours of college credits above the 21 semester hours you were awarded for earning your RPR.
CEUs:
Skills Portion = 1.5 CEUs in Reporting Technology for passing (.5 for each leg)
WKT = 0.5 CEUs in Academics for passing
Total = 2.0 CEUs