On average, 225 words per minute are written in shorthand. This is the average grade that students need to get to graduate from a modern shorthand or stenographer class.
Shorthand that is written on paper is not as fast as shorthand that is typed on a stenotype keyboard. These keyboards are now the most common way to write in shorthand, and courts and law offices use them to take notes during meetings and trials. Most stenography classes that teach shorthand last about 36 months. In the first six to eight months, the average student can read about 100 words per minute. If a student is good at his way of typing and taking notes, they can get to the average number of words per minute in as little as 18 months.
