Your first week
Five short sessions take you from your first sound to practice that matches how you compete. Each session adds one skill, and the five take about 1 hour in all. Finish Get started first, so a voice is installed.
Session 1: Read and review a question
Section titled “Session 1: Read and review a question”This session takes about 10 minutes.
Paste any question, such as the toss-up from Get started, and press Command-Return to speak it. Press Command-Period (.) to stop it and Command-R to repeat it. Click Spoken script to read the words the voice received. Then select Read answer line and speak the question again.
The status bar shows “Stopped.” after you stop and “Repeating.” after you repeat. You can now speak, stop, and repeat a question, check the spoken script, and hear the answer.
Start with the tutorial Read and review a question. If Speak is dimmed, see Speak is dimmed.
Session 2: Paste real questions
Section titled “Session 2: Paste real questions”This session takes about 10 minutes.
Copy one or more questions from a PDF or a web page, and paste them into the question box. The app reads several questions in order, with a 1.5-second pause between them. The spoken script starts each question with its header, such as “Toss-up number two.”
The Spoken script view shows each question you pasted. You can now read your own practice material.
Start with Paste questions from a PDF or web page. If the app reads nothing, see The app finds nothing to read.
Session 3: Add voice variety
Section titled “Session 3: Add voice variety”This session takes about 10 minutes.
Wait for the voice download to finish, as Let the voices download describes. The Voice menu then lists every voice. Choose Round robin in the Rotation menu and speak a question. Speak another question to hear the next voice.
The status bar names the voice for each reading, for example “Playing n s with name (gender).” You can now hear a different voice each time you speak a question.
Start with the tutorial Practice with voice rotation. If the Voice menu lists voices from only one engine, see Voices from one engine are missing.
Session 4: Fix a word
Section titled “Session 4: Fix a word”This session takes about 15 minutes.
Type a pronunciation guide in square brackets right after a word, for example Krebs cycle [KREBZ SY-kul]. Speak the question, then check the Spoken script and the status bar.
The guide Krebs cycle [KREBZ SY-kul] raises no warning, and the spoken script still shows “Krebs cycle”. A guide the app cannot use raises a warning, such as “Warning: No pronunciation for respelling [OL-UH-VEEN]: ‘olivine’ is spoken plain.” for olivine [OL-UH-VEEN]. You can now make a hard word sound right with a guide.
Start with the tutorial Fix a mispronounced word. If a word still sounds wrong, see A word sounds wrong.
Session 5: Practice the way you compete
Section titled “Session 5: Practice the way you compete”This session takes about 15 minutes. Choose the page for your role:
- Students: Practice on your own.
- Coaches: Run a team practice.
Print Keyboard shortcuts so it sits next to your Mac. Before an event with no network, follow Work offline.
You can now run a practice the way you compete. Students answer before the answer line plays, and coaches read from the keyboard.
Keep going
Section titled “Keep going”The reference pages hold the details. Main window lists every control, Voices and rotation modes lists every voice, and Troubleshooting fixes common problems. If the manual does not answer your question, see Get help.