so ive been at this for about four months now and im kind of stuck in that weird plateau around 12-13wpm where i can copy most stuff but i lose it when things speed up even a little. started with the Koch method on LCWO and got through all the characters pretty quick, felt great about it, but now i feel like im just spinning my wheels.

been doing about 20-30 minutes a day which i read is the right amount, not trying to cram. i use the RufzXP thing sometimes for callsigns but honestly it stresses me out more than it helps at that point. my elmer told me to just jump on 40m and copy whatever i hear but half the time i cant keep up and i get discouraged. is there like a middle ground approach that actually moved the needle for people who went through this same plateau? would love to hear what actually worked vs what sounded good but didnt really do much

yeah the plateau around 12wpm is real and almost everyone hits it, dont let it discourage you. what broke it for me was honestly just forcing myself to stop writing things down. i know that sounds counterintuitive but the moment i stopped trying to transcribe every single letter and just let the words flow through my head, something clicked. took about two weeks of feeling completely lost before it started working but after that i jumped to 17wpm pretty fast.

also the daily practice thing is exactly right but make sure youre pushing the speed up even when it feels uncomfortable. some guys on here swear by setting LCWO a full 5wpm faster than your comfortable speed and just accepting that youll only copy maybe 60-70% of it. your brain fills in the gaps over time. kinda like learning a language by immersion i guess. your elmer is right about 40m but maybe find a slow net first instead of just tuning around blind, there are some 13-15wpm nets that are perfect for where youre at right now.

i went through this same thing last year, took me forever to get past 15wpm. what finally helped me was just listening to a lot of W1AW code practice recordings during my commute, not actively trying to copy, just having it on. probably sounds lazy but after a few weeks things started sounding more like words and less like individual dits and dahs if that makes sense. also G4FON Koch trainer has some good settings people dont talk about much