Hi all,

I have an interview for a job in a couple of weeks that involves writing and editing careers publications (I am currently a careers adviser). As part of the interview I have to do a proofreading test. Although think I am decent at grammar and spotting errors in writing, I've never done it in an official capacity like this or been tested on it before.

Does anyone have any tips or know of anything I could read that might give me some tips?

Thanks!

Cath

Hi Cath,

Among other things, I freelance as a proofreader. I've worked in various places and taken many different entry tests. Nowadays, nobody uses proofreading marks anymore, but you could look at the basics for the principles, and the odd one is useful (like showing transposed letters). You don't really need that, though. The main thing you need to demonstrate is that you can pick out errors, or at least query suspected errors, and I'm sure you can do that! Watch out especially for 'literals' - 'they're' and 'there', 'here' and 'hear', etc. Make sure you can spell 'accommodation' and all those commonly misspelt words, because they always try to sneak those into tests. Remember that consistency is important, so for example, if you see 'High School' and 'high school' in the same piece, raise a query, unless you know it's correct. Um, that's all I can think of right now. If I think of any more, or find any links, I'll let you know. Or feel free to WWMail me. And good luck!

Luisa

(phew, that was a long paragraph - sorry!)

That's great, Luisa. I may be picking your brains later....

Cath x

This looked quite good:
http://www.explorewriting.co.uk/Proofreading.html

This one has the most commonly used proofreading symbols and you're supposed to enrol for more. But I've only ever seen people use these ones, anyway:
http://www.gpuss.com/course/samples/pages/symbols.shtml
And you probably don't even need those, since most proofreading is done on-screen nowadays.

Oh, and don't forget to look out for mistakes in paragraphing and punctuation, and also in font usage and size. You might think a changed font isn't part of the test, but in my experience it usually is.

Luisa

I thought of something else, Cath. Watch out for lines starting with the same word that the previous line ended with. Urg... that's clear as mud. I mean:

He went to the
the shops.

I'm sure you know this but I just thought I'd mention it. Its another one of the typical tricks of proofreading tests!

I'm wondering what form the test will take. Will it be a printed copy and I'm supposed to just mark things I notice? Could it be on a computer and I correct mistakes or what?

Cheers!

Cath

I don't know... When I've gone into an office for a test, I've always been given paper copy (even for online proofreading jobs). I think it might be easier to mark that way? When I've done a test from home, it's been in something like a Word document, for example with 'track changes' switched on.

OK. You've been a lot of help, Luisa!

Cath

Cath, I'm very late to this- but just two things: read it aloud, and read it backwards (it really works)

Hopefully you've already bagged the job even as I type...

Yes, Cath, how did it go?

Just heard yesterday I got the job.

Apparently I got 110% on the proofreading test because I noticed things that the woman marking it hadn't!!

Maybe I shuld consider doing it freelance too!

Thanks Luisa - and pestcontrol, although I didn't see yours before the test!

Cath x

Cath, many congratulations! One up to you, being better than the examiner!

Emma

Congratulations, Cath! 110% - get you! Well done, superstar!

I hope you enjoy the job.

Luisa
x

Well done, Cath! That's fab!

Big congratulatoins Cath, I think we shuold all help yuo along in our massages of good wishes bye slipping the od typo in their.

Well don.

xx
Colin Em