Editing tests!

May 18, 2005 2:34 PM

My girlfriend's applied to editorial positions, and is uncertain what to expect on editing tests. She's taken some professional editing classes (using the CMS, which the positions will also use), so the concern isn't at the level of how to edit. Any tips or insight into what such tests generally consist of would be appreciated.
posted by kenko to writing & language (12 comments total)

if it's a magazine, it'll be a sample story, with tons of mistakes...she'll be expected to make queries about some things that don't make sense or need to be clarified, improve flow, and make general copyediting/proofreading corrections.
posted by amberglow at 3:44 PM on May 18, 2005

I just took an editing test and the directions were to correct a series of sentences, making the fewest changes possible. There were sentences with grammar errors, syntax errors, usage errors, etc.

Then there were a couple paragraphs to edit. I might have been a bit more heavy-handed than they would have liked, because I adore brevity and directness. But we'll see.
posted by elisabeth r at 3:52 PM on May 18, 2005

I tested for two jobs based primarily on AP, although because of the publisher's particular industry, applicants were expected to have a good working knowledge of MLA and US Printing Office styles as well. Not much Chicago, although of course there are lots of general areas where all of these overlap to a certain extent. I was expected to be both fast and very exact in use of all marks, as well as a consistent critic of grammar, spelling and style. My ability to read others' handwriting, and the legibility of my own handwriting, was also quite important. In this particular setting, speed was almost as important as ability, as both jobs involved presschecks of printed matter rushed to press as well as manuscript and typeset proofs. However, it turned out that both jobs paid quite poorly, and I have not pursued employment as a copyeditor since.
posted by luriete at 4:10 PM on May 18, 2005

Be freakishly aware of every single word in a story they give you to edit. For example: They might say "Volkswagon" in a story that briefly mentions a car. They want you to know that it's "VolkswagEn." Ditto "Barbra" Streisand -- if they have it as "Barbara," you'll need to know that she spells it differently, and make the change. That shows you're aware enough to catch the million little things that we as journalists face every day.
posted by GaelFC at 4:50 PM on May 18, 2005

Most of the discussion in this thread was more specifically about proofreading tests, but there should be some overlapping information in there.
posted by scody at 4:57 PM on May 18, 2005

I was surprised that one test I took had as many general news knowledge questions as editing tasks.

Who is is the Secretary of Commerce? Name as many members as you can on the City Council/County Board of Supervisors. What is the name of the group that led the recall drive against State Senator Smith. That kind of stuff.
posted by planetkyoto at 5:22 PM on May 18, 2005

I recently took an editing test at a vanity press. I was given six pages of copy - two pages from three different stories - and a page of references. I had a week or so to work on it, they specified using Chicago Manual of Style, and that was about it.
posted by booth at 9:57 PM on May 18, 2005 [1 favorite]

I was surprised that one test I took had as many general news knowledge questions as editing tasks.
Who is is the Secretary of Commerce? Name as many members as you can on the City Council/County Board of Supervisors. What is the name of the group that led the recall drive against State Senator Smith. That kind of stuff.

PlanetKyoto's experience was likely for a newspaper or news magazine editing position. Few of these will use CMS as a style guide, so Kenko's gf probably need not worry about this stuff (though it couldn't hurt).
posted by scratch at 6:55 AM on May 19, 2005

I've been an editor for nigh on 20 years now and never had to know that kind of crap. If I had to memorize who was on the County Board of Supervisors and the name of the group that led the recall drive, I'd have chosen another line of work.
posted by languagehat at 7:13 AM on May 19, 2005

FWIW, this was supposed to be a more detailed question, but I didn't realize that and asked it before getting full instructions. Some more detail (though not the question she would have asked): these are tests for academic journal ms editing (one test for each journal). Sociology, astrophysics, and biology. Apparently some subject-matter familiarity is called for—the astro journal won't take anyone without at least calculus, apparently. Thanks all for what's been posted already.
posted by kenko at 9:38 AM on May 19, 2005

Ah! With the added info (and your location), I'm guessing now that your gf has applied to work for the journals at U of Chicago? If so, I can try to find out more specifically what they're like there -- I know an editor at one of the medical research pubs.
posted by scody at 9:51 AM on May 19, 2005

The question about the Board of Supervisors isn't about what you know. It's about your knowledge of how to find the information quickly.

Have your proofreading marks down cold.

Spelling is by far the most important part of the test. Even one error will disqualify you.

It used to be that your three essential reference books were a dictionary, the Chicago Manual and an almanac for miscellaneous information. Now, it's about your ability to frame Google queries that return exactly what you want.

Make the Google Advanced Search page your first bookmark http://www.google.com/advanced_search?hl=en and set the default number of responses to 100.

Make your query part of a sentence in which the next word would be what you want. "Arnold Toynbee died" "Capital of Uzbekistan"

As my editing got better, I made fewer changes. Work by omitting needless words (you should recognize that quote) and not by adding or changing. That preserves and intensifies the writer's voice and not impose your own.
posted by KRS at 9:22 AM on May 20, 2005 [1 favorite]