SELF-SCORING QUIZ How accurate are you? You MUST send to Simon

How much do you care about accuracy? Are you extremely determined to be 100% accurate about even the tiniest detail in your article? Or do you feel 99.9% accuracy is good enough?

Don'T Read The Bottom Part Below. Cover It Up

Until You Have Answered All 11 Questions

Write the NUMBER of your preferred answer in this column ?

If unsure how to spell super-model Elle's surname, I would look up an article about her.

1.Don't know 2.One wrong letter won't affect readers 3.Who cares? I can spell Elle ! 4.I'd do article and internet checks 5.I'd look up the fabulous Macquarie Dictionary

And Simon, it's:

1.McFerson 2.MacFerson 3.McPherson 4.MacPherson 5.Macpherson

Rather than write "the room was crowded" or "about 80 to 90 people were there", I would count each person in the room and write "81 adults and four children attended".

1.Don't know 2."Crowded room" is clear 3.Pedantic! 4.I think so 5.Agree 100%

If my interviewee was Bill Smith or Mary Brown I would still ask them to spell it slowly.

1.Don't know 2.No I'd look silly 3.I should already know! 4.It could be Smithe, Smyth, Smythe, Shmith, Browne, Broun, Broune . . . 5.Good rule always, for any name

It would be patronising to write Yothu Yindi is a great Aboriginal singer.

1.Don't know 2.Yes, racist! 3.Maybe 4.Definitely 5.It's simply wrong

When writing this week, last week, next week, the FIRST day of that week is:

1.Don't know 2.Day I determine 3.Day that logically applies 4.Monday 5.Sunday

A. 0.5 is five cents B. A billion is ten million million C. means "euro"

1.Don't know 2.A and C are right 3.A+B right 4.B+C right 5.None correct

I am annoyed when I see the apostrophe left out, eg, Coffs Harbour, Hunters Hill.

1.Don't know 2.Annoying for readers who live there 3.Don't understand 4.Don't allow myself to get upset about little matters 5.Apostrophes don't belong in these

Captain Phillip came here 18 years before Captain Cook established Australia.

1.Don't know 2.Sounds right 3.No, 20 years 4.Admiral Phillip 5.Total nonsense

"Rum and Coke" or "Rum and Cola" must always have capitals for "R" and "C".

1.I'm bored by all this 2.Correct 3. I think I agree 4.Coke wrong, should be Coca-Cola. 5."Coke" is a trademark (capital C), but rum and cola are generic names (small r and c)

CGT stands for: 1.Who cares? 2.Goods and Services Tax 3.Conversion Gains Tax 4.Capital Goods Tax 5.Capital Gains Tax

Total score:

10

Do you REALLY want to be a freelance journalist . . ?

11 to 20

You do NOT have the dedication to accuracy that's valued by editors.

21 to 54

Yes, you will get by, but more dedication to accuracy would propel you further and faster in freelance journalism. Combined with ideas and talent you will succeed.

55

You should have answered "5" to all 11 questions to be admired as a writer whom editors regard as "dedicated to 100% accuracy".

Simon Townsend Media Tests 2004 Devised and developed by S P Townsend and republished with his permission.

Comments to Simon:???????????????..????????????????????

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  • 80% of students don't pick up this deliberate mis-statement. Yothu Yindi is a band not a singer.