16 Best Online Proofreading Quizzes To Test Your Skills In 2024 (Exercises With Answers)

Grammatical errors can significantly impact the credibility of any written work. 

To catch any of these errors, developing solid proofreading skills is crucial. 

What better way to do so than through a proofreading quiz with answers? 

Online proofreading quizzes can be a fun and effective way to test your knowledge and identify areas for improvement. 

Whether you’re a writer or looking to venture into proofreading as a beginner or expert proofreader, they are a significant step.

Regular proofreading exercises online will allow you to develop the attention to detail necessary to become a successful proofreader. 

Based on my research, I’ll discuss online proofreading practices, quizzes and test examples, and proofreading tips to elevate your skills. 

16 Online Proofreading Tests with Answers

1) DollarBerg quick online proofreading quiz

One of the best ways to improve your proofreading skills is by taking a proofreading quiz.

Such quizzes enlighten you on what to look out for.

You can do these quizzes online and know your score.

Here is a proofreading quiz (and answers) to help you improve your skills.

2) Chartered Institute of Editing and Proofreading 

Formerly known as the Society for Editors and Proofreaders (SfEP), this organization is a great way to build your foundation as a proofreader. 

It offers proofreaders and editors a community, support, and training to promote excellence in English proofreading. 

Their proofreading test is a PDF document with an excerpt to go through. The self-assessing test examines the common errors people make in English. 

You need to identify 20 errors in the one-page document ranging from spelling, punctuation, and word use. 

There is an accompanying PDF with answers that you can use to gauge your skills. 

Aside from the above, the Chartered Institute of Editing and Proofreading also has other language quizzes. 

3) Using English for Academic Purposes (UEfAP)

UEfAP is an excellent resource for individuals seeking to understand English. 

Even though the emphasis is on academic purposes, there are plenty of tests that can help elevate your proofreading skills. 

Andrew Gillett created the site in early 2000, and it remains relevant. 

Proofreading quizzes on UEfAP test on spelling, punctuation, word order, and the use of the different parts of speech. 

The tests vary in form. In some sections, you will find multiple choices; in others, you’ll need to edit the text. 

You get immediate feedback, and the score is cumulative as you progress with the test.

4) Purdue OWL Exercises

Purdue OWL is an online writing lab that offers a variety of resources for its global audience. 

They offer online referencing materials, writing advice, help, and services. 

A section on their site that is relevant to proofreaders is the OWL exercises. 

This contains exercises geared towards improving your understanding of the English language.

You’ll get grammar, punctuation, spelling, sentence structure, and many more exercises to practice.  

You may need to print or work on the exercises on a Word or Google document. There are no multiple choices or editable sections. 

The answers are linked at the bottom of every quiz for reference. 

5) New York Times 

The New York Times is a New York newspaper with a global audience with print and digital subscribers. 

They have a short quiz to test their prowess in reading published writing. 

There are 5 excerpts taken from articles in different industries with punctuation, grammar, spelling, or factual errors.

They have specified the number of mistakes to find in each question.

When done, the answers are provided in a PDF linked at the end of the article.  

6) ProofreadNow.com 

This is a company that offers proofreading services to writers, publishers, advertisers, marketers, and editors. 

Having been in the industry since 1999, they understand the proofreading and editing landscape. 

Their basic proofreading quiz is a great way to gauge your skills. It is perfect for individuals with a keen eye to identify mistakes.

The test has 10 questions with multiple choices. Upon completion, select done to get the results.

When you ace all the 10 questions, you’re steps ahead to becoming an excellent proofreader. 

7) Om Proofreading 

Om Proofreading is a resource for proofreaders founded by Lindsay Babcock.

The Om proofreading test is an engaging multiple-choice quiz. You get to test yourself with 20 questions based on American English. 

The test focuses on homophones. These are words with the same sound but different spelling.

They can be a great challenge for most, and a test is a great way to identify any weaknesses.  

8) Earn Smart Online Class 

Earn Smart online class is a blog that provides resources to proofreaders at all levels. 

It offers excellent resources and tips on how to become a proofreader.  

The quiz on their blog is a favorite that covers the basic grammar errors in content. 

The Earn smart online class test focuses on using possessive pronouns, split infinitives, and more.  

You can take the quiz and get the answers online or download the PDFs. 

9) Portland Proof

Portland Proof is a proofreading service that caters to authors with different needs. 

They describe themselves as an affordable service that proofreads novels, books, academic papers, resumes, and other online content. 

The quiz on Portland Proof is called Proof It. It is in a game format where contestants are ranked weekly based on the highest score. 

The quiz has ten sentences appearing one at a time. Each sentence has a mistake; you need to identify and click it on the space. 

Just so you know, you will get an immediate response if you are correct. If you don't get it right, a message is highlighted to prompt you to try again. 

You'll need to correct the mistake to move forward to the next sentence.   

10) EditingTests.com

Editing Tests is a service that offers proofreading, editing, and writing testing. It is a subsidiary of EditFast that offers proofreading and editing services. 

Unlike most of the quizzes on the list, Editing Tests is a paid service that is more comprehensive. 

You must register and create an account to access the various tests on the platform. 

The costs are $50 per candidate. This grants an editing package with 3 parts to it. 

Parts 1 and 2 are the tests, and part 3 is a professional assessment based on the test results. 

The assessment is delivered 24 hours after completing the required tests.  

The assessment gives you a clear picture of your skill level as a proofreader. 

11) AuthorityPub 

Authority Pub is a blog with resources for professionals in the publishing industry. 

The proofreading test on the site is in the form of a letter.

It is an intriguing yet challenging test that requires you to find errors missed when editing.

The test takes a keen interest in punctuation, spelling, and the use of homophones. 

A corrected sample of the letter is also provided with the mistakes in the original highlighted. 

12) GrammarBook.com

The GrammarBook platform is based on The Blue Book of Grammar and Punctuation. 

It has hundreds of pages detailing grammar, punctuation, and other rules relating to English. 

You can get access to free or paid proofreading quizzes. 

With free access, you can get 4 tests and 52 different quizzes. They are all multiple choice, but the quizzes are shorter than the 4 tests.

The paid versions have a monthly subscription with several levels depending on your needs. 

13 Grammar Lion

This is a tutoring platform by Ellen Feld, an instructor who is also an editor and coach. 

The Grammar Lion test helps you to gauge your skills and experience the platform’s teaching style. 

Before you start the test, you must create an account on the platform. 

Taking the test also requires you to be keen as you select. You cannot go back to a question once you have moved on. 

The score is revealed once you tackle all the questions. 

14) Edit Republic 

Edit Republic is a platform that offers tools, coaching, courses, and a community for proofreaders and editors. 

They offer a wealth of information through free and paid courses and masterclasses. 

Their general quiz is a great option to test your proofreading skills. 

It is a straightforward test with 10 multiple-choice questions. 

Once you’re done, you must provide an email where the results will be sent.  

15) Business Writing Blog 

As the name suggests, this blog provides insights on all you need to know about business writing. 

They also offer paid courses to elevate skills in writing and proofreading. 

The Business Writing Blog quiz to test your skills comes in 3 parts. 

You'll need to read through a note of thanks, an email, and an announcement to identify their errors. 

Hints about the number of errors in each text are provided to make work easier for you. 

You will also get the corrected versions at the bottom of the article, with the mistakes highlighted.  

16) Sporcle

Sporcle is a website that provides trivia and pub quizzes. You can make and play quizzes on different topics. 

You can also earn badges when you participate in competing challenges.  

The Sporcle proofreading quiz has 25 questions that are timed. Ideally, you should complete the quiz in under eight minutes. 

You are needed to find and select errors in each of the sentences. Your right or wrong score is displayed as you progress. 

The website also lets you track the remaining questions and time.  

Why proofreading matters

The goal of proofreading is to ensure that whatever you write comes across the way you intended and is accurate and readable.

You want to ensure that whoever gets to read your content enjoys, understands, and gets meaning and value from it.  

You achieve this by ensuring that your written content is free of spelling, typographical, and punctuation, among other grammatical mistakes. 

The way you write determines how the intended audience views and judges you. If you write clearly, the reader will understand you well.

You can think that since you have researched your concept well, the intended audience will love your document. 

Your concept might be the best, but the intended reader will be turned off if there are typos. They will find it hard to go through it and might finally discredit it.

And even when you think you have perfect grammatical skills, you will likely make mistakes. This is why proofreading matters a lot. 

Get hired as a proofreader

Besides proofreading your documents, you can also get hired as a proofreader.

Proofreading has become very relevant for businesses today. 

Business owners need more time or capacity to review their marketing copies, business proposals, publications, and newsletters. 

They are looking for people with these skills to do this kind of work for them. So, if you become a proofreading expert, you can land good deals.

Even better, you can do proofreading virtually for companies. And you can do it anywhere. 

You’ll need a computer or phone, an internet connection, and digital writing assistance tools such as Grammarly. 

Other skills that you need as a proofreader include:

• Spelling, grammar, and language knowledge
• A keen eye for noticing even the most minor errors
• Ability to adapt to different styles of writing
• Mental focus
• Professionalism 
• Passion for reading and writing 
• Familiarity with digital editing and proofreading tools

Is an Online Proofreading Exercise Necessary? 

As mentioned above, you need several skills to get hired as a proofreader and become successful in the industry.

One of the ways to improve most of the required skills is through online proofreading tests and quizzes. 

A proofreading quiz can be an excellent tool to test your proofreading skills. 

A quiz will help you identify your strengths and weaknesses and give you a clear idea of where to focus your efforts to improve your skills. 

Proofreading quizzes can also help you learn new concepts and rules of grammar, punctuation, and spelling and provide you with valuable feedback to improve your skills.

In most cases, proofreading job opportunities have tests in their hiring process to test job applicants' skills.

Proofreading exercises online can help build your confidence when applying for proofreading jobs. 

The more you practice, the more comfortable they become with the process and your ability to handle the job.

The Benefits of Online Proofreading Quizzes and Tests

Online proofreading quizzes and tests offer several benefits.

Here are some of the advantages of taking these tests:

1) Improve Your Proofreading Skills

By taking online proofreading tests, you can identify common errors in different types of writing.

You’ll quickly notice grammar, spelling, punctuation, and sentence structure errors. 

This will help you to improve as a proofreading expert and make you more valuable to your writing clients.

2) Build Your Confidence

You gain more confidence in your abilities as you identify and correct your mistakes and learn new proofreading styles. 

This helps you tackle client work more confidently and apply for more proofreading roles you usually wouldn’t when starting.

3) Save Time and Money

Online proofreading skills tests are often free or available at a low cost. 

This is a more affordable and convenient way to improve your skills than hiring a professional proofreader or taking a course.

4) Accessible Anytime and Anywhere

Online practice proofreading tests can be accessed from anywhere and at any time. 

You can practice your proofreading skills whenever you have some free time, regardless of your location.

They also allow you to focus on a given area when you need to, without limits or restrictions. 

5) Learn at Your Own Pace

Apart from proofreading online tests available anywhere and anytime; you take them at your own pace.

You can take as much time as you need to complete the proofreading exercises online and review the answers. 

This is helpful for those new to proofreading or those who want to take their time to understand the material thoroughly.

What to look out for when proofreading.

To perfect your skill as a proofreader and provide error-free content, you must know what exactly to look out for when going through a document.

1) Look at the general appearance of the content

Before making corrections at the sentence level, look at the general appearance and the structure of the whole write-up. Make the necessary changes to the structure and organization of the paper. 

This helps to determine if the length of the paragraphs is appropriate for the kind of content. Long paragraphs would be allowed in a research paper, a publication, or an academic paper. 

However, content that requires engagement or conversations with the audience should not have long paragraphs. They would quickly get bored with reading long blocks of information.

2) Take note of punctuation 

You should also be keen on punctuation marks. Often writers need to find hyphens, colons, dashes, and semicolons. Sometimes, commas are used wrong or need to be included.

When this happens, the intended message might not be brought out.

Your goal as a proofreader is to ensure proper punctuation is used throughout the document.

There are tons of information online that can help you with how different punctuation marks are used.

3) Spelling mistakes and typos

Spelling mistakes in written documents are common. An author can misspell some wrongs when writing long or even short papers.

When proofreading, pay attention to spelling. If you need clarification on a word, check it online or in a dictionary and make the appropriate corrections.

4) Look for unnecessary, missing, and wrong words

As you proofread, you might notice that some words need to be revised, added, or have been used wrongly.

Remove, correct, and add omitted words to make the write-up clear, concise, and readable.

5) Sentence structures

A document with proper and consistent sentence structure separates good and mediocre writing.

When proofreading, ensure that sentences maintain the grammatical pattern. If this structure keeps changing, the readers will need clarification. 

Also, look at the tense used and the consistency of the headlines.

6) Examine the references

Scholarly and professional papers require a list of references. As you proofread, ensure that citations have been done correctly. Please do this to avoid your paper being discredited. 

If you are a beginner, your proofreading skills might need to be more effective. As such, invest in learning these skills. You will become a perfect and reliable proofreader with time.

Proofreading tips

Proofreading can seem daunting, mainly because you are expected to produce error-free work as a proofreader. 

In case errors are identified after the submission of the work, you are the one to be blamed.

However, this doesn’t have to be complicated. You are good to go as long as you can identify the mistakes and correct them.

Below are some tips to help you produce high-quality, error-free content.

1. Read slowly and loudly

This might sound awkward and unnecessary, but reading the content word for word is very important, loud, and slow. 

While doing this, you will quickly notice poor grammar and spelling mistakes. You will also tell if the punctuation marks have been used appropriately and correctly. 

When reading out loud, you will understand the content the way your audience will; you know how a reader will feel when going through the document. 

If, for instance, the sentences are too long and you are gasping for breath, you will know that they need to be shortened. 

You will also know if the intended message comes out clearly.

2. Read one word at a time

Practice reading one word at a time. Usually, when you read terms normally, you are likely to skip some words.

You may fail to notice some mistakes because you are taking in a lot of words at a go.

Reading each word at a time might slow the proofreading process, but it will enable you to identify and rectify all errors.

3. Alter the appearance of the document

Sometimes changing the write-up's color, font, and size can help you view the document from a different angle.

It enables you to gain a different perspective of the document, and you are, therefore, able to know where to make changes.

After proofreading, return the document to the recommended font, size, and color.

4. Take note of every punctuation marks

When punctuation marks are misused, a sentence or text can lose meaning. As you read through, highlight each punctuation mark that you come across.

Determine whether they have been used appropriately and whether or not they make sense. If a punctuation mark does not serve the purpose, you can omit it or alter the sentence structure.

5. Identify the frequent errors

Different authors write in different ways and are prone to particular mistakes.

As you go through a document, you will notice frequent errors such as overuse of phrases, repetition of words, and misspelling of a particular word.

To make the work easier, use the search feature in your word processor to identify those words and make the required changes. You could omit them or use their synonyms.

6. Focus

When proofreading, you must give much attention and mental focus to whatever you do. 

Avoid distractions as much as possible. Get a quiet environment, and maybe turn off the notifications from your phone.

It is also wise to take breaks, especially if you need more time to concentrate on this work.

7. Use a grammar check

There are digital writing assistance tools, such as Grammarly, that can make your proofreading task easier.

Once you are done proofreading, run the document through such a platform. You might notice some inconsistencies or errors that need correction.

Proofreading resources that better your skills

Along with the tips outlined above, there are other resources that you can use to perfect your proofreading skills. You can find these resources online.

There are proofreading exercises with answers that will enlighten you on punctuation, adverbs, propositions, nouns, sentence styles, spelling, and so much more.

Luckily, you can find these platforms online for free. So, take advantage and practice until you make your proofreading skills perfect.

Here are links to online platforms that offer proofreading tests and quizzes:

• Proofread quiz
• Purdue OWL Exercises
• SfEP: Self-Test in Proofreading 
• Skills Practice: Find the Mistakes 
• UEfAP Exercises 

You can also network with professionals to learn what they do. Having people who understand what you do makes the learning process easy.

Conclusion

Content is very important, but you run everything down the drain due to spelling mistakes, poor sentence structures, and wrong wording, among other grammatical errors. 

Thorough proofreading is vital for producing and delivering professional and quality documents. It can help you to successfully communicate your intended message to your readers.

Effective proofreading enables you to create outstanding essays, winning marketing copies, and CVs that will hire you. It also maintains the reputation of your business.

Whenever you write or are given a proofreading job, don’t rush to submit it. Take your time to review the document and make the necessary corrections. 

If you apply the tips outlined above, you will improve your proofreading skills. You will be in a position to produce clear, readable, and interesting content.