Lately we seem to have been blogging mostly about general freelancing, and today I want to get back to something directly related to oDesk.
One thing I like about oDesk is the test system. They’re freely available to all, and provide a common ground to measure providers against each other. However, the question that always comes up is do they do any good?
Read on to find out:
If you’ve taken any tests on oDesk you’ve probably seen the bit where they say that people who score in the top ten or twenty percent have their scores highlighted, and those in the top three receive a badge.
If you’re anything like me, you probably wondered if those badges really do mean anything. Is it really worth the time and effort to get a higher score on a test you have already passed?
At least in my experience, the answer is yes!
As a writer, I’ve focused on the writing tests, but the principle holds for any field.
When I first joined oDesk I took some tests and earned fairly good scores. Most of them were at least in the top twenty percent if not the top ten percent.  I was generally satisfied with my scores until I worked on the oDesk Insider book and started paying more attention to things like the fact a provider can retake some tests.
Being the bright lad that I am, I took the English Skills (Sentence Structure) test again. I figured that was a good choice because it’s the foundational test for any writer.  My new score was not merely in the top ten percent, but the highest on oDesk.
I had earned one of the coveted First Place Badges.
One thing I immediately noticed was that the number of invitations to interview I received went way up. I’ve been receiving invitations for a while now, but since I got the first place badge they have gone way up.
It’s great for me, now I have more ability to pick and choose what jobs I want and the knowledge that more people are looking at my profile gives me more confidence about raising my rates.
Putting the time and effort in to make sure I stood out through good test scores has worked for me, and it can work for you. It’s no substitute for great feedback, but test scores can be a great tie-breaker when you have two candidates with equal feedback scores.
Improving my test scores has directly translated into money for me. It can do the same for you.
My only problem with the English tests is that I will run across a question that requires you to pick the sentence which is formed correctly, but all of the sentences might have something wrong with them. You just have to guess which one is “correct” and hope you get it right.
For example, comma usage in lists: “one, two, and three” versus “one, two and three.” They’re both correct, but the first style is used for standard and academic writing. The second is used in journalism due to an interesting set of circumstances where newspapers wanted to conserve commas when printing. However, the form is still used today.
There’s a few other odd rules like that as well, and you can ironically get thrown off on the test if you’re aware of them.
I agree that the tests aren’t perfect.
Even so, improving your score on the tests does translate to higher income, regardless of their imperfections.
I agree on the tests having some dubious questions … my version had questions where the correct answer would depend on the context of the sentence. Granted, these were picayune details that only a few professionals would notice, but I took the time to flag them all.
Even with time out for my inner grammar nazi, it only took 11 minutes and (neener-neener) I’m currently #1 on the sentence structure test. I expect buyers to be inviting me all sorts of places real soon now.
Odesk test are waste of time! IM a website designer and taking this test to measure competency rather your portfolio is pure nonsense!
example in adobe photoshop cs4 question! who the hell will use photoshop in editing video! but 2 out of three questions pertains to this kind of technical question.
Your portfolio is the most important not the exam!