Comments on: So Do Those oDesk Tests Really Mean Anything?

By: Ted

Ted — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 17:10:36 +0000

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!

By: Tsu Dho Nimh

Tsu Dho Nimh — Sat, 20 Sep 2008 00:44:12 +0000

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.

By: Dave Robinson

Dave Robinson — Sun, 29 Jun 2008 23:37:42 +0000

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.

By: Nelson Manning

Nelson Manning — Sun, 29 Jun 2008 21:57:40 +0000

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.