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richard_wein
Community Member

I'm a creative writer, according to Upwork

I've been having fun taking some Upwork tests. Now I'm wondering whether I should change careers, as I seem to do better in the writing tests than the computing ones. My latest result was Top 10% (actually the top 1%) in Creative Writing (Fiction). In reality, I could hardly be less of a creative writer. I struggle to even write a letter. But, if Upwork says I'm a creative writer, who am I to disagree?

 

Anyway, if you haven't yet taken one of Upwork's creative writing tests, have ago. They were written by someone with a sense of humour, and they're good for a laugh.

 

Of course the whole idea of a multiple choice test for creative writing is ridiculous. I only took the test because I was curious to see what sort of questions they asked.

13 REPLIES 13
luce-neidert
Community Member

I don't want to hurt your feelings, but if you're in the Top 10%, it may only mean that most of the people that have taken that test were even worse writers than you....

 

I haven't taken the test yet, but will now that I"ve read your post.  But just so you know, I was not aware I was a good researcher, creative writer etc, until I built my own website and had to start creating content for it.  That bloomed into doing it for other website, and voila, I'm all of a sudden a creative/web content writer.  GL to you!

yeasir_arafat_13
Community Member

I am not a creative writer too, but it seems interesting as you said. 

Got really interested in taking the test. 

lysis10
Community Member

I admit I purposely avoid the English tests just because I don't want those "NATIVE SPEAKERS ONLY" loser invites.

yeasir_arafat_13
Community Member

Well. I got 4/5 (above average). 

So, it's fine! I don't need to change career! Haha

At the end of the day, if UW test scores is the means by which a client is going to select you, you are in trouble. A well written profile and portfolio, even for someone with no history, will make all tests irrelevant; which is appropriate given they actually are completely irrelevant. 

resultsassoc
Community Member

If fiction writing is your future, I recommend you send your resume to every politician in Washington, D.C., anf offer to write their news releases.

All stories are true.

Especially the ones that aren't.

Wow Preston, gotta love that. (I started a thread with "Wow Preston recently. Thought I would do it again.)

I've never heard that ... it's brilliant. 

It reminds me (vaguely) of this gem I picked up several years back: "Never trust anything that wasn't written for money." That usually gets a priceless sneer from a few people. 

 

All stories are true ... especially the ones that aren't. Brilliant.

BTW, my advice to the person who started this thread: Get a laptop, rent an isolated cabin 200 miles from the nearest road and write the Great American novel. Give it, oh, eight months. If you haven't got it by then, you can assume the Upwork test was bogus. (What are the odds of that?) 

 

Don't start the book with "Craig crushed out a cigarette and lunged for the typerwriter," and you'll probably do just fine.

Thanks for the advice, Anthony. But maybe I should try to write a Great Italian Novel instead.

 

After my success in one test of a skill I don't have, I decided to try another one: Italian to English translation. I don't know any Italian apart from a few well-known phrases, like "arrivederci Roma", "cosa nostra" and "bunga bunga".

 

Well, I managed to pass with a score of 4.25/5, but that only got me a "below average" badge. I guess the test must be very easy for someone who actually knows some Italian!

 

 


Richard W wrote:

Thanks for the advice, Anthony. But maybe I should try to write a Great Italian Novel instead.

 

After my success in one test of a skill I don't have, I decided to try another one: Italian to English translation. I don't know any Italian apart from a few well-known phrases, like "arrivederci Roma", "cosa nostra" and "bunga bunga".

 

Well, I managed to pass with a score of 4.25/5, but that only got me a "below average" badge. I guess the test must be very easy for someone who actually knows some Italian!

 


1/ Did you just click on any answer? 

2/ I read something about the origin of "bunga bunga", it's not even Italian. If there were questions including "bunga bunga", the best is to notify Upwork.


Luce N wrote:

 

1/ Did you just click on any answer? 

My original plan was not to look at the Italian at all, but just an pick an answer that was grammatically correct and seemed plausible. (If I remember correctly, when I took the Russian to English Translation test, many of the wrong answers were not correct English.)

 

However, once I started the test I realised this wasn't going to work, as all the answers were grammatically correct (although some of them were implausible). So I started looking at the Italian, and I found I could understand much of it, based on looking at the available answers plus a little knowledge of French and Latin.

That's right, if you know enough French and Latin, you are bound to understand a little Italian.... On top of French and Latin, I also know Portuguese and Spanish.
I should try that test!

 

Richard, how about starting the French tests? You might get a decent grade there too. 

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