NewYork

Hi There, Since I live in the New York City area, my test location was the Columbia U. campus so I'm not sure how helpful my experience will be for those who are taking the exam out-of-state. At anyrate: the exam is a 90-minute computer test. You're graded on grammar, spelling, sentence structure and relevancy to the question. On the date of my scheduled exam, the computers weren't working so we were required to take it as a handwritten test (be prepared this can happen to you too). The entire test was in essay format. The best way to describe it is to compare it to one of your undergraduate course study final exams. For those of you who were English majors or studied the Humanities, you should be in good hands. For those who were Math, Science or Business majors, you may want to review some of your final English papers for a reminder on how to write in essay format. For those of you who were Journalism majors, it has less to do with beat writing and more like writing a feature story. Everyone taking the exam should brush-up on current events,more specifically what's happening in local and federal governments and try to remember key public figures (both political and nonpolitical). It is hard to give specific examples because the relevance of news is ever changing. However, my exam focused on public figures and current events that were relevant within the last month. The catch is, it didn't specify names, it asked you to write on specific figures you thought were relevant. Helpful Hint: relevant meaning most important! Also, the importance of news stories differ depending on where you live. I live in NYC so my answers wouldn't help someone in Wisconsin or India! All in all, my exam had three open-ended questions, it asked for news sources and for follow-up questions. To pass the test, you have to think like a journalist and take the exam like a journalist. Treat it as if you were in a newsroom writing a feature that's going to press as soon as it's handed to the editor and you should be fine. Don't forget spelling, grammar, style and other writing requirements. Please use my advice as a review guide and not as the exact exam. I doubt Columbia would issue the same test twice.