Complete a test
1. You received an email inviting you to participate in a project but first complete a test.
2. Carefully read the contents of the email including the project details. If you are not interested in participating in the project, ignore the email. If you do want to participate, you have to complete a test.
3. Start the test by clicking the “Complete the test” button:
4. The test will open in Smartcat’s Editor. Complete it by translating each segment.
5. After you have finished translating and saved all the segments, click “Done”:
6. You will see the “Completed” label in place of the “Finish” button. This means that you have finished completing the test.
7. The results of the test will be automatically saved in Smartcat. The client will review the results directly on the platform and evaluate your work. You will receive an email with the test results.
FAQ
Will I get paid for a test assignment I have completed?
Test translations are not paid in Smartcat. Should you be invited to complete a test, you will receive an email notification containing details of the assignment. Such assignments are marked as Test Tasks in your workspace. Please report any cases when a customer asks you to perform tasks in Smartcat for free.
Where should I send the completed test?
The test should be completed using the built-in Smartcat Editor (CAT tool). When you’re finished, just press the green “Done” button. The results will be saved in the system and sent to the client.
How and when will I receive the test results?
After the client reviews your work, you will receive an email notification. If you’re testing for a specific project, you will know the results within two weeks.
If the project description indicates that the testing procedure will be running for a prolonged period, it’s likely that the client has no end date for the search and needs specialists in the specified language pair and subject matter on a constant basis.
It’s possible that the client quickly reviews the tests from some of the candidates applying for the current project and will consider the remaining candidates later when the need arises again. In this case, you will be notified about the results of the current testing in a month or two.
If you haven’t received your test results within two weeks and the test was not long-term, then the client has most likely already found all the candidates they needed and will not review the rest of the tests.
The link to the testing page is not accessible
Most likely, this means that the recruitment of candidates for the project has finished or the deadline for passing the test has expired.
What is the deadline for completing the test?
If the description does not indicate a specific period, it is recommended to complete the test within three days. Usually, during this time, clients get enough applications and close the testing session.
I was invited to complete a test, but I am not interested in the project
It’s up to you to decide which tests to participate in. The invitation email you received is meant to simply notify you of the opportunity, but if you are not interested, ignore the email.
What if the client uses the testing procedure to get translations for free?
Our supplier testing procedure is designed so that its results cannot be used for commercial purposes.
Clients cannot upload different content to be used for testing. The maximum text size is 250 words (one standard page). Smartcat will automatically generate tests from a file provided by the client for the required number of linguists. The client will receive different translations of the same content from each applicant.
We manually review each client request for testing and remove anything that violates our Terms of Use from the description and testing materials. If any client wants to run several tests with similar texts in the same language pair and subject matter, we will make sure to prevent that.
Will the test be paid/reviewed?
Completed tests are not used for commercial purposes, neither are they reviewed or paid for. Corrected results or samples of correctly completed tests are not provided. Test results are not discussed and are not subject to review. The sole purpose of a test is to determine your language level and translation skills.
What happens if I don’t pass the test or do the job poorly?
After being tested, you get the opportunity to participate in the project you’re interested in. There are no sanctions for poor quality results. However, remember the following:
Do not use machine translation. There’s a system in place to prevent that. If it turns out that you used an online translator tool, the results will not be handed over to the client.
If you opened a test job and realized that you cannot deliver a high quality translation, you probably shouldn’t participate in the project. Usually, testing materials are an extract from the project or a related text. If you’re having a hard time passing the test, it means that you will have difficulties working on the project too, even if you manage to pass the test successfully. Perhaps another project will suit your skills and subject matter expertise better, so you will be able to provide excellent quality results.