Knowadays Avis 

This was a great program. I now better understand the nuances of grammar, punctuation, and the need for proofreading. I am now working as a proofreader and am still learning something new every day!

Detailed and well-written course, good support, prompt responses.

'Becoming a Proofreader' is a fantastic course for anybody who wants to take their first steps towards professional proofreading and editing. The explanations of grammatical and spelling conventions are consistently thorough and user-friendly throughout, and there is plenty of information to help with the technical and logistical aspects of entering the world of proofreading. I have recently started to take on my own work as a freelance proofreader thanks to this course. Highly recommended.

This course gave me everything I need to be a qualified proofreader. The tutors were personable and responded to emails quickly. They were also encouraging and gave tips on how to improve my skills. The only issue I had was with the server bouncing my tests results back all three times. I guess it does not like yahoo. However the tutoring team are doing what they can to resolve the problem. I was very pleased with the quality of Knowadays.

Knowadays/Proofreading Academy's course was everything I wanted it to be, and then some! I originally signed up because of the guaranteed employment with Proofed upon successful completion of the course. I completed the course in about 6 weeks (while working elsewhere 4 days a week) and have now been employed with Proofed for 2 weeks. The process was exactly as described and very straightforward.
Also, despite having taken several editing courses previously, I was pleased to find I still learned many new things from this course. The resources and blog articles are very useful, and I appreciate that you can still access the course materials even after completing the final assignment. I highly recommend this course to prospective proofreaders and editors alike! Excellent value.

Very thorough and a great value for the money. Tutors are available if needed. Definitely do all the webinars and videos that are offered. It is a lot of information to take in, and the final assigment is tough. Recommended if you are thinking of proofreading as a WFH job. Once you pass and are working for Proofed, the schedule is flexible and the documents are always different and interesting.

I found the course material very interesting, well presented, and good value. The support was also very good, and the online presentations very well pitched and a good introduction to the world of proofreading. I was lucky enough to pass with a good score, which allowed me to sign up with the sister company Proofed, and I am now dipping my toes into freelancing as a proofreader. All good fun!

As a newbie, I found the Knowadays (formerly Proofreading Academy) Becoming a Proofreader course immensely informative and helpful. Even if I hadn't secured work upon completion it would have been worth doing. This course covers everything from basic rules of grammar and punctuation to various differences in several major dialects. It has video tutorials for Word and Mac, it demonstrates how to edit PDFs, and it also provides great resources and training for multiple referencing systems. You can work at your own pace, which is wonderful for working around a busy schedule. If you get stuck, their tutors are extremely knowledgeable, honest and personable.

I was delighted to pass their final test with distinction and, as promised, I was immediately connected with Proofed and offered a trial. For those interested, because I have seen mixed feedback regarding Proofed's trial period, I have found it great so far. I honestly like that the documents begin smaller - I like that I can gradually build my confidence and not feel overwhelmed or out of my depth. The feedback that I have been given has been helpful and informative, and I can see my progress as I get more and more feedback saying no changes were needed. I have also found there to be enough work for me, as a SAHM (although I will say it's definitely not enough if you are wanting to jump in full time. You will probably have to hang in there until the larger documents become available). There is a strong demand for academic proofreading, although I have had a few small business documents too. I also like that there are bonuses for fast turnover, and that you can take on urgent work for more money if you are available. It annoys me when people say that the hook of guarenteed work is "false advertising" or "scammy", because I feel like it is a genuinely good opportunity that they do uphold. I can't think of any other proofreading course that offers a kick-starter in this way.

If you are considering starting a career in proofreading, I cannot recommend this course enough. I will use my new skills every day of my life. I can't wait until their level two course becomes available!

I loved this course. I’ve learned so much and am really pleased to have passed my assignment with the grade required to work for Proofed. I’ve just started that this week and am really enjoying it. It did take me two attempts to pass, but the feedback and support I had after the first attempt definitely helped me on the second go! Well worth the money.

This is honestly a scam. You pay a lot of money to take their course with a promise of FREELANCE employment with their proofreading company if you reach a distinction grade of 80% on their final assessment. BUT you have to jump through so many hoops to get the distinction grade of 80%.

The course content itself emphasizes the fluidity of a proofreader's role, stating that you might do some editing work too, thus convoluting their own definition of proofreading. They then turn around and only give you vague instructions about how they want their final assessment completed (It's clear for the formatting test that you're not to proofread but it's unclear in the proofreading tests whether you're to format). There are even two versions of assessment instructions available on their site. If you use the wrong one, you're marked down. I was told not to format the proofreading assessments at all on one attempt and then on the other attempt I was marked down for not formatting the references. The changes they want you to make based on dialect are also pedantic and honestly outdated. For example, they wanted the word 'program' changed to 'programme' in the assessment written in UK English. I had caught this technicality originally, but they list Google Ngram Viewer as a resource to check dialect usage, and upon looking at this resource, that they recommend using, it shows that 'program' and 'programme' are used equally now in the UK. Furthermore, they don't teach you how to change the comments dialect and mark you down when your comments are in the incorrect dialect. This made me realize how useless a model of proofreading like this really is. The outdated idea of dialect and a 'proper' word choice isn't really helpful in a globalized world where dialects of English are bluring together. The types of 'mistakes' they want you to 'correct' are no longer mistakes and it just perpetuates a privileged idea of stylistic voice based on white, particularly male, objectivity as well as linguistic traditions that discriminate against ESL writers and those who do not conform to standards of 'proper English'. It also leaves no room for creativity or personal style. The types of corrections they want you to make are so miniscule that they wouldn't bother anyone except people who really think language is decaying.

Their commenting style also means that they don't explain a lot of the changes they make. I wouldn't use this as an essay review resource. If I struggled with English it wouldn't teach me anything and honestly the way they change word choice instead of just flagging it seems suspicious. I was told to just replace the old one with a new word because it will "undoubtedly be better than their original choice" (direct quote from feedback).

I could go on about the issues I found with this company. I'm an English scholar myself and love writing as well as editing and proofreading, but part of being in a literary based field is acknowledging the way that language changes, and the way it's historically been used to exclude particular groups of people from higher education and intellectual status. Upon taking this course, I found it to represent everything that's wrong with traditionalist ideology surrounding language. I have a couple of friends who had the same experience and really I wouldn't be surprised if the positive reviews are just ambassadors for the company. Altogether I found that this wasn't worth the money considering how many technical hoops they make you jump through to get a 'distinction' grade. If you pay to take the course, don't expect to make the money back anytime soon.

Comprehensive, interesting and excellent value for money!

This course surpassed all of my expectations in terms of content and layout, and the course facilitators were extremely helpful throughout.

Thank you Proofreading Academy.

Proofreading Academy exceeded my expectations. The knowledge that they provide is extensive and thorough. After finishing the course, I felt prepared to take on proofreading projects with confidence that I would do a good job. Also, the opportunity to trial with Proofed as a freelancer after passing the exam was a game changer.

A very well thought-out course. Logical and user-friendly, with strong support and advice available throughout. Suitable for beginners and for more experienced proofreaders and editors wishing to brush up on or evaluate their knowledge and skills. Highly recommended.

I highly recommend Proofreading Academy! The training materials were thorough and easy to use. I was especially impressed with the tutors. When I reached out with questions or concerns, they were always friendly, knowledgeable, and prompt. I also appreciated the free and convenient tutorials Proofreading Academy offered in addition to my course. Thank you, Proofreading Academy!

The course was fantastic and I highly recommend it to anybody interested in editing and proofreading. All of the content, exercises, and tutor feedback was incredibly helpful. I thought it was definitely worth the price.

I cannot rate the service provided by Proofreading Academy highly enough. I was completely new to proofreading, but with a good level of English language and grammar skills. I found the course material to be pitched at a perfect level - extremely comprehensive and in depth but presented in an easy to digest, easy to understand and almost enjoyable way. It was well structured and easy to complete a section at a time which was satisfying and motivating. It went into the right level of detail - referencing further resources where necessary. The support provided was excellent. I passed the assignment first time but did not receive the grade needed to work for proofed and I had an extremely helpful online tutorial with a member of their team who was friendly, professional, extremely understanding and helpful. Following passing with over 80% I had another tutorial with an equally helpful member of their team. Overall the service offered was above and beyond my expectations.

Every "i" dotted, and every "t" crossed.

The Proofreading Academy provided a thorough course that more than adequately prepared me for the world of proofreading. They cover so many aspects of proofreading one might encounter, and, more importantly, offer many resources for future use. The quizzes offered during the course are very helpful. They also offer webinars to help prepare you for the final assignments. My online meetings with the tutors were helpful and inspiring. My only critique would be to offer more "practice tests" that resemble the final assignment to give students a bit more confidence. However, when I asked my tutor for some other practice options, he was happy to provide me with tests to prepare me for my second round. Chatting with the tutors also provides insight to what the job with Proofed may be like. All the tutors and support staff were friendly and helpful.

This was a great course and I am actually sad to see it end. I learned so much. I found that proofreading entails so much more than catching grammar and punctuation mistakes. A professional proofreader needs to know the ins and outs of Track Changes, Regional Grammar and Spelling, Abbreviations, APA citations, and Advanced Functions and Formatting in Microsoft Word—to name just a few skill areas this course offers. I have come out at the end of the course feeling confident that I can do professional-level proofreading. The price is well worth it.