The new exam will consist of two-thirds grammar questions and one-third word choice questions. It will be lengthened to 50 minutes to give students more time to complete the word choice portion of the exam. 
 
 Rhonda Gibson, associate professor in the school, said the word choice portion is designed to emphasize problems spell check can’t catch, such as the use of they’re, there and their. 
 
 “Spell check can tell you whether ‘their’ is spelled correctly but not if it’s the right word,” she said. 
 
 After the 2012-13 school year, the test will no longer be offered as part of the school’s news writing course, Roush said. Instead, students will sign up to take it at the school’s student records office, where it is offered on a weekly basis. 
 
 “What we’re trying to do is encourage students to take it earlier in their time here on campus so we don’t have second-semester seniors taking it to graduate,” he said. 
 
 Nicole Yang, a senior journalism major, has taken the current version of the test. She said she wished the test had included a word choice section when she took it but said she thinks the spelling section still has merit. 
 
 “I feel like as a journalist it’s something you just need to know,” Yang said. “You can’t rely on technology to fix everything for you.” 
 
 Melissa Paniagua, a junior journalism major who has yet to complete the test, said she would prefer to take the new version. 
 
 “For a few years we’ve already been using spell check anyway,” she said. “That’s not something people had trouble with as much as word choice and AP style.” 
 
 Thad Ogburn, metro editor at the (Raleigh) News & Observer and a UNC alumnus, said a basic knowledge of spelling is still an important skill for reporters to have. 
 
 “I think it does go to your publication’s credibility,” he said, adding that online and print readers dislike seeing misspelled words. 
 
 “I always tell people, ‘Don’t rely on spell check as a crutch.’” 
 
 Gibson said replacing the spelling section with word choice would better prepare students for life in the professional world. 
 
 “Regardless of what kind of job you get… chances are you’re going to be crafting messages of some sort,” she said. 
 
 “It’s not just rote memorization of spelling. I think it’s a better test.” 
 
 Contact the University Editor at university@dailytarheel.com. ||||| J-school drops spelling test 
 
 University of North Carolina’s School of Journalism and Mass Communication is dropping the spelling portion of its spelling and grammar test to “make the exam more relevant” to today’s spell check-using students. 
 
 The new exam will consist of two-thirds grammar questions and one-third word choice questions. It will be lengthened to 50 minutes to give students more time to complete the word choice portion of the exam. 
 
 There’s a lot of reaction to this on my Facebook wall, as well as in the comments below. “While we’re at it, let’s stop teaching adding, subtracting, and those godawful multiplication tables, writes John Keahey. “We have calculators on our phones and computers, right?” 
 
 * Technology renders journalism school’s spelling test obsolete 
 
 * “Spelling, of course, still matters,” writes UNC editing professor 
 
 * McIntyre: There are more important skills to be tested on than spelling 
 
 UPDATE: Here’s the journalism school’s memo (slightly edited) about the test: 
 
 From: Roush, Chris 
 
 Sent: Tuesday, April 03, 2012 12:38 PM 
 
 Subject: Story for JOMC website on spelling and grammar exam The School of Journalism and Mass Communication will change its 37-year-old spelling and grammar exam beginning this fall semester, but one thing is not changing – students will still have to pass the exam to graduate from the School. The spelling portion of the exam is being replaced by a word usage portion beginning in the fall semester. The grammar portion will remain. In addition, the time to take the test will expand to 50 minutes from the current 40 minutes. Faculty and staff at the School believe the longer time is warranted because it takes more time to review a sentence for correct word usage than it takes to review a list of four words to determine which one is misspelled. The exam will be offered during the 2012-13 academic year in Newswriting classes, as well as through Student Records. After 2012-13, the exam will only be available through Student Records. “We updated our curriculum in 2009, and updating the exam is a natural extension of those changes,” said Chris Roush, senior associate dean. “Word usage is a much more important skill to have given the widespread use of spell check on most computers.” The exam was first given at the School in 1975 – of the 68 students who took it, 25 passed, or 37 percent – and was featured on the NBC nightly news on Feb. 1, 1975. The School added a one-hour grammar class to its curriculum three years ago. Currently, approximately 70 percent of students pass the exam the first or second time they take the exam. The passing grade remains at 70. 
 
 * Watch NBC News’s 1975 report on the j-school spelling test 
 
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– You can stop studying those dictionaries, prospective journalism students at UNC, because the school has finally acknowledged the existence of spell check. The University of North Carolina school of journalism has officially retired the spelling portion of the spelling and grammar test all students must take, reports the Daily Tar Heel (as spotted by Jim Romenesko's blog). It's the first change to the test since the 1970s. "What we’re trying to do is just make the exam more relevant for today’s journalism and mass communication students," a senior associate dean said. In place of the spelling section, the school will substitute a word usage section designed to emphasize mistakes computers are less adept at catching. "Spell check can tell you whether 'their' is spelled correctly, but not if it's the right word," one associate professor explained.