Reporters

The NCE for reporters is held three times a year in March, July and November. It is designed to examine all-round competence in a range of fundamental skills at a level appropriate to a newspaper journalist who has completed the training programme.

These skills include the ability to extract information by good interview technique, to take selective and accurate notes, to understand what is said and written, to reproduce it in clear and concise reports reflecting an understanding of news values, to work to deadlines and stipulated length, to write in a style that attracts the readers with a good intro and story construction, and to operate in a professional, legal and ethically acceptable manner.

There are four parts to the NCE:

News interview

Candidates conduct a face-to-face interview and produce a news story based on this and other information. They must demonstrate the ability to carry out a competent interview, appreciate news values, assimilate information, follow up leads, think clearly under pressure, record information, and produce accurate and well-written copy to length within deadline.

News report

Candidates produce a news story based on a speech and other information. They must demonstrate the ability to report the spoken word accurately, appreciate news values, and write a balanced summary of the speaker’s words, using an appropriate number of quoted passages, to length and within deadline.

Newspaper practice

This is an examination in which candidates must demonstrate that they are conversant with day-to-day newspaper practice inside and outside the office, have a sound working knowledge of practical journalism enabling them to respond to any given editorial situation, are able to apply the principles of newspaper law and public affairs, and can brief senior and junior colleagues in clear, concise terms.

Logbook

This document records details of the trainee and training progress, including evidence of regular in-house assessments and a selection of cuttings demonstrating that the trainee has satisfactorily covered a range of key tasks.

This document must be available to the editor at all times. It is the joint responsibility of the editor and the trainee that it is kept up to date and submitted, fully completed, to the NCTJ for assessment when the trainee sits the NCE.

Guidelines on content, presentation and submission of logbooks are available from the Related Documents.

Marking procedure

Examination papers and logbooks are marked by teams of assessors who are or have been working journalists. They are then subjected to rigorous moderation to ensure consistency of marking.

The pass mark for each of the four sections is 60 per cent. Candidates who achieve at least 50 per cent in all sections will pass if they achieve an overall average mark of 60 per cent.

Candidates who achieve less than 50 per cent in any section fail that section and the NCE as a whole, regardless of their overall total.

Candidates who fail the NCE must re-sit all sections for which they achieved less than 60 per cent. Passes of 60 per cent or more are carried forward.

Re-sits for the news interview, news report and newspaper practice sections are available three times a year on NCE exam days. Failed logbooks may be re-submitted at any time.

After each NCE the NCTJ publishes an examiner’s report which includes advice for future candidates. Trainees are strongly urged to read it and note its recommendations.

Related

logbook guidelines reporters (PDF, 144.59 Kb)

Replacement logbook pages (PDF, 216.27 Kb)

News Interview sample exam (DOC, 89.50 Kb)

Newspaper Practice sample exam (DOC, 49.50 Kb)

News Report Speech sample exam (DOC, 32.00 Kb)

News Report sample exam (DOC, 44.00 Kb)

NCE Enrolment Form - 9 March 2012 (PDF, 67.16 Kb)