How to Complete a Remote Writing Assessment

Writing tests turn up all over remote hiring. Content writers, copywriters, editors and technical writers get them, and so do people applying for customer support and marketing jobs. The format varies. You might get a timed piece, a take-home brief, an edit of a messy draft, or a paid trial on real work.

This guide covers how to prepare in the days before the test, a step-by-step method for doing it, how to handle rules on AI tools, and the Nigeria-specific details like deadlines and backup power. It also explains how to tell a fair test from a request for free work.

Quick answer

To complete a remote writing assessment, read the whole brief twice and list every requirement. Study the company's published content and style guide. Then plan your time: outline, draft, edit and proofread. Follow the rules on AI tools and say so if you used them. Convert the deadline to West Africa Time and submit early, in the format they asked for. A short unpaid test is normal. Long tasks should be paid, and you should never pay anyone to take a test.

What a remote writing assessment is and why employers use one

A remote writing assessment is a task an employer sets to see how you write when you have their brief, their audience and their time limit. Your portfolio shows your best work, often edited by someone else. The test shows what you produce on demand.

Remote companies lean on writing tests because so much of the job happens in text: emails, Slack messages, tickets, documentation and articles. Someone who writes clearly in a test will usually communicate clearly with a team spread across several time zones.

Some employers build the whole process around it. Todoist's maker, Doist, lists "a paid task/assignment with feedback" as a standard hiring stage, between the panel interview and the final interview (Doist hiring FAQ, as of October 2026).

Agencies that hire writers abroad use tests too. One live example: a Scalesource ad for a Content Marketing Writer (Multi-Industry), "remote from EMEA/APAC", lists "a couple of short take-home exercises" as step 4 of six. The steps before it are a CV review, a short intro video and a recruiter call. The steps after it are a reference check and a client interview. The ad offers $1,250 a month for the first 90 days, then $1,500 a month. That's about ₦1,702,500 and ₦2,043,000 at ₦1,362 to $1 (CBN rate, 23 October 2026). The hours are 9am to 6pm on US time (Scalesource job ad on Workable, checked October 2026). Nigeria is in EMEA, but the ad doesn't list countries, so confirm eligibility with the recruiter before you invest time.

The common types of remote writing test

Find out which kind you're facing before you start. Each one rewards a different approach.

The last two catch people out because they don't look like tests. Short-answer questions on an application form are often the first writing assessment. Doist warns that candidates who skip them should "be prepared to get auto-declined" (Doist hiring FAQ).

If your test is a customer support exercise, also read our guide on passing a remote customer service assessment. If it's a marketing case study, see completing a remote marketing assessment.

How to prepare for a remote writing test

Preparation starts before the brief arrives, and it does more for your result than anything you do on the day.

Study the company's own writing

Read five to ten pieces the company has published: blog posts, help articles, product pages, newsletters. Note:

• How long the paragraphs are and how the headings are written (sentence case or Title Case)
• Whether they address the reader as "you"
• How formal the tone is and whether they use contractions
• Which spelling they use: American ("optimize", "color") or British ("optimise", "colour")
• How they format lists, numbers and dates

Write these down on a single page. That page is your house style for the test.

Learn one major style guide properly

Many tech and SaaS (software-as-a-service) companies base their style on a published guide. Google's developer documentation style guide is free online, and its highlights page is a good model of what employers expect. It asks for a friendly, conversational tone that isn't silly, addressing the reader as "you", active voice, US spelling and punctuation, sentence case for headings, serial commas, conditions placed before instructions, and descriptive link text (Google developer documentation style guide highlights).

You don't need to memorise a whole guide. Do learn how to look things up fast, because editing tests often hinge on two or three style points.

Switch your spelling deliberately

Nigerian writers usually learn British spelling at school. Most US clients want American spelling, and test graders notice when you mix the two. Before the test, set your editor's language to match the company (English (US) or English (UK)) so the spellchecker flags the right things. Then search your draft for common giveaways: -ise/-ize, -our/-or, "programme/program", "towards/toward".

Practise under a timer

Pick a topic from the company's blog. Give yourself the time limit you expect, often an hour or two for a short piece, and write a full draft with nobody helping you. Do it two or three times in the week before. You'll find out where your time goes. For most people it disappears into research or into polishing the introduction.

If you're applying for technical writing roles, Google's Technical Writing One and Two courses are free. They're aimed at engineers, computer science students and people in engineering-adjacent roles. You need at least basic English writing skill and some coding background (Google technical writing courses, as of October 2026). Our technical writer career guide covers the rest of that path.

Prepare your setup

On test day you should have:

• A charged laptop and phone, with an inverter, solar or generator ready if the grid goes
• Two internet routes, for example a MiFi plus a phone hotspot on a different network
• A cloud document (Google Docs or OneDrive) that saves as you type, so a power cut doesn't wipe your draft
• A quiet hour or two blocked out, and people at home told not to disturb you

Step-by-step: how to complete a remote writing assessment

Use this sequence whether you have 45 minutes or three days.

1. Read the full brief twice. On the first pass, take in the task. On the second, copy every requirement into a checklist: word count, audience, format, file type, headings, keywords, links, tone and deadline.
2. Ask questions early if you're allowed to. One sensible question ("Should I include sources as links or a reference list?") makes you look careful. Ten questions look like you can't work alone. Ask only about real ambiguities, and ask on the first day of a take-home test, not an hour before it's due.
3. Decide your angle. In one sentence, write what the reader should know or do after reading. Every paragraph has to serve that sentence.
4. Outline before drafting. Headings and a line under each. Spending 10% of your time here saves you from restructuring later.
5. Draft quickly. Get the whole piece down before you polish anything. An unfinished brilliant piece scores lower than a finished good one.
6. Edit for the reader. Cut throat-clearing openings, split long sentences and put the answer first. Check that every claim is either common knowledge or backed by a source the reader can open.
7. Check against the brief. Go through your checklist line by line. Word count within the limit, the right number of headings, the keywords in place, the file named as requested.
8. Proofread separately. Read it aloud, or change the font size so your eyes see it fresh. Look specifically for names, numbers and spelling consistency.
9. Submit early, in the requested format. If it's a Google Doc, set sharing to "anyone with the link can comment" (or whatever they asked for) and test the link in a private browser window.
10. Send a short covering note. Two or three lines: what you submitted, any assumption you made, and thanks.

Example (hypothetical): a 90-minute blog test time plan

Say a US SaaS company asks for a 700-word blog post on "How small teams can reduce meeting time", due in 90 minutes. A sensible split:

Notice that writing takes well under half the time. Candidates who start drafting in minute one usually run out of time for the edit, and the edit is what graders notice.

Example (hypothetical): an editing test

You get a 600-word draft and the instruction "edit for clarity and house style; use tracked changes". Turn on Suggesting mode in Google Docs or Track Changes in Word before you touch anything. Fix real errors and style breaches. Leave correct sentences alone even if you'd have written them differently. Add a few short comments explaining judgement calls ("Changed 'in order to' to 'to' per house style"). Graders want to see restraint and reasons, not a total rewrite.

What graders look for in a writing test

Writing tests are usually scored against a few plain questions, even when the company doesn't publish a rubric:

• Did you follow the brief? This is the cheapest mark to earn and the most often lost.
• Is it right for the audience? A piece for HR managers in Ohio shouldn't read like a student essay or a Nigerian newspaper column.
• Is it clear? Short sentences, a logical order, headings that tell the reader what follows.
• Is it accurate? No invented statistics. If you cite a figure, link the source.
• Is it clean? Spelling, grammar and consistent formatting.
• Does it sound like a person? Real examples and a point of view, not padding.

Graders often weigh following instructions as heavily as polish. A clean 700-word piece that meets every requirement beats a beautiful 1,200-word piece that ignores the limit.

Using AI tools in a writing assessment

Check the rules before you open ChatGPT, because companies differ.

Some employers expect AI use. The Scalesource content writer ad mentioned above lists comfort with ChatGPT or similar tools as a requirement (Scalesource job ad, checked October 2026). Others want to judge you alone. Doist says applicants can use AI as a tool, but "we're really looking for your voice and your thinking". It asks candidates to say if they used AI, and notes that it wants to interview humans, not an LLM (large language model) (Doist hiring FAQ).

A safe approach when the rules are unclear:

• Ask the recruiter: "Is it fine to use AI tools for research or proofreading, or would you prefer unassisted work?"
• If you use AI, use it for narrow jobs like checking grammar or suggesting outline options. Write the substance yourself.
• Disclose it in your covering note if you used it.
• Never paste AI output in as your own when the brief asks for unassisted work. A test you pass that way leads to a job you can't keep.

Our guide on using AI tools responsibly as a remote writer goes further.

Nigeria-specific things that sink good tests

Deadlines are in their time zone, not yours

"Due 5pm EST" in December means 11pm in Lagos, because US Eastern is six hours behind WAT in winter (from 1 November 2026). In summer it's five hours behind, so the same deadline is 10pm. "5pm PT" in summer is 1am the next day in Lagos. "End of day Friday, London time" in winter means midnight in Lagos, because the UK is on GMT and Lagos is an hour ahead. Write the converted deadline on your checklist in WAT and aim to submit at least a few hours before it.

Power and data during timed tests

A timed test on a platform like a browser-based editor won't pause for a power cut. Before you click start:

• Charge everything and have your backup power ready
• Close downloads and updates that eat bandwidth
• Keep your second internet route switched on and connected
• Screenshot the start screen and timer, so you have evidence if something breaks

If your connection fails mid-test, email the recruiter straight away with the time it happened and your screenshots. Reasonable companies will often let you retake. Waiting until the next day makes it look like an excuse.

Writing for a foreign reader

Avoid local phrasing a US or UK reader may trip over ("I'm coming", "on seat", "flash me"). Use examples your audience knows, unless the brief is about Africa. And write currency, dates and measurements the way the client's audience does.

Paid tests, unpaid tests and when a "test" is a scam

A short unpaid test is a normal part of remote hiring. A long one deserves pay. Some well-run companies pay as a matter of policy: Doist says, "We pay you for completing it because we respect your time" (Doist hiring FAQ).

Signs that a "test" is really free work:

• It's several full articles, or a whole batch of product descriptions
• The topics fit neatly into the company's content calendar
• There's no interview, no named person and no company website you can check
• They won't say how the test will be judged or when you'll hear back

If you're unsure, say: "I'm happy to do a short sample of around 300 words. For anything longer, could we arrange a paid trial?" Serious employers will either agree or explain their process.

Some "tests" are outright scams. The usual trick is to say you've passed, then ask you to pay for "onboarding", "training", "software" or a "certification". The US Federal Trade Commission is blunt about this: "Honest employers... will never ask you to pay to get a job." It also warns about fake cheques where you're asked to send part of the money on (FTC: job scams). Our guide to spotting remote job scams in Nigeria covers the patterns we see most.

After you submit

• Note the date and what they said about timing. If you haven't heard back after that window, send one polite follow-up. Our guide on following up after a remote job application has wording you can use.
• Ask for feedback if you're rejected. Some companies, Doist among them, build feedback into the paid task. Others won't give it, but one short request costs nothing.
• Keep a copy, but respect ownership. Unpaid test pieces on your own chosen topic can often be reworked into portfolio samples. Paid trial work and anything under an NDA (non-disclosure agreement) belongs to the client. Ask before you publish it. See building a professional writing portfolio and creating writing samples without paid clients.

How the test differs by role

For skills and pay in each field, see the content writer career guide, the copywriter role guide and the proofreader career page. If your test sits alongside a coding or tools exercise, read completing a remote technical assessment.

Frequently asked questions

How long should a remote writing test take?

There's no fixed standard. Short unpaid tests often take an hour or two, and longer trials may take several days. If the brief doesn't give an expected time, ask. If the task looks like many hours of unpaid work, politely ask for a shorter sample or a paid trial.

Should I do an unpaid writing test?

Yes, if it's short, on a sample topic and from a company you can verify. Be wary of long unpaid tasks that look like real content the company will publish. Some employers, Doist for example, pay candidates for their assessment task as policy.

Can I use ChatGPT in a writing assessment?

Only if the employer allows it. Some ads list AI tools as a required skill, while others want unassisted work and ask you to disclose any AI use. If the brief doesn't say, ask the recruiter. If you did use AI, mention it in your covering note.

Should I use British or American spelling in a writing test?

Use whatever the company publishes in. Most US companies use American spelling, and many tech style guides, Google's included, require it. Set your spellchecker to match, then search for mixed spellings before you submit.

What happens if my power or internet goes off during a timed test?

Tell the recruiter immediately by email, with the time it happened and screenshots if you have them. Many companies will allow a retake if you explain promptly. Avoid it in the first place with backup power, a second internet connection and a cloud document that saves as you type.

Is it normal to be asked for a writing test after the interview?

Yes. Some employers test early and some test late. Doist's process puts the paid task after the hiring manager and panel interviews. Scalesource's ad puts take-home exercises after a recruiter call. A test at any stage is normal, and being asked to pay at any stage is not.

Can I put my writing test in my portfolio?

Sometimes. Unpaid samples on general topics can often be reworked and published under your name. Paid trial work and anything covered by an NDA usually belongs to the employer. Ask first.

Key takeaways

• Most failed writing tests miss the brief rather than lacking skill, so turn every requirement into a checklist.
• Study the company's own content and style guide, and match its spelling and heading style.
• Plan your time so that editing and proofreading get at least a third of it.
• Check the rules on AI tools and disclose any use. Policies differ between employers.
• Convert deadlines to WAT, prepare backup power and internet, and submit early.
• Short unpaid tests are normal and long tasks should be paid. Paying to "pass" a test is a scam.

Next steps

Pick one company you'd like to write for, study five of its published pieces, and do a timed practice test on one of its topics this week. Then browse remote writing jobs on WorkRemote. Each listing shows the company, its website and where applicants may live, and applying is always free. After a search, use "Get email updates" to get a daily digest of new matching jobs. When an interview follows your test, our content writer interview questions will help you prepare.

Sources

• Hiring – Frequently asked questions, Doist handbook
• Content Marketing Writer (Multi-Industry), remote from EMEA/APAC, Scalesource on Workable
• Google developer documentation style guide highlights, Google for Developers
• Free technical writing courses, Google for Developers
• Job scams, US Federal Trade Commission
• CBN exchange rates by currency