Knowadays Proofreading Academy Review (In-Depth w/ Pro Insight)

Proofreading Academy's Becoming a Proofreader course promises to take you from a complete beginner to a confident, trained professional proofreader and copy editor. It even includes a guaranteed freelance work opportunity for students who score 80% or higher on the final assignment. 

But, does the course live up to its promises? Is it worth dropping the cash and signing up?

In this Proofreading Academy review, we’ll be taking an in-depth look at the company and course to determine:

• Whether this is a legit and worthwhile opportunity
• The quality and value of the content inside the course
• The responsiveness and helpfulness of the course's support team; and more.

Keep on reading to find out if it’s worth signing up!

2022 Update: Proofreading Academy has re-branded as Knowadays. The Becoming a Proofreader course has been updated slightly with that change, but most of the core components remain the same. We will update all instances of “Proofreading Academy” below later on. Thanks!

What is Proofreading Academy?

Proofreading Academy is a digital proofreading and editing training program that’s written and designed by people with firsthand experience working in the industry. The flagship course of the program, Becoming a Proofreader, was launched with the help of the team at Proofed, a provider of professional proofreading and editing services since 2010. 

Officially launched in 2017, Proofreading Academy is designed to teach proofreading and editing in the modern age. With the demand for digital proofreading and editing on the rise, Proofreading Academy hopes to equip up-and-coming freelancers with the tools and knowledge necessary to provide high-quality services to a range of clients.

The Becoming a Proofreader course will teach you how to proofread and edit all types of documents, including academic, creative, and business, in US, UK, and AUS English. It covers everything from the techy aspects of working with Microsoft Word, to referencing styles, readability, grammar, spelling, punctuation, formatting, and more.

Most notably, the course includes a freelance work guarantee at Proofed for students who score 80% or higher on the final assignment. That’s pretty good proof (ha) that they believe in their training as they’re literally putting their own reputation on the line.

On top of that, the course also includes resources and tips to help you land your own freelance jobs for if/when you want to set out on your own.

About the Company

• Founded: 2017
• Parent Company: Interactive Learning Ltd.
• Located: 30 Stamford Street, 6th Floor, Alto, London, England, SE1 9LQ.
• Founders: Kiran Chauhan | Adam Harvey
• Socials: Facebook | Twitter
• Contact details: hello@proofreadingacademy.com | +1 888-851-7822

Is Proofreading Academy Legit?

Yes, Proofreading Academy is legitimate; it’s a trading name under the officially registered company Interactive Learning Ltd. Currently owned by Kiran Chauhan and Adam Harvey, the company is very transparent and easy to find information on. 

As far as the courses from Proofreading Academy go, the content outlines are accurate and deliver on what they promise. For their main course, Becoming a Proofreader, the content is exactly as described and the work guarantee is offered to students who score 80% or higher just as promised.

The course is also CPD certified, which essentially means it’s been evaluated and reviewed by an experienced outside team to ensure high quality content and structuring.

The only red flag I could find — and this is quite a reach — is that in Proofreading Academy’s FAQ, they say Proofed was founded in 2010, while on their About page, they say Proofed has been working with freelancers since 2008. Just a tiny detail that’s off (maybe they should hire me as a proofreader!).  They got back to me told me this was an error. It's fixed now!

Who Is the Proofreading Academy For?

Proofreading Academy’s Becoming a Proofreader course is made for anyone looking to become an online proofreader and/or copy editor — or current professionals in the industry who’d like to brush up on their skills.

As an example, maybe you’re looking to quit your job and start working from home full-time. The Proofreading Academy course could help you make that happen. That said, I wouldn’t rely on their guaranteed work opportunity for full-time work (more on why below).

Or hey, maybe you’re simply looking to make some extra money at night after coming home from work. Proofreading Academy would be great for that, and you could potentially transition to full-time proofreading and editing work later on if you really enjoy the work. 

One last example: maybe you used to proofread professionally in the past, and you’d like to bring your skills digital. Whatever it is, Proofreading Academy is a good all-around solution.

That said, there are some requirements you should meet before jumping in:

Course Requirements

• Age requirement: 18 years old.
• Country requirements: Available worldwide. That said, the Proofed work opportunity may only be available to those living in a country that has a tax treaty with the U.S. (list) — I'd contact Proofreading Academy first to be sure.
• Device requirements: Laptop or desktop PC, Microsoft Word (2016 or later), internet access.
• Skill requirements: You’ll need to be fluent in English and know how to navigate a computer. It’s recommended that you have a good eye for detail, good self-motivation, and a natural tendency to spot errors in writing. That said, no previous proofreading or editing experience is required.

Support Quality

When it comes to online courses, the quality of support you’re able to receive can make or break the entire experience. 

Luckily, in the case of Proofreading Academy, support is great. You can contact them easily via multiple methods including email, phone, and a live chat on site. 

If you haven’t yet purchased the course, the support team will be happy to answer your questions and help you make a decision.

As a student of the course, you’ll be able to contact the support team/Proofreading Academy tutors for any questions you may have. They have several qualified tutors on their team.

Best of all, when you make a support request, they’ll typically get back to you within a day or two.

How the Becoming a Proofreader Course Works

The way the course works is quite simple. The entire learning platform is built into the Proofreading Academy website, and it essentially works like a PowerPoint presentation. You select a module, then a lesson, and then go through different slides with text info, images, examples, videos, and interactive quizzes to test your knowledge.

Course Outline

• Module 1: Introduction
  • Includes 1 lesson. Less than 30 minutes of content.
  • Covers: How the course works and how to navigate it.
• Module 2: Proofreading and Editing
  • Includes 3 lessons and an end-of-module quiz. 1-2 hours of content.
  • Covers: The differences between proofreading and editing, what each involves, the skills each rely on, examples, common questions, and more.
• Module 3: The Basics of Microsoft Word
  • Includes 5 lessons and an end-of-module quiz. 2-3 hours of content.
  • Covers: The techy parts of working with Microsoft Word — both on Mac and Windows computers — including settings, tools, suggested workflow, best practices, and common questions.
• Module 4: Common Spelling Mistakes
  • Includes 3 lessons and an end-of-module quiz. 2-3 hours of content.
  • Covers: Common spelling mistakes like errors related to homophones, irregular plurals, differences between UK, US, and AUS English, letter order, silent letters, and more.
• Module 5: Common Grammar Mistakes
  • Includes 5 lessons and an end-of-module quiz. 2-3 hours of content.
  • Covers: Faulty agreement and parallelism, fragments and modifying clauses, adverbs and adjectives, common grammar myths, and more. 
• Module 6: Common Punctuation Mistakes
  • Includes 7 lessons and an end-of-module quiz. 2-3 hours of content. 
  • Covers: All the common punctuation errors you may run into including full stops, question marks, exclamation marks, run-on sentences, comma splices, and more.
• Module 7: Other Common Errors
  • Includes 4 lessons and an end-of-module quiz. 2-3 hours of content. 
  • Covers: Other errors you may run into including Latin term usage, acronyms and other abbreviations, numbers, times and dates, capitalization, and more. 
• Module 8: Proofreading in Practice: Style
  • Includes 5 lessons and an end-of-module quiz. 3-4 hours of content. 
  • Covers: Stylistic issues including common writing styles, working with different client types, academic and non-academic style guides, tone and voice, formal and informal English, sentence structure and length, repetition, and more. 
• Module 9: Advanced Formatting In Microsoft Word For Windows
  • Includes 7 lessons and an end-of-module quiz. 3-5 hours of content. 
  • Covers: Spellchecker customizations, advanced search functions, find and replace, text direction, working with styles, document layout and spacing, proofreading images/tables/charts, shortcuts, and more. 
• Module 10: Advanced Formatting In Microsoft Word For Mac
  • Includes 7 lessons and an end-of-module quiz. 3-5 hours of content. 
  • Covers: Same as the above module, but for Mac computers. 
• Module 11: Academic Proofreading
  • Includes 6 lessons and an end-of-module quiz. 3-4 hours of content.
  • Covers: Academic edits and comments, language and technical terminology, quotations, common stylistic elements, working with LaTeX documents, and more.
• Module 12: Academic Proofreading: Referencing and Citations
  • Includes 8 lessons and an end-of-module quiz. 3-5 hours of content.
  • Covers: Citation styles and source types, different referencing styles, legal referencing, specialist citation styles, secondary citations and citation order, missing or incorrect information in citations, and more.
• Module 13: Creative Writing and the Publishing Industry
  • Includes 6 lessons and an end-of-module quiz. 3-4 hours of content.
  • Covers: Publishing process, key terminology and ethical issues for creative writing, working with authors/publishers, fiction vs. nonfiction, non-standard English, working with scripts and screenplays, and more. 
• Module 14: Proofreading Business Writing
  • Includes 7 lessons and an end-of-module quiz. 3-4 hours of content.
  • Covers: Different types of business documents, working with business clients, creating a style sheet, tips, editing for skim reading, accessibility, SEO, and more. 
• Module 15: Finding Work and the Final Assignment
  • Includes 1 lesson and the final assignment. 3-4 hours of content.
  • Covers: How to find work as a freelance proofreader (including client-finding methods, resume tips, rate tips, and more) plus top revision areas for the final assignment, a mock practice assignment, detailed feedback for test attempts, and extra tutoring if needed.

As you can see, the Becoming a Proofreader course is extremely in-depth and comprehensive. All modules (other than the first) contain at least 2 hours of content (including examples, quizzes, videos, and images). 

By the end of the course, you’ll know how to spot, comment on, and correct the most common writing mistakes in UK, US, and AUS English, and in academic, creative, and/or business writing. 

You’ll also know how to excel as a digital proofreader using Microsoft Word — even if you go into the course as not a very tech savvy person. 

Note: The course outline, modules, and lessons may change and update over time. This outline is as of June 2021. Get an up to date outline and more details on the Proofreading Academy website.

Course Features

• Written content with examples and images when helpful
• Instructional videos (both Windows and Mac versions are provided when necessary)
• Weekly group webinars with a tutor
• 3 Different types of questions and quizzes:
  • Mid-module questions test your knowledge from individual lessons. These quizzes are not assessed and you can do them as many times as you like.
  • End of module quizzes test your knowledge for the entire module. These quizzes do not contribute to your final mark and you can do them any number of times.
  • End of module exercises are small documents you can download and proofread/mark-up on Microsoft word. You can then download Proofreading Academy’s version to compare your results with their editors.
• The final assignment
  • This is the ultimate test of what you’ve learned. It’s marked by a real person, and if you score 80% or higher within 3 attempts, you’ll be invited to work as a freelancer at Proofed (more details below). 
  • The assignment involves 2 proofreading tests and 1 formatting test. Once finished, your test is marked and graded, with feedback, in 7-10 business days. 
  • If you don’t get your desired score the first time around, you can schedule a feedback call with a tutor.

Pricing

The Becoming a Proofreader course is offered at a one-time price of $399. You can also set up a payment plan for three monthly payments by contacting Proofreading Academy. 

Note: Previous course price was $295, so it's been increased recently. This was to be expected as courses of similar quality (without work guarantees) are still much more expensive.

Can You Get a Refund?

Yes, in some cases. 

Here are the terms: “All course refunds requested within 14 days from the time of purchase will be refunded in full, unless it is otherwise deemed that the course has already been accessed. In that case, the un-accessed portions of the course material will be proportionately refunded, less a $30 administration fee. All refund requests made greater than 14 days but less than 30 days after the course purchase will be assessed using the above methods. No refunds will be given if the course has been accessed and greater than 30 days have passed since the purchase.” – T&C

To get started, contact refunds@proofreadingacademy.com.

Other Courses Offered By Proofreading Academy

Aside from their flagship Becoming a Proofreader course, Proofreading Academy also offers three other smaller courses:

• Academic Proofreading – $75 – 12 hours of content. 
• Basic Business Proofreading – $75 – 14 hours of content.
• Mastering Microsoft Word – $75 – 9 hours of content.

These courses are essentially fragments of content from the Becoming a Proofreader course. They’re made for anyone who already has a good grasp of basic proofreading/editing and simply wants to expand their skills or get a refresher on a certain topic. They don’t include any work guarantee.

Speaking of:

Proofed Guaranteed Work Details

As mentioned many times already, if you pass the course's final assignment within 3 tries with a score of 80% or higher, you’ll be invited to work as a freelancer for Proofed. (You’ll also be invited to a private LinkedIn group of professional proofreaders and editors, which is a great networking bonus.)

The question is, is the work opportunity any good? Let's take a closer look…

What is Proofed?

Proofed is a partner company of Proofreading Academy. They go by a few different domains online:

• GetProofed.com
• ProofreadMyDocument.com.au
• ProofreadMyEssay.co.uk

The company provides a range of services, including proofreading, editing, and formatting, for businesses, students, authors, ESL students, dyslexic people, researchers, academics, and professionals. 

How Does the Guaranteed Work Opportunity Work?

Here’s what you should know about the work opportunity:

1. It’s freelance. You’re not guaranteed a set number of hours or a set hourly rate. Payment is on a per project basis and projects are first come first serve. You can accept projects from the job queue whenever and however you like, so the gig is flexible.
2. Work volume varies. One user reported there being very little work available, another reported there always being tons of work available. There seems to be more work available during the school years when students need their essays proofed. That said, based on SimilarWeb data, all of Proofed’s domains combined receive around 450,000 visitors a month, so I’m sure they have a good volume of clients coming in. Of course, since work is first come first serve, and Proofed has over 400 editors on their team, the low work volume may simply be due to high competition in the job queue. 
3. Pay also varies. Depending on the length of the doc you’re proofreading or editing, pay will vary. This user reported earning £40 in 2 hours on one doc, then £10 in 2 hours on another. 
4. Most work may be academic. This is based on what I’ve read online. Most work involves essays, business documents, ESL, things like that. That said, Proofed does accept creative, fictional work from authors, so it’s not impossible to see jobs in those fields. 

Overall, even though the Proofed opportunity isn’t perfect, seeing as it could get you your first bit of work experience as a beginner, it’s still a great opportunity. It’ll allow you to gain some confidence before you start potentially pitching your own clients and charging more money. 

Related: To learn more about working as a freelancer for Proofed, read our full Proofed Review and Guide (coming soon).

Proofreading Academy Review and Rating Breakdown

Review from a Professional Proofreader and Editor

As mentioned above, I hired Andrew Hillebrand, a freelance writer, editor, and proofreader who’s been working with various companies and clients since 2012. 

Here are his thoughts on the course:

Rating

• Content 
  • 5/5
  • Why? It’s incredibly comprehensive and detailed.
• Value 
  • 5/5
  • Why? I was not expecting it to be a good value, but I would honestly say it is, especially with the guarantee of working with Proofed.
• Usability
  • 4/5
  • Why? I don’t know if it was just the browser I was using (Google Chrome) or if I was doing something wrong, but at the end of each section, it directs you to click the Mark as Complete button to move on to the next module. I didn’t have a Mark as Complete button on my screen, so I had to click the back button a few times to select a new module.

Summary

The course is definitely worth it. I was skeptical about how it could cover everything required to be a freelance proofreader, but it actually included everything I hoped it would and then some. I learned a lot of this information gradually over my six years as a freelancer, but if I had taken this course at the beginning of my career, it would have helped tremendously.

There's no replacement for experience, so I don't think most students will be great proofreaders immediately, but this will certainly put people on the right track. Plus, the work guarantee provides the opportunity to quickly put the new information into practice.

Proofreading Academy Reviews From Graduates

Here are some recent 2021 reviews of Proofreading Academy from Trustpilot:

Positive Reviews (4-5 Stars)

This course is fantastic if you are completely new to the field of editing. It really spells out everything that you as a student would ever need to know. But on the other side, it can be overwhelming with the amount of knowledge to intake, especially when they continue to add new modules to the coursework. Definitely take your time going through this course. Go over the materials several times. I personally would have liked to see more examples of the concepts being taught as well as more mock papers to work on. I also didn't find the multiple choice tests very helpful or relevant to the skill of proofreading at all. The support team was very friendly and helpful. They want you to succeed and you do in fact get a job offer if you pass the exam with an 80% score or higher. All in all, Proofreading Academy was a positive experience. 🙂

4 / 5 – Christa from the US

[…]The content of Proofreading Academy was very comprehensive and included the grammar refresher I sorely needed. The information provided was fun and engaging and I was able to complete it all in two to three weeks. There were plenty of webinars and practice documents available to me to prepare for the final test, which I was able to pass on the first try. If freelance proofreading is a career that interests you, this course has everything you need to be successful at it.

5 / 5 – Myken from the US

A truly great course. Covered everything I needed to get started as a proofreader and now feeling much more confident in obtaining paid work. The course was well structured and easy to follow with plenty of examples. Occasionally there could have been more just so you could see the idea in different contexts. Sometimes one example wasn’t enough to get your head [around] it. The module tests were useful to have a go at putting proofreading into practice. The webinars were very informative too for extra tips and pointers that aren’t directly on the course. I passed with 80% on my third attempt and managed to significantly increase my score each time thanks to the detailed feedback email and the feedback calls which allows you to ask questions, discuss feedback and get extra pointers to improve my general proofreading skills (shout out to Laura who was brilliant and very encouraging) the tutors also reply promptly to emails with any questions you might have about the course too. Hoping that working with proofed will be just as enjoyable!

5 / 5 – Lizzie from the UK

It was only as I prepared for the final test that I realised just how much was included in the course. The way it's presented takes you through a huge amount of what you need to know without it ever being overwhelming. The live webinar is definitely worth doing towards the end.

5 / 5 – Robert from the US

The lessons were very straightforward, detailed and well illustrated with examples. [I] required all three exams to earn my certificate, but I found the exams themselves to be helpful in improving my skills as each was followed up by a tutoring session. The reason for four stars rather than five is the pay rate for the work offered. This job opportunity is suitable as supplemental only, not as a main source of livable income.

4 / 5 – Diana from the US

Everything about this course is just beautifully put together. The price of this course might look ridiculous to some. But, take my word for it, this course is way underpriced.

Before this course, when I spotted an error I would’ve said, “I feel like this is off.” Now, I know why something is incorrect and can even clarify why! Of course, I’m a long way from being an expert, but I now have all the tools I need at my disposal.

Honestly, more than anything, I believe this course reinforces the idea that the more you learn about English, the less you really know haha. For the record, this course won’t go over every single pitfall (for proofreading purposes) in the English language, but (more importantly) it will show you how to single out an issue, approach it, and then rectify it; that’s what makes the course special. It takes great skill to teach someone how to think rather than what to think.

5 / 5 – Ali Madan from Bahrain

Negative Reviews (1-2 Stars)

Your correcting proofreaders need to read the corrections and comments of prior proofreaders before correcting. There are errors within your ‘so called' tutors mark up. There is no excuse your company could come up with that would explain how each one of your proofreaders found different errors within the formatting test. Each one said “for full points change …” Each time new errors were found.

If you are going to test ANYONE, there should be one proofreader correcting all tests for one client.

I am happy I will not be working for your sister company.

Scam

1 / 5 – Amelia from the US

The content is good but not outstanding. The hook of work and a low cost to the course is good. The lack of clarity on how they mark and assess above the tick boxes is the low point. Lack of clarity on the extent of editing V proofreading for the final assignments is poor. As marks are deducted for wrong comments it should have a consistent commenting section to the course. Tutors vary in what they teach in what should be the same tutorial. This ambiguity and lack of consistency in marking makes passing the final assignment to gain work a game of chance.

2 / 5 – Jayne from the UK

Summary

Proofreading Academy has a total rating of 4.8/5 out of 277 reviews on Trustpilot.

As of June 2021, they’ve only received 2 negative (1-2 star) reviews so far (both above). Common complaints seem to be due to inconsistent marking during the final assessment. It’s hard to tell if those negative reviewers are just upset that they didn’t pass with a score of 80% or higher, or if their complaints are actually accurate.

Based on the number of reviewers who seemed happy with the final assignment marking process and additional tutoring that was available between test attempts, I’d lean toward the former. 

Other common praises from positive reviewers were for the comprehensive content, engaging modules and helpful support and tutors.

Pros and Cons

Is Proofreading Academy Worth It?

If you’re sure you’re interested in starting a career in proofreading and editing and you’re willing to put in the work, then yes, Proofreading Academy’s Proofreading For Beginners course is definitely worth it. 

Not only will the course teach you everything you need to know to be able to perform professional level proofreading and copy editing for your own clients, but the fact it also includes a work guarantee to get you started after passing sets it apart from any other online course I’ve seen.

And, even though the work guarantee is only available to students who score 80% or higher on the final assessment, with the detailed course modules and a team of tutors at your disposal, as long as you’re dedicated, study hard, and go into the course with English fluency, you should have no problem reaching that score within the 3 attempts they give you. 

This all being said:

Because the course is so comprehensive (and not exactly cheap), you’ll want to make sure you’re committed before jumping in. The last thing you want to do is buy the course only to realize you find proofreading super boring. For that reason, the free trial is a nice option.

Also, I wouldn’t recommend the course to anyone not already fluent in English. That’ll make it really tough to fully understand the course contents and pass the final assessment with a high score. 

Similarly, if you’re not determined to learn the content, or you’re not good at self-learning, this course probably isn’t for you. 

Bottom line?

If you truly want and are excited to start a career in proofreading and editing, the Becoming a Proofreader course from Proofreading Academy is a great place to learn the necessary skills and get your first bit of work experience.

Note: If you're still not sure whether proofreading/editing is something you want to get into, read my free guide on how to become a proofreader. I also have a list of proofreading jobs that might be helpful.

Proofreading Academy Alternatives

Here are some other online proofreading courses similar to Proofreading Academy’s Becoming a Proofreader:

• Proofread Anywhere – From Caitlin Pyle, a long-time freelance proofreader, this course is designed to help you get started as a freelancer. Learn more here.
• Skillshare or Udemy – There are a ton of different proofreading and editing courses on these platforms.
• Inkylo – Proofreading and editing boot camps from the founder of Scribendi.com; 40 hours of content per course; $199 each or $349 as a bundle.
• Proofreading and Copyediting 101 – Provided by Universal Class, this course contains about 1/4 of the content as Proofreading Academy, and it's $80.

I haven’t taken a deep dive into any of these courses yet, but at a quick glance, I'd say Proofreading Academy is still the best value due to the amount of content, support quality, and guaranteed work opportunity. 

Final Thoughts

Did you find this Proofreading Academy review helpful? If you did, a share would be greatly appreciated — thanks!

• Are you a current Proofreading Academy student or graduate? Click here to leave your own short review below. 
• Have questions or feedback? Leave a comment below.