Major changes are about to be made to the journalists’ proficiency test, the National Certificate Examination.

Trainees sitting the NCE later this year will face a more “realistic” test of their skills, following changes announced by the National Council for the Training of Journalists.

From October the newspaper practice section of the exam will be “open book” – allowing candidates to refer to McNae’s Essential Law for Journalists and the Press Complaints Commission’s Code of Practice.

The NCTJ says the new rules have been introduced after feedback from editors suggested the newspaper practice paper needed to be as realistic as possible – allowing the use of reference tools as they would in the office.

In addition, the proportion of marks for the law section of the newspaper practice paper are to be increased from 40 per cent to 50 per cent.

The “open book” plans have been met with a mixed reaction from editors and trainers from across the industry, with some fearing it may be an attempt to boost pass rates by “dumbing down” – with just 55 per cent passing this year’s spring NCE, which included the new logbook section.

One of those who is concerned is regional newspaper consultant and journalism trainer David Scott, who runs journalism training courses for newspapers around the country.

He said: “I am not in favour of it.

“Particularly on papers with a small staff, reporters are expected to take a decision without the advantage of a book.

“My fear is that editors will see this as dumbing down – one editor said to me that reporters might as well take their news editor in to the exam with them, and I do wish that more people had been consulted.”

At Newsquest the NCE pass rate for the group’s trainees is around 80 per cent – much higher than the national pass rate – and editorial manager Margaret Strayton said she was looking forward to seeing what effect the open policy would have.

She said: “It will be interesting to see if the pass rate changes dramatically. There is still a time limit so if candidates spend all their time referring to the book there is a danger that they won’t complete the questions and will fail anyway.

“I wouldn’t like to see anything dilute the NCE and if the pass rate did go up substantially then there might be cause for concern, but I wouldn’t call foul on it just yet. We will have to wait and see.”

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