2018 Business Reporting Internship Test

ANSWER KEY
Fund Use: Score______

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

PLEASE PRINT LEGIBLY

Applicant’s Name________________________________________ Email Address ________________________________

College/University____________________________________________________ Phone Number (_____)_____________
Name and Title of Monitor_____________________________________________ Phone Number (_____)_____________
Monitor’s Address______________________________________ City ____________________ State_____ ZIP_________
Monitor’s Email Address__________________________________________ Date Test Given _____/_____/2017

Applicant’s statement: I have applied for/plan to apply for an internship at dowjonesnewsfund.org ___Yes ___ No

INSTRUCTIONS
Cell phones are not permitted. This test has a one-hour time limit. Please print clearly using a dark pencil or pen. You may
handwrite or use a computer for the writing exercise. If attaching a separate sheet, please be sure to staple it to the test, with
your name, the date and your university on it. DO NOT USE SPELLCHECK.

Copyright © 2017 Dow Jones News Fund, Inc.

PART 1 – GENERAL AND FINANCIAL KNOWLEDGE. 20 PTS

1. What are the primary purposes of federal bankruptcy laws? Bankruptcy laws are intended to give an honest
debtor a chance for a fresh start while paying creditors in an orderly fashion.

2. What is a balance sheet? A company’s financial statement. Reporting assets, liabilities, and net worth at a
specific time, typically the end of a quarter.

3. What is a limited liability corporation? A business structure where a corporation receives the tax advantages
of a partnership and the liability advantages of a corporation.

4. What is venture capital? Funds made available to start-up companies and small businesses, typically in
return for an ownership stake and a say in how the business is run.

5. Define dividend. Cash payment using profits that are announced by a company’s board of directors to be
distributed among stockholders. Dividends may be cash, stock or property.
PART 2 – CURRENT EVENTS. Underline the best answer. 20 PTS

1. The CEO of ___________ stepped down after several scandals involving his behavior and corporate culture.

a. IBM b. Uber c. Ford

2. Citing a state law thwarting racial discrimination lawsuits, the NAACP issued a travel warning for

a. Mississippi b. Minnesota c. Missouri

3. This summer, the U.S. Senate tried but failed to repeal

a. Affirmative Action b. The Affordable Care Act c. DACA

4. __________________impaneled a federal grand jury to investigate Russia’s role in the U.S. elections.

a. James Comey b. Kenneth Starr c. Robert Mueller

5. The Dow Jones Industrial Average topped __________ in August.

a. 18, 000 b. 22,000 c. 25,000

6. Customers of ____________ may receive $142 million to settle a class action over unauthorized accounts.

a. Bank of America b. PNC Bank c. Wells Fargo

7.__________________ hosted the nation’s biggest job fair in August offering 50,000 full- and part-time jobs.

a. Apple b. Amazon c. Microsoft

8. The U.S. ____________ fell sharply in June as exports rose to their highest level in 2-1/2 years.

a. trade deficit b. gross domestic product c. debt ceiling

9. The stock price for the parent of _________________ plunged below its $17 IPO in four months.

a. Facebook b. Snapchat c. Canada Goose

10. An executive of ____________ pleaded guilty in a case involving fraudulent diesel emissions.

a. Volkswagen b. Mercedes Benz c. BMW

PART 3 – NUMERACY. Using the data from the Energy Information Administration, create a graphic of
2017 U.S. crude oil input at 1,000 barrels per day. Be sure to label all elements. Explain what the graphic
shows.
30 PTS
Week East Midwest Region Rocky Mountain Region
Coast
Region

Jun 02 1125 3866 625

Jun 09 1091 3939 610

Jun 16 1109 3927 599

Jun 23 1170 3806 599

Jun 30 1142 3873 614

Jul 07 1081 3892 665

Jul 14 1045 3907 626

Jul 21 1063 3851 647

Jul 28 1095 3789 664

U.S. Crude Oil Input, June 2 – July 28, 2017

4500
4000
3500
1000 Barrels per day

3000
Rocky Mountain
2500 Region
2000 East Coast Region
1500
Midwest Region
1000
500
0

Weeks

Source: Energy Information Administraton

The chart shows fluctuations in input over these nine weeks. We see the Rocky Mountain Region's input was
lowest, East Coast was at mid-range and Midwest was highest with between 3.789 million and 3.939 million
barrels per day.
PART 4 – ORGANIZING A STORY. Order the paragraphs by putting a number in the space next to it,
corresponding to its place in the story. Write delete if you believe the paragraph should be removed.

No-till agriculture is just one of the techniques farmers are adopting to improve the health of their soil.
___6_____ Others are planting cover crops such as legumes and grasses as a way to preserve their soil’s water content
in case of a drought.

____9_____ Temperature swings are a particular concern. Vintners in California have installed huge fans to help move
cold air off fields to preserve grapes in the event of sudden frosts. Scientists are studying ways to combat
excessive heat and insufficient periods of cold, which can cause fruit trees to bud too early and make them
susceptible to cold snaps.

___2_____ The year 2012, with its record-setting heat wave and drought, was a turning point for many. Growers in 22
states suffered what federal agencies considered “crop failure,” the worst agricultural calamity since a
severe dry spell in 1988.

More recently, a long dry spell followed by floods in California has hurt farmers there, while throughout
___3____ the Midwest, Southeast and parts of New England, producers of apples, berries, peaches, maple syrup and
other crops have battled dramatic temperature swings.

___4_____ Fred Yoder, a farmer in Plain City, Ohio, says he was lucky to lose just half of his corn, soy and wheat crop
in 2012 because he adopted no-till farming, an ancient technique that is being embraced by farmers anew.
Instead of removing the remains of previous harvests, the method leaves stalks and roots in the ground to
protect the soil from erosion and drought.

___5_____ “It’s mainly about survival,” says Mr. Yoder, chair of the North American Climate Smart Agriculture
Alliance, a group of growers working on planning for weather changes. “The only way to survive is to
produce more with less.”

____1_____ Intense heat waves, droughts and floods have led to erratic crop yields in California, Michigan, Illinois,
Georgia, South Carolina, Florida and other agricultural states. Expecting that trend to continue, farmers big
and small are investing in ways to preserve water in their soil, plant crops more quickly and irrigate more
efficiently.

___7_____ Farmers also have to increasingly worry about too much water coming at once. After a dry spell followed
by a deluge in the Midwest last year, sugar-beet farmers are installing drainage systems to carry excess
water away from their crops, according to the American Sugar Beets Association.

___8_____ “When you have good weather, you want to carry out about as many tasks as you can in a quick time,” says
Greg Page, former chief executive of Cargill Inc., the Minneapolis-based food giant. “The number of days
to harvest the crop is the lowest it has ever been.”

Researchers are promoting crops that thrive in more volatile weather and resist pests that become more
___10____ prevalent as temperatures climb. But it can take decades to develop a new crop variety and bring it to
market, and weather patterns are changing much more quickly than that.

___11______ “Most people in the breeding world are very concerned,” says Charles Brummer, director of the UC Davis
Plant Breeding Center, about volatile weather. “We are evaluating as many plants as possible and doing it
rapidly.”