CUNY/ACT
WRITING EXAMINATION
ACT Scoring Scale
Because this is a test of writing skills,
responses should be as well-written as possible
in the time allotted. Your writing will
be evaluated for its ability to address
the issue and take a position, organization
and development of ideas, and competency
in basic English sentence structure, word
usage, and mechanics. In sum, your response
should conform to the conventions of edited
American English.
Evaluators will use a six-point scale to
score the papers. Each score reflects an
evaluator's holistic (overall) judgement
of the writer's performance in relation
to the skills identified above. Two CUNY
evaluators who have been carefully trained
to score writing using this six-point scale
will read each response. Your total score
is a composite of the two individual scores.
That means if you get a total score of six,
for example, each reader gave your paper
a score of three. If you get a score of
seven, one reader gave your paper a score
of three and the other reader gave your
paper a score of four. The minimum score
for passing the ACT writing exam is a seven.
The six-point scale followed by ACT readers
is as follows:
| Upper-range
papers: These papers
clearly engage the issue identified
in the prompt
and
demonstrate superior skill in organizing,
developing, and conveying in standard
written English, the writer's ideas
about the topic in standard written English. |
6
|
Exceptional. These papers take a position
on the issue defined in the prompt and
support that position with extensive
elaboration. Organization is unified
and coherent. While there may be a few
errors in mechanics, usage, or sentence
structure, outstanding command of the
language is apparent. |
5
|
Superior. These papers take a position
on the issue defined in the prompt and
support that position with moderate
elaboration. Organization is unified
and coherent. While there may be a few
errors in mechanics, usage, or sentence
structure, command of the language is
apparent. |
| Mid-range
papers. These papers
clearly engage the issue identified
in the prompt and demonstrate superior
skill in organizing, developing,
and conveying in standard written
English, the writer's ideas about
the topic in standard written English. |
4
|
Competent. These papers take a position
on the issue defined in the prompt and
support that position with some elaboration
or explanation. Organization is generally
clear. A competency with language is
apparent, even though there may be some
errors in mechanics, usage, or sentence
structure. |
3
|
Adequate. These papers take a position
on the issue defined in the prompt and
support that position, but with only
a little elaboration or explanation.
Organization is clear enough to follow
without difficulty. A control of the
language is apparent, even though there
may be numerous errors in mechanics,
usage, or sentence structure. |
| Lower-range
papers. Papers in
the lower range fail in some way to
demonstrate proficiency in language
use, clarity of organization, or engagement
of the issue identified in the prompt. |
2
|
Weak. While these papers take a position
on the issue defined in the prompt,
they may show significant problems in
one or more of several areas, making
the writer's ideas often difficult to
follow: support may be extremely minimal;
organization may lack clear movement
or connectedness; or there may be a
pattern of errors in mechanics, usage,
or sentence structure that significantly
interferes with understanding the writer's
ideas. |
1
|
Inadequate. These papers show a failed
attempt to engage the issue defined
in the prompt, lack support, or the
problems with organization or language
are so sever as to make the writer's
ideas very difficult to follow. |
|
|
