Grading

All Writing Proficiency exams and portfolio essays are graded according to the Program’s Grading Criteria which were developed by the members of the Writing Proficiency Program Advisory Committee. Members of the Advisory Committee come from multiple academic disciplines, and they worked together to create a grading criteria which reflects University-wide standards and expectations for junior-level writing.

 Familiarize yourself with the Grading Criteria because—before you write or choose your article—it is essential that you understand what the readers will be looking for. If you know that, you can tailor your response to the needs of your audience: readers who will be using the Grading Criteria to assess your work.

 You might also inform yourself about how holistic exam assessment works. Unlike a course—where one or two instructors who know you are giving you feedback—holistic assessment means the readers use only the Grading Criteria to assess the exam as CR or NC. 

This assessment is also “blind” because the readers do not know the identity of the writers whose work they are assesssing, and all exams are read by the same group of people under the same circumstances.