ELIA 113 Final Writing Exam Rating Scale

2022/23
Paragraph Structure and Development (8 points)
Give a score from this scale for each body paragraph. Students will get 2 scores. One for “Paragraph 1” and
one for “Paragraph 2”. Each body paragraph should address a different bullet from the prompt. If it doesn’t,
it should be considered “off topic”.
4 • The paragraph has a clear topic sentence, clear and relevant supporting sentences, and a
concluding sentence. It is also clearly delineated as a paragraph (with correct indentation and/or
skipping a line).
• The paragraph is well-developed with plenty of relevant supporting ideas and details. Supporting
ideas and details include examples, reasons, and/or explanation.
• The overall response is focused and consistently relevant with no digression. It represents a full and
appropriate response to the prompt
3 • The paragraph has a topic sentence, mostly relevant supporting sentences, and a concluding
sentence.
• The paragraph is fairly well-developed with relevant supporting ideas and details. Supporting ideas
and details include examples, reasons, and/or explanation.
• The overall response has no more than 1 sentence that digresses from the main topic.
2 • The paragraph may be missing an identifiable topic sentence.
• The paragraph is developed with some relevant supporting ideas and details, but in general it could
be developed more. Some examples, reasons, and/or explanation is given.
• There may be some digression into clearly “off topic” points and/or the bullet being answered may
only be partially answered.
• The paragraph may be short, around 50 relevant words.
1 • The paragraph may be missing an identifiable topic sentence.
• The paragraph is not very well-developed and has limited relevant supporting ideas and details. A
few examples, reasons, and/or explanations may be given.
• There may be substantial digression into clearly “off topic” points and/or the bullet being answered
may only be partially answered.
• The paragraph may be quite short, around 30 relevant words.
0 • If only 1 paragraph is written, no matter how long, the first paragraph should be scored according to
this scale and the 2nd paragraph should be given a 0 because it is missing.
Note: If you can figure out where a 2nd paragraph “should” have started but the student simply
failed to skip a line or indent than you can grade normally the part that would be a 2nd paragraph if
it was more clearly delineated.
• Any paragraph that is less than 30 words or mostly off topic should be given a 0.

Grammar & Word Order (4 points)

Key Grammar Points:
• Correct subject/verb agreement.
• Correct choice and use of tense (present simple, past simple, present progressive, past progressive,
and present perfect as relevant to the prompt)
• Correct Word order.
4 Subject/verb agreement, tense choice and use, and word order are accurate with minimal errors.
3 Subject/verb agreement, tense choice and use, and word order are used mostly correctly.
2 Subject/verb agreement, tense choice and use, and word order have some errors in their use.
1 Subject/verb agreement, tense choice and use, and/or word order are used incorrectly more often than they
are used correctly.
0 If the writing is mostly or completely off topic, a “0” should be given regardless of how accurate the grammar is.

ELIA 113 Final Writing Exam Rating Scale (vA) CTU 2022/2023 p. 1
Spelling & Punctuation (3 points)
Evaluate the following:
• Spelling of words provided in the prompt, high frequency words, and words commonly found in the book
should be assessed.
• Capital letters should be used at the beginning of sentences and for names, places, months, languages,
nationalities, and the pronoun “I”.
• Full stops should be used at the end of each sentence. Run-on sentences and/or fragments should be
rare.
3 Full stops and capital letters are used consistently and accurately. There are no run-on sentences and no
fragments.
Spelling of high frequency words and words commonly found in the book is accurate.
2 Full stops and capital letters are usually used accurately and sufficiently. There are few run-on sentences
and/or fragments.
Spelling of high frequency words and words commonly found in the book is usually accurate.
1 Full stops are used around 3/4 of the time they are needed. There are some run-on sentences and/or
fragments.
Capital letters are sometimes missing where needed.
Some high frequency words and words commonly found in the book are spelled incorrectly.
0 Full stops are used less than 1/2 of the time they are needed.
There are a number of run-on sentences and/or fragments.
Capital letters are often not used when needed.
Many high frequency words and words commonly found in the book are spelled incorrectly.

Also, if the writing is mostly or completely off topic, a “0” should be given regardless of how well capital letters
and full stops are used or how accurate the spelling is.

No half points are allowed in any category.

ELIA 113 Final Writing Exam Rating Scale (vA) CTU 2022/2023 p. 2