5 ms·

But writing scores (as with all human-graded tests that involve any sort of comprehension of the part of the grader) are massively arbitrary. The first reason f

by ruswick 14y ago

But writing scores (as with all human-graded tests that involve any sort of comprehension of the part of the grader) are massively arbitrary. The first reason for this is that people, being largely irrational animals, grade inconsistently, are subject to bias based on the content of the essay, etc. The second is that they misapply and/or are unwarrantedly anal with requirements. I was discussing this with my english teacher recently; he informed me that although one of my AP practice tests was deserving of a nine (out of nine), I almost assuredly would have gotten a four due to the fact that I cited one source twice instead of citing an additional source. This has absolutely nothing to do with writing ability whatsoever, and is entirely arbitrary. Unlike math and reading standardized tests, writing is simply too volatile to read into.

jjoonathan 14y ago
> writing scores are massively arbitrary I disagree, especially in the context of standardized tests. Sure, it wold be nearly impossible to objectively determine the difference in quality between two well-written articles or books on the same subject, but these media have little to do with the writing on the SAT or ACT, where you are given a generic prompt and asked to produce an essay under fairly intense time pressure. You will be forced to make tradeoffs between flow, source incorporation, structure, diction, angle of attack, and so on. The only people for whom these tradeoffs don't apply are at the low or high end of the score spectrum anyway. Most of these tradeoffs can be evaluated in a somewhat objective manner: were there transition sentences? Were multiple sources incorporated into the argument? Did the writer maintain flow despite the time constraints? Doing all of this for a full-length essay under time contsraints is incredibly difficult, and I am fairly certain that ranking people by the extent to which they manage these objectives provides an internally consistent measure of writing skill (possibly unrelated to applications in which you would actually use writing, but that's another issue). Back when I was applying to college, I remember being quite surprised at how straightforward the rubrics were. I was consistently able to predict my score immediately before/after completing the essay, both in the context of practice essays and for the "real deal". There was nothing arbitrary about it. I knew what my objectives were, and I knew weather or not I was achieving them, so long as I was willing to be brutally honest with myself. > although one of my AP practice tests was deserving of a nine (out of nine), I almost assuredly would have gotten a four This doesn't pass my smell test. I suspect that there was more wrong with your essay than a double citation. Perhaps you made redundant arguments in addition to using the same source twice? Then you would suffer penalties under structure, flow, AND source usage. In any case, I think that your teacher might have been trying to say "there are only a few details between you and a 9" rather than "this one detail separates a 4 and a 9."
- mjmahone17 14y ago
  The AP English exam (if I remember correctly) has a really clear-cut rubric: part of that rubric, to get above a 4, is that you must cite at least two of the primary sources provided (again, I may be misremembering, it's been four years, and this may actually be the case for AP US History, instead). Which would mean, unless they also cite a different, third source, citing the same source twice cannot earn above a 4. Even if the rest of the paper is excellent.
  - jjoonathan 14y ago
    I take it back; looks like you're correct: http://apcentral.collegeboard.com/apc/public/repository/samplescoringguidelin_51461.pdf http://apcentral.collegeboard.com/apc/public/repository/samp... Still, the fact that the grading scale places an unwarranted amount of emphasis on citation doesn't make it arbitrary or less concrete, so I think my point still stands. Students taking the exam should know that rubric inside and out, so I think it's fair even though the requirement isn't directly related to writing. Arbitrary requirements are part of life. Students also have to wear clothes during the exam even though you don't need clothes to write; I'm sure many great authors have done their best work in a state of dress that would be completely unacceptable in an AP exam.

by ruswick 14y ago

jjoonathan 14y ago

> writing scores are massively arbitrary I disagree, especially in the context of standardized tests. Sure, it wold be nearly impossible to objectively determine the difference in quality between two well-written articles or books on the same subject, but these media have little to do with the writing on the SAT or ACT, where you are given a generic prompt and asked to produce an essay under fairly intense time pressure. You will be forced to make tradeoffs between flow, source incorporation, structure, diction, angle of attack, and so on. The only people for whom these tradeoffs don't apply are at the low or high end of the score spectrum anyway. Most of these tradeoffs can be evaluated in a somewhat objective manner: were there transition sentences? Were multiple sources incorporated into the argument? Did the writer maintain flow despite the time constraints? Doing all of this for a full-length essay under time contsraints is incredibly difficult, and I am fairly certain that ranking people by the extent to which they manage these objectives provides an internally consistent measure of writing skill (possibly unrelated to applications in which you would actually use writing, but that's another issue). Back when I was applying to college, I remember being quite surprised at how straightforward the rubrics were. I was consistently able to predict my score immediately before/after completing the essay, both in the context of practice essays and for the "real deal". There was nothing arbitrary about it. I knew what my objectives were, and I knew weather or not I was achieving them, so long as I was willing to be brutally honest with myself. > although one of my AP practice tests was deserving of a nine (out of nine), I almost assuredly would have gotten a four This doesn't pass my smell test. I suspect that there was more wrong with your essay than a double citation. Perhaps you made redundant arguments in addition to using the same source twice? Then you would suffer penalties under structure, flow, AND source usage. In any case, I think that your teacher might have been trying to say "there are only a few details between you and a 9" rather than "this one detail separates a 4 and a 9."

mjmahone17 14y ago
The AP English exam (if I remember correctly) has a really clear-cut rubric: part of that rubric, to get above a 4, is that you must cite at least two of the primary sources provided (again, I may be misremembering, it's been four years, and this may actually be the case for AP US History, instead). Which would mean, unless they also cite a different, third source, citing the same source twice cannot earn above a 4. Even if the rest of the paper is excellent.
- jjoonathan 14y ago
  I take it back; looks like you're correct: http://apcentral.collegeboard.com/apc/public/repository/samplescoringguidelin_51461.pdf http://apcentral.collegeboard.com/apc/public/repository/samp... Still, the fact that the grading scale places an unwarranted amount of emphasis on citation doesn't make it arbitrary or less concrete, so I think my point still stands. Students taking the exam should know that rubric inside and out, so I think it's fair even though the requirement isn't directly related to writing. Arbitrary requirements are part of life. Students also have to wear clothes during the exam even though you don't need clothes to write; I'm sure many great authors have done their best work in a state of dress that would be completely unacceptable in an AP exam.