Exam Writing: Criteria Essays. It’s exam season and that means that everyone is working to improve their reading and listening skills, but don’t forget your writing skills!
CRITERIA FOR GRADING ESSAYS
Examiners are looking at 4 specific areas.
Content
- Content: Has the student completed the task by answering the question?
- Lots of students have trouble staying on task. If the question is asking you about whether unhealthy food should be banned, don’t speak about your own diet. It is not relavent.
- If they are asking for your opinion, give it. Make your ideas clear.
Communicative achievement
2. Communicative achievement: Is the student using the correct style of text?
- Most people struggle with informal vocabulary because they have only learned formal English. If you are writing a friend, use more phrasal verbs, say hello and talk soon, not Dear Sir and kind regards.
- Review some formal and informal language for emails here.
Organization
3. Organization: Is the essay organized in a way that I can understand?
- Everyone’s idea of organization is different depending on culture, language, etc. So, you need to organize your essay in a way that English speakers can follow.
- A typical order for an essay that agrees with the question is:
- Introduction
- Reasons for
- Reasons for
- Conclusion
| For an ‘against’ essay use: Introduction Reasons against Reasons against Conclusion | For a ‘on balance’ essay use: Introduction Reasons for Reasons against Conclusion |
Language
4. Language: has the students used a range of vocabulary and grammar?
Have you used a conditional? an inversion? a variety of verb tenses?
Is your vocabulary varied or do you say I think four times?
Have you used the correct connectors? and in the correct way?
When you finish writing, go back and review what you have written. Anser the questions you see here. Have I answered the question? Have I used a variety of language? How is my spelling?
Writing Rules
Now that you have seen Exam Writing: Criteria Essays, take a look at our other Writing Rules posts:
Writing Rules: by vs until
Writing Rules: notifying errors in emails
