The Performance Standards chart is designed to help you understand how your Writing skills are measured by our trained and certified raters. The raters determine your skill level in each of the four categories. The yellow boxes list the specific factors that are assessed in each category. Here are some guiding questions that our raters consider as they rate your work:

1) COHERENCE/MEANING

This category measures how smoothly and effectively the ideas flow together to form a meaningful and coherent whole.

Are the ideas explained clearly?

Are the ideas well organized so that the reader can easily follow what has been written?

Can the test taker express precise meaning and/or explore deeper levels of meaning?

2) VOCABULARY

This category assesses how well the test taker uses vocabulary, idioms and phrases to make his/her ideas understandable.

Is the range of words sufficient to complete the task?

How well is the test taker using words that help express precise ideas clearly?

Can the test taker combine words to express precise meaning?

3) READABILITY

This category measures how intelligible and fluent your writing is.

How much do errors in word form, spelling and punctuation interfere with readability?

Does the test taker’s control of grammar and syntax interfere with or improve readability?

Is there complexity and variety in the sentence structure?

Does the test taker use paragraphing and formatting to improve readability?

Are connectors and transitions used appropriately and effectively?

4) TASK FULFILLMENT

This category considers how well the content of the response addresses the task requirements. In other words, has the test taker understood the instructions and done everything he or she was asked to do?

How well does the response address the task?

How complete is the response?

Is the tone of the response appropriate for the social context of the task?

Is the word count within the given range?

The four category ratings from one rater are combined into one score for that task. Two raters rate each task, and all four task scores are combined into one overall score for your Writing skills. Each task is worth 50% of your Writing score.