In recent years, the standardized testing generals, headquartered in Princeton, NJ, initiated a new maneuver in battlefield tactics for shaking out the best and brightest students applying to America's institutions of higher learning. Adding an essay-writing component proved a bold move. No guessing involved. Luck discounted. In an increasingly high-tech world, the Educational Testing Service (ETS) returned to pen and paper!

The essay component of the SAT comprises one-third of the total score. A team of "scorers" are continually being trained to follow standards established by ETS. In studying the materials issued to scorers, papers are judged according to set criteria.

1. Students must take a position on the question.
2. Students must back up their position with reasoned arguments.
3. Students must supplement those arguments with evidence. Evidence can be derived from books, movies, and other cultural artifacts; while uniqueness may be valued, familiarity with classics seems significant. Students can also draw on direct observations and life experiences.
4. Students must follow an organized plan in working through the essay, with consideration shown for the limitations of time (only 25 minutes!).
5. Students must show insight-an unpredictable inference or reflection which may surprise the reader-in order to score the highest points.

Although the ETS teaching seminars for scorers emphasize the high value placed on insight, I have heard that scorers tend to favor more pragmatic rubrics. They look for composition checkpoints, like: thesis statements, topic and concluding sentences, introductions, conclusions, etc.

Time will tell what approaches will win the highest marks. An early study, by a professor at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (M.I.T.), discovered that the more words students wrote, the higher their score. Confusing results, indeed!

Learn more about this author, Babs Pomp.
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