HOW WILL THE NEW SAT-I ESSAY SECTION BE SCORED?
A proposed SAT-I essay section was scrapped in the early 1990’s because of potential logistical problems in grading it and grave equity questions. These concerns have yet to be resolved. A June 2002 notice on the College Board’s website announced that SAT II: Writing Test scores would be delayed due to the unusually high volume of tests administered. Since there are close to ten times as many SAT-I’s administered as SAT II: Writing Tests, such delays call into question the test-maker’s capacity to grade more than 2 million tests annually in a timely and fair manner. Each essay will be read in less than four minutes and rated on a “holistic” 1-6 scale by two readers. If the readers’ scores differ by more than 2 points, a third person will read the essay to resolve the discrepancy. Readers will evaluate writing skills using a vague set of criteria, relying on the same guide now used to rate the SAT II: Writing Test. This guide includes things such as variety in sentence structure and ran
