The SAT Writing includes a mandatory hand-written essay. Today, I’d like to give you the actual essay “rubric” that’s used to score the SAT essay. (See below.) Remember, your essay will be scored by two qualified essay graders. Based on the rubric below, each grader will score your essay on a 1-6 scale.
| Score | Development of Position | Organization | Use of Language | Sentence Structure | Grammar and Word Usage |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | No plausible position is taken on the topic; severely lacking in examples, reasons and/or evidence | Disorganized; little or no focus; incoherent | Contains fundamental vocabulary mistakes | Severely flawed sentence structure | Grammar and word usage are so poor that they interfere with meaning; very poor mechanics (like punctuation) |
| 2 | Position on topic is unclear or extremely limited; inappropriate examples or reasons; insufficient evidence | Poorly organized; lacks focus; problems with coherence or flow of ideas | Poor use of language; indicates very limited vocabulary and poor word choice | Frequent problems with sentence structure | Grammar and word usage mistakes are frequent and interfere with meaning; poor mechanics |
| 3 | Position on topic demonstrates critical thinking skill applied inconsistently; inadequate examples, reasons or evidence | Limited in organization and focus; demonstrates lapses in coherence or flow of ideas | Displays developing use of language; contains indications of weak vocabulary and poor word selection | Some problems with sentence structure; lacks a variety of sentence structures | Contains many mistakes in grammar word usage and mechanics |
| 4 | Position on topic demonstrates competent critical thinking skill; example, reasons and evidence are adequate | Generally organized and focused; demonstrates some coherence and attention to the flow of ideas | Displays adequate, but inconsistent, use of language; vocabulary used is generally appropriate | Good sentence structure; demonstrates some variety of sentence structure | Contains some mistakes in grammar, word usage and mechanics |
| 5 | Position is effectively developed through strong critical thinking skill; examples, reasons and evidence are generally appropriate | Well organized and focused; demonstrates coherence and ideas flow well | Displays competent use of language; uses appropriate vocabulary | Good sentence structure; demonstrates variety in sentence structure | Generally free of mistakes in grammar, word usage and mechanics |
| 6 | Position effectively and insightfully developed through outstanding critical thinking skill; examples, reasons and evidence are clearly appropriate | Well organized and clearly focused; clearly coherent and ideas flow seamlessly | Displays skillful use of language; vocabulary is accurate and varied; words are appropriately and skillfully chosen | Good sentence structure; demonstrates meaningful and skilled variety of sentence structure | Free of most mistakes in grammar, word usage and mechanics |
September 7th, 2007 at 6:27 pm
This rubric rocks! Thank you so much for making this.
February 12th, 2009 at 4:00 pm
Somehow I got a seven for my writing score on the SATs…
Is this an old rubric?
February 12th, 2009 at 6:45 pm
No, A-dude, the rubric is current. Each essay is scored on a 0-6 scale by two readers. Unless the two scores differ by more than 1, they are simply added together for a final score. Thus, a final score of 7 means that one reader gave the essay a 4 out of 6 and the other a 3 out of 6.
March 13th, 2009 at 10:05 am
This rubric is awesome!
It gives good details on how an Sat essay is graded.
April 25th, 2009 at 3:04 pm
I have read that the essays are scored by a company called Pearsons, and that they optically scan the essay digitize it with Optical character recognition software, and then use an evaluation program called “E-rater” to score the essay. Some report that a human reader also scores it. What’s the truth of the matter?
April 26th, 2009 at 7:15 am
SEO,
Each SAT essay is graded by two human beings. (In the event the scores of the two readers differ by more than 2, a third reader is brought in to resolve the discrepancy.) While I know that the readers receive electronic versions of the essays, I am not sure exactly how they are scanned.
If you go to the Essay category of this blog, you will find several videos on how the essay is scored and some other interesting facts about the essay.
September 14th, 2009 at 9:29 am
This rubric is incorrect. The ETS site says that essays are scored between 0 and 3 points. Not six.
September 14th, 2009 at 1:23 pm
Kerry,
The rubric came straight from the Teacher’s Edition of the Official SAT Study Guide. The essay is definitely scored on a 0-6 scale.
February 5th, 2010 at 4:04 pm
This scoring rubric seems similar to the one used to grade essasy for the Comprehensive English Regents Exam for New York State. Even the rating process seems the same.
February 6th, 2010 at 10:20 am
This might very well be true, Bowman. Thanks for the note.
April 10th, 2010 at 9:36 am
This is awesome! thanks so much! my College English Prof told me to Google sat essay rubric. This is a BIG help!
April 10th, 2010 at 9:39 am
btw, my English essays in college are graded with a rubric created by Pearson. It’s a great way to grade!
April 12th, 2010 at 7:41 am
Ballerina Girl,
Thanks for the note!
May 19th, 2010 at 8:27 pm
How is the rubric weighted? Does each category have the same amount of impact on the total score?
May 23rd, 2010 at 7:49 am
Stefanie,
The rubric is evenly weighted (i.e., each category does have the same amount of impact on the total score). Sorry for the delayed response. I was crazy buzy last week.
July 17th, 2010 at 2:53 pm
Wow, check your grammar in the first sentence. Not a site I want to recommend to my students.
July 19th, 2010 at 8:30 am
Thanks for the note, Janice. A high-school-aged summer intern authored the post for me four years ago. You’ll be happy to know that he recently graduated from Emory University in Atlanta with honors. I assume his writing skills improved during his years at Emory! Since he authored the post in my name, I am the person ultimately responsible for it. Thanks again for your diligence. I will edit it today.