This page contains a Peterson* guide for AP exams. It is meant to provide guidelines for students and to encourage self-reflection and student success.
Self-Evaluation Rubric for the Advanced Placement Essay
The following rubric is taken from AP Success English Language & Composition and is meant to guide self-reflection and evaluation. Checking your response against these criteria could help insure a better assignment score and ultimately a higher score on the AP assessment. The comments reflect overall impression, understanding of text, organization and development, use of sentences, word choice, and grammar and usage.
8-9
· Demonstrates excellent control of the literature and outstanding writing competence; is thorough and effective; incisive
· Excellent understanding of the text; exhibits perception and clarity; original or unique approach; included apt and specific references
· Meticulously organized and thoroughly developed; coherent and unified
· Effectively varied and engaging; virtually error free
· Interesting and effective word choice
· Virtually error free grammar and usage
6-7
· Demonstrates good control of the literature and good writing competence; less thorough and incisive than the highest papers
· Good understanding of the text; exhibits perception and clarity; included specific references
· Well organized and developed; coherent and unified
· Varied and interesting sentences; a few errors
· Generally interesting and effective word choice; a few errors
· Occasional minor errors in grammar and usage
5
· Reveals simplistic thinking and/or immature writing; adequate skills
· Superficial understanding of the text; elements of literature vague; mechanical, over-generalized
· Reasonably organized and developed; mostly coherent and unified
· Adequately varied sentences with some errors
· Occasionally interesting and effective word choice with several errors
· Several minor errors in grammar and usage
3-4
· Incomplete thinking; fails to respond adequately to part or parts of the question; may paraphrase rather than analyze
· Misreadings and lack of persuasive evidence form the text; meager and unconvincing treatment of literary elements
· Somewhat organized and developed; some incoherence and lack of unity
· Somewhat varied and marginally interesting sentences; one or more major errors
· Somewhat dull and ordinary word choice; some errors in diction
· Some major errors in grammar and usage
1-2
· Unacceptably brief; fails to respond to the question; little clarity
· Serious misreadings and little supporting evidence from the text; erroneous treatment of literary elements
· Little or no organization and development; incoherent and void of unity
· Little or no variation in sentences; dull and uninteresting; some major errors
· Mostly dull and conventional word choice; numerous errors
· Seriously flawed grammar and usage; frequent major errors
0
· Lacking skill and competence
· A response with no more than a reference to the literature; blank response, or one completely off the topic
· Numerous major errors in sentences
· Numerous major errors in word choice; extremely immature
· Extremely flawed grammar and usage
* AP Success English Language & Composition www.peterson.com