Results of the First Essay
Topics Comments
1. How can college students become more independent? Off Topic: Several writers focused on why they stay dependent, not how to become self-reliant.
2. How can college students save money on food? Food Fight: Half of the essays explained on how students can save money on food.
3. How can college students save money on entertainment? No Fun: Few student writers told how to save money on entertainment.

 

Scores

 Focus Specific Details Sentence Errors
90-100 4 17%

Very clear

      Many

                        None
80-89 8 33% Clear Some 0-1
70-79 7 29% Unclear Little 0-2
50-69 5 21% Very unclear None 2-8

Notes

1. The highest essay score was 95; the lowest was 60; and the median was 79.

2. On the high end, five students wrote good theses with clear topic sentences.

3. On the low end, eight at-risk students wrote 92% of the major sentence errors.

4. In the middle, fifteen students were on topic but needed more factual detail.