ETHS English Department
Honors/AP/IB Analytic Scoring Guide
Overall
Impression
Understanding
of the Text
Bloom’s
Taxonomy Level
Organization
and Development
Use of
8-9 Exemplary
6-7 Commendable
5 Effective
3-4 Emerging
1-2 Basic
Demonstrates
excellent control
of literature and
outstanding writing
competence;
thorough, complex,
specific, and
consistent
Demonstrates good
control of
literature and good
writing competence;
less thorough than
highest papers;
cogent and generally
impressive and
convincing
Demonstrates
adequate control
of literature and
writing
competence;
mechanical and
sometimes vague
and/or superficial
Unacceptably
brief; fails to
respond to the
question; little
clarity; frequent
errors interfere
with meaning
Demonstrates keen,
critical
understanding of
the text;
insightful and
incisive;
sophisticated
evaluation of ideas
Demonstrates
critical thinking
at the synthesis
and evaluation
level; Indicates a
clearly developed
aesthetic/rhetorica
l sense of the
text; Makes
inferences that are
well-reasoned and
thoroughly
developed.
Clearly and
artfully ordered to
enhance meaning;
skillfully
developed and
substantive;
sophisticated
integration of
evidence;
Contains artfully
Demonstrates good
understanding of the
text; perceptive and
clear; careful
evaluation of the
data
Demonstrates
understanding of
the text; adequate
and coherent;
evidence of
evaluation
Demonstrates
critical thinking at
the analysis level;
detects
relationships of the
literary parts and
of the way they are
organized;
Inferences are
developed
Demonstrates
comprehension of
the material and
some analysis;
inferences are not
sufficiently
developed
Incomplete
thinking; fails to
respond adequately
to part or parts
of the prompt; May
paraphrase rather
than analyze;
Oversimplified,
meager, and/or
irrelevant
Contains
misreadings and
lack of persuasive
evidence from the
text; attempts
analysis, but
lacks maturity of
thought
Demonstrates
comprehension, but
lacks movement
into higher level
thinking; does not
exhibit
insightful,
developed
inferences through
careful analysis
Clearly focused and
well-organized;
coherent and
unified; thoroughly
developed; effective
integration of
evidence
Generally focused
and reasonably
developed; mostly
coherent and
unified; adequate
integration of
evidence
Somewhat organized
and developed;
some incoherence
and lack of unity;
attempts
integration of
evidence
Contains varied and
Contains adequate
Contains some
Demonstrates
little or no
organization and
development; at
times,
incoherent;
little attempt at
integration of
evidence
Contains little
Contains serious
misreadings and
little support
from the text;
little to no
analysis
attempted
Lacks adequate
comprehension of
the text; Does
not work
cognitively with
the text
Sentences
Word Choice
Grammar and
Usage
crafted structures;
uses sophisticated
patterns; elegant;
virtually error
free
interesting
structures; Some use
of sophisticated
patterns; a few
errors
variation; some
errors that do not
interfere with
meaning
variation, but
relies on a few
patterns; one or
more major errors
Demonstrates
consistent use of
mature language;
varied and
engaging; virtually
error free
Primarily uses rich
and interesting
language; a few
errors
Demonstrates
somewhat varied
use of language;
marginally
interesting
diction; some
errors in usage
Demonstrates
mastery /near
mastery of
mechanics;
virtually error
free
Contains occasional
minor errors
Demonstrates
adequate control
of language;
attempts
sophisticated
language with
occasional errors
in usage
Contains several
minor errors that
don’t interfere
with meaning
Contains some
distracting errors
or no variation;
repetitive
structures; dull
and
uninteresting;
some major errors
Displays little
or no variation;
mostly dull and
conventional;
numerous errors
Contains numerous
major errors;
severely flawed