English Composition

Description of the Examination

The English Composition examination assesses writing skills taught in most first-year college composition courses and, in particular, skills for college assignments requiring writing that explains, interprets, analyzes, presents, or supports a point of view. The examination does not cover some topics included in many first-year college writing courses, nor does it require knowledge of grammatical terms. However, the student will need to apply the principles and conventions expected of academic writing discourse.

Two versions of the test are offered. One is all multiple-choice, and the other is multiple-choice with an essay. In both versions, some of the multiple-choice questions are pretest questions that will not be scored. The multiple-choice version contains approximately 90 questions to be answered in 90 minutes.

The version with the essay has two separately timed sections. Section I contains approximately 50 questions to be answered in 45 minutes. Section II is comprised of one essay question to be answered in 45 minutes. In either version, any time candidates spend on tutorials or providing personal information is in addition to the actual testing time.

The essay is scored by college faculty who teach writing courses. Each essay is read and assigned a rating by two scorers; the sum of the two ratings is weighted and then combined with the candidate's multiple-choice score. The resulting combined score is reported as a scaled score between 20 and 80. Separate scores are not reported for the multiple-choice and essay sections.

Policies of colleges differ with regard to their acceptance of the two versions of the English Composition examination. Some grant credit only for the version with essay; others grant credit for either version. Many colleges grant six semester hours (or the equivalent) of credit toward satisfying a liberal arts or distribution requirement in English; others grant six credit hours for a specific first-year composition or English course that emphasizes expository writing.

Knowledge and Skills Required

The multiple-choice questions measure students' writing skills both at the sentence level and within the context of passages. The current examination in English Composition places a GREater emphasis on revising work in progress than did previous forms of the test. The examination is designed so that average students who have completed the general education requirement in English composition can usually answer about half of the questions correctly.

Skills at the Sentence Level

The examination measures the candidate's knowledge of a variety of logical, structural, and grammatical relationships within a sentence; these skills are tested by approximately 55 percent of the all-multiple-choice version and 30 percent of the version with essay.

• Sentence boundaries
• Clarity of expression
• AGREement: subject-verb; verb tense; pronoun reference, shift, number
• Active/passive voice
• Diction and idiom
• Syntax: parallelism, coordination, subordination, dangling modifiers
• Sentence variety

The following kinds of question formats assess sentence-level skills throughout the test:

Identifying Sentence Errors—This type of question appears in both versions of the exam. It requires the candidate to identify wording that violates the standard conventions of written discourse.

Improving Sentences—This type of question appears in both versions. It requires the candidate to choose the phrase, clause, or sentence that best conveys the intended meaning of the sentence.

Restructuring Sentences—This type of question appears only in the all-multiple-choice version. The candidate is given a sentence to reword in order to change emphasis or improve clarity. He or she then must choose from five options the phrase that would most likely appear in the new sentence.

Skills in Context

Questions in approximately 45 percent of the all-multiple-choice version and 20 percent of the version with essay measure recognition of the following in the context of works in proGREss or of published prose.

• Main idea, thesis
• Organization of ideas in the paragraph or essay
• Relevance of evidence, sufficiency of detail, levels of specificity
• Audience and purpose (effect on style, tone, language, or argument)
• Logic of argument (inductive, deductive reasoning)
• Coherence within and between paragraphs
• Rhetorical emphasis, effect
• Sustaining tense or point of view
• Sentence combining, sentence variety

The following kinds of questions measure writing skills in context:

Revising Work in ProGREss—This type of question appears in both versions of the exam. The candidate identifies ways to improve an early draft of an essay.

Analyzing Writing—Two prose passages written in very different modes appear only in the all-multiple-choice version. The candidate answers questions about each passage and about the strategies used by the author of each passage.

The Essay

This section comprises 50 percent of the version with essay. The candidate is expected to present a point of view in response to a topic and to support it with a logical argument and appropriate evidence. The essay must be typed on the computer.

Study Resources

Most textbooks used in college-level English Composition courses cover the topics in the outline given earlier, but the approaches to certain topics and the emphasis given to them may differ. To prepare for the English Composition exam, it is advisable to study one or more college textbooks, which can be found in most college bookstores. When selecting a textbook, check the table of contents against the "Knowledge and Skills Required" for this test.

To become aware of the processes and the principles involved in presenting your ideas logically and expressing them clearly and effectively, you should practice writing. Ideally, you should try writing on a variety of subjects and issues, starting with those you know best and care about most. Ask someone you know and respect to respond to what you write and to help you discover which parts of your writing communicate effectively and which parts need revision to make the meaning clear. You should also try to read the works of published writers in a wide range of subjects, paying particular attention to the ways in which they use language to express their meaning.