1. Camden County College Academic Skills English Department
Scoring a Timed Essay
Camden County College
Academic Skills English Department

2. Holistic Scoring Rubric
The Academic Skills English Department uses a 1-6 holistic rubric for scoring timed essays in writing skills courses, with 6 as the highest score. Teachers use it to assign a single score for the total quality of the essay, including content, organization, sentence correctness, and style. Review it on the next screen, and use it to score the sample student essays that follow.

4. SAMPLE ESSAY A  – Argument – Should cell phones be allowed in classrooms?
     Using a cell phone is not more important than teacher's lesson or the activity of the class. It's ok to use a cell phone once a while in class but not all the time. Which interrupts to the attention of a student to his or her lesson. and that also distract to the teacher. So i am against using cell phone in class. 
Using cellphone can interrupts to once attention to the lesson. He or she can't fully concentreate on his or her lesson,may be not at all. that may cause him or her to fail or have a bad grade in class. Using cell phone may distract to the teachers lacture as well. teacher may call or ask the student not to use the cell phone that can cause interruption to the other students. There is possible chances one to do copy or duplicate other writers writing or may be editing somebody elses writing by using cell phone. thats why it shoudn't be used in classes. 
After all by using cell phone you are loosing your educational opportunity. You are going to fall behind to the class. And could cause you a bad or aven fail grade to the class. 

5. SAMPLE ESSAY B – Definition – How would you define a successful college student?
                 There are many qualities that are needing within a great student. What about a great college student? Yes, all students no matter the age, should have most of the same qualities; but a college student has more. Many people see college students to be lazy and never wanting to go to class. This may be true for some but from personal expierience, I may not want to go to class at first but as soon as I'm there I enjoy it. I know many people who went away and they enjoy it, but some of them are discouraged because it is not a place they are used to. College takes some getting used to but when you are used to it, it is a breeze. A great and successful college student hold very many qualities. Major qualities that make up a sucessful college student are being responsible, being aware, and becoming involved.
           To be a sucessful college student, one would need to be very aware of the new or old surroundings you are in. College is nothing like high school and its even alittle scary sometimes. It is important that college students are always aware of what is going on. It will help them become more outgoing and make many more friends. Recently I went to visit my good friend at York College of Pennsylvania. Her first week there she would call me and my other friends crying and saying how she wanted to come home. After a week or so she became familiar and aware of the situation she was in and now shes having a blast. College is an exciting and great place to exlore new opportunities. Being aware will elso help one navigate campus better. If a student passes a large building on campus, they should read the building name. This will help them in the future if they end up having classes in that building. If they know where the building is located and know the name, they will not be so lost on their first day of class. 
           Another great quality to have as a successful college student is being responsible. College is jam packed with essays, homework, readings, classwork and note taking. Making sure that the student is passing all of his or her classes they will need to become more responsible. If an essay or a long homework asssignment is due the following week, don't push it off. Work on that assignment little by little, space out the timing. Personally this is a problem for me, I always wait until the last moment to hand things in. In college the weights of grades are different as well. If you have a homework assignment it wont be five percent of your grade but maybe as much as fifteen! It is very important to make sure the student understands their professor's grading policy. This will help the student understand that they need to be more responsible with homeworks and classworks. 
         Finally, being involved is another way to become a sucessful college student. Being involved will help the student break out of their shell. Colleges have many activites such as clubs, and sports. Even if playing sports wasn't their thing, students can always be apart of theater productions or even get a job on their campus. It's always great to get involved. It may be scary at frist and alittle intimidating but as soon as they get the hang of it, they won't regret getting involved. Yes, for some, it is difficult to become more involved because of their courses but it is always good to put yourself out there.
        In conclusion being a successful college student isn't all that difficult. Classes may be hard and professors may not be as well as hoped, but college is full of opportunities that will follow one through the rest of their life; the friends, the memories, the experiences. Many people may be skeptical at first but once they ease into a new place with new people, it isn't so hard to fit in. College is nothing like high school, everyone is finally grown up and you can be friends with anyone. The qualities are endless and it doesn't matter whether one was involved or super outgoing in college; being responsible and aware will help them become the best college student they can be. 

6. SAMPLE ESSAY C – Argument – Should cell phones be allowed in classrooms?
Cell phones the best engerning development of this centrey. The advements in cell phone technogly has also brought great harm to education. studies shown that throught out the day we as people check are phones 90 times. This constent checking are phones decreases are lurning during class time. During one class period a teacher is given 50 min. of your time to try to make you the student lurn as much as posible. If you are on your phone durning any of this time you feel like you missed a hole class. The stuff that happend during that time when you were on your phone was very importent to the next topic at hand. Now that you missed that part and dont understand the new topic you just stay on your phone the hole class, now you have not lurned anything at all in this class. Wile you are checking your phone not caring at all what they say. how do you think that makes them feel.     

7. SAMPLE ESSAY D – Definition – How would you define a successful college student?
       Success is the goal of many college student, but not many will achieve it. Some students will try to make shortcuts in life in order to achieve there goals faster. They don't know what makes a successful college student. So they give up in the end and stop trying to achieve their goals. In order to be a successful college student you must work hard, be forcus and have a goal.
   Student don't want to work hard so they deside to take shortcuts in life. Many student will cheat their way to reach success. That not how life work because life is about working for your success. A student have to work hard to get the grade they wanted and with that they are going to achieve success in no time. With hard work you also need focus to help you in life.
  Just like hard work, focus is another thing a successful college student has. With focus many students completed their work which aloud them time to study for their exams. Focus allows a student to pay attention in class which helps them understand the lesson more. Any destration would be block because the student will know what is important to them. With forcus it allows the student mind to think of their academic goal in life.
  Many successful college student has a set of academic goal for them to work hard for. Haveing a goal lets the student know what they are staivng for. goal allow you to set the bar for how focus you are going to be and how much effort your going to put in. Successful college student dont do the work for no reason, they do the work for what their try to achieve. Is important to set a goal so you can work and focus to make that goal a reality.
    What make a successful college student is the hard work, their focus and a set goal. A student works hard for their grade and never take the short cut. They are always forcus on their task. They set a goal for themself that they can work towards. In concultion a successful college student is a student who never take the easy way out, slack off and never set a goal for themself.

8. SAMPLE ESSAY E – Definition – How would you define a successful college student?
A lot of people find it necessary to attend college for furthering schooling when thinking about their future. It can help further them in their selected career choices. When planning to attend college, most people intend to succeed in their studies. If a potential student wants to be successful, it's vital they be aware of certain qualities a student will need to have. With out these qualities, a student may find that they wasted a lot of time and money. So it is important to know that to be a successful college student, they will need to improve on their ability with time management, their ability of their own self-motivation, and their ability to attend all of their classes in full and on time.
A student should first have a great understanding of how they will manage their time during their semester. Being a college student involves a lot more than only going to their course's scheduled meetings. So after making time in their weekly schedule for their classes, a student should also provide themselves with enough time for work given to them in class assigned to complete before meeting again. This may include practice sheets of what they learned in class that day, or projects and essays that a student will need to spend a large amount of time on before they are ready to be submitted to their instructor. A lot of college students may be juggling their course schedule, along with their work schedule or their other responsibilites and hobbies. A student will need to make sure that these responsibilites do not coincide with their studies. A big part of college students may find this task to be the hardest to acheive successfully.
Furthermore, a college student may definitely find themselves struggling with a lack of self-motivation. Some students may find that they are not ready for attending college if they can not get themselves to put the effort in. College definitely requires a students full attention at times and it is vital that a student understands what they need to acheive in order to be successful. A college student should have short-term or long-term goals that they desire to obtain. It is important to keep in mind these goals that a student has for themselves in their college studies and why it is necessary for them to be succesful.
Besides time management and self-motivation, a student attending college needs to understand how important it is to make it to every class on time and staying through until the end. Classes are prompt and a lot is introduced in that short time. Missing one class could easily be the beginning of an unfortunate spiral of becoming unsuccessful in a student's courses. A student should arrive to class on time, remain for the entire class, and try their best to have outstanding attendence.
Successful and completed college studies is an awesome way to further the potential in a students life and career. A student should be ready to acheive their schooling goals. They should fully intend to succeed and understand how to do just that. So in full, the bare neccessities of qualities a student needs to exemplify if intending to be successful in their college courses include a good management of their schedules, a great concept of why they want and need to complete their studies, and full intentions of perfect attendance in their classes.

9. SAMPLE ESSAY F – Argument – Should cell phones be allowed in classrooms?
       Cell phones are so common now a days, everyone has access to one at all times. They can be used for both positive and negative reasons. I believe that the negative effects out weigh the positive in this case. There are many different reasons why cell phones shouldn't be allowed in classrooms. Cell phones can be used for cheating, bullying, and are just an overall distraction in the class room.
We all know that cheating has and will always be a big problem in school. Cheating is a serious offense that can get you kicked out of school. It is getting easier and easier for students especially with the use of cell phones. It can span anywhere from revealing test answers to pladgerizing essays. It is so easy for a student to look up an answer for a test question with all of the smart phone technology. Cell phones are about the size of the average hand, too small to detect sometimes. Students could easily send eachother text messages about test questions, or even send pictures to other students getting ready to take the test. If we take away the problem before it happens it will no longer be a problem.
For most people cell phones are the center of attention in everyday life. It is so easy to start texting someone, or go on facebook and get lost in time. They are a huge distraction in the class room. Everyone knows how hard it is to get a text and ignore it until class is over. We use our phones so much that we dont even realize it anymore.
Cyber bullying is a big problem in schools everywhere. Not only is it wrong but it can hinder learning for other students. Students have been known to take pictures of other people and post them on social media. Sending innapropriate messages to one another is another problem that can cause fights and distractions.  One may be too busy taking pictures, or hiding from the camera to pay attention to the lesson in class. How can we expect students to do good in class when they are thinking about how they were just humiliated or harrassed over a text/post.
Cell phones can be used for cheating, bullying, and are just an overall distraction in the class room. In knowing this information I think we should just have them turned off in the class room to prevent any problems. Cell phones bring us many luxuries and joyful moment, but they don't need to be in a class room. The class room should be a place thats conducive to learning, a zone free of distractions. Cell phones bring way more problems than solutions to the class room. I think if the good out weighs the bad its bad.

10. Score Explanations
Check your scores against the holistic score explanations that follow. If you assigned a score of 1 point lower or higher, that’s acceptable. If you were two or more points off, then meet with your portfolio partner to discuss your scoring.

11. Cell phones the best engerning development of this centrey
Cell phones the best engerning development of this centrey. The advements in cell phone technogly has also brought great harm to education. studies shown that throught out the day we as people check are phones 90 times. This constent checking are phones decreases are lurning during class time. During one class period a teacher is given 50 min. of your time to try to make you the student lurn as much as posible. If you are on your phone durning any of this time you feel like you missed a hole class. The stuff that happend during that time when you were on your phone was very importent to the next topic at hand. Now that you missed that part and dont understand the new topic you just stay on your phone the hole class, now you have not lurned anything at all in this class. Wile you are checking your phone not caring at all what they say. how do you think that makes them feel.
Score: 1 [Sample C]
This essay is only one paragraph and does not have a logical structure. There is an implied thesis that cell phones should not be allowed to be used in class, but there is no thesis statement. There are not enough supporting points and not enough specific details. Sentences are marred by many errors.

12. Using a cell phone is not more important than teacher's lesson or the activity of the class. It's ok to use a cell phone once a while in class but not all the time. Which interrupts to the attention of a student to his or her lesson. and that also distract to the teacher. So i am against using cell phone in class. Using cellphone can interrupts to once attention to the lesson. He or she can't fully concentreate on his or her lesson,may be not at all. that may cause him or her to fail or have a bad grade in class. Using cell phone may distract to the teachers lacture as well. teacher may call or ask the student not to use the cell phone that can cause interruption to the other students. There is possible chances one to do copy or duplicate other writers writing or may be editing somebody elses writing by using cell phone. thats why it shoudn't be used in classes. After all by using cell phone you are loosing your educational opportunity. You are going to fall behind to the class. And could cause you a bad or aven fail grade to the class.
Score: 2 [Sample A]
This essay is not organized into five paragraphs. It does have a statement of the writer’s opinion about cell phones, but that lacks a plan of development and does not aid the organizational logic. The essay is minimally developed with only a few details. Most importantly, the extensive sentence errors interfere with clarity.

13. Success is the goal of many college student, but not many will achieve it. Some students will try to make shortcuts in life in order to achieve there goals faster. They don't know what makes a successful college student. So they give up in the end and stop trying to achieve their goals. In order to be a successful college student you must work hard, be forcus and have a goal. Student don't want to work hard so they deside to take shortcuts in life. Many student will cheat their way to reach success. That not how life work because life is about working for your success. A student have to work hard to get the grade they wanted and with that they are going to achieve success in no time. With hard work you also need focus to help you in life. Just like hard work, focus is another thing a successful college student has. With focus many students completed their work which aloud them time to study for their exams. Focus allows a student to pay attention in class which helps them understand the lesson more. Any destration would be block because the student will know what is important to them. With forcus it allows the student mind to think of their academic goal in life. Many successful college student has a set of academic goal for them to work hard for. Haveing a goal lets the student know what they are staivng for. goal allow you to set the bar for how focus you are going to be and how much effort your going to put in. Successful college student dont do the work for no reason, they do the work for what their try to achieve. Is important to set a goal so you can work and focus to make that goal a reality. What make a successful college student is the hard work, their focus and a set goal. A student works hard for their grade and never take the short cut. They are always forcus on their task. They set a goal for themself that they can work towards. In concultion a successful college student is a student who never take the easy way out, slack off and never set a goal for themself.
Score: 3 [Sample D]
This essay has a logical, five- paragraph structure with an introduction and conclusion. The intro has a thesis statement with plan of development at the end, and the supporting paragraphs develop three distinct ideas with details. The topic sentence for the second paragraph does not appear until the next-to-last sentence, though. There are patterns of sentence errors with verb tense, missing words, and dropped word endings.

14. There are many qualities that are needing within a great student
There are many qualities that are needing within a great student. What about a great college student? Yes, all students no matter the age, should have most of the same qualities; but a college student has more. Many people see college students to be lazy and never wanting to go to class. This may be true for some but from personal expierience, I may not want to go to class at first but as soon as I'm there I enjoy it. I know many people who went away and they enjoy it, but some of them are discouraged because it is not a place they are used to. College takes some getting used to but when you are used to it, it is a breeze. A great and successful college student hold very many qualities. Major qualities that make up a sucessful college student are being responsible, being aware, and becoming involved. To be a sucessful college student, one would need to be very aware of the new or old surroundings you are in. College is nothing like high school and its even alittle scary sometimes. It is important that college students are always aware of what is going on. It will help them become more outgoing and make many more friends. Recently I went to visit my good friend at York College of Pennsylvania. Her first week there she would call me and my other friends crying and saying how she wanted to come home. After a week or so she became familiar and aware of the situation she was in and now shes having a blast. College is an exciting and great place to exlore new opportunities. Being aware will elso help one navigate campus better. If a student passes a large building on campus, they should read the building name. This will help them in the future if they end up having classes in that building. If they know where the building is located and know the name, they will not be so lost on their first day of class. Another great quality to have as a successful college student is being responsible. College is jam packed with essays, homework, readings, classwork and note taking. Making sure that the student is passing all of his or her classes they will need to become more responsible. If an essay or a long homework asssignment is due the following week, don't push it off. Work on that assignment little by little, space out the timing. Personally this is a problem for me, I always wait until the last moment to hand things in. In college the weights of grades are different as well. If you have a homework assignment it wont be five percent of your grade but maybe as much as fifteen! It is very important to make sure the student understands their professor's grading policy. This will help the student understand that they need to be more responsible with homeworks and classworks. Finally, being involved is another way to become a sucessful college student. Being involved will help the student break out of their shell. Colleges have many activites such as clubs, and sports. Even if playing sports wasn't their thing, students can always be apart of theater productions or even get a job on their campus. It's always great to get involved. It may be scary at frist and alittle intimidating but as soon as they get the hang of it, they won't regret getting involved. Yes, for some, it is difficult to become more involved because of their courses but it is always good to put yourself out there. In conclusion being a successful college student isn't all that difficult. Classes may be hard and professors may not be as well as hoped, but college is full of opportunities that will follow one through the rest of their life; the friends, the memories, the experiences. Many people may be skeptical at first but once they ease into a new place with new people, it isn't so hard to fit in. College is nothing like high school, everyone is finally grown up and you can be friends with anyone. The qualities are endless and it doesn't matter whether one was involved or super outgoing in college; being responsible and aware will help them become the best college student they can be.
Score: 4 [Sample B]
This follows the five-paragraph structure and each paragraph is evenly developed. There is a clear thesis statement with plan of development at the end of the introduction, and there are clear topic sentences at the start of the supporting paragraphs. The support is developed with several specific details, and transitions are used to show connections. There is a shift into the imperative mood in paragraph 3, but it otherwise follows the definition pattern. There are some sentence errors, but not so many as to interfere with clarity and no patterns of sentence structure errors.

15. Cell phones are so common now a days, everyone has access to one at all times. They can be used for both positive and negative reasons. I believe that the negative effects out weigh the positive in this case. There are many different reasons why cell phones shouldnt be allowed in classrooms. Cell phones can be used for cheating, bullying, and are just an overall distraction in the class room. We all know that cheating has and will always be a big problem in school. Cheating is a serious offense that can get you kicked out of school. It is getting easier and easier for students especially with the use of cell phones. It can span anywhere from revealing test answers to pladgerizing essays. It is so easy for a student to look up an answer for a test question with all of the smart phone technology. Cell phones are about the size of the average hand, too small to detect sometimes. Students could easily send eachother text messages about test questions, or even send pictures to other students getting ready to take the test. If we take away the problem before it happens it will no longer be a problem. For most people cell phones are the center of attention in everyday life. It is so easy to start texting someone, or go on facebook and get lost in time. They are a huge distraction in the class room. Everyone knows how hard it is to get a text and ignore it until class is over. We use our phones so much that we dont even realize it anymore. Cyber bullying is a big problem in schools everywhere. Not only is it wrong but it can hinder learning for other students. Students have been known to take pictures of other people and post them on social media. Sending innapropriate messages to one another is another problem that can cause fights and distractions. One may be too busy taking pictures, or hiding from the camera to pay attention to the lesson in class. How can we expect students to do good in class when they are thinking about how they were just humiliated or harrassed over a text/post. Cell phones can be used for cheating, bullying, and are just an overall distraction in the class room. In knowing this information I think we should just have them turned off in the class room to prevent any problems. Cell phones bring us many luxuries and joyful moment, but they dont need to be in a class rooom. The class room should be a place thats conducive to learning, a zone free of distractions. Cell phones bring way more problems than solutions to the class room. I think if the good out weighs the bad its bad.
Score: 5 [Sample F]
This essay is logically organized with a clear thesis and topic sentences. The supporting paragraphs are developed with specific details. There are a few errors, but mostly with mechanics, and there is no persistent pattern of sentence structure or usage errors. Sentences are clear and structure is varied. There is some interesting language, too, that elevates this essay above a score of 4.

16. A lot of people find it necessary to attend college for furthering schooling when thinking about their future. It can help further them in their selected career choices. When planning to attend college, most people intend to succeed in their studies. If a potential student wants to be successful, it's vital they be aware of certain qualities a student will need to have. With out these qualities, a student may find that they wasted a lot of time and money. So it is important to know that to be a successful college student, they will need to improve on their ability with time management, their ability of their own self-motivation, and their ability to attend all of their classes in full and on time. A student should first have a great understanding of how they will manage their time during their semester. Being a college student involves a lot more than only going to their course's scheduled meetings. So after making time in their weekly schedule for their classes, a student should also provide themselves with enough time for work given to them in class assigned to complete before meeting again. This may include practice sheets of what they learned in class that day, or projects and essays that a student will need to spend a large amount of time on before they are ready to be submitted to their instructor. A lot of college students may be juggling their course schedule, along with their work schedule or their other responsibilites and hobbies. A student will need to make sure that these responsibilites do not coincide with their studies. A big part of college students may find this task to be the hardest to acheive successfully. Furthermore, a college student may definitely find themselves struggling with a lack of self-motivation. Some students may find that they are not ready for attending college if they can not get themselves to put the effort in. College definitely requires a students full attention at times and it is vital that a student understands what they need to acheive in order to be successful. A college student should have short-term or long-term goals that they desire to obtain. It is important to keep in mind these goals that a student has for themselves in their college studies and why it is necessary for them to be succesful. Besides time management and self-motivation, a student attending college needs to understand how important it is to make it to every class on time and staying through until the end. Classes are prompt and a lot is introduced in that short time. Missing one class could easily be the beginning of an unfortunate spiral of becoming unsuccessful in a student's courses. A student should arrive to class on time, remain for the entire class, and try their best to have outstanding attendence. Successful and completed college studies is an awesome way to further the potential in a students life and career. A student should be ready to acheive their schooling goals. They should fully intend to succeed and understand how to do just that. So in full, the bare neccessities of qualities a student needs to exemplify if intending to be successful in their college courses include a good management of their schedules, a great concept of why they want and need to complete their studies, and full intentions of perfect attendance in their classes.
Score: 6 [Sample E]
This essay is logically organized with fully developed introduction and conclusion. The thesis is clearly stated with a plan of development in the introduction. The supporting paragraphs are developed with several specific details and begin and end with clear topic and closing sentences. Interesting transitional phrases are used to show connections. There are occasional errors, but no patterns. The essay is elevated by varied sentence structure and precise language.

17. When two readers assign the same holistic score to a timed essay, the result is indicated as a 4/4 or a 2/2.
When the readers assign scores one number apart, the result is presented as a split, as in 3/4 or 2/3.
A split score can be explanatory – as in a 2/3 for an essay that is well organized but has so many errors that interfere with clarity that it is neither a 3/3 nor a 2/2.
When the scores are more than one number apart, a third reader is needed.
One reader might be really concerned about grammatical correctness and so give the essay a 2, but another reader might find the ideas sophisticated and the language use creative so she could give it a 4 or 5 (thinking the grammar might be easily dealt with or was a result of moving so fast). A third reader can step in to try to see the merits of both arguments and make a decision.
Split Scores
Timed essays can be scored by more than one reader, sometimes resulting in a split

18. Writing Skills II
1 – F
2 – D
3 – C
4 – B
5 or 6 – A
A score of 0, 1, or 2 places a student in Writing II, so these aren’t passing in that course.
Writing Skills III
1 or 2 – F
3 – D
4 – C
5 – B
6 – A
A score of 2/3 or 3/3 places a student in Writing III, so 1, 2, and 3 aren’t passing in that course.
Grade Equivalencies To incorporate timed essays into a student’s overall grade average, the holistic score needs to be translated into a letter grade or numeric equivalency. This differs depending on the course. Here are approximate letter grade equivalencies for the purpose of calculating grade averages.