Ultimate Guide to the Praxis Essay Scoring Rubric

The Core Writing essays are scored holistically. Holistic scoring uses a single letter or a number—on the Praxis, it’s a number from 1 to 6—to provide an evaluation of an essay as a whole. A holistic score emphasizes the interrelation of different thinking and writing qualities in an essay (such as content, organization, and syntax) and tries to denote the unified effect that all of these elements combine to produce.
 

An essay with a score of 6 shows a high level of competence in responding to the assignment, though it may contain minor errors. A level 6 essay:

• Has a clear thesis
• Is well organized and developed with strong connections between ideas
• Includes thoughtfully chosen reasons, examples, or details that support the main idea
• Demonstrates variety in sentence structure
• Demonstrates a command of the English language
• Contains few (if any) errors in grammar and usage

An essay with a score of 5 shows clear competence in responding to the assignment, though it may contain minor errors. A level 5 essay:

• Has a clear thesis
• Is organized and developed with connections between ideas
• Includes reasons, examples, or details that support the main idea
• Demonstrates some variety in sentence structure
• Demonstrates competence in the English language
• Contains few errors in grammar and usage

An essay with a score of 4 shows competence in responding to the assignment. A level 4 essay:

• Has a thesis
• Is organized and developed
• Includes some reasons, examples, or details that support the main idea
• Demonstrates some variety in sentence structure
• Demonstrates competence in the English language
• Is generally free of grammar/usage errors

An essay with a score of 3 shows some competence in responding to the assignment, though it contains flaws. A level 3 essay displays at least one of the following issues:

• Only weakly develops its thesis
• Needs more organization and development
• Includes reasons, examples, or details that are not adequate to support the main idea
• Contains several errors in grammar/usage

An essay with a score of 2 is flawed. A level 2 essay displays at least one of the following issues:

• Does not clearly define its thesis
• Lacks organization and development
• Fails to include enough reasons, examples, or details
• Commits several serious errors in language, grammar, usage, and/or mechanics

An essay with a score of 1 is fundamentally deficient. A level 1 essay:

• Has serious writing errors that detract from understanding the ideas; or
• is not coherent; or
• is almost completely lacking in development.

[ GOOD TO KNOW: Top 12 Common Errors to Avoid on the Praxis Writing Test ]

An essay with a score of 6 shows a high level of competence in responding to the assignment, though it may contain minor errors. A level 6 essay:

• Explains well why the concerns are important with supportive examples, reasons, and details that tie the two sources together
• Includes information from both sources to explain the pertinent issues in the texts and cites the sources when paraphrasing or quoting
• Is well organized and developed with strong connections between ideas
• Demonstrates variety in sentence structure
• Demonstrates a command of the English language
• Contains few (if any) errors in grammar and usage

An essay with a score of 5 shows clear competence in responding to the assignment, though it may contain minor errors. A level 5 essay:

• Explains why the concerns are important with supportive examples, reasons, and details that tie the two sources together
• Includes information from both sources to explain the pertinent issues in the texts and cites the sources when paraphrasing or quoting
• Is organized and developed with connections between ideas
• Includes reasons, examples, or details that support the main idea
• Demonstrates some variety in sentence structure
• Demonstrates competence in the English language
• Contains few errors in grammar and usage

An essay with a score of 4 shows competence in responding to the assignment. A level 4 essay:

• Explains why the concerns are important with examples, reasons, and details that touch on both sources
• Includes information from both sources to explain the pertinent issues in the texts and cites the sources when paraphrasing or quoting
• Is organized and developed with connections between ideas
• Includes reasons, examples, or details that support the main idea
• Demonstrates some variety in sentence structure
• Demonstrates competence in the English language
• Is generally free of grammar/usage errors

An essay with a score of 3 shows some competence in responding to the assignment, though it contains flaws. A level 3 essay displays at least one of the following issues:

• Only weakly develops explanations of the importance of the concerns
• Works with only one source or does not adequately cover both sources
• Needs more organization and development
• Uses reasons, examples, or details that are not adequate to support the main idea
• Commits several errors in grammar/usage
• Fails to consistently cite the sources

An essay with a score of 2 is flawed. A level 2 essay displays at least one of the following issues:

• Does not demonstrate understanding of the importance of the concerns
• Works with only one source
• Lacks organization and development
• Fails to include enough reasons, examples, or details
• Commits several serious errors in language, grammar, usage, and/or mechanics
• Does not cite the sources even when paraphrasing or quoting

• Has serious writing errors that detract from understanding the ideas; or
• Is not coherent; or
• is almost completely lacking in development.

[  INTERESTED IN WHAT’S TESTED ON ALL PRAXIS TESTS?  ↓  ]

• Praxis Mathematics Test
• Praxis Reading Test
• Praxis Writing Test
• Praxis Elementary Education Content Knowledge Test