TOEFL Writing
Test of Written English Essay Ratings
TWE essays are marked on a scale on 1 – 6
Level 6
An essay at this level
- effectively addresses the writing task
- is well organized and well developed
- uses clearly appropriate details to support a thesis or illustrate ideas
- displays consistent facility in the use of language
- demonstrates syntactic variety and appropriate word choice, though it may have occasional errors
Level 5
- may address some parts of the task more effectively than others
- is generally well organized and developed
- uses details to support a thesis or illustrate an idea
- displays facility in the use of the language
- demonstrates some syntactic variety and range of vocabulary, though it will probably have occasional errors
Level 4
- addresses the writing topic adequately but may slight parts of the task
- is adequately organized and developed
- uses some details to support a thesis or illustrate an idea
- displays adequate but possibly inconsistent facility with syntax and usage
- may contain some errors that occasionally obscure meaning
Level 3
An essay at this level will have one or more of the following:
- inadequate organization or development
- inappropriate or insufficient details to support or illustrate generalizations
- a noticeably inappropriate choice of words or word forms
- an accumulation of errors in sentence structure and/ or usage
Level 2
An essay at this level is seriously flawed by one or more of the following:
- serious disorganization or underdevelopment
- little or no detail, or irrelevant specifics
- serious and frequent errors in sentence structure or usage
- serious problems with focus
Level 1
An essay at this level
- may be incoherent
- may be undeveloped
- may contain severe and persistent writing errors
Level 0
An essay will be marked zero if it
- contains no response
- merely copies the topic
- is off topic, is written in a foreign language, or consists only of keystroke characters
