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
5 An essay at this level

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
4 An essay at this level

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
demonstrates adequate but possibly inconsistent facility with syntax and usage may contain some errors that occasionally obscure meaning
3 An essay at this level may reveal one or more of the following weaknesses:

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
2 An essay at this level is seriously flawed by one or more of the following weaknesses:

serious disorganization or underdevelopment
little or no detail, or irrelevant specifics
serious and frequent errors in sentence structure or usage
serious problems with focus
1 An essay at this level

may be incoherent may be undeveloped
may contain severe and persistent writing errors
0 An essay will be rated 0 if it

contains no response,
merely copies the topic,
is off-topic, is written in a foreign language, or consistsonly of keystroke characters