School of Literature, Communication, and Culture

Rating

Essay

The essay portion of your Regents' Exam is graded by three independent readers, all of whom are composition instructors in the University System of Georgia. Each reader will independently rate your essay on a scale of 1 to 3. The essay must receive a grade of 2 or higher from at least two of the readers in order to pass.

All essays from throughout the state are sent to a central office where they are mixed thoroughly and redistributed into packets sent to grading centers throughout the state. At the grading centers, each essay is read "blind" by three readers who will each rate the essay holistically. The readers do not know who wrote the essays, what schools the essay writers attend, or what ratings others instructors might have given the essays. In addition, the readers make no marks on the actual essays themselves. Because the essays are not marked and the ratings are concealed, each reader evaluates each essay without any outside influence.

For each essay, readers record a mark of "1 - Fail," "2 - Pass," or "3 - High/Superior Pass" on a data processing sheet. Then, a computer tabulates the results. Two out of three readers must assign an essay a grade of 2 or higher for an essay to receive a passing grade.

For more information, access the following links:

Official Rater Instructions for Scoring Regents Essays

Sample Rated Essays

Essay Rating Standards

 

Reading

The reading portion of the exam is multiple choice and scan sheets are used. Currently, a scaled score of 61 is a passing score. For an explanation of why and how scores are scaled, review the Description of the Regents' Reading Test.

 

Additional Information and Resources:

Commonly Asked Questions & Answers

Georgia State University: Regents' Exam Program General Info    

Georgia Tech Registrar's Office: Frequently Asked Questions

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Please direct any other questions regarding the Regents' Exam or RGTR 1098/RGTE 1099 to

Dr. Scott Banville or Dr. Shannon Dobranski.