Does ETS report both issue and argument score?

[Char123]

When ETS sends your scores, do they send just the average of the issue&argument, or do they also include the individual grades? 

 

Since there's no 0.25 increment, would a score of 5&4.5 on each section be averaged and rounded up to a 5 or truncated to a 4.5? 

[Arcanelady27]

They do not average your scores. 

 

The scores always remain separate scores. 

You then send your school whichever set of scores you want. 

For exampleif you took the test twice once in 2012 and once this year, whatever you got for each section in 2012 is one set of scores and whatever you got this year is another set. 

[Sizzle]

From the ETS website, the essays are scored as follows...

 

"The final scores on the two essays [are] averaged and rounded up to the nearest half-point interval. A single score is reported for the Analytical Writing section."

[sameersrinivas90]

Hi Guys, Please vote my below essay: 

 

"Seven years ago, homeowners in nearby Brookville community adopted a set of restrictions on how the community's yards should be landscaped and what colors the exteriors of homes should be painted. Since then, average property values have tripled in Brookville. In order to raise property values in Deerhaven Acres, we should adopt our own set of restrictions on landscaping and house painting."

 

 

The author's argument of having own set of restrictions on landscaping and house painting to raise the property values of Deerhaven is flawed. The author not only uses weak evidence which is 7 years old to support his argument, but also uses some vague and ambiguous terms  to draw his conclusions. Furthermore, he focuses his attention only on the landscaping and painting of homes as solely responsible for raise of property values ignoring several other factors which will affect it.

 

To begin, the conclusion is based largely on the perception that landscaping and painting of homes will alone add value to the properties. The author spends lots of time trying to demonstrate this. However, the authhor fails to consider several other factors responsible for raising property values. For example, properties which are near to hospitals, schools, colleges, cinema, market, bus stand, railway stations etc... are likely to have more value than the ones which are far away from these facilities. Additionally, some times properties which lie nearer to these facilities are rated high irrespective of its landscape and paintings. Since the author does not consider these points, it is impossible to say just by landscaping of the yards and house paintings, property values are going to increase.

 

Furthermore, the author even uses some vague and ambiguous words in stating his argument. He does not provide any insight into the set of restrictions followed by the Brookville community for landscaping and paintings. Additionally, he also mentions we should adopt our own set of restrictions on landscaping and paintings without giving any hint on the restrictions to be followed. There are chances that Brookville community devised good plans like planting trees infront of every home, building parks, devising sanitary maintainences plan etc.. which definitely added value to its properties over years. However, the author not only des not mention restrictions followed by Broolville, but also states we should adopt certain restrictions without defining what those restrictions really are. Since the author does not provide any information on the restrictions followed by Brookville and the restrictions to be followed by Deerhaven, it is impossible to say following restrictions will add value to the property as the author concludes.

 

The argument could be strengthened if the author provided information on the set of restrictions which he is planning to adopt. The argument could be further strengthened if the author were to consider all the factors responsible for an increase in the property value. As it stands, however, the argument in its current form is flawed.

[C_Chattra]

Does that mean that if I get a 4 on issue essay and a 5 on argument essay, my final AW score will be a 5? (Avg 4.5 rounds up to 5)

[clandry]

No it's rounded up to the nearest HALF point.

[TakeruK]

They will average your Issue and Argument essays because the AW score is a reflection of your writing in both essays, not one or the other. 

 

Following most rounding rules, 4.25 should normally round to 4.50 but it's not always clear!

[C_Chattra]

I think I'm a little confused. So the grader gives a grade for each essay on a half point increment? For example, they may give 3.5 on issue essay and 4 on argument essay? And the final AW score would be a 3.75, rounding up to a 4? Sorry for so many detailed questions!

[Sizzle]

That conclusion seems correct. Averaging a 3.5 and 4 would get you a 4 on the analytical section.

[TakeruK]

Note that you might get more than one human reader scoring your test. From the ETS website:
 

For the Analytical Writing section, each essay receives a score from at least one trained reader, using a six-point holistic scale. In holistic scoring, readers are trained to assign scores on the basis of the overall quality of an essay in response to the assigned task. The essay score is then reviewed by e-rater®, a computerized program developed by ETS, which is used to monitor the human reader. If the e-rater evaluation and the human score agree, the human score is used as the final score. If they disagree by a certain amount, a second human score is obtained, and the final score is the average of the two human scores.

So, your scores might be 4.0, 4.0, 4.0, 4.5; or 4.5 4.5 4.5 4.0, leading to a final AW score of 4.0 or 4.5, respectively. This is why they say "round to nearest half-increment" instead of just "round up".