<< BACK
08-17-2025
These are some of my very isolated thoughts on how stuff is usually graded. These are probably extremely disillusioned, but at least its probably true to a degree. When I meant “meta” I mean this kind of like how sports fan endlessly speculate on mechanics without doing any research. Probably wrong, but patterns do show up.
The main purpose of the essay is to test if you read the assigned material and have some understanding of it. Everything you write should be centered around the course text. Your job is to reinforce all the ideas from the main text.
Essentially everything you will write must service the prompt. This sounds obvious but you also have to make the number one priority. Adherence to the prompt is what gets reinforced in every paper they grade. Even if you have a cool idea, you must service the prompt, no matter how tempting your idea is. Your job is to reinforce the prompt directly and explicitly.
You have to consider the audience. Assume your grader is skimming quickly. If your point isn’t obvious at a glance, it probably won’t hit.
In my experience most professors don’t score algorithmically. They kind of just pick a score. Certain consistent scores can be signals. Of course this depends on your professor specifically.
100s = Checks the “did you read it” + directly services prompt + is obvious enough for a tired reader. Doesn’t need brilliance, just “service clarity.”
78s = Fail at least one of those: either no clear tie to prompt or looks like you didn’t read/quote the material.
87-ish range = You did read, you did write clearly, but the argument didn’t resolve or wasn’t “prompt-servicing enough.” (This is the bucket where graders hedge between “competent” and “not exactly what I asked.”)