吉林省中考英语作文评分标准及评分说明

吉林省中考英语作文评分标准及评分说明

Scoring the English Essay for the Jilin Zhongkao

Hi everyone! My name is Xiaoming and I'm a 5th grader here

in Jilin Province. Today I want to tell you all about how the

teachers will score the English essay part of the zhongkao exam

that you have to take to get into a good middle school around

here. The zhongkao is a really important test, so you'll want to do

your best on the English writing section.

First off, the whole English essay is worth 25 points total. The

graders will have a rubric with four different categories they use

to score your essay: 1) Task Completion and Coherence, 2)

Lexical Resource, 3) Grammatical Range and Accuracy, and 4)

Mechanics (spelling and punctuation). Each category has a

different point value.

Task Completion and Coherence is the most important one -

it's worth 10 out of the 25 points. For this part, the graders want

to see if you actually answered the writing prompt correctly and

fully. They'll check if your essay has a clear main idea that you

stick to throughout, instead of going off in weird directions.

Having a good structure with an introduction, body paragraphs,

and conclusion is really important here too.

Your essay should be coherent, which means it flows

smoothly from one idea to the next using good transition words

and logical ordering of sentences and paragraphs. The graders

don't want to see a bunch of random, disconnected thoughts - it

should read like one unified piece from start to finish. Making

sure you have a consistent point of view and write in the correct

tense and voice throughout is part of coherence too.

The second category is Lexical Resource, worth 5 points. This

one is about your vocabulary. The graders will be looking for you

to use a wide range of vocabulary words accurately and

appropriately for the context. Don't just use really basic, simple

words over and over. But also don't try to unnecessarily "charge

up" your essay with lots of advanced words you don't really

understand just to sound fancy. The goal is to demonstrate good

mastery of vocabulary at your level.

Using idioms, collocations, and words with multiple

meanings correctly will really impress the graders for this

category. But avoid overusing rhetorical clichés or wordiness. Be

precise and economical in your language. And of course, no

Chinese words or Chinese-English "Chinglish" mix-ups!

Grammatical Range and Accuracy is the third area, also

worth 5 points. This part focuses on your grammar skills and

ability to construct sentences correctly and with syntactic variety.

The graders expect your essay to "demonstrate a high degree of

grammatical accuracy" without lots of errors in basic grammar

areas like subject-verb agreement, verb tenses, articles,

pronouns, prepositions, and so on.

But it's not just about avoiding mistakes - you also need to

show you can use a range of different grammatical structures

with flexibility. Using simple sentences with basic grammar

patterns repeatedly will not score well. Work in some more

complex and compound sentence types, different clause

structures, and varied grammatical constructions. Just don't get

so carried away with complex grammar that you start making

tons of errors - accuracy still matters most.

The last area is Mechanics, worth 5 points as well. This

category covers the basics of spelling, punctuation, capitalization,

and paragraph indentation. This may seem like an easy one, but

you'd be surprised how many points get docked because

students don't carefully proofread for mechanical mistakes at the

end.

Your spelling has to be accurate, using correct English word

forms throughout. The only exception is if you clearly make an

understandable spelling mistake on a very advanced word - that

won't be marked down as harshly. Punctuation like periods,

commas, and apostrophes needs to be present and used

properly. Following the capitalization rules for things like the first

word of a sentence, proper nouns, and the pronoun "I" is also

important in this section.

Finally, you have to indent that first line of each new

paragraph. So simple, but so many students forget and lose

points! Overall for mechanics, just take your time and double

check that your essay looks polished and free of silly little

mistakes at the end.

So those are the four scoring areas that make up the 25 total

points for the zhongkao English essay: Task

Completion/Coherence, Lexical Resource, Grammar, and

Mechanics. A few more quick tips:

Make sure you follow all the prompt instructions exactlyfor

the required words, topic, genre/style, purpose, audience, and

length. Not following the prompt is an automatic deduction.

Use up your time wisely! Don't spend too long agonizing

over your introductory paragraph. Get your main ideas down

first in the body, then go back and write your intro and

conclusion at the end when you know exactly what you've

covered.

Have a plan! Outline or take brief notes before you start

writing the full essay, to organize your thoughts and ensure

logical progression of ideas.

Leave a couple minutes at the very end to quickly proofread

your work and fix any grammar, spelling, or punctuation errors

you see.

And of course, practice, practice, practice timed essay

writing as much as you can so you get comfortable with the test

format and time pressure.

I hope these explanations of how the zhongkao English

essay is graded have been helpful! The main things are: follow

the prompt instructions, write clearly and coherently, use

accurate and resourceful vocabulary and grammar, proofread

carefully for language mechanics errors, and do lots of practice

essays. With focus and preparation, you can maximize your score

on this important part of the high school entrance exam.

Fighting!