ENGLISH COMPETENCY EXAMS
AT COLLEGE OF THE REDWOODS

General Information about the Competency Exams

General Rationale for the Exams: Every semester Competency Exams are given in both English 350 and English 150. These exams constitute a percentage of the overall grade, so you can fail a Competency Exam and still pass the course. The exams are designed to see how well you can read an essay, organize a response, and write that response in a timed environment. Although we're well aware that this can be stressful for students, we consider this a very important step in our competency-based curriculum. It is our goal to make sure that you are well prepared before you start the next level of English at College of the Redwoods.

English 150: You are allowed 1 1/2 hours to write the competency essay. You will read two professional argumentative essays one week before the exam. You must read both essays and choose one of the two for use in your exam. It is important that you comprehend the major support and the thesis in the essay you choose, take a stand on the central issue in your essay, and support your opinion in well-developed paragraphs. You are not allowed to use notes when you actually write the essay. Twenty percent of your course grade is determined by this exam. The rest of the writing for this course is done out of class and not in a timed "writing on demand" situation. An additional twenty percent of the course grade is sentence skills, and the remaining 60 percent is divided between reading and writing.

English 350: You are also allowed 1 1/2 hours to take the competency exam. Unlike the English 150 competency exam, you will not read professional argumentative essays in preparation for the exam. Instead, you will be given a list of prompts to choose from in advance of the exam. To prepare for the exam, you will select a prompt, determine a thesis, craft a plan of development, and support your thesis. You may want to write an actual draft of the essay. However, you may not bring these notes to the actual exam. You are expected to write a four-paragraph essay that exhibits that you understand what introductory, body, and concluding paragraphs are. The grade received on the competency exam counts for 15 percent of your overall writing grade.