I wanted to say how much I agreed with what Roberta--and others on CASLL--have said about tests of writing competency. They aren't meaningful measures of students general communicative abilities in writing--probably tell you more about how good students are at taking time-limited tests. They can't really replicate the kinds of extended writing processes (reading-researching, notetaking, drafting etc.) which are typically required in the disciplines at university. The resources devoted to administering and marking the test could be a lot more productively devoted to teaching--ie. giving all students more and better designed opportunities to write (assignments) and more and better feedback on their attempts at writing in the disciplines they've chosen to study. James -- James Brown Assistant Secretary of the University York University Secretariat S883 Ross 736-5012 [log in to unmask]