1.2 Part A Written Response Format & Scoring Rubrics

Executive Summary: Part A: Written Response is worth 50% of the ELA 30-1 diploma exam. It has two thematically linked assignments. Assignment I: Personal Response to Texts (PRT) is worth 20% and Assignment II: Critical/Analytical Response to Literary Texts (CART) is worth 30%. Markers score each scoring category at one of five levels: Excellent, Proficient, Satisfactory, Limited, or Poor. Every category's weight is published in the ELA 30-1 Information Bulletin.

Part A at a Glance

The word-count ranges are guidelines, not caps, and students who handwrite are not expected to count words. The exam instructions tell you to complete Assignment I first. The PRT gives you time to think about ideas you may also explore in the CART, because the two assignments are thematically linked but not identical.

---

Assignment I: Personal Response to Texts

The PRT gives you several prompting texts. According to the bulletin, these always include visual text(s) along with any combination of fiction, nonfiction, and/or poetry. In January 2025, students received three texts: Naomi Shihab Nye's poem "Streets," an excerpt from Sarah M. Broom's memoir The Yellow House, and a photograph by Ann Weathersby. The assignment asked:

What do these texts suggest to you about an individual's construction of a sense of place? Support your idea(s) with reference to one or more of the prompting texts presented and to your previous knowledge and/or experience.

The assignment then set two requirements. You must use a prose form, and you must connect one or more of the prompting texts to the topic and to your own ideas and impressions. The planning page asks three things: which texts you are responding to, what idea you intend to explore, and which prose form you chose. It also tells you: "You may respond using a personal, creative, or analytical perspective. Do NOT use a poetic form."

A PRT is scored Insufficient, meaning zero in both categories, when the student:

• responds in a form other than prose,
• writes so little that Ideas and Impressions cannot be assessed,
• shows no evidence of addressing the topic,
• makes no connection to the prompting texts, or
• shows no evidence of attempting the task.

---

Assignment II: Critical/Analytical Response to Literary Texts

The CART topic reframes the PRT's thematic context, for example by narrowing a theme or specifying a human attribute. In January 2025 the CART asked:

Discuss the idea(s) developed by the text creator in your chosen text about an individual's longing for the comfort associated with a sense of place.

• What you may write about: "short stories, novels, plays, screenplays, poetry, films, or other literary texts that you have studied in English Language Arts 30–1." You may not use the PRT prompting texts for this assignment.
• Choosing well: The bulletin advises choosing texts you have studied in depth. It notes that texts with literary merit and complexity of theme and style give you the best opportunity to show insight. The markers who read your paper will be very familiar with the text you choose.
• Personal Reflection on Choice of Literary Text(s): The planning pages include this section, with a suggested time of 10–15 minutes, for briefly explaining why you chose your text. Markers consider what you write there when they assess Supporting Evidence.
• Insufficient: A CART is scored zero in all categories when:
  • it refers to no literature studied,
  • its only literary reference is to the PRT prompting texts,
  • it is too short to assess Thought and Understanding or Supporting Evidence, or
  • it shows no attempt to address the topic.

---

The Five Scoring Levels

Every scoring category is marked at one of five levels: Excellent (E), Proficient (Pf), Satisfactory (S), Limited (L), and Poor (P). Insufficient (INS) is a special category, not an indicator of quality. The scoring guide does not attach percentage bands to these levels, and each category's result contributes to your mark in the proportions shown in the table above. For writing produced under these conditions, markers apply the standard expected of first-draft work by students graduating from ELA 30-1.

---

Official Descriptor Keywords by Category

---

What Markers Report About Part A

The bulletin summarizes observations from recent marking sessions:

1. PRT prose forms vary widely. About 40% of students write a hybrid of personal reflection and analysis, close to 40% write narratives (personal or creative), and roughly 10% write analytical responses. The bulletin states that choosing a particular form does not necessarily indicate the level a student will achieve.
2. Connections to the prompting texts matter. Successful hybrid responses genuinely connect personal experience to the texts, while weaker ones only place a "parallel" anecdote beside them. Creative responses with no evident link to the prompting texts are assessed as Insufficient.
3. The CART rewards a purposeful choice of text. Stronger responses show a deliberate choice of literature that fits the topic. Weaker responses pick a text for comfort, only describe examples of the topic, or leave large gaps around critical moments in the text.
4. Staying on topic is essential. An essay that analyzes symbolism in detail but never develops ideas about the assigned topic is hard to score for Thought and Understanding. If it makes no reference to the topic at all, it is Insufficient.