Update on March, 2017
We will score the “Writing” section according to the following rating standard and indicate the respective scores.
| Score | Rating |
| 50 | (Level S) An essay at this level · clearly addresses the topic with persuasive reasons · is well organized and developed · uses refined expressions in language |
| 45 | (Level A) An essay at this level · clearly addresses the topic with appropriate reasons · is well organized and developed · uses appropriate expressions in language |
| 40 | |
| 35 | (Level B) An essay at this level · addresses the topic with mostly appropriate reasons · is generally well organized, though it may have occasional problems · may use inappropriate expressions in language |
| 30 | |
| 25 | (Level C) An essay at this level · roughly addresses the topic with reasons, which may be inappropriate · may have problems in its organization · uses inappropriate expressions in language |
| 20 | |
| 10 | (Level D) An essay at this level · does not address the topic · is disorganized and underdeveloped · has serious errors in usage |
| 0 | (NA)* An essay does not meet the rating conditions. |
Each of Levels A, B and C has two grades: higher and lower.
*An essay is given a score of 0 (NA) if:
- -It is blank.
- -It is not relevant to the topic.
- -It only repeats the topic statement.
- -Its Japanese text relevant to the topic is less than 40 characters in length, excluding the part repeating the topic statement.
- -It contains text copied from the question booklet cover or elsewhere.
- -It is judged by the committee after deliberation as having another proper reason to be considered NA.
