Abstract: | The College English Test Band Four is rapidly becoming the most widely used qualifying examination in China today. The test includes a direct writing component, although the bulk of the test consists of conventional multiple-choice reading-skills items. The papers of the writing section are sent to various centres where each paper is scored not by multiple readers, but by a single reader. In this article, the accounts of actual scorers are documented, describing the scoring process and the manner in which reliability is maintained. |