FAQ: I'm using e-rater (Beta) and I got a 0 e-rater score. Why?
Do not let an e-rater score of 0 undermine your confidence. Use the raw score as a more accurate reflection of your performance, and continue to practice and improve your writing skills.
At times, you may receive a raw score for your essay but notice that the e-rater has assigned a score of 0. This is not necessarily a reflection of a poorly written essay.
The e-rater is designed to evaluate the alignment of your essay with a generic prompt based on established TOEFL Writing criteria.
A raw score is generated based on linguistic and structural analysis of your text. However, if the e-rater's algorithms detect what seems to be a significant divergence from the expected response structure or content, it may result in an e-rater score of 0.
This does not necessarily mean that your essay is off-topic or poorly written. It could simply indicate that the content of your essay did not align with the generic parameters the e-rater was trained to detect.
When to Use the Raw Score
If you are certain that your essay is a well-constructed response to a legitimate Integrated (Q1) TOEFL Writing task, you should not be discouraged by an e-rater score of 0. Instead, focus on the raw score, which is more indicative of your essay's actual quality and relevance.
Correlation With TOEFL Writing Rubric
(download the Integrated TOEFL Writing Rubric)
A raw score of 5 aligns with the highest level on the TOEFL Writing rubric, indicating a well-organized essay that coherently presents important information from both the lecture and reading materials. Lower scores correspond to varying degrees of effectiveness in this regard.
Was this article helpful?
That’s Great!
Thank you for your feedback
Sorry! We couldn't be helpful
Thank you for your feedback
Feedback sent
We appreciate your effort and will try to fix the article