WEBWriters will administer a practice session for the Montana University System Writing Assessment, a direct assessment of students' writing skills.  Students have forty minutes to prepare a writing sample. The prompt they receive will include information about a decision that must be made by a group of people who must decide between two alternatives. The writer is asked to advise the group on the best choice and explain why the group should agree with the writer's position. In addition, the assignment will specify the basis upon which the decision must be made.

The Montana University System worked with ACT (American College Testing) to implement a writing skills test. This test will be used to determine if students have learned the necessary writing skills to succeed in college.

This Student Tutorial Website, funded by the Student Assistance Foundation of Montana, is designed to support the development of writing skills by helping students prepare for and/or improve their scores on the ACT Writing Test and the SAT Essay section.  This website, hosted at the Montana State University-Great Falls College of Technology and administered by the Montana Association of Teachers of English Language Arts , includes the following:

• Information about the MSUWA writing field test
• The Holistic Scoring Rubric.

• Sample essays and explanations about how these essays were scored.
• A released prompt for students to select from and write about as practice*.
• The capacity to accept student essays submitted electronically and scored by trained volunteer teacher/scorers who provide feedback to students about the essays' strengths and weaknesses.
• Activities for improving writing.

* Since the MUS Writing Assessment became operational in 2004, students have had a choice of two prompts.