Comparison of Two College Entrance Examination Tasks
115 high school juniors were required to write a composition after reading an essay or just to write one without reading. Students were instructed in writing a summary, a synthesis, and an argument to prepare them to write a composition for the task which required reading an essay. Writing samples were collected before the study started and after instructions for each kind of writing, i.e., a summary, a synthesis, and an argument. When the first writing sample's scores were the covariate, the pretest mean was higher for writing in response to a topic without reading an essay than on the pretest for writing after reading an essay. Scores significantly improved following instruction in writing a summary for the task which required writing in response to reading an essay; however, scores declined significantly in response to instruction in writing a synthesis when the task required no essay reading.