In my opinion, the WPE (writing proficiency exam) is just one more scam to wheedle money out of the uninitiated.
In my college, only three graders went through hundreds of peoples’ handwritten essays in one day. I’m a native-born American and I did not pass. I suspect that I made the mistake of trying to put together an original argument! So I ended up taking a $1,200 class to make up for having failed the test.
I initially challenged my score, but in this institute of higher education which is designed to promote critical thinking, I was not allowed to see or hear any reasons for it. They did not save my or anyone else’s exam, and I received nothing but attitude and shock from the administration that anyone would dare to question the bureaucracy. I have one of the highest SAT writing scores out there. That’s not to brag, it just goes to show that the WPE has no ability to accurately assess what it sets out to measure and has no ability to defend its reasoning aside from personal attacks and arguments from authority.
I didn’t learn one new thing about the English language in the $1,200 make up class. It was a complete waste of my time, and a cash cow for both the creators of the WPE and the college that decided to administer it. There’s no excuse for letting people pass using poor English in the rest of their general education classes. The WPE is the epitome of avarice in my opinion. What does everyone else think?