The English department is very supportive of what we do. Students are encouraged to take the placement test during Preview. Those who pass it on the first try enroll in English 110. Those who don't 23 percent of the incoming freshman and transfer students last year make an appointment with Rose, who goes over their papers with them and helps them develop a plan to improve their writing. All undergraduates, even those who have transfer credit for freshman composition, are required to pass the 90-minute writing sample placement test, for which they are asked to write an expository essay.
Graders look closely at development, organization, sentence structure, mechanics and spelling.
Evaluation standards for the Exit Exam are much higher, Rose said. The exams are given throughout the year, and students are advised to take it their junior year, after they have completed 58 credit hours. Old Dominion was the first state college or university in Virginia to implement an exit writing exam back in 1981 and, to Rose's knowledge, is the only one that still has the requirement. She strongly believes the exam is worthwhile. According to Rose, the Writing Center and the Exit Exam requirement came into being as a result of an employer who complained to then President Al Rollins that he had hired an Old Dominion graduate who, he said, couldn't write.