Samples of student writing from the Alberta (Canada) 9th grade achievement test in writing (administered in June 1990) are presented with evaluative commentaries. They are intended to offer teachers, administrators, and students illustration of the criteria and approach used to score the exam. The exam is one part of a two-part standardized test of writing and reading comprehension. Introductory sections give background information on the book's use and the selection of samples, general comments on the test's requirements, and the instructions given to the students at the time of test administration. The five samples are then presented in their original handwritten form, with printed comments on the content, theme development, sentence structure, vocabulary, language usage, and overall composition in the margin. The subsequent section discusses the student's use of the planning and scratch sheet to organize ideas. Student samples in this section are in handwritten form, with printed commentary. Two additional student writing samples felt to be exemplary for their creativity or writing quality, with brief commentaries, are also provided. Finally, common problems of sentence structure, vocabulary, and language usage encountered in the test are examined briefly. Appended materials include guides for scoring content, development, sentence structure, vocabulary, and usage. (MSE)