This criticism of writing competency tests questions both the efficacy of a test developed by the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) and the reliance of individual states on the products of private testmakers. The paper suggests that a hidden curriculum is being developed by independent and semi-independent organizations that reflects some of the worst current practices in the teaching of writing--triviality, inadequate time allotment, a confused notion of "creative writing," and a poor choice of writing topics. Sample exercises taken from the NAEP writing test and examples of student writing elicited by those exercises are included. (AEA) Aspect of National Assessment (NAEP) dealt with in this document: Procedures (Exercise Development).