Essay grader
Get a fair score for your essay before you hand it in, with marks for each criterion, what works, the sentences to fix first and how to raise the grade.
The essay grader marks your essay the way a fair, experienced teacher would. You get a score out of 100, a mark out of 10 for each part of a typical marking scheme, what already works, the exact sentences to fix first, and concrete steps to raise the grade.
Open Essay grader in the sidebar.
Grade your essay
- Optionally paste the Assignment or question, for example "Discuss the causes of climate change and what governments should do (1,000 words)". With it, the grader also checks whether your essay answers it.
- Paste your essay into the big box, or click Upload PDF, Word or text or From a link. See Importing files and links.
- Choose the Level: School, College, University or Advanced. The essay is judged against what is expected at that level.
- Choose the Type: Essay, Argumentative essay, Research paper, Report, Personal statement, Literature analysis, Lab report or Assignment answer.
- Choose the Feedback language. Same as the text writes the feedback in the language of your essay.
- Click Grade my essay.
Marking takes about half a minute. The essay needs at least 80 words. You can grade essays up to about 60,000 characters (roughly 10,000 words).
Your grade
The overall score and band
At the top is your score out of 100 and a band:
| Score | Band |
|---|---|
| 85 to 100 | Excellent |
| 70 to 84 | Good |
| 55 to 69 | Fair |
| 0 to 54 | Needs work |
SerpPal uses these plain bands instead of letter grades, because letter scales differ between countries and schools. Next to the score is a two or three sentence summary of the verdict.
The overall score is the average of the criteria marks, times 10. So the score and the criteria always agree.
The criteria
Each criterion gets a mark out of 10, a bar and a short, specific comment:
- Thesis and focus: is the main claim clear, and does the essay stay on it?
- Structure and flow: are the paragraphs in a logical order, with good transitions?
- Evidence and support: are the claims backed by facts, examples and sources?
- Analysis and depth: does it explain why and how, not just what?
- Language and grammar: is the writing clear and correct?
- Meets the assignment: only when you pasted the assignment. Does the essay answer what was asked?
Marks of 8 and up show in green, 6 to 7.9 in amber, and below 6 in red.
What works
Two to four specific strengths. Keep doing these.
Fix these first
Four to eight fixes, most important first. Each one quotes the exact sentence or phrase from your essay, says what is wrong with it, and gives a better version. Only quotes that really appear in your essay are shown.
To raise the grade
Three concrete next steps, like "Add two sources with numbers" or "Explain the effects, not only the causes".
Click Copy feedback to copy the whole report as text: the score, every criterion, the strengths, the fixes and the steps.
The grade is an AI estimate to help you improve, not an official mark. Your teacher's marking scheme may differ. Use it to find weak spots before you hand in, not to predict your exact grade.
Your graded essays
Every grade is saved with the essay, the assignment and the settings. Recent, at the bottom of the page, lists your graded essays. Click one to open it again with its grade. To see how much you improved, edit your essay and click Grade my essay again: the new grade is saved as a new entry.
AI words and limits
Each grade counts toward your monthly AI words (the length of the feedback, usually a few hundred words). See Plans and limits.
Tips
- Always paste the assignment if you have it. "Meets the assignment" is often where marks are lost.
- Pick the right level. A college essay graded at Advanced level will score lower.
- Fix the quoted sentences first, then grade again.
- Check grammar separately with the Grammar checker. The grader looks at the big picture.
- Need citations? Build them with the Citation generator.
Troubleshooting
"Paste an essay of at least 80 words" Your essay is too short to grade. Add more text.
"The grader did not answer properly. Try again." Click Grade my essay again.
The scores seem too high or too low Check the Level you picked, and paste the assignment. The grader is told to be honest, neither inflating scores nor being harsh for its own sake, but it is still an estimate. Grading the same essay twice can give slightly different marks.
"The essay grader needs AI" AI writing is not turned on for this site. Ask the site admin.