Abstract
In the United States, many high school students take various Advanced Placement (AP) courses offered by the non-profit organization, Collegeboard. Specifically, AP English Language and AP English and Literature requires students to write three essays on the day of exam. These essays allow students to demonstrate their penmanship and quality of handwriting. However, it is unknown whether the quality of penmanship plays a role in essay scoring. Very few research has been done on this discipline, specifically handwriting and intelligence. To fill this research gap, this paper will explore and attempt to demonstrate an understanding of the potential correlation between the illegible ratio of handwriting to the overall essay rubric score. 68 samples were taken from CollegeBoard and analyzed through a content analysis with a mathematical equation, the ILR equation. The data was further analyzed with a Line of Best Fit, Pearson Correlation Coefficient, and P-value. The results showed that there were no clear significant differences between neat and messy handwriting and how well it scored on the AP exam. However, the overall length of the essay and its word counts had a strong positive correlation with the essay score. Due to various limitations of this research study, further research must be conducted and tailored to this study to find a clearer understanding of this phenomenon. Nevertheless, this research can serve as the basis and foundation for later studies in this field.
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