Test Information Guide
Field 17: Visual Art
Sample Open-Response Item
The following materials contain:
- Sample test directions for the open-response item
- A sample open-response item
- An example of a strong response to the open-response item
- The scoring rubric
Sample Test Directions for Open-Response Items
This section of the test consists of two open-response item assignments. You will be asked to prepare a written response of approximately 150–300 words for each assignment. You should use your time to plan, write, review, and edit your response for each assignment. You must write responses to both of the assignments.
For each assignment, read the topic and directions carefully before you begin to work. Think about how you will organize your response.
As a whole, your response to each assignment must demonstrate an understanding of the knowledge of the field. In your response to each assignment, you are expected to demonstrate the depth of your understanding of the subject area by applying your knowledge rather than by merely reciting factual information.
Your response to each assignment will be evaluated based on the following criteria.
- PURPOSE: the extent to which the response achieves the purpose of the assignment
- SUBJECT KNOWLEDGE: appropriateness and accuracy in the application of subject knowledge
- SUPPORT: quality and relevance of supporting evidence
- RATIONALE: soundness of argument and degree of understanding of the subject area
The open-response item assignments are intended to assess subject knowledge. Your responses must be communicated clearly enough to permit valid judgment of the evaluation criteria by scorers. Your responses should be written for an audience of educators in this field. The final version of each response should conform to the conventions of edited American English. Your responses should be your original work, written in your own words, and not copied or paraphrased from some other work.
Be sure to write about the assigned topics. You may not use any reference materials during the test. Remember to review your work and make any changes you think will improve your responses.
Sample Open-Response Item
Objective 0012
Prepare an organized, developed analysis on a topic related to one or more of the following: creating works of visual art; visual art in context; interpretation, analysis, and evaluation of art; visual art and other disciplines.
Use the reproduction below of a detail of a painting to complete the exercise that follows.
The painting depicts several people in an outdoor setting. One large central male figure stands with legs in profile in a wide stance on a small boat with fan-like ends. He wears a white skirt-like garment, a broad decorative collar, and wide armbands at his wrists. His upper torso faces the viewer, while his head is in profile, with one eye shown frontally. His hair is black, cleanly shaped, covering his forehead, ear, and the back of his neck. One arm is raised behind him, holding a snake-shaped implement. A smaller female figure stands at his back. She wears a long sleeveless white garment, a broad headband, at least one wrist band, and a wide decorative collar similar to the man's. Another female, even smaller, similarly attired, kneels on the boat between the man's legs, with one hand around his front shin. A third figure stands naked in front of the man, with a similar implement in his raised hand. Behind these figures is a uniform band of plants shown as vertical stems with fan-shaped heads nearly as tall as the central figure. A fragment of another group of figures on a boat is visible at the right edge of the image. Between the boats, two fish are shown, oriented vertically between the prows, and above the plants flies a dense assortment of birds that look like ducks. At the left edge of the image stand three small male figures, wearing only the skirt-like garment, carrying dead birds or sacks over their shoulders. Like the central man, all figures are shown with the legs and head in profile and the upper torso and eye facing the viewer. Across the top of the image there are one horizontal and several vertical bands of symbols.
Using your knowledge of the visual arts, write an essay discussing this work. In your essay:
- identify the artistic tradition or cultural context in which this work was produced; and
- describe the characteristics that distinguish this work as a product of the artistic tradition or cultural context in which it was created.
Sample Strong Response to the Open-Response Item
The sample response below reflects a strong knowledge and understanding of the subject matter.
This work is from ancient Egypt, a culture that was concentrated along the Nile River in the northeast corner of Africa. It is a wall painting from the tomb wall of a nobleman. The use of scale is characteristic of ancient Egyptian figure representation: the nobleman commands the viewer's attention due to his enormous size, which symbolizes his higher social status relative to the other figures. This wall painting also features some kind of commentary or quotation in the form of hieroglyphs, an early Egyptian writing system.
Another striking pictorial characteristic of ancient Egyptian art seen in this work are the figures presented in two-dimensional “twisted” poses. For example, the nobleman's arms, legs, and feet are in profile, but his torso faces forward. Similarly, his head is turned to the right, but the eye is painted in full view, as if the head were facing forward.
While much royal tomb decoration served funereal purposes, it was also common to include paintings that depicted activities from daily life. In this scene, the nobleman hunts in the Nile marshes with his family. Birds fly above and fish swim below the reed boat that carries the nobleman and his family. Crops are being harvested. The scene is one of abundance, a celebration of life as experienced by a noble and his family.
Scoring Rubric
Performance Characteristics
The following characteristics guide the scoring of responses to the open-response item(s).
| Purpose | The extent to which the response achieves the purpose of the assignment. |
|---|---|
| Subject Matter Knowledge | Accuracy and appropriateness in the application of subject matter knowledge. |
| Support | Quality and relevance of supporting details. |
| Rationale | Soundness of argument and degree of understanding of the subject matter. |
Scoring Scale
The scoring scale below, which is related to the performance characteristics for the tests, is used by scorers in assigning scores to responses to the open-response item(s).
| Score Point | Score Point Description |
|---|---|
| 4 |
The "4" response reflects a thorough knowledge and understanding of the subject matter.
|
| 3 | The "3" response reflects an adequate knowledge and understanding of the subject matter.
|
| 2 | The "2" response reflects a limited knowledge and understanding of the subject matter.
|
| 1 | The "1" response reflects a weak knowledge and understanding of the subject matter.
|
| U | The response is unrelated to the assigned topic, illegible, primarily in a language other than English, not of sufficient length to score, or merely a repetition of the assignment. |
| B | There is no response to the assignment. |