The development of the portion of a basic skills test that would adequately assess the writing ability of entering college freshmen in New Jersey is described in this paper. The stages of the test development process that are discussed include the decision to incorporate a writing sample in the form of an essay on a specified topic, the selection and piloting of an essay topic, the recruitment and training of readers to holistically score the essays, and a statistical analysis of the writing test data. Listed as significant results of this effort are the provision of a data base for a statewide assessment of the writing ability of all freshmen entering all colleges in the state, and the bringing together of college faculty from throughout the state for scoring essays and interpreting test results. (AEA)