This study assesses an analytical process which seeks to describe the writing style of a student in terms of the four basic transformational operations: addition, deletion, combining, and reordering. Application of the process to writing skills of low achievers in English is evaluated. All ninth and eleventh grade students in the Falls Church, Virginia, High School were asked to write two themes, given the same stimuli and time. Samples of writings of low achievers were then analyzed to see what transformations, operations or combination of operations they had used. Conclusions were that transformational analysis was independent of the standardized test battery in both aptitude and achievement. The sample of low achievers included students with grade averages lower than "C," but with School and College Ability Test (SCAT) scores no lower than one standard deviation below the mean. No differences between grade levels were found in the use of transformational variables. (GR)