A model exit examination for a community college English composition course is presented, along with a discussion of the evaluation criteria used and the content areas assessed by the examination. First, methods of objectively evaluating written examinations are discussed, and analytical scoring methods are contrasted with the holistic scoring approach. Next, the paper reviews research and literature concerned with writing competence and standards for writing evaluation, and suggests that writing competence consists of a person's ability to write for a variety of purposes and audiences in a manner characterized by adequate substance coherently organized and correctly presented. The paper concludes that the best exit examination for English composition would be one consisting of carefully described writing tasks reflecting the course's content, while at the same time providing the teacher with a useful instrument for rank ordering the writing competence of every student in the class. After presenting the model exit examination, the paper details evaluation criteria for each of the four writing tasks in the examination. Guidelines are provided for determining quality and scope of content, organization and presentation, style and form, and reader response. A bibliography is included. (LAL)