MCAS/ Critical Literacy

For those of you who (like me) are unfamiliar with MCAS here is their website with some example questions/ FAQ's that helped give me a better idea of the test: http://www.doe.mass.edu/mcas/

Building on what we talked about in class, here is an example writing prompt question:

WRITING PROMPT

Often in works of literature, a character develops a friendship with or feelings of love for someone who is disapproved of by others.

From a work of literature you have read in or out of school, select a character who develops a friendship with or feelings of love for someone who is disapproved of by others. In a well-developed composition, identify the character, describe the character’s relationship, and explain how the relationship relates to the work as a whole.

What I'm wondering is... if a student is taught to read text critically, not in the dominant sense.... they might have a different take on how to respond to this question. For example, in regards to a character who expresses a love for "someone who is disapproved of by others" a student experienced with critical literacy might have focused on the character being disapproved of by others, instead of looking at the "character who develops" the relationship or even the relationship as a whole and be unable to answer this question in the way that is being asked. To what extent would this student receive an acceptable score if their response was critical, but not answering the question the way that is expected?

I remember taking AP exams and having to write to a specific score. We had models in the classroom of what the top scores looked like and basically practiced mimicking them in order to receive the same scores. The models were very specific-- how would a student do on an exam in which they were expected to write in a very specific format if they responded in the ways they practice in critical literacy? Their responses would be critical of course, but how lenient is the test system to allow for this type of response/ are test makers trying to create this rigid one format to dominate writing systems across schools and discourage critical/create responses? What do you guys think?