This folder contains a dataset for a study that aims to investigate the learning effects of two different instructional approaches with which students can engage with exemplars: comparative judgment and analytic criteria. International business students were instructed to write a five-paragraph essay, preceded by a 30-minutes peer assessment in which students evaluated the quality of ten exemplar essays. Half of the students evaluated the quality of ten exemplars using a list of teacher-based criteria (n = 20), the other group evaluated the quality of the same exemplars through pairwise comparisons (n = 20). Students also provided peer feedback. The written essays are evaluated by a panel of six expert assessors using comparative judgment. The paper is currently under review, the data will be available as soon as it is accepted for publication.