<p>I felt like complaining, haha.</p>
<p>I got a 790CR, 750M, and 640W. I wouldn't have a problem with these scores if I thought I was indeed a bad writer... yet as that is not the case I am a wee bit frustrated. Honestly I don't see how the writing portion of the SAT is an accurate representation of writing ability. The essay section is purely an exercise in how rapid a student can scribble* and the rest of the section seems to be testing the editing abilities of said student, not the writing.</p>
<p>Why? Why not give us a decent amount of time to write, to let us explore the topic at hand and deliver an essay that might in fact BE a representation of our skill with the quill (groan)? Instead we are forced to mindlessly rifle through sentences and paragraphs with the tedious goal of finding the proverbial needle in the haystack, that meaningless misspelling of a word or violation of some exotic grammatical rule we all learned about in 2nd grade (and then forgot once we began to naturally write within those restrictions).</p>
<p>Browsing through SAT prep books or the SAT forums here I see the sage advice given to those future essay writers that goes along the lines of "think up some generic examples to use as evidence for different types of questions" and I stop... and wonder... why? Perhaps if we had more time, not to write a longer essay (we have to respect the graders, slaving away in dimly lit rooms, assigning a numerical value to essay after essay after essay), but to write a better essay, and one not written the night before, THEN the writing section might be worthwhile, might accurately represent our aptitude for writing. But then again, that's a lot to expect from a test that has the potential to decide our future.</p>
<p>*<a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2005/05/04/education/04education.html?pagewanted=all&position=%5B/url%5D">http://www.nytimes.com/2005/05/04/education/04education.html?pagewanted=all&position=</a></p>
<p>You're just preaching to the choir. Unfortunately we can't change the test.</p>
<p>Editing grammatical flaws and recognizing them is crucial to writing well.</p>
<p>The essay isn't that important compared to the MC, anyways.</p>
<p>The writing section doesn't actually matter anywhere so i don't see the issue.</p>
<p>The Writing score is mostly based on the sentence error things. If you are indeed such an amazing writer, then the writing multiple choice writing questions should be easy.</p>
<p>This is a list from '06 about how schools were using it then</p>
<p>KAPLAN</a> EXCLUSIVE: New SAT Scoring Policies from 374 Top Schools</p>
<p>Apply to Georgetown. They don't look at the writting at all.</p>
<p>The idea of the essay is to see how well you can develop and articulate your ideas on paper in a limited amount of time. I think that's a useful skill. Plus, the grammar section is great because people really, really need to learn how to use English properly. </p>
<p>I got an 800, though, so I may be slightly biased.</p>
<p>agreed. It seems REALLY random. The essay, just objectively, that I wrote for March was much worse than my Oct...and I got a 10 on March, and an 8 on Oct. The difference? "girlish" handwriting (I am a girl but my handwriting is a mess!)...I've always been a good writer, and good at grammar, but I only got a 690...(my total is 2170-v. close to you, with a 1490 split)...</p>
<p>writing section? Im screwed by the entire damn test. Consider yourself lucky.</p>
<p>the essay doesn't grade you on length...
my brother has written an essay (3/4 of a page) and he received a 10
i've wrote a 1.5 page essay and also received a 10.
there is this smart girl i know who wrote a 2 page essay and ended up with a 8.</p>
<p>it really depends on the readers.</p>
<p>The essay subsection of the writing portion of the SAT is subjectively graded and utterly worthless as a refined instrument to assess writing capacity. However, the ability to express ideas concisely and accurately is an essential skill which the overall writing section is designed to measure, as well as grammatical knowledge. If you received a 640, that means you fared poorly on the non-essay portion, too. This component is an excellent measure of syntactical aptitude and accurately appraises one's understanding of English. Contrary to what you suggest, there are no "spelling errors" on the SAT; moreover, abstruse or "exotic" grammatical rules are not tested. Essentially, it tests your grasp of the basic underlying principles of the English language.</p>
<p>The criteria are not only highly subjective and vague, but they cannot be consistently applied due to the variability between graders. Moreover, one's essays cannot even be rigorously or carefully assessed because very little time is allotted to the graders to review a given essay. Of course, one must also factor in deficiencies that are inherent in the assignment itself. For example, those who write rapidly or legibly have an unfair advantage over those who do not. In my opinion, the decision to add an essay subsection to the SAT was idiotic.</p>
<p>yeah, I have no clue how the essay works either. The second time I took it, I was sick, had severe problems with organizing my thoughts, and thought I totally screwed up the essay. it turns out I got 8 on both times I wrote it O.o I redeemed myself with the grammar portion though.</p>
<p>is a person who good at CR obviously does well on W ??? I think reading well will makes you write better.</p>