<p>Once again, the synthesis is an argumentative essay.</p>
<p>Regardless of the prompt, you will always be arguing something in your synthesis essay, because that’s the purpose of the essay as decided by CollegeBoard.</p>
<p>If you explained the most important issues and least important issues and didn’t exactly take a stance that was explicitly pro- or con- the prompt’s topic, that’s completely fine.</p>
<p>But if you took a somewhat more “argumentative” approach to the prompt, that’s fine too.</p>
<p>Keep in mind that the synthesis essay is still very new, and the readers as well as CollegeBoard are still basically testing it out.</p>
<p>I am really happy with the test! Having a degenerate teacher all year, I feared that I was going to struggle. I debated on whether or not to do practice tests but just didn’t get around to it. I was surprised with the test; it was like a harder version of the STAR test (in California)… which wasn’t hard at all! </p>
<p>The FR was fair though I did stumble here and there. Think I did all right though.</p>
<p>rk33: I used 12 pages in the answer booklet – 4 each. And you said, “All of the examples I’ve seen that score 9’s and 8’s are in the 3-4 page range at most.” Well, exactly.</p>
<p>And yes, I had to write very quickly; I had zero time to edit.</p>
<p>I doubled my score on the English part of the GRE by memorizing 1,000 vocabulary words. For the English part of any standardized test, vocabulary is the most important part. If you are a math or science major, and do not read much, get the words and memorize them.</p>
<p>hmm okay I think I had different topics…for my argumentative essay, it was really difficult to think of good historical/current event examples, so I kinda reasoned in my first body paragraph, then provided a detailed personal example in the second paragraph…
I had Form B, anyone else?</p>
<p>I’m not sure what form I had, but my persuasive prompt was “do you agree with someone’s position on X?” along with a short essay. It was kind of iffy… there were many ways you could interpret that passage, so I hope I did well :/</p>
<p>^ oh yeah mine was too~ dunno if it’s the exact same topic tho lol mine was something you don’t usually see historically or in current affairs and stuff. Guess we’ll find out in 48 hours haha</p>
<p>How did you guys approach the analytical essay? That was easily my worst essay, and I think I just wrote 3 pages of BS. I might get a score like 3-6. 1 and 3 were fine with me, though.</p>
<p>For the 3rd essay, I used African-Americans and Homosexuals, and how they have endured and preservered through constant struggle, and yet they continue to fight for what they believe in (not so much African Americans NOW, but before such as Civil Rights movement) I also said something about Rosa Parks as a black figure. Very cliche and SAT-ish but whatever. So are two minorities as my TWO examples, because they are my observations and somewhat history, okay to do on my persuasive essay?</p>
<p>JoshCasto- I meant the samples I’ve seen that were for the synthesis were in that page range. 4 pages each isn’t that gnarly, I was thinking more of the people who said they wrote like 6 for the synthesis.</p>
<p>Here’s the historical/ literary examples i used in the essays:</p>
<p>Synthesis: i mentioned the Space Race and the yearning for space exploration during the Cold War as well as the halt on the space program after competition between us and the Soviets declined. I also managed to fit in the Shuttle Columbia Explosion in my essay. (is that at all relevant?)</p>
<p>Rhetorical Analysis Essay: I mentioned how environmentalists began to form ideals during the 60’s. And i mentioned colloquialism used in the essay as well as irony towards conservatives to create a mocking tone and made it appealing and inviting to the reader.</p>
<p>Argumentative: Quite a random topic but pretty clear nonetheless. I used Great Depression examples (relatives’ experiences) the Great Gatsby (how the main character did not necessarily fact intense “hardships” which seemed to result in a unsatisfying lifestyle I wrote that hardships and experiences seem to allow us to perceive life in differently and grasp an authentic appreciation of things. Last, i mentioned African Americans struggle after Reconstruction and how they have faced challenges but have profoundly reaped equality from Civil Rights (the right to vote) to having the first African American president elected.</p>
<p>I guess it wasn’t too bad at all. Would this suffice for me ending up with a 3 and maybe somehow a 4 on the exam?</p>
<p>I thought the MC was easy. I skipped one and probably got like 4~6 wrong…</p>
<p>Synthesis - talked about how “exploration” doesn’t imply degradation. I said we can explore and make the space better than we found it. Then I said another factor that should be considered is the potential for space exploration to provide an outlet for our natural curiosity and how it has the ability to cultivate a sense of commonality among people. My third aspect was how development of space shuttles can actually stimulate engineering or construction industries. I had no specific examples, however. (IS THIS BAD!?!?!?) </p>
<p>Rhetorical - Talked about how any sort of intellectual discussion has turned into banal mockery filled with personal invectives. I analyzed his sarcastic tone, and how it contributed to shaping stereotypes and negative images of both parties. I also analyzed his informal syntax and how it brought to life the detached and the resentful attitudes of each arguer. </p>
<p>Argumentative - Talked about the book Tuesdays With Morrie, and how a dying college professor learns to appreciate everything around and influence those around him despite his coming death. I also talked about Andrew Carnegie and how he overcame oppression during the Industrial Era to establish himself as a prominent figure, and how that shaped him to donate a large portion of his money to NY’s steel funding upon his death. lol </p>
<p>For essays 1,2 I didn’t have any specifics. Is that bad?</p>
<p>Did anyone else take a negative position on the synthesis essay? I won’t say what I wrote yet but it was SCATHING. I felt it was well written and just easier to synthesize with the documents given.</p>
<p>Yeah, this test was a lot easier than some of the practice ones we’ve been doing.
But I ran out of time! This was the the ONLY test I ran out of time…and it was probably my easiest test. I guess I expected the proctors to announce “5 minutes remainining” or something. I circled like 3 answers and didnt get to transfer them to my answer sheet =[ </p>
<p>So I ended up leaving the last 5 blank. Oh well, at least I answered all the other questions. I’m still hoping for a 4/5. I really wish I could’ve answered the last few questions though. But 5 questions wont affect it THAT much right?? Unless I’m borderline…</p>