<p>I got a frikkin' 7/12 on my last SAT writing for the essay. That's exactly half the possible score. </p>
<p>Here's the prompt:
Is compromise always the best way to resolve a conflict? Plan and write an essay in which you develop your point of view on this issue. Support your position with reasoning and examples taken from your reading, studies, experience, or observations. </p>
<p>My essay (not long enough, I guess):</p>
<pre><code> The fundamental nature of compromise is that both individuals must lose something in order to gain harmony and reach an accord. However, to state that compromise is "always" the most eminent method of resolving conflict would be myopic. Given the intrinsic definition of compromise stated before, the crux of the issue between compromise and conflict is this: Are the ideals, principles, or temporal matters that comprise the subject of the conflict more valued than harmony?
Peace is a sublime concept and state of being; halcyon bonds between individuals form the foundations of mutual cooperation, friendship, empathy, and countless other magnanimous ideals that form the bright side of human nature. The antithesis of harmony, conflict, implies enmity, destruction, and senseless pain. Surely, then, accord should be the lofiest goal over all other things?
Not so. The very soul of a human is manifested through his ideals and beliefs. To lose those things through "compromise" is to give up a central aspect of one's identity; to any individual, self identity should be a more transcendent concept than temporary peace.
Therefore, in the argument between resolve and conflict, the judgement lies ultimately in individual values. One must weigh the value of peace against the price of the compromise, and thereby make his decision.
</code></pre>
<p>I just don't understand why half the nation (the same half that scores an average of 500 on all 3 sections) apparently wrote a better essay than I did.... I thought I was a good writer?? Apparently not.</p>
<p>evidently you suck at math too, because 7 is definitely not half of 12. </p>
<p>Anyways, your essay is not all that great. Your diction is pretty good, but you do not address the prompt at all. You talked about compromise, but didn’t say anything meaningful about it in relation to the prompt. And it is also very short and underdeveloped.</p>
<p>vocab and sentence structure- 6/6
takes a stance and answers question clearly- 3/6
develops thesis- 3/6</p>
<p>i think the people that were grading it probably thought you thought you could get by with a short essay if it had a lot of “sat words” in it. i kind of understand your point…dont compromise if you feel strongly about something just to make peace…id give it a 4 because you’re obviously a fine writer and had an interesting point, you just didn’t develop enough, which in my mind is okay because 20 minutes is crazy for an essay…and some people just take longer on things (especially when they write wordy sentences like you).</p>
<p>Bigb14, I hate to break it to you, but in this case 7 is half of 12. A score of 0 or 1 isn’t possible if he wrote a legible essay in English, so of the remaining eleven choices, seven is the sixth (middle) one.</p>
<p>mowmow721, I think the main issue is that you didn’t incorporate any examples. You basically just talked about human nature and restated the prompt; that essay could be used for myriad topics without much significant editing. What I’m getting at is that it appears to me that you spent your whole 25 minutes thinking up snazzy words to use in an essay you wrote before.</p>
<p>However, it seems to me that you’re a pretty good writer, because you managed to make the language flow despite using many words at the upper limit of the majority of the population’s vocabulary. If you could maintain that excellence while putting in a few historical examples and maybe a personal example, you could easily get a score of 11 or 12.</p>
<p>You definitely are a great writer, but try writing a bit more in the time limit and adding some personal experience. Remember to answer the prompt as directly as you can…</p>
<p>A good writer considers the audience they are writing to. Remember they speed read through the essays so it probably didn’t make that much sense to them and looked like you just shoved some big words in order to sound smart. Personally I think it was pretty good but I’m not the one grading.</p>
<p>mowmow721, your essay strikes me as Emersonian. It addresses the question head-on, in a philosophical, abstract manner. It is interesting, well-argued, and sensible.</p>
<p>Unfortunately, it is not what the people grading the writing at CB want–not at all. After the W section was added to the SAT I, an MIT professor conducted a study of the published essays and their scores. He found an extremely high correlation between the length and the score. In response, CB claimed that a short essay can receive a high score, but I think that there must be something quite unusual about the essay, in that case. There is a lot of advice on this forum to the effect that you should aim to fill the entire space available (2 pages). As long as you have a good command of English–which you obviously do–that is good advice.</p>
<p>As a general comment on CB questions and desired answers: The question is usually very broad. It appears to require the kind of philosophical reasoning that you gave in response. What CB seems to want, however–empirically speaking–is a discussion of several specific examples that speak to the topic in some way, which may be comparatively narrow. Two or three examples are viewed as supporting your assertion better than abstract analysis–even if the examples are drawn from literature and therefore technically “prove” nothing.</p>
<p>When the writing test was first added to the SAT I, the New York Times had an article about it, written by a recently trained essay grader. It was illuminating. You might be able to find a link to the NYT article online. I’ve seen another article that refers to the “demented weasel school of writing,” in connection with the SAT W essays.</p>
<p>The SAT Writing is the most worthless section.</p>
<p>Use correct spelling, grammar, and toss in a few vocab words and historical examples, and you’re golden.</p>
<p>Abstract logic - while it may technically work just fine - is a no-no. </p>
<p>Also, it sounds like you were just shoehorning vocab words in there. I dunno about the rest, but it sounded kind of awkward to me. Don’t go overboard with vocabulary.</p>
<p>Like some of the others have said, a lengthy essay with proper writing conventions and several factual references is guaranteed to receive a good score. Shorter essays, on the other hand, almost never receive high scores.</p>
<p>They gave you a 7 for that? That’s a point too many. Your paragraphs are at best one liners, and they’re obviously underdeveloped. It’s also too informal and unnecessarily grandiloquent- you’re not writing for the daily news.</p>
<p>Reasons:
-You don’t have a thesis at all. Your introductory paragraph serves no purpose other than to restate the prompt, which is not necessary.
-Your vocabulary seems to have been thrown in there simply to sound impressive; however the readers will always see through this. Exquisite vocabulary should only be used when necessary.
-You have several grammar mistakes such as incorrect comma use and incomplete sentences.
-Your essay is too informal; don’t use rhetorical questions.
-You need to actually use examples to prove your thesis, whether they be personal or historical (and this is pretty hard to do if you don’t have a thesis).
-And yes, it is too short. A 200 word essay will never make a 12.</p>