<p>Hi,</p>
<p>So my June SAT came out and I was really surprised; it was much better than anything I would have expected, and I was really pleased with it. However, my essay score was 8 again (I took one in Jan), and I wondered why this is so. I actually only spent some time trying to improve my essay between Jan and June.</p>
<p>Well, I'm not going to take it again cos apparently my dream college doesn't consider Writing that much. However, I'm worried that if I couldn't even write a proper essay now, I wouldn't be able to handle the work I'm going to face in college. Is this true? And if it is, is it necessary to be able to write a brilliant essay within strict time constraints, as compared to simply being able to write brilliant essays without time limits in college for an engineering major?</p>
<p>I'm not overly worried about my SAT scores, but I just want to know if I'm actually lacking in writing skills. So, does the SAT essay score actually reflect your essay-writing skills accurately?</p>
<p>Thanks :)</p>
<p>The SAT certainly does NOT reflect your writing skills!
Has anyone told Emerson, Thoreau, Shakespeare, Nathaniel Hawthorne, J.D. Salinger, Shelley, Mark Twain, George Orwell, Ayn Rand or Stienbeck and told them they had one week to write a play, novel, or collection of poems!?
The answer is no!
Trying to write an essay in 25 minutes is simply ridiculous. I’m a really good writer, but only if given time. I spent days writing an essay that I got a 100 on in class (in AP Lang, and my teacher is a really tough grader… Only 2 others got 100 out of all her classes on that assignment). I did not write that essay in 25 minutes. Honestly the AP Language test was easier just because you had a more time for each essay (not that you had that much time in the first place).
Trust me my writing score is my worst on the SAT (600) and ACT (26). CR and math are almost the same (710 and 720). When I took the SAT a second time I actually did worse on the writing by ten points, and I got an 8 on the essay both times as well. =/</p>
<p>@collegesleuth227</p>
<p>omg we sound exactly the same! I’m an excellent writer, and I even generally finish AP lang essays with a bit of time, but my SAT essay was a structural mess. Because I had time for a killer intro (and nobody told me not to write one) and nothing else. So, straight 9s on AP lang and an 8 on the SAT.</p>
<p>OP: don’t worry about it. At all.</p>