<p>hahah mine was so stupid- i talked about how washington's farewell address served as a precedent for foreign neutrality (and how his policies aided in protecting national industries), and how adams and jefferson "remembered" this in their terms (and added on.. which isn't really true, seeing how jefferson got us involved with 1812, right?). i also mentioned huck finn, but that was THE worst paragraph ive ever written (wow, like 4 sentences compared to my HUGE other paragraph). all in all, it was good, considering i struggled with time a LOT on the ap lang essays this year</p>
<p>Thats a pretty good topic actually--better than mine--! :)</p>
<p>This length thing is such bullsh******it (excuse my language). People have to realize that the scoring guide is merely a means of trying to objectively break down what a "good" essay is. These graders, mostly English teachers who have seen thousands of essays already, know what a good essay is. They aren't going to be easily fooled by someone who tries to ramble off a weak, incoherent essay. The idea that the essay readers separate short essays from long essays to determine score ranges is absolutely ridiculous. I don't mean to call you out specifically, Lightheaded, but this idea of an essay length to high score correlation has been perpetuated too far. It's unfortunate that the College Board has compounded the issue with their "official</a> word." Kilini, it really surprises me that you'd question whether it's "quantity or quality" that matters. Do you really believe that a well written, cohesive, 1 page essay wil score lower than a sloppy, rambling, 2 page essay?</p>
<p>I'm not saying that long essays necessarily score badly or that short essays score well. If you notice a trend in scores when it comes to essay length, it's not exclusively because of length. Rather, it's because quality essays are generally better developed, and effectively longer. It's not impossible for a good essay to be compressed into half a page or less, but it requires a strong writer to do so. Weak essays, on the other hand are more variable in length; their length can range from one or two brief paragraphs to two full pages, rife with poorly chosen examples and wandering sentences. It's not hard to see why one can't make a definite conclusions on SAT essay length, but I don't think there is, or should be, any dissension when it comes to the "quantity vs. quality" argument.</p>
<p>Hey, I've asked this in another thread but I'd appreciate other opinions. </p>
<p>I used an example that involved Mary Shelley's Frankenstein. But I was very stupid and used the facts as they're portrayed in Kenneth Branagh's movie instead of the way they were portrayed in the Romantic novel. (E.g. Victor's mother died of disease, not in childbirth. Waldman does not die in the novel, but he does in the film.)</p>
<p>How would graders treat this?</p>
<p>Thanks in advance for any insight.</p>
<p>I completely agree with syn</p>
<p>and shame on those who trivialize the holocaust in an SAT essay</p>
<p>I basically started the essay something like "Often, to remember is to suffer"... in this context I used Crime and Punishment (Raskolnikov's murder and how he tries to forget what he's done, but then he comes to terms with his "memories" and is able to succeed in the future) and Brave New World (its a dystopia where everyone forgets their memories in soma and are mindless drones... they hurt each other and keep on doing it because they are unable to learn from their memories... therefore they cannot succeed morally..) and finally a quick blurb on my personal experiences- I had no space and was mostly general. I only had space for one sentence for the conclusion, and I used carrots to finish the sentence.</p>
<p>Just a note:</p>
<p>The SAT essay is meant to assess how well you can specifically respond to a prompt and develop the first draft of an essay within 25 minutes. This piece of writing is graded under what is known as "holistic scoring." Meaning that the work is read as a whole and not for its parts. If you misuse a fact even a major one that everyone knows (i.e. the dates of the Revolutionary War) you will not be penalized.</p>
<p>Jon</p>
<p>I opened with that silly "Fool me once, shame on you... Fool me twice, shame on me" quote, and used Frankenstein and the Bush doctrine as examples.</p>
<p>For some reason, I was writing quite small (still very legible, but small) and so my essay was of normal length word-wise, but it didn't look long. Also--I was in the middle of my last sentence at the buzzer. This can't possibly matter THAT much , can it?</p>
<p>i used virginia woolf's novel orlando and said how orlando learned from her past, oppressive conformity and changed for the better in the 20th century (she traveled from the past into each new century). i memorized about 5 stories off sparknotes with universal themes i could use and got lucky that this fit, and woolf is a female author that female english teachers/graders will appreciate. also, i used the founding fathers learning from the memories of past errors of British rule and the Articles of the Confederation when adopting our Constitutuion---whcih has taken us into a new millenium. My last sentence stated our knack for memorization and how we vies memory loss as a disease. 10? (4 paragraphs. 1.3333 pages.</p>
<p>i also made up a quote from MLK Jr. to begin the essay.</p>
<p>I used Death of a Salesman, Herbert Hoover, and the Terry Shaivo case!</p>
<p>
[quote]
seeing how jefferson got us involved with 1812, right?
[/quote]
</p>
<p>......no. Madison did. Hence the name "Mr. Madison's War."</p>
<p>I used only one personal example... about me not making lax team the first time and then using htat memory to get in next year... I wrote too slowly to get to another sample and only got 1 page and 1/4 of the second page filled... is that bad? Cuz 1) it's not that long and 2.) it's a pretty crappy example that makes me look stupid because I couldn't think of anything else...</p>
<p>instead of trivializing holocaust, i actually used that as my example to support how we can learn from the memories of past and suceed in present. i wrote about Elie Weisel's Night, and Nelson Mandela's memories through his autobiography (which i knew existed but did not read). i only used two examples because i generally find it easier for me to write a better essay with two solid example, and i don't have time to think for 3rd one. i think my example is decent, right?</p>