My handwriting has been called absolutely atrocious (by others and by myself), especially when I write fast. I’m in AP Lang, US and Bio and my greatest fear right now is that my answers will be unscorable.
Will the readers understand if you have poor handwriting, as they read thousands of exams, or will they mark it unscorable? My main issue that I write so fast that I sometimes leave out letters (not on purpose, I know how to spell) and don’t make them defined (ex. “the” will look like “te”) and that my handwriting is almost half-script and half-print, where it’s not script but that my letters all connect. Should I take time to fix it, and try to perfect script or perfect neater print?
I think if a reader encounters an essay they cannot decipher, and if they consult a few other readers and they can’t read it as well, the essay receives a score of 0. It’s in your best interest to write neater; print is easier to perfect, so I’d say go with that. I got nervous that my script would be illegible for AP exams and switched to print, and after a week or so of working on my handwriting it got to the point of being readable.
Also, don’t leave out letters too much. That’s probably a grammar mistake that graders can dock points off for.
If your poor handwriting is caused by a disability such as dysgraphia, you should be able to get [url=<a href=“https://www.collegeboard.org/students-with-disabilities/documentation-guidelines/computer-accommodation%5Daccommodations%5B/url”>https://www.collegeboard.org/students-with-disabilities/documentation-guidelines/computer-accommodation]accommodations[/url] through the College Board. Absent that, all you can do is practice writing more neatly.