<p>out of the 8 2400's reported on this site, interestingly only 1 got a 12 on the essay. My question is, WHAT THE HELL IS COLLEGEBOARD LOOKING FOR. How can geniuses like silverturtle not get a 12.
By the way I epic failed the January SAT (2040) and got a 9 on the essay. I wrote 3 relevant, clear examples but somehow got a 4 by one grader.
Also how can collegeboard validate odd essay scores? One grader gave me a 5, the other a 4. How is that possible?</p>
<p>I got an 800 on writing, 2340 composite with a 9 essay…</p>
<p>The essay doesn’t make the difference.</p>
<p>^^^ 75 mc 12 essay yields 800. you must have got 80mc. Your score supports my question. If you’re smart enough to get a 2340, how the hell could cb give you a 9 on the essay. Just what specifically are they looking for???</p>
<p>^ I got a 12 essay. All you do is make a clear statement–doesn’t have to be original, spectacular,great, etc. They just wanna know you can use logical examples and write a persuasive/coherent essay.</p>
<p>I used Scarlet Letter & Great Gatsby. Clear organization, lots of repetition (lol), USE UP THE WHOLE SPACE (–>easiest way to a high essay score), so-so vocab. Good intro, one sentence concl (lol).</p>
<p>That’s it. use up the space and make a good persuasive argument.</p>
<p>Essay grading is a subjective practice and is the one part of the test that I am not particularly fond of (although I did very well on my SAT essays). It is truly not what the College Board is specifically looking for, but how impressionable the essay is to the individual evaluating it. There was some minor discussion on this over in the results thread.</p>
<p>smart enough for a 2270 with a 12 essay… haha i just used two literary examples and didnt even have a conclusion. u just have to be a good writer</p>
<p>My brother got a 2190 w/ a 6 essay. That’s right, a 6. He also got the best score on the admissions test for the most well-known university in Costa Rica out of no less than 30,000 people. He was in some of the national newspapers and television channels. However, he got a 6 on the SAT essay. Go figure.</p>
<p>when I get access to my actual essay, am I allowed to post it in its entirety on cc? I just want some feedback</p>
<p>Got 800 Writing, 12 essay…used Harry Potter, referenced Facebook, and made up psychology studies…its all about insight and writing something that looks good on a fast read through.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Others have done so in the past; it is not against any rule to do so.</p>
<p>ok I definitely will post it. I did write it very simplistically with no style/advanced vocab whatsoever. I need 2150 by march.</p>
<p>The SAT essay isn’t a place to write creatively. I have a friend who writes poems and gets them published and he received a 9 on his essay. I’m talking about a crazy writer. The SAT essay is very structured. The people reading them have about 1 minute to read it. I also read somewhere that you get graded based on how you present your argument and not necessarily what you use to present it. You must have read about people on these forums saying that they made up personal examples and got 12’s. </p>
<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/sat-preparation/645763-how-write-12-essay-just-10-days.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/sat-preparation/645763-how-write-12-essay-just-10-days.html</a></p>
<p>read this also.
<a href=“http://www.nytimes.com/2005/05/04/education/04education.html[/url]”>http://www.nytimes.com/2005/05/04/education/04education.html</a></p>
<p>I can sleepwalk my way to a 10 essay.
No preparation for me here.
Took the December and Janauary exam… both 10s.</p>
<p>
I wish I could do that.
I’ve taken the SAT 5 times [no I’m not obsessive, I just started freshman year] and each time I’ve received a 9. every single time, I tried something different to get a double digit essay score. and it’s never. ever. worked. :[
Same thing on the ACT…9’s every time. and I still haven’t figured out what my writing’s missing.</p>
<p>you’ve taken the SAT 5 times? and the ACT? someone needs a life…</p>
<p>^ Saying that he doesn’t need to improve further when he has the chances to score higher than previous times?</p>
<p>I know someone who had to take it 4x to get a 2100.
And there’s few of the kids out there 5x to get 2100.</p>
<p>i got a 12 essay but 730 in writing.</p>
<p>how much did i bomb in the MC to get that? lol</p>
<p>Yes I’m confused as well… I thought my essay was great, used 2 examples, French revolution and “a separate peace” by john knowles. I’m curious as to why I got a 10, and not an 11 or 12. Filled 1.75 pages, was clear and concise… maybe a grammar error or 2… wonder what dropped me.</p>
<p>I hate the formula of using two scholarly examples to prove a super weighty thesis. It feels completely artificial. And I feel that if your essay feels artificial and stereotypical, without showing any deep analysis, feeling, or creativity, you’re going to get a 9. : </p>
<p>That’s why I like to go with personal and historical anecdotes in my essay. They’re so easy to write, they’re sentimental, and they really carry a heartfelt, personal understanding if you write them correctly. This last essay, I wrote about my friend being bullied because he said that his grandfather, a Japanese kamikaze pilot, was a hero. I also wrote about Bill Clinton getting accustomed to the White House’s policies.</p>
<p>Sprinkling some vocabulary in there, writing somewhat fluidly and interestingly, I got an 11.</p>
<p>What collegeboard looks for is right in their rubric: Grammatical correctness, an interesting vocabulary, interesting well-suited examples, organization, and INSIGHT. And that last part is what sets apart a 5 from a 6.</p>
<p>By the way, thanks for the compliment in the title, but I’m not a genius. 
I’m just a slightly intelligent human being who worked very hard for his 2400.</p>
<p>I agree with Kean, especially on the INSIGHT part. My 12 essay wasn’t an extraordinary composition loaded with metaphors, abstract language, and deep analysis of complex examples. It was a relatively straightforward argument that pulled key bits of insight from simple, down-to-earth, and relatable examples. My essay prompt (the December 2009 one) concerned friendship, so, being the avid Harry Potter fan I am, and knowing that friendship is a key theme in the series, I started writing about how the prevalence of the necessity and importance of friendship in the series mirrors the world around the author herself, Rowling. I found it much easier to write about something I was passionate about, it definitely helped with the inisght aspect that is so crucial.</p>