<p>-Intro
-One example from personal experience
-Conclusion</p>
<p>I've seen it done before. In the "Official Study Guide for the SAT" by Collegeboard (1st Edition) they showed an exemplary essay of 6 that did this. The prompt asked: "Is there always another point of view?" All the writer did was recall an experience she had during May, AP Test season, when her teacher told the writer that she saw her perfectionism as a vice rather than how the writer saw it, as a virtue. The essay was comprised of only three paragraphs. It had a casual tone, decent flow, and basic to moderate vocabulary. In other words, it didn't seem like much (the essay sounded childish to me, since it didn't cite any historical or literary examples), yet it still earned a 6, and the place of honor as being the first essay that the book used to show readers what a 6 should be like.</p>
<p>So what's the deal? Is this possible or is Collegeboard giving us a false lead? If it is possible, then why is everyone stressing about preparing examples beforehand when you can just make up one, as easily as this writer could have done, on the spot and still get a 6?</p>
<p>That writer may have been a really good writer, even under pressure, whereas the majority of people probably are not. So it’s easier to follow a template and get a guarantee of a higher score.</p>
<p>Unlikely. College Board is just trying to deceive the test takers into a false sense of a good score. </p>
<p>I generally follow </p>
<p>-Introduction (two sentences)
-Support point #1 (literary, historical, personal)
-Support point #2 (one of the above that hasn’t been used)
-Conclusion (two sentences)</p>
<p>Simple, and seems to auto-5 me every time. I’m not worried about not getting that 6.</p>
<p>I can’t think of any literary or historical examples on the spot though. How do you, yourself do it?</p>
<p>Btw, I forgot the mention, I actually followed the method above when I took the test once. I got a 5 and a 4, so a total of 9 for my essay score. I felt the essay I wrote was bad though, because of my word choice and flow of language. What’s bugging me is that I’m not sure if it was that that lowered my score, or if it was indeed the fact that I only used one example that lowered my score. My friend used two examples, one of them I remember being historical, and he got an 8, a score lower than mine. It’s very peculiar.</p>
<p>I already have. I’m probably going to follow it.</p>
<p>But still, everyone on that post said that the strategy only guarantees them a 10, which I almost did by not even following it.</p>
<p>And oh yeah, sorry I didn’t reply to your post earlier schoolisfun. She in fact wasn’t a good writer. That was my point. She was terrible. Like I said, her writing sounded childish and some of the words it seemed like she just shoehorned in for the sake of having them because they would make her sound sophisticated.</p>
<p>Chenryy, I disagree with your assessment of the said essay. It is indeed a 6/6, though I’d consider it more worthy of an 11/12.</p>
<p>Just off the top of my head:
The writer used an extended personal example that demonstrated strong critical thinking by showing two differing views on her dedication to study or whatnot. The tone she affected was personal and engaging, her use of vocabulary was appropriate to form and context, and her sentence structures were pleasing to read. </p>
<p>Random thought: I am curious as to why so many people pre-prepare historical/literary examples in they hope they will be able to mould them into the essay prompt. Invariably, almost every mediocre essay will contain a reference to something along the lines of WWI, Hitler, MLK, To Kill a Mockingbird, Cather in the Rye, etc, and invariably most of these references will be vague and ineffective as a name-drop. </p>
<p>
I’ve always felt that using a personal/contemporary example combined with a non-mainstream literary/historical/academic example is the way to go. Using personal/contemporary examples allow you to draw in the marker with emotive language and relevance to current society, while the literary/historical/academic example should serve to show the transcendent nature of your thesis.</p>
<p>Thanks Bak0rz! If you honestly think that that essay deserved a 12 or an 11, then I’m confident in emulating it. I was just trying to make sure other people agreed with the score Collegeboard gave the writer, because the essay was not at all like the ones that are praised by many around these forums (the ones that include two to three historical/literary examples, are based off a pre-prepared template, etc.).</p>
<p>So you think I should just practice writing like she did? Using engaging, personal language, appropriate vocab, but use just one example taken from personal experience? Now that you said that you really think her essay was good, I feel that her method is what works best for me. I have many personal experiences that relate to the prompts, I love writing about my own life, and even if I can’t think of an example, I can always make up one.</p>