<p>How can I make that jump from a 10 to a 12? </p>
<p>I have the basics covered (grammar, word choice, sentence structure, flow of ideas, filling both pages), but there are definitely areas to improve. For those who have consistently scored well on the SAT essay, how have you accomplished that? </p>
<p>I've read Academic Hacker's guide here on CC, but I think I have most of that covered. Please provide any advice or observations, thank you!</p>
<p>Bump, please! If you have any experience with this area, please offer some insight 
I’d really like to improve my SAT essay skills between now and the January administration.</p>
<p>I think I may create a thread for people to post the images/text of 10, 11, and 12 essays once the December essays are posted. </p>
<p>The biggest key to making the jump, IMO, is force feeding a strong connection between your examples and your thesis. I did this constantly in my December essay and got a 12, which I plan on posting on CC once it’s available.</p>
<p>^ yeah i think the most important thing is to have a strong example.</p>
<p>my nov and oct essays were both one-example 2 pagers, and the only difference between them was how well my example connected to the thesis. it was the difference between a 10 and 12</p>
<p>Thanks for helping me out!</p>
<p>Can you clarify how to make that “connection”? More specifically, how can you plug an argument so that it connects more effectively to your thesis?</p>
<p>Let’s say you’re using automobiles as an example of how a new invention is making our lives worse. You need to mention things like global warming, traffic jams, destruction of nature, etc. and explicitly mention how these things negatively affect our lives.</p>
<p>I guess the difference between a 10 and a 12 essay would be that the examples in a 12 essay cannot look forced to fit the point you are trying to make in your thesis. For example, in the recent SAT, even though I filled up both pages, my examples weren’t really the best examples that one could use to elucidate the point I was trying to make. I had memorized a few examples and simply regurgitated them during the test. If not, I would never be able to write fast enough to fill up both 2 pages. So as expected, I got a 10 for my essay but it was enough for a 780 and I’m very happy with my score considering I was never any good at writing (:</p>