<p>I got an 8 on my essay from the January 2010 SAT. Compared to my other scores (CR 800, M 770, WR mp 78), it stands as a black demerit on my report. Basically, I'm trying to understand what I did to deserve it and how I can improve myself. One thing my mom suggested was that my hand writing was bad, and after carefully reading through it, I realized that I made several small typos and misspellings. How can I improve? Is it worth it to trade depth and length for a neat typo-free paper? Any help is greatly appreciated as I would really like to understand the flaws in my writing better.</p>
<p>My essay and prompt are below,</p>
<p>Prompt: Are people entitled to have their own opinions? Yes and No. People can have virtually any opinion, no matter how illogical, uniformed, or foolish. But this does not mean that they are entitled to have their uninformed opinions taken seriously or that their opinions should be considered as valuable as informed opinions. Opinions are valuable only when they are backed up by thorough knowledge of the subject. Adapted from John Chaffee, The Thinkers Way</p>
<p>Assignment: Should all peoples opinions be valued equally, or should only informed opinions be taken seriously? Plan and write an essay in which you develop your point of view on this issue. Support your position with reasoning and examples taken from you reading, studies, experience, or observation.</p>
<p>When I was younger, I convinced myself another world lay just beyond my reach; it was the mirror world. The only reason I couldnt reach it, I was sure, was because a guard identical to me stopped my hand each time I hazarded to push it through. Did I win a Nobel Prize for my astounding discovery? Did the New York Times generously laud my new theory? As you might guess, the responses I recieved were usually chortling and grinning at the imagination of a child. They had a reason to do as much too because I had no experiments to back up my hypothesis. Despite how extreme my example might seem, it offers a powerful truth. Informed opinions should be valued more than imaginative opinions as they represent profoundly more research, by definition, and are more likely to be closer to the truth.</p>
<p>It took Michealangelo four years to paint the Sistine Chapel, and it is generally held in higer esteem than the doodle I drew on the margin of my math test as it represently more continual efforts to reach perfection. Likewise, an informed opinion means that its carrier has done research on the subject in direct contrast to an uninformed opinion. Research represents a greater understanding of the topic and shows that fact support it. </p>
<p>Like great painters, research scientists spend many years working on their projects and building from previous knowledge. This process allows us to get closer to the truth. From Democritus who declared a piece of clay he could not cut as an atom, we now know substantially about its size and composition. Thats not to say there isnt beginners luck, but most great discoveries and, likewise, great opinions are formed through endless research and all of them are supported by fact.</p>
<p>Informed opinions reflect more of the truths they are trying to reveal and are the products of extensive research. This makes them more valuable than the ideas of a creative six-year old who declares there exists another world beyond the bathroom mirror. Despite a few lucky guesses, most great opinions are informed ones and they should be taken with more credence.</p>