<p>I have a feeling (a strong feeling -_-) that essay graders tend to look down on personal examples... I mean, since they know you can be making it up, they can't value it as much as a solid literary example do they?</p>
<p>I took the SATs a while ago and wrote a rather heartfelt (I thought) essay that was actually true (believe it or not) from my own experience. My other two examples were literary/media (I forgot which). I'm a consistent 11~12 essay writer, but they slapped an 8 on me, which kind of shocked me (and brought down my writing score quite a bit). </p>
<p>I'm a very strong writer, and I think raising that essay grade will bring my score up to where I want it to be. That's why I wanted to know if personal experiences should be used liberally -_-</p>
<p>Thanks in advance!</p>