<p>I have recently taken the SAT and scored very badly. I would like to retake it in January.
I am presenting here my essay and would be very grateful if you could give me some tips in how to improve my writing.
I am from Portugal so I certainly do not have the fluency you all have. Still, I would like you to try to address particular things like being more assertive or using better examples, that I can practice (for the latter I could compile some general examples, for instance), rather than criticizing my vocabulary.</p>
<p>Either way, I am receptive to all feedback.
Thank you very much.</p>
<p>
[quote]
Think carefully about the issue presented in the following excerpt and the assignment:</p>
<p>Too often, people--especially young people, who may not have settled on a firm identity yet--try to imitate others, because it is easier to do so than to develop their own unique individuality. They focus on trying to imitate what seems attractive or desirable in others. But imitating others is never a good idea: when we imitate others, all we do is harm our ability to develop our own individuality.</p>
<p>ASSIGNMENT: Is imitation of others always harmful? 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 your reading, studies, experience, or observations.</p>
<p>I think that your problem is that you didn’t use exact examples. I got 9 on this essay on the test, by developing three body paragraphs (i expect to get 10-11 on the December sat) First from history- Rosa parks , second from literature- my country’s famous novel and my personal experience. you must have strong introduction where you will support one side, agree or disagree and then kind of transition to the body paragraphs as " This concept is illustrated through …" After that comes first example which proves your opinion, then second and third. examples should be from history, literature, movies, music, technology and etc. The last one is conclusion which is really important because it is last impression of a reader about your essay. It’s beneficial to end an essay with quote of famous person. In addition length is also very important so try too fill both pages. Oh and “How to write a killer essay” is really useful book maybe you should buy it. Good luck!</p>
<p>Thank you very much MiaPierce for your suggestions. I am studying lots of examples now to be able to enrich my essay.</p>
<p>One more thing. Do you consider that my language and the mistakes I commit may be decreasing my grade? I am not native, and although I am fluent, I often make some mistakes. Should I focus this area to improve my grade?</p>
<p>Your language errors probably are bringing down your score. The problem with that is that there are so many thousands of ways that a sentence can go bad. You can’t possibly study all of them. What you can do is read read read. Just read and get used to the sound of written English.</p>
<p>There is one consistent mistake you make, however, that can be easily fixed. The words “it” and “its” must never refer to a person or people. Instead of writing</p>
<p>Everyone lives according to its principles. </p>
<p>write</p>
<p>Each person lives according to his or her principles.</p>
