Evaluate this SAT essay: It's for your own good!

Test Preparation SAT Preparation
1

<p>Can I get a mark out of 12?</p>

<p>Topic: Is knowing facts as important as understanding ideas and concepts?</p>

<p>Facts are an indispensable part of knowledge; they must work together with ideas and concepts to be useful. Hence, facts are as important as an understanding of concepts in a world that requires applicable knowledge, or knowledge that draws upon facts and ideas to form actions. Economics, the study of the relationships between firms and consumers, rocket science emphasizes the importance of facts as well as ideas and concepts.</p>

<p>Economics requires theoretical background or abstract ideas to be understood. For example, the relationship between buyers and sellers in a market is represented as the intersection of two lines on a graph. Likewise, the relationships between investments, trade and technology is abstracted as a series of flows between ‘sectors’ that represent parts of society. However, these concepts are useless when applied to real world situations without concrete facts. How effective would an investment bank be without knowing the rate or return on a Treasury bond or the growth rate of the US economy? Obviously, the bank cannot make good decisions without facts and with just concepts to rely upon. Nevertheless, ideas and concepts form a framework so facts can be applied.</p>

<p>Similarly, in the field of rocket science, the laws of gravity and Newton’s laws of motion are meaningless to a physicist if he does not know hard facts such as the distance to the Moon or the mass of the rocket fuel. Without these facts, a physicist cannot tell how much fuel to mix or how far the rocket will travel. However, an understanding of concepts such as time dilation and gravity is required to put the facts in perspective and context and to show how these facts should be applied. </p>

<p>Since the fields of economics and rocket science require the interdependence of facts and concepts, it is clear that facts are just as important as an understanding of the theoretical because they are both required to form effective knowledge that can be applied to the world.</p>

2

<p>It’s a little convoluted with all the vocabulary; I’m having to read particular sentences twice over just to grasp the meaning. </p>

<p>I think the scorers are looking for essays that are easier to understand. The study of econ may be esoteric to the audience; you should choose something that is more commonplace, perhaps.</p>

<p>I got a 10 essay on the SATs when I made up a personal experience that involved a classmate starting a shoe trend. That’s not very sophisticated, but it was simple and easily understood. </p>

<p>Thus, I might give this an 8 or a 10. Don’t fret about trying to sound “smarter” and just write about something simple. You’ll only have 25 minutes anyway.</p>