<p>I'd really appreciate it if someone could grade & comment on this practice essay I wrote. Be as critical as needed!
I've taken the SAT once before in December 2012, and I got an 8 in the essay. This is my first SAT essay written in around four months! I'm looking for ways to raise that score. :)</p>
<p>Here's the prompt:
"There is, of course, no legitimate branch of science that enables us to predict the future accurately. Yet the degree of change in the world is so overwhelming and so promising that the future, I believe, is far brighter than anyone has contemplated since the end of the Second World War."
Adapted from Allan E. Goodman, A Brief History of the Future: The United States in a Changing World Order</p>
<p>Is the world changing for the better? Plan and write an essay.......</p>
<p>My essay:</p>
<p>As Alan E. Goodman stated, it is impossible to predict the future accurately, as no such "legitimate branch of science" exists. Yet, in my opinion, we can take into account current events and make educated guesses consequently. In this way, I have come to believe that the world is not changing for the better.</p>
<p>Today, we live in a militaristic world tinged with much bloodshed and tears. Countries all around the world possess nuclear weapons which are capable of wiping out huge numbers of people. This is what technological developments have given us. When governments have the power to wipe out that many people, how can I say that the world is changing for the better?</p>
<p>Society has evolved into one which prompts teenage girls to regurgitate their food or not eat at all. My best friend has anorexia nervosa. I have seen, first-hand, how the pressure of society and its projections of beauty have pushed a teenage girl to the brink. My friend stopped eating, would not stop exercising, and completely distorted her self-image. She had no self-respect left. In general, the spike in eating disorders has been a recent one, which implies that the change in the world as of late is a negative one.</p>
<p>Therefore, after reflecting on the world around me and my own experiences, I do believe that the world is not changing for the better.</p>