Help me grade this SAT essay please?

<p>Hey guys I never understand exactly how one should grade oneself's essay, since I'm usually more lenient with myself...But I would really like to know how I'm doing on these essays. I know it's probably tedious to read, but please please please help me! Especially those who took the SATs, thanks!</p>

<p>ASSIGNMENT</p>

<p>Many persons believe that to move up the ladder of success and achievement, they must forget the past, repress it, and relinquish it. But others have just the opposite view. They see old memories as a chance to reckon with the past and integrate past and present.</p>

<p>—Adapted from Sara Lawrence-Lightfoot, I've Known Rivers: Lives of Loss and Liberation</p>

<p>Assignment: Do memories hinder or help people in their effort to learn from the past and succeed in the present? 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>ESSAY
(This is the original, so it includes grammar and spelling/diction mistakes).</p>

<p>If one doesn't learn from his/her mistakes, what's the point in making them? Learning from what we've done wrong in the past enables us to succeed in the present and the future. Without making mistakes, we could never improve upon ourselves, and the world would still be what it was 500,000 years ago when humans first emerged in Africa.</p>

<p>I have taken a leadership role at my high school since I had been a freshman. Naturally many mistakes were made. One time I forgot to get the correct reimbursements, and the other time I sent the right e-mails to the wrong group of people. Simply put, I've made many mistakes over the past two years, big or small. Having learned from my past mistakes, during my third year in Class Office, I have been meticulous about every detail, and made sure that nothing was going amiss. As I had imagined, junior prom and the order of class rings went as smoothing as I could hope. If I had not made the mistakes two years ago, it is very likely that I would have now, and if that were the case, many people would be unhappy.</p>

<p>One can also learn from other people's mistakes. After the Chinese Civil War, China, having seen what had happened to the former Soviet Union when the policy of glasnost (political freedom), Chairman Mao Zedong had strictly inforced Communist values. And even when Deng Xiaoping became the Supreme Leader, there were only economic reforms, and no political reforms. Because China had learned from Soviet Union's mistakes, it did not break part like what happened to the former Soviet Union.</p>

<p>The entire scientic method that has improved the world so much is more or less based on trial and error. Scientists would propose a hypothesis, test it, and if the hypothesis was wrong they would analyze why it was incorrect and base don what they learn from the erroreous trial, they would begin testing a new hypothesis. This is how airplanes were invented, same as automobiles, computers, and any other modern technology. Even simple things like paper and iron were discovered in this way. If one method is incorrect but we don't learn from it, there would never be any advancement.</p>

<p>When a baby gets burned from touching the grill, he would know better next time and stay away from it. When a geometry student does a problem incorrectly, she would still get the next similar problem wrong unless she learns from the last one. If a country inforces an unsuccessful policy, hopefully it would annual the policy so that the country does not burst into chaos. Remembering what had been done in the past ensures success in the present and future. If one knows that a particular action's wrong, it is unlikely that he/she would make the same mistake again.</p>

<hr>

<p>wow i cannot spell "enforce"
and i realize that there is a lack of creativity with vocabulary, which is a shame, because I usually use a variety of words even in every day conversation.
i had no idea about the policy of glasnost....and i realize that i trailed off after explaining what it was...oops
and yeah..it basically sounds like it's written by a seventh grader or something. sounds very naive. I would honestly only give myself a 3 or a 4...what do you guys think??</p>

<p>!! The sad thing about this is that it isn't even timed. I am having the biggest trouble with essays. I can't seem to write a decent paper in 25 min, and this one took about 40 and it's not even anywhere near my normal standard...HELP !!</p>

<p>Lol...I'm not going to grade your essay because I doubt I'm qualified (should you be posting essays around, anyway?) but your SAT essay doesn't have to reflect your normal standards :) The essay tests your ability to think, correlate, plan and execute in a short amount of time. As long as your essay stays relevant to the topic, you use the whole of your two pages (they say length doesn't matter, but it does!) and you have lots of relevant points, you'll do great. Having few spelling and grammatical errors, help too. Most essay prompts are vague and general..you can take them into various directions, as you choose. Don't think too much about your essay, worrying over it will make you nervous and it'll affect your performance. All the best! :D</p>

<p>I would rate your essay as a good 5. You had some good ideas and I totally get what you wanted to say. But maybe you should rather focus on 2 or at most 3 examples than listing every flash of genius you have. Dont worry about your vocabulary, you're doin fine and Essay grader wont ask for a hard SAT word in every new sentence. (at least you wrote "meticulous" :-) )
The paramount thing is that your essay has to be persuasive. I think you did well on that one, although you should watch out for the time limit. Your essay does not have to be as long as this one. Point out 2 ideas, get the notion of them, finish.</p>

<p>Your essay is pretty long, 3 paragraphs, thesis, conclusion. Everything that should be included. Though I also think that you should get rid of one example if you want to write on time.</p>

<p>there is one more thing. The assignment was rather about memories and you only mentioned one type, recollections of mistakes. Maybe it would be more varied and persuasive if you included some events that add strength and enhance confidence of a person..</p>

<p>okay thankss guys yeah i wasn't sure about the length at all and i was sort of writing it as a school prompt. </p>

<p>and i did realize that i've gone off topic when i was writing the conclusion lol, but next time i'll make sure i read the assignment first before paraphrasing it.</p>

<p>pretty long indeed!</p>

<p>did you really finish this up in 25 minutes? :/</p>