<p>for the past two tests, i got 8 on my essay..
what can I do to improve the score to at least 10 for December SAT?</p>
<p>I'm glad you asked this question!<br>
I got a 12 on the ACT Writing and an 11 on the SAT Writing, so i'll try to help. My advice for the SAT Writing is to have a clear and obviously arguable viewpoint on the issue at hand, and then pick 2-3 arguments of support for each (i picked 2 and elaborated accordingly). Then, provide examples for the arguments using novels, events in history, or even personal events. The College Board drools over essays filled with detailed examples to support its arguments, so this is a necessity if you want a 10+ score. In addition, although this is a terrible skill for writing in general, throw in sophisticated words to add substance to the argument. Although this may seem like it wouldn't help much, think from the perspective of the grader. If you read an essay that uses a high level vocabulary (keep in mind the graders read the essays really fast), then its obviously going to make an impression on yourself when you grade the essay. Thus, sophisticated diction is definitely a plus on the SAT (I hate to say this but it's true). Lastly, to the College Board, size does matter (to an extent obviously), and there is certainly a direct relationship between word count and score. Make sure you spend the entire 25 minutes writing or editing and certainly fill up all of the alloted room (I did and I think it helped me get the 11). Honestly, for this essay you don't want to leave anything to chance, and thus you must create an essay that essentially must look like a "six" essay, regardless of subjectivity. To achieve this, you must have a strong 2+ argument essay with progression and logical organization that has a high word count (and sophisticated logic and vocabulary). If this is done, you wil a get a 12, period.</p>
<p>I'm actually mad about getting an 11, but writing isn't that important, so whatever</p>
<p>thank you so much for your reply!
but i have one more question.. so should i take one side of the argument and elaborate or take one side and then explain the counterargument as well?</p>
<p>Personally, I think either works, but it is impressive to the reader if you can demonstrate the complexity of the issue, so if you can seamlessly reference counterarguments, then I would recommend doing so. Instead of simply explaining counterarguments, I think it would be more effective to reference counterarguments, and then proceed to either invalidate them or provide solutions around them, thus enforcing you point. I know this is a very vague answer, but I honestly can't give a concrete answer for this question, because quite frankly you can get a 12 either way. Regardless, I think it is slightly more impressive if you use the counterarguments to show knowledge of the complexity of the issue, or to simply debunk the counterarguments. Doing so definitely adds sophistication to the essay, which helps the score (I know that sounds terrible, but it's an SAT truth). </p>
<p>Having that said, make sure which side you CHOOSE is concrete. If you reference counterarguments, make sure you don't accidently convey that you're supporting the other side, instead use the counterarguments to show that you understand the context / complexity of the issue. Basically what I'm saying is, I think it's easiest if you pick ONE side, BUT reference counterarguments in the previously described way. Just be clear and scholarly and make the job easy for the reader as he assigns you a 12!</p>
<p>Post essays on CC.</p>
<p>
[quote]
I'm actually mad about getting an 11, but writing isn't that important, so whatever
[/quote]
</p>
<p>Just a note that flippant remarks like that don't help anybody ... and are really annoying.</p>
<p>i got a 10 by having an interesting point of view. your body paragraph is basically bulls***t; i made up everything and i couldnt even make sense of what i wrote. For example: Can people be truly original?-- you can say that people can never be truly original because many respected works were derived from other sources.
body paragraphs: make up stuff, like Shakespeare got the Romeo and Juliet idea from a love poem a friend wrote to him (i actually wrote that down) or jot down some random crap about the Simpsons (which i also did; it wasn't even pertinent to my essay!)</p>
<p>"i got a 10 by having an interesting point of view. your body paragraph is basically bulls***t; i made up everything and i couldnt even make sense of what i wrote. For example: Can people be truly original?-- you can say that people can never be truly original because many respected works were derived from other sources.
body paragraphs: make up stuff, like Shakespeare got the Romeo and Juliet idea from a love poem a friend wrote to him (i actually wrote that down) or jot down some random crap about the Simpsons (which i also did; it wasn't even pertinent to my essay!)"</p>
<p>That makes me a little bit sick... but congrats!</p>
<p>amb3r, looking back I realize that was a pretty pretentious comment I made and that it had absolutely no relevance, but I still don't understand how/why you are taking offense to it.</p>
<p>Regardless, I apologize, and I'll try to keep those type of comments to myself.</p>
<p>Here's my experience with the SAT essay:</p>
<p>First time, I got an 8 writing absolute crap. I was stressed and never wrote a practice essay before taking the SAT. (it was about 1 page long.. with no vocab). I wrote about a personal experience.</p>
<p>Second time, I got a 9, writing (what I thought was..) a great essay- full of vocabulary, literary examples (I think I sounded a little pompous). I filled up the whole 2 pgs. I thought I'd get atleast a 10, so I was surpised to see that 9..</p>
<p>Third time, I got a 10. What did I do? Not care. I wrote whatever came to my mind. No vocab. No literary examples. The question was something along the lines of "does having a variety of choices/options make a person happy?". I wrote about college.. and how there are thousands of colleges to choose from.. yet we (students) all stress out about getting into that ONE ivy league.. but in reality, we can be happy anywhere. (so my argument was having options is nice, but it ultimately doesn't give us happiness. it's up to us, where ever it is we end up). My essay was about 1.5 pages (so I didn't fill up the 2 pages we're given).</p>
<p>the most important thing in the SAT essay is having a complex argument. don't just give a concrete yes/no stance on a topic... qualify it. also, don't use overused books for literary examples :P
I think the SAT readers get tired of reading essays about Huck Finn and Macbeth... so try to be creative.</p>
<p>I have the real solution/tip.</p>
<p>My english teacher brought up a side comment in class about how, according to the Boston Globe, colleges are beginning to completely ignore the writing section of the SAT because someone did research showing without a doubt that using big words = high essay grades, whether or not the argument reflects any amount of cohesiveness. (Also, research has been done showing positive correlation between essay length and essay grade). So of course, I twisted my teacher's lament into advice - use high vocab words. </p>
<p>So on the day of the SAT, I started with a six-word thesis statement, only one and a half pages of relatively okay evidence, and ended up with NO CONCLUSION PARAGRAPH. But I used amalgam, elitist, femme fatale, tenable, ignoble, exiguous, lackadaisical, and genteel and ended up with a 12 on my essay. Bottomline - if you know how to use words, USE THEM! Don't use them if you don't know the connotations of the word - you don't want to sound like a stupid thesaurus. Be careful. Maybe think of a very hard word that you could use in every single essay. I know if i ever use Estella from Great Expectations again, i would describe her as femme fatale. And i will probably end up using amalgam in the first sentence on my next essay, like i did on this past one. (Yes, im taking the SAT again...)</p>
<p>My english teacher always says remember your audience. Well, for the SAT essay, the audience consists of teachers reading at a rate of an essay a minute! So the more you brag about stuff and sound smart, the higher the score. Of course the argument matters - but i would argue that high vocab will get you a higher score. </p>
<p>Anyway, you don't have to agree with me at all. But look at the evidence and decide whether you think its right or not. I swear, it was some pretty bad stuff. </p>
<p>Oh yeah and by the way, CB doesn't grade for factual validity. My friend (now a freshmen in college) got an 11 by sounding smart and using ideas of philosophers that weren't even right. Worst-case scenario - if you really can't think of examples, make up a personal experience. Just don't talk about something stupid like a football game (make it a deep, philosophical experience) and make sure your lie is flawless. </p>
<p>-Cho</p>
<p>No matter how much crap you write in your essay, I can tell from your post that you're a good writer. You might not have made much of an effort with your SAT essay, but I bet that your writing skills did shine through, despite a lack of conclusion p and a six word thesis (which I don't necessarily find to be too short at all). Another writer using the same strategy as you might get a lower score if writing did not come as naturally to him/her. I don't think good or bad writing is something you can turn on and off like a light switch. Some of your content might have been 'off', but like you said, the SAT essay isn't exactly a measure of how much you KNOW.</p>