How much can a bad score on the essay portion of the SAT affect your overall grade?

<p>If you score badly on the essay, say a 5-7, how much can it drop your writing score and overall SAT score. I'm hoping to get in the high 600s, maybe low 700s, on my writing section, but I think my essay might drop me down because I don't think I had enough detail and analysis in my body paragraphs. The multiple choice was okay, maybe a few mistakes but nothing extreme.</p>

<p>Assuming you got a 7 and only got 2-3 wrong on multiple choice, you can still get a low 700 to high 600. Even if you got a 5 on the essay and several more wrong on multiple choice, mid to high 600s is still very possible.</p>

<p>It will bring your overall score down by around ~80-120 points, depending how badly you messed it up. If you missed 0-1 on the MC, you should hope for about a 710-730. Did you fill up the whole space for the essay? And what examples did you use? Sometimes people are over critical on themselves.</p>

<p>I filled up a good page and a half (keep in mind, I have small handwriting). And I used Fahrenheit 451, and developed my two body paragraphs around it. I know for sure that my example was good and that I got my point across about how my example proved my thesis… but I’m just wary about the amount of detail and analysis I put in.</p>

<p>I wouldn’t get too stressed out. Even if you get 800 in WR, it doesn’t count that much anyway(maybe the UCs). The CR+M counts more.</p>

<p>my first test i got an 8 on the essay and missed ONE question on multiple choice, score of 750 and 98th percentile.</p>

<p>I didn’t miss any multiple choice and got an 8 on the essay, and that was a 780 (in January). So I think that multiple choice counts more, but somewhere I saw an actual percentage that it counts … I think the essay is maybe 30%?</p>

<p>In January I got 2 MC wrong and an 8 on the essay, and I still got a 720. MC definitely counts for far more.</p>