<p>Hi guys. I am preparing for the SAT now, and I really want a solid way to approach the SAT essays. So any tips and strategies from you guys here who score the 10s, 11s, and 12s would be much appreciated. Thanks.</p>
<p>Qualifications: 11 on the essay on sat 01/07</p>
<p>Use historical examples (well) as well as literary figures. These two types of explanations as well as filling up almost the entire two pages will guarantee you at least a 10. Then, it is all luck for the 11 and 12.</p>
<p>i got a 12 using personal examples, and know many other people who've done the same. the college board can't grade you down for using non-academic examples (it can't even grade you down for getting your facts wrong). your score depends primarily on how well your examples support the point you're trying to make. after that, it'll depend on organization, grammar, sentence structure, and length, in no particular order. check out the NYT article "ON EDUCATION; SAT Essay Rewards Length and Ignores Errors of Fact," from 4 May 2005. It includes this excerpt from a communication between the College Board and its essay graders:</p>
<p>"Writers may make errors in facts or information that do not affect the quality of their essays. For example, a writer may state 'The American Revolution began in 1842' or '''Anna Karenina,'' a play by the French author Joseph Conrad, was a very upbeat literary work.'''</p>
<p>if you approach the SAT essay the way you'd approach an essay for almost any other test, you'll waste a lot of time on non-essential things and probably end up with a lower score than you deserve.</p>
<p>bump 10chars</p>
<p>personally, i like using literary examples.
basically, you just need to have two or three in your arsenal that you understand fairly well and can analyze its plot and themes. the prompts are pretty much universal, so as long as you know how to connect the plots of the examples to the prompt, you're set for a high score.</p>
<p>for the june sats, i used bradbury's fahrenheit 451 and huxley's brave new world. both pretty much consist of the same concept about the ominous future of the modern world and blah blah blah. i dont really remember what the prompt was, but i just pretty much bs'ed it and both examples entailed almost the same analysis and explanations.</p>
<p>fyi, i got an 11 and 800 in W.</p>
<p>Personally i use personal examples. As long as they are specific its fine. Fill up all the spaces provided. 5 paragraphs. intro, conclusion, 3 body.</p>
<p>well i am pretty good at history so i always throw historical allusions in there. My problem is grammar so i suck on the rest of the section and end up with a 600 :(</p>
<p>oh i got a 11 (probably a 12 if my handwriting wasnt horrific)</p>
<p>personally its the easiest part of the test and math is the hardest lol</p>
<p>how much is the essay worth of the writing section?</p>
<p>to help me on the SAT written, i read the sparknotes section on it the night before. not exactly the best decision, but i figured it was my weakest section. turns out, i got a 10 on the essay and a 670 overall. basically, i just followed the outline they laid out citing examples from literature, history, and current events. it seemed simple enough, and looks like it worked.</p>
<p>The essay isn't weighted very heavily; you can get all the MC questions right with a 9 on the essay and still wind up with an 800.</p>
<p>^ This is true.</p>
<p>if it's true, I'm really glad. Cuz I suck on writing essays.</p>
<p>Well, I am taking the online course and I have a 6 on one of the essays. I used a literary example (only one, by the way) but elaborated on it and filled up the entire space on the answer sheet. After that I submitted the same essay again but without the last but one short paragraph and got a lower point - 5. So, if I have to give advice:</p>
<ol>
<li>Fill up the space because it does matter how long the essays is</li>
<li>Don't spend too much time on thinking of examples - just pick one and write on it. It is OK to use one as long as you discuss different points relevent to the topic. (My example was on Iliad, but I used two different scenes from the poem so I had about three or four paragraphs, discussing them)</li>
<li>Always relate what you discuss in the examples with how it supports your thesis (write a sentence or two at the end of every paragraph).</li>
</ol>
<p>@gery--be careful with the online essay grader. try this: copy and paste one paragraph into the essay grader 15 o 16 times. when i did this i got a 6.</p>
<p>nice, i really need to try that..</p>
<p>^ well im sorry to say college is all about writing essays and papers :p</p>
<p>:) It depends...</p>
<p>I wrote an essay - about 350 words long (it must have been long enough for at least 5), but I got a four.</p>
<p>This means that not only the quantity but the quality also matters. If you have spelling and grammar mistakes no matter how long the essay is you will never get a 6.</p>
<p>On the other hand you can always fool a computer. Whether you will check your work beforehand with a program such as Word, or you will copy 10 times one and the same paragraph it doesn't matter. If you want desparately to get a 6 you can even type one of the sample essays. It depends very much on your purpose. </p>
<p>What I value in the course is that it provides an estimate of what you give it to check. If you really want to get some helpful practice, just write the essay in conditions close to these on the test and then type it just as you have written it. The grade will most probably be close to what you will get on a real test. And though the computer cannot determine whether your examples are relevant to the topic or you have written an essay on a completely different one, you will know that for sure. </p>
<p>I do not want to advertise the course - I would rather say that it is good for you only if you need additional practice (the lessons are the same as these in the official guide so you get no extra strategies). And naturally it is always better to get some essays scored by a teacher. But otherwise the service is good and at a reasonable price.</p>