<p>thedaily: Forgive my quibbling, but you strongly suggested that I used fallacious reasoning. Whether or not you meant to is another issue altogether.</p>
<p>You said that my essay was an lesson that X or Y upsets graders. If my essay wasn't an example of X, then why even mention X?</p>
<p>A guy is dying of lung cancer from smoking . . .</p>
<p>Friend: "This is a lesson that you shouldn't smoke or whiff glue"
Dying Guy: "I don't whiff glue"
Friend: "I never suggested that you did!"</p>
<p>the reason why it got a 4 was because it was vapid. its too "flowery" without real substance. its moving, has rhetoric, but you need to to do a better relating your example to the thesis and proving your argument.</p>
<p>karina: Don't be silly. You're just trying to rationalize why a grader gave a clearly incorrect score (why anyone would be motivated to do such a thing is beyond me). Either that or you just wanted to use the word "vapid".</p>
<p>I find it humorous that not one person said "wow, I think this deserved an 8!" prior to me revealing the actual score. Think for yourselves, people.</p>
<p>My Socrates paragraph was a textbook illustration of a good example. It's easy for you to assert that it was "vapid", but actually demonstrating such would be a bit more difficult, and you will never do such. My second example, was, for the fifth time, good, but merely incomplete. Yes, the essay was not perfect, but to suggest that it actually deserved a 4, based on the College Board's published criteria for essay grading is downright ridiculous (and a little dishonest if you ask me).</p>
<p>Finally, SAT essay theses are never "proven". To think that any reply to a broad prompt could be "proven" in 25 minutes and 2 pages is absurd.</p>
<p>its not an irrational score. you are a good writer but not an effective one as your essay clearly demonstrates. you need to talk about more of your examples and if you couldn't do that because of time then that's your fault. there are plenty of people who can do that in 25 minutes and if you aren't capable of doing so then cry me a river or go sue collegeboard. you never talked about how socrates was original and didn't copy others. you were very general about what socrates did, never really talking about specific examples and you already know what's wrong with the 2nd example. collegeboard was right on this one.</p>
<p>well i've just read your essay and scrolled down abit to see you revealed that you got a 9 for this. you can't blame us for saying that it was great before you revealed the score, really. if CB had given you a 12 i would say that it had it's reasons. even if you had gotten a 12 i wouldnt say you deserved it. </p>
<p>i would have given it a 10 (2 examples little elab) but anyway, it's a 9 so I guess i'm not quite off the mark. </p>
<p>Let me show you my june SAT essay which got a 10 with a similar prompt. It was horrible and i realised the thinking was all skewed while writing but i still got a 10. was expecting like a 9, but obviously, providing more support and DETAILS in your examples help to flesh out your arguments and lend credence to your observations. even though the details, support, may be faked. </p>
<p>Much of what we do has become so complex that most activities require groups or teams of people to perform them. However, although groups are useful for some purposes, for other purposes they can be worse than useless. It is important to focus on what individuals can be and do, since focusing exclusively on groups and teams becomes counterproductive. Adapted from Stanley M. Herman, A Force of Ones
ASSIGNMENT:Are the actions of individuals more valuable than the actions of groups or teams? 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><a href="http://i25.tinypic.com/70jtph.jpg%5B/url%5D">http://i25.tinypic.com/70jtph.jpg</a>
<a href="http://i26.tinypic.com/2eyxekl.jpg%5B/url%5D">http://i26.tinypic.com/2eyxekl.jpg</a></p>
<p>i think 4 is ridiculous. i thought the essay was great =p
i think a 10 is very reasonable. wat the heck 4 lol..</p>
<p>ur essay was very complex and coherent.
but it just didnt follow the sat structure..
learn the structure first</p>
<p>u can still get a 12 with 2 solid example/opinions</p>
<p>I don't really understand how this could have received a 9; perhaps it comes down to the quality of your handwriting.</p>
<p>Oooh, defensive aren't we. TRY harder next time young man (or woman I suppose; I need to conduct a survey to determine CC gender demographics), and maybe you too can join the ranks of the Elite Essay Writers (ESW) :p</p>
<p>Regarding fallacious reasoning, your essay, along with near every other essay produced in the scant 25 minutes that they give us (NOTE: I AM NOT ATTACKING YOU IN PARTICULAR! DO NOT TAKE THIS AS AN INSULT! I DO NOT MEAN TO OFFEND!), commits the flaw of Hasty</a> generalization. Anecdotes really are quite weak in terms of evidentiary support, regardless of how well written or suited to the topic at hand they might be. CB knows this, and so they grade accordingly, and you know this, and so should not write another essay attempting to debase my point.</p>
<p>I will now include some more smileys so as to help you better ascertain the above as jolly banter.</p>
<p>:p :p :p :p :p :p :p :p :p :p :p :p :p :p :p</p>
<p>It wouldn't depend on handwriting -- I have THE worst handwriting known to man and I got a 12. Hell, I can't even read my own writing, so I don't know how the graders did.</p>
<p>It's a 9 paper. Sure, you used tons of fancy vocabs but the essay lacks any substance. Especially your second (American) example. Learn how to use better examples and develop them before you whine.</p>
<p>Ohh you ran out of time on your second example. Did you spend too much time coming up with big vocabs? First you boldly claim Americans have created the most inventions for past two centuries...then briefly mention two examples without any explanation. Terrible wrap-up job as well.
It's not a 4 essay, it's somewhere between 4 and a 5. Hence the 9.</p>
<p>Lesson of the day:
Fancy writing =/= good essay score</p>
<p>Just to make a counter point to all the criticism used against the OP here.</p>
<p>My prompt for the June exam was whether or not celebrities are happy. Being the kind of guy who pays no attention to the celeb news at ALL (if I'm watching the news and they start a story, I change channel instantly) I did not know a single specific, nor could I think of a literary example to apply (only when they called time did i think of the Great Gatsby). My entire essay revolved around the fact that since celebs have no privacy, they can't enjoy life. No examples or facts, just baseless generalization. There was no other subtopic in the entire essay. Just 2 pages of different ways to word that. To top it all off, I used horrible grammatical structuring, misspelled words a third grader would know, and about half of it was subtle sexual puns. And to top it all off, I ended with an insult to the American way of life, so if I had one of "those" graders I would instantly fail. I got an 11. If anyone can ever figure out how they really grade these things, I want to know....maybe not.</p>
<p>Upload your essay megabnx. Was the prompt really asking if CELEBRITIES are happy? I thought it was something like does fame equal happiness or something. I doubt CB would ask you to write about celebrities, because they know not everyone follows that kind of stuff. Nevertheless I want to read your essay!</p>
<p>
[quote]
i think 4 is ridiculous. i thought the essay was great =p
i think a 10 is very reasonable. wat the heck 4 lol..
[/quote]
</p>
<p>Each grader gives the essay a score of 1-6 (2 graders, 2-12 total). It was a "4 essay" in the respect that one grader gave him 4/6 and the other gave him 5/6.</p>
<p>My essay got an 8, and I thought it was the best thing since sliced bread when I wrote it. Then I reread the electronic document and discovered that I am very incoherent at early morning hours.</p>
<p>People seriously need to realize they need to learn how to write better essays instead of dumping the bad scores on the graders. First time I took my SAT I got an 8, and I thought it was the best thing I have ever written. I was expecting at least a 10. When I got my essay online, I re wrote the entire essay to see how I could have gotten a 12. </p>
<p>You earned that 9; learn your mistakes from this one and do better next time. Good luck.</p>
<p>
[quote]
karina: Don't be silly. You're just trying to rationalize why a grader gave a clearly incorrect score (why anyone would be motivated to do such a thing is beyond me). Either that or you just wanted to use the word "vapid".
[/quote]
</p>
<p>Maybe their motivation lies behind the fact that you're pretty damn pompous for a 16/17 year old.</p>
<p>Some graders may have more difficulties in reading messy handwriting than others and some may be less amenable to wasting time attempting to decipher such handwriting than others. I'm glad that despite your weakness in this area, you were able to obtain a 12, Ashraf; however, that by no means implies that no one will be disadvantaged by poor handwriting.</p>
<p>I am completely opposite. I didn't feel as though my essay was all that great and I got a 12. I thought I was going to get a 10-11.
I know there are a few grammatical errors and some bad spelling. I guess i got lucky.
Someone on a previous thread asked to see my essay and then someone else said they thought it was an 8 essay....what do you guys think?</p>
<p>Part-1
<a href="http://i338.photobucket.com/albums/n409/zacdfox/essayImageAction-1do.jpg%5B/url%5D">http://i338.photobucket.com/albums/n409/zacdfox/essayImageAction-1do.jpg</a></p>
<p>Part-2
<a href="http://i338.photobucket.com/albums/n409/zacdfox/essayImageActiondo.jpg%5B/url%5D">http://i338.photobucket.com/albums/n409/zacdfox/essayImageActiondo.jpg</a></p>
<p>oh and about handwriting....sorry. mine isn't all that great. I am a future doctor. haha</p>
<p>zfox001 your essay is a 12. All the technical stuff is fine and you actually have development/analysis. Something the OP lacks.</p>
