october 2012 SAT's writing score problem

Test Preparation
1

<p>Hey guys, on this just released SAT, i got a 690 on CR, 660 on Math (got a 700 last time), and a 620 on Writing.</p>

<p>My essay score got an 8. A score I had gotten on my last two tests. The problem is, my last two tests, I did not even think the essay was counted into the total score, just a subscore that colleges didn't look at, so I didn't prepare, and I hardly tried. As a result, my first two eesays were barely 3 paragraphs, and an unorganized mess with terrible evidence. Somehow they got 8's. This last essay I wrote, was 4 solid paragraphs, used references to novels with literary merit, and seemed very effective. How then, did I deserve an 8? I thought, maybe I messed up something in the format? Went off topic? Not really likely.</p>

<p>So I just talked to my friends, who are all very smart, top 10 in the class. They all had the same problem!! Their essay scores and coincidentally, their writing scores were much lower than previous years.</p>

<p>So I'd be interested to see what you guys have to say about this, and give your breakdown or scores or just your writing score/essay score so we can see these results. I know there are many geniuses here who get perfect scores on everything, so that will definitely skew the results, but lets see what the smartest SAT test takers will have to say.</p>

2

<p>That’s weird because my writing score also dropped by 100 points ):
I was scoring in the low 700s on the practice test, but i got a 580 on the test…</p>

3

<p>My son’s writing score dropped by 50 points to 620 and he prepped very hard for this test.
Math and CR went up by 40 points each, was it a really hard essay topic?</p>

4

<p>I gave the international test, and my writing dropped from 800 to 710. (essay score dropped from 10 to 8.)</p>

5

<p>My son’s scores went up 90 points on CR (710 to 800), down 20 on Math (720 to 700) and up 110 on Writing (600 to 710). He scored a 7 on his essay (up from a 6 last time) and 76 on Writing Multiple Choice (up from 65 last time). Bummer that his math score went down. I don’t know why the writing score jumped so much. He didn’t do any special prep.</p>

6

<p>i had the same problem. I went into the test not nervous studying for the test for four hours every day since early June until two days before. Practice test I got a 630 on writing and was expected to do better and this morning I got the same score as i did back in January…a 570. i also got the same score as in januray on the other two sections except it raised 20 points in the math how the hell does that happen? i’m gonna call CB this morning and get my test manuallly scored because this is some ridiculous sh**. words cannot describe how mad i am right now. Bawling my eyes out this morning.</p>

7

<p>i swear these SAT graders jip you on essays. i wrote a verryyyy well constructed essay and got an 8. I took a previously took two month long kaplan courses and never recieved anything short of a 10. Odd.</p>

8

<p>My problem was not with the essay, but the MC. I thought I did really well, but ended up getting my usual score of 67 on the MC.</p>

9

<p>I got 760 on Writing but I didn’t finish my essay so I thought I would have done poorly. Yeah the essay graders were very harsh in my opinion based on the length of your essay.</p>

10

<p>Same exact problem.
Last Jan, my essay sucked big time, only three paragraphs, barely finished 1.5 pages and examples were horrendous. I got a 9.
This Oct, I was prepared with examples (historical&literary), filled 2 pages completely (even wrote on the way bottom line), used excellent vocab, and scored a 9 again! Unbelievable. I swore mine would be at least a 10, given some examples other kids posted up of 11/12 essays. Essay killed my score, especially since my MC wasn’t that bad…</p>

11

<p>Those of you who complain that the SAT graders are “jipping” you on the essay portion of the writing section have no understanding of the nature of the timed-essay, which is a completely different beast from the style of writing you’re usually accustomed to. I am by no means trying to come off as a “know-it-all” pretentious prick but I will explain briefly how you receive a high score on the essay to shed light on these understandably indignant rants of alleged foul play on the part of the SAT graders. Now I am an SAT instructor who received a 800/12 on the most recent October test and have received the same score consistently over the past three years with the exception of an occasional 11. </p>

<p>First of all, I have two memorized introductory templates that can be applied to any and all SAT essay prompts. They are all 4-sentence easy-to-memorize templates that incorporate an argumentative format that states the opposing argument and then counters with my own clear thesis that simply restates the question with an opinion and two brief supporting reasons. </p>

<p>For instance, if the question says: Do all people need to have creativity? </p>

<p>Don’t get fancy and just answer the damn question directly: "Against this backdrop, all people do indeed need to have creativity in order to (maximize their potential) and (to attain unparalleled heights of success in their respective fields). </p>

<p>Then I tap into a memory bank of 2-4 prewritten examples that I recycle and use for 80 percent of the prompts. (The only tricky ones I’ve encountered are ones that deal with **** like reality TV, a question for which I had to improvise and make up a fake example, as I rarely watch reality TV.) </p>

<p>I always use two examples, two body paragraphs. </p>

<p>Then I use another simple 3-sentence concluding template and always end with a quotation. I have twenty of these that I have also memorized and which fit perfectly for the SAT prompts. </p>

<p>In order to guarantee yourself a perfect score on the SAT essay, you must also master the art of freewriting and speedwriting. You should be able to write the introduction in 3-4 minutes, each body in 5-6 minutes, and the conclusion in 2-3 minutes. You need to do this in order to write as much as possible and fill in every little space as neatly as possible and as tidily as you can. I actually do a word count of the entire essay after I write it (I can complete the essay in 15-20 minutes) and you should be able to write at least 200-250 words on one page and ultimately compose a 400-500 word essay. Sounds like a lot but unless you write a lot, there is no guarantee that you will get a high score. </p>

<p>Another thing is: They tell you to use all these fancy literary examples, historical examples, and whatnot. Sure, if you write anything well enough, you can receive a good score. But the best examples are those which are simple and easy for the reader to follow, like the life story of Michael Jordan, who failed to make the cut for the varsity basketball team and worked even harder to eventually succeed. The problem with books is that it is difficult to zero in on one specific aspect of the book and use that repeatedly for several prompts. Hence, the simpler, the better. </p>

<p>For a lot of my Korean students who are terrible at English grammar, they can still pull off 10s and 11s, because they just narrate what they have already memorized and write two sentences at the bottom of the paragraph tying the example into the prompt somehow. </p>

<p>And you have to throw in a few nice prememorized expressions in there as well, such as “unparalleled heights of success”…“a vital catalyst that promotes”…“With the intensified onset of globalization…” </p>

<p>The SAT essay is all about technique, not always about how well you write, because the smart ones who think they write well and deserve much better scores usually write a bunch of irrelevant details and awkward transitions without realizing that this essay will be holistically graded in about a minute by someone who has to grade 50 essays an hour at minimum wage, and at the first sign of confusion and unclarity, you’re getting an 8 or a 9. </p>

<p>I’m sure many of you have read of these techniques elsewhere, but the SAT essay is truly about conditioning yourself to write quickly and as much as you can using the same contents/examples that are nicely worded since you’ve already memorized them.</p>

12

<p>Wow I will definitely take that into account, didn’t finish the writing cause the essay surprised me and it screwed my writing score :(</p>

13

<p>I took the SAT last year and got a 10 on my essay although I only got a 620 on the writing section…in order to get a essay score between 10-12 you MUST write 5 paragraphs since there’s not much space to write in you have to be writing straight to the point, it is also important for you to use three examples, just choose some books you’ve read or historical figures and compare them to what the prompt is asking you for…these example don’t need to be necessarily related for ex. I remember having written on one paragraph about Abe Lincoln and in the other about J.K. Rowling …I pretty much hate writing essays and english is not even my native language therefore ANYONE is able to score at least a 10</p>

14

<p>daniellenovel: “i had the same problem. I went into the test not nervous studying for the test for four hours every day since early June until two days before. Practice test I got a 630 on writing and was expected to do better and this morning I got the same score as i did back in January…a 570. i also got the same score as in januray on the other two sections except it raised 20 points in the math how the hell does that happen? i’m gonna call CB this morning and get my test manuallly scored because this is some ridiculous sh**. words cannot describe how mad i am right now. Bawling my eyes out this morning.”</p>

<p>what do you mean? they can rescore it??</p>

15

<p>yeah, they can manually re-check it. like a person re-checks it for fifty bucks and i think mine is worth it because that was ridiculous…</p>

16

<p>I feel like crying too. I got the exact same writing score as I did on my last SAT test, which is a 590. I can’t believe I didn’t improve one bit. I only wanted to break 600 so it didn’t look so disproportionate with my other scores, but now I don’t think I could do early action or decision ANYWHERE because of this stupid score.</p>

17

<p>The fact that you should have to “memorize templates” for the introduction or practice the art of speed writing (art? what?) just proves how much of a joke the SAT is. I made a perfect score on my state’s standardized writing test (which has similar topics to the SAT) and placed 4th in the state for essay writing for literary team. I took an upperclassmen writing class a sophomore and got the highest grade in the class. I don’t mean to be pompous, but I think I know a little bit about writing. And somehow, on my first SAT, I got a 9, even though my essay was very well constructed and had a few allusions to literature (but not an overbearing, ostentatious amount). </p>

<p>Twenty-five to thirty minutes to write an essay is absolutely ridiculous. Writing effectively takes thought and preparation. A thirty-minute essay written in a freezing cold classroom in which you are surrounded by strangers is not going to represent your writing skills accurately. </p>

<p>I would say my score from the Oct. 6 test, but my scores are not yet available. I called the College Board and they can’t give me a reason, even though I need those scores before Thursday to apply for a very important scholarship and honors program. </p>

<p>But it’s not like the College Board cares or anything.</p>

18

<p>Seems like the essays “that work” need to be in a genric format that CB likes.</p>

19

<p>thank god i am not the only one who had a surprise on their SAT score this morning. I was really happy that my math score improved a ton…and then I saw my writing score. That was so much lower then what I was expecting after practice tests and the last SAT. How do they even grade the essays anyway? Is it worth having it rescored? Cause I went from a 670 to 620, and I know 620 isn’t bad, but I wasn’t expecting it to drop that much.</p>

20

<p>I somehow dropped from my first score of a 730 and a 10 on the essay in may to a 680 with a 12 on the essay on the october sat. I dont understand how I could have possibly done that terrible on the writing MC, its always been my strong point. Any chance collegeboard messed up?</p>