PR's free SAT essay grader thingy

<p>Hey dudes and dudettes...I got an email from PR about an essay grader thing they're doing for the new SAT essay section. They give you a topic on the site and you have 25 minutes to write and submit your essay, and then they have an actual person grade it and send your score with comments to you thru email. It's free and it's up til Saturday. </p>

<p>It's on their site - <a href="http://www.princetonreview.com/college/testprep/testprep.asp?TPRPAGE=2090&adcode=20307%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.princetonreview.com/college/testprep/testprep.asp?TPRPAGE=2090&adcode=20307&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>guessing its a waste of time. might be a gimmick to say "oh you got a 2 on your essay. you need to get princeton review classes to get a 12."</p>

<p>at least, thats what i thought about because of my low scores with princeton review's free "new SAT" tests</p>

<p>pr is just trying to take your money, as far as i'm concerned, the new sat essay will be a lot like the present sat2 writing</p>

<p>meh, I tried it as practice for the Dec. SAT II Writing. Even if it is just a gimmick, it gave me a sample essay topic to work with.</p>

<p>Man, you guys are overly paranoid. I mean yeah, I would expect them to promote their books and classes while they've got your attention, and if you do get a 2, maybe you do need some help! ;-)</p>

<p>But seriously...when you register you can always opt out of getting emails once they send you the results. I don't get spammed by them and appreciate the extra help. The main thing is to get personal feedback on WHAT you did right and wrong in your essay, and you don't get that even when you take the real test or the SAT II. So I think it's worth it and am looking forward to getting my results. And if I don't want to hear from them afterward, then I'll opt out. Big deal.</p>

<p>I took a PR course - in my opinion, a waste of the large sum of money - and the comments I was given were often irrelevant (for example, one time, I was told that my essay was "too short" when it filled up all the given space - even the instructor could not explain this). I never got a 12, either, from the PR ...</p>

<p>Then, I prepped a lot on my own, and took the October SAT II writing, which has an essay - and got an 800.</p>

<p>I don't think the PR is necessarily helpful or accurate.</p>

<p>Section 1 : Essay
Directions: Think carefully about the issue presented in the following excerpt and the assignment below:</p>

<p>Full Prompt: Tyler Durden, protagonist of the movie Fight Club, postulated, "The things you own end up owning you." Jennifer Lopez, on the other hand, espouses the theory, "Don't be fooled by the rocks that I got / I'm still, I'm still Jenny from the block."</p>

<p>Assignment: What is your view on whether your possessions and education define you? Plan an essay in which you develop your point of view on this issue. Support your position with reason and examples taken from your reading, studies, experience, or observations. And it's okay to write about Fight Club...just this once.</p>

<hr>

<p>Humans go through life with a constant desire to purchase more and more items in order to make themselves appear as if they have fulfilled a hidden purpose. This purpose often stems from either a will to achieve and fulfill a personal goal, or to make people jealous. </p>

<p>Jennifer Lopez, for example, claims that she indeed has many rocks that can fool you. Apparently rocks can be deceiving. Her life's goal was to obtain as many rocks as possible, sort of like those old Mario games. However, her next line repeats "I'm still, I'm still", insinuating that the conquest for material acquisition leads to an inherent stuttering of one's voice. Does this create a logical link between a desire to own things and an eventual downfall? Jennifer Lopez still claims to be from the block, which seems to make no sense in relation to her earlier claim of possessing rocks. For one thing, rocks are fairly heavy if acquired in large sums. How they can be deceiving is an esoteric philosophy that only she knows, but of course the standard human will never understand such a concept because of her mental downfall resulting from the large rock acquisition.</p>

<p>Tyler Durden, on the other hand, feels like things you own end up owning you. I dare ask what owning is. Owning is merely another way of borrowing things while you're still alive. I would be scared if something I was borrowing turned around and started to own me out of revenge. For example, in third grade my friend let me borrow his cat for a week to play with. I'd be terrified if, during this brief period of feline ownage, the cat turned around and suddenly felt as if he owned me, rendering me the pet; him, the owner. I have never had such a case occur. Therefore I feel that Tyler is incorrect in his assumption.</p>

<p>Let's try to combine the two cases, shall we? What if Tyler Durden owned Jennifer Lopez's rocks while they were still, still [sic] from the block? According to Tyler Durden's hypothesis, Jennifer Lopez's claims would probably create a universality pertaining to the observation of acquisition deriving from the inherent comparisons between the two cases, which, when examined under a more literary perspective, yields superfluous verbosity meant to vex the observer. </p>

<p>Take a circle, for example, encapsulating two more circles, creating almost concentric circles but not quite. Pretend that this innermost circle did not exist. Now, if I were to ask Lopez to find the area of the region inside the big circle but not the little one, do we include the medium circle or exclude it? What defines a "circle" in this case as opposed to a region? We obviously have a flaw of disagreeing semantics here which is why Durden is, again, incorrect. Things can own you without you owning them, such as this question.</p>

<p>In conclusion I would like to say that many people have owned things and many people have been owned by other things probably owned by others, but I'm still, still from the block, just like Jennifer Lopez said. People also show courage under fire like Martin Luther King and Malcolm X, who both made great decisions when racial equality was in danger.</p>

<p>Just sent this a little bit ago... wonder if they'll actually reply to me...</p>

<p>The essay i wrote looks like crap in front of yours..... </p>

<pre><code> People may say that their education and their possessions dont define them. I dont think that this is true. What you own can define what your feelings are and your attitude among other things. In my opinion, your education and your possesions can reflect on your attitude, your interests, and show your feelings.

  First of all, your education can affect  how  you behave in front of other people. Educated people act in a well behaved manner. They show respect for other people and are generally disciplined. An uneducated person might behave in an inproper manner like, insulting people and not being polite to other people. 


   Besides your behavior, your possesions and your education define you because they show what your interests are. A person who has a room full of cd's and a giant  stereo system in their living room is likely to be interested in music. Likewise a person who studies Biology is interested in the science of living things. This is just one of many ways that your education and your possesions can reveal to anyone who you are. 


     In addition to showing your interests, your possesions and your education can also show how you feel about something.  A  person who is educated by their parents, taught to hate someone because of their appearance or  the way they talk, is likely to continue to have feelings of hatred towards a people. Not because of an apparent reason but because they were taught to hate.  They weren't born to hate, their education shaped their feelings. What you are taught  can sometimes define you as a person whether you realize it or not. 


          In conlusion, i agree with Tyler Durden when he says " The things you own end up owning."I agree with him  because our possesions show how we feel and the focus or lack of your education can help you or destroy you.

</code></pre>

<p>lol hahhah that's an awful prompt. I can't believe you actually spent time doing that.</p>

<p>I wasn't being serious with mine though... mine is purposeful-BS</p>

<p>cooked up mines in 5 mins, cant stare at a monitor for 25 mins.......</p>

<p>I'll let you guys know if they actually reply to mine</p>

<p>Anyone else trying this?</p>

<p>the essay grader seems to be cool but i lucked out on it, dam</p>

<p>Still no reply...</p>

<p>This is the essay I submitted.</p>

<p>Living in a middle class family I have the luxury of having many personal belongings. Often times I envelope myself in such items, believing that they somehow define me. Yet as I look at my fortunate situation in its entirtey I realize that in truth a person's possessions and education does not truly define a person.</p>

<p>In today's society it is hard not to believe that our belongings and education define who we really are. We are bombarded with tabloid television shows that tout the mega-mensions up for sale in exclusive neighborhoods. Whenever we hear of a speech to be given from someone who attended an Ivy League college we all get excited to hear the words of a true erudite scholar. Though the average citizen becomes infatuated at such displays, do these displays really make a person better than the poor man who due to unfortunate circumstances is forced to live in an almshouse? Often, more than not, those people are the ones with true character and a strong will.</p>

<p>Take F. Scott Fitzgerald's classic novel The Great Gatsby for instance. Here we have a story of a very wealthy man trying to woo his long love by showing off all his possessions. Mr. Gatsby hires workers to make his property dazzling with vibrant foliage and bands to make his parties lively, doing so to impress his guests with his sophisticated style and manner. Yet all of Mr. Gatsby's chores are done in vain, as his life ends in tragedy; Mr. Gatsby never woos his love, he is shot by a peer, and almost no one attends his funeral. This story is a prime example of how one with excessive indulgences can still be truly unhappy.</p>

<p>Often times many people believe that a person who attended a prestigious university is somehow better than one who attended a lesser known one. Unfortunately, I have even had such thoughts before. However, two people who break the mold of that definition that I look up to greatly are my parents. My mother attended a local community college and my father did not attend college, yet that fact alone does not take away from my awe in them. They've proven to me that they are two people of great character, striving to overcome financial problems and personal problems, regardless the fact that they did not attend a high caliber university.</p>

<p>In our nation of prosperity many people often find it hard to believe that people without great possessions or a great education have anything to offer. However, I challenge that position, instead believing that people who are not as fortunate as others to have luxuries often have something those people with luxuries do not have - character.</p>

<p>Personally I believe that a false sense of security is worse than the free practice.</p>

<p>I hated the time in which I got a SAT score in the 1400s on a very easy practice test and then put off studying. It hurt.</p>

<p>Well I know that. Im studying for this test a lot cause i need to. But it was a free live grading service so why not take advantage of it?</p>

<p>Yeah i submitted mine. does a REAL person actually grade it? or is it some fake thing?</p>