SAT Essay - Handwriting

<p>I just took the May SAT today and I'm a little paranoid about my essay. I've heard from a lot of people that writing in cursive will help to fill up the space, so I took their advice; however, I'm super accustomed to printing, which actually helps me write faster. When I was half way through my essay, I read the time wrong and thought I only had less than five minutes left, so without thinking I switched to printing since it's a lot more natural for me. It was when I actually finished my essay that I noticed I read the time wrong. Then I looked at my essay and realized that it looked like it was written by two different people - the first page was neat and with cursive writing, which got messier as I thought I was running out of time - and made a drastic transition into light, printed letters (I was writing lightly then because my hand had gotten tired) on the second page. I hope collegeboard doesn't think that someone else wrote the essay for me halfway or that I was cheating in any other way? I could explain if they ask me about it, but I don't think they would bother as they would probably just give me a 0 if they decide that I cheated. Should I consider cancelling my score?</p>

<p>Yeah, the grader will probably be like, “Why the heck did this person switch to print?” Don’t cancel your scores though, you’ll probably still receive a valid score. If you get a 0 on your essay, then you can notify them.</p>

<p>If I were you, I probably would’ve written in print. You’re more accustomed to it, and print usually appears more legible.</p>

<p>Write with a sharp pencil, in legible handwriting and preferably large enough script to be seen with the naked eye. </p>

<p>Print or cursive doesn’t matter as long as it can be read. Writing big to fill space is not a good idea. The writing looks like it was produced by a third grade student or one who tried to substitute big writing for having ideas worth reading.</p>

<p>Don’t worry. The reader will know what happened. You aren’t the only one who has run out of time.</p>