SAT essay

Test Preparation
1

<p>Hi
I'm giving my SAT in May and would like to know how you would grade this essay. The assignment is: What is your view of the claim that knowing facts isn't as important as understanding ideas and concepts?</p>

<p>In todays technology-savvy world, we are constantly bombarded by facts and figures. In school, we are taught dates in History and numbers in Geography. This seems to me to be extremely ironic, as the scientific revolution which brought us into today's world was based on ideas, theories and imagination.
When still at school, Einstein was being reprimanded by his History teacher for not learning up dates of important events. Einstein repled in his typically honest way that he felt that he could look up dates in any book. He was more interested in why the battles were being fought in the first place. This excerpt from his biography highlights the scientific revolution that was taking place at the time, when ideas were given more importance than the rote learning of facts.
My question is, what use are facts? We all learn up huge books in school, answer competitive exams using the facts we have learnt. Take Physics, for example. We learn up techniques of solving problems posed on a paper, but are bewildered when confronted by anything in the nature of a practical puzzle. Without understanding concepts, the knowledge of facts is no more than worthless junk cluttering up our minds.
All revolutions in our thinking, since the time of Socrates to today's world, have been due to new ideas and theories. If people throughout History had been content with facts, we probably would still believe the Earth to be flat. It would be a pity if we forgot that ideas were the root of all the inventions that we use today. Today's generation of students has got to stop thinking of facts and figures and start thinking again as Einstein did all those years ago.</p>

2

<p>Can someone rate this essay please?</p>

3

<p>bump please</p>

4

<p>Hi jehangircama,</p>

<p>I'd probably give this essay a solid 4. Here's why:</p>

<p>Your intro is pretty good. You clearly state your point without beating it over the head.</p>

<p>Your second paragraph uses a great example (Einstein) but there are a couple of grammar issues... In your first sentence, you say "Einstein was being reprimanded". You don't need the "being". Just say "Einstein was reprimanded"...this is all past tense.</p>

<p>Several times you use the phrase "learning up". This is idiomatically incorrect. People simply "learn" things, they don't "learn up" things.</p>

<p>You talk about "this excerpt from his biography" but you haven't introduced or quoted any"excerpt", you've just introduced an idea...if you had said earlier, "In an autobiography of Albert Einstein..." then it would have been better.</p>

<p>The question "what good are facts?" seems a little extreme and even a little off topic. I think you would agree that Einstein thought facts were important but that memorizing them was not.</p>

<p>You use the word "learnt", which is grammatically correct (it is a version of the past tense of "learn"), but almost never used in modern formal writing. You should use "learned".</p>

<p>I'd also like to see a slightly more specific example in your 3rd paragraph about physics. I like the argument, but if you can mention a specific problem or type of problem, it would be better.</p>

<p>In your conclusion, you say "since the time of Socrates to today's world", but the correct idiom is "from...to", not "since...to". Also, you need to use things that are comparable..."the time of Socrates" and "today's world" are not comparable. So it should read "from the time of Socrates to today".</p>

<p>You say "Today's generation of students has got to...", but the "got" is rather informal and should be deleted.</p>

<p>Overall, I like the essay and its message. I would have liked to see one science example and one example from history or literature rather than two from science. Clean up the grammar and get a little more specific and you're on your way to a 5 or 6.</p>

5

<p>OK thanks. I'm posting another one online. If you could review it, it'd be great.</p>

6

<p>bump please</p>