<p>^ I actually think it's not a bad passage.</p>
<p>If you think FDR's middle name is "Delenor" and that his famous quote was in reference to a communist threat, or that american business was locked in fierce competition with Russian merchants in the 1930s, then perhaps you would think this essay is "not bad". I find it not only ignorant but also poorly written. "succeeded communism" ; the economy called "them"; "desdained"<br>
This essay is terrible. I certainly hope that students do not aspire to write in this manner.</p>
<p>As to the post regarding this only shows that 1/2 the students write in a manner "even worse": The essay grades are raw scores and not curved to performance of the testing base. They are absolute scores based on a rubric. The rubric standards for an essay receiving a 10 (5 from each of the graders include the following: “reasonably consistent mastery” and “effectively develops a point of view” and “demonstrates strong critical thinking, generally using appropriate examples".
The essay raw score is combined with the multiple choice raw score and then the "curved" score is computed (for example 700/800).</p>
<p>curious77 - Incorrect facts and misspellings are not terribly relevant in judging the SAT essay. Students who can't figure that out are, well, not very good writers. The passage is good because of the sentence flow and energy. There is an arresting voice. The kid who wrote it can write. The spelling errors are simply not relevant.</p>
<p>^ Also, don't know who Perleman is but I do wonder if an MIT professor is the last word on quality writing.</p>
<p>
[quote]
This essay is terrible.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>I think it's a terrible essay, and not only because of the factual errors (which are not a basis for grading in lots of English classes), but if other essays are even worse, then the grading scale for the SAT writing section may still sort students into the correct rank order.</p>
<p>Way harsh, Token - for a seventeen-year-old under pressure it ain't bad.</p>
<p>Every seventeen-year-old who takes the SAT is under pressure, but I hope that most young people are aware of the New Deal enough to immediately spot some of those factual errors.</p>
<p>Ahhhh . . . but then you're complaining about fact problems - it is not an AP US History SAT subject test.</p>
<p>I would have liked more English teachers who care about factual accuracy.</p>
<p>^^token:</p>
<p>I agree, but that assumes that English teachers know thier historical facts. :D</p>
<p>Also, it's unfair to assume that the kid had even took US History by the time of the test. </p>
<p>This kid's essay followed CB's 'rules' for scoring well in their rubric: spelling does not count; & historical accuracy does not count (unless its obvious such as claiming that Leif Erickson 'discovered' America in 1492); etc.</p>
<p>^ yes, bluebayou is right - the passage shows that the student had read the rubric. Maybe that's why the writing section is a good predictor of succeeding in college? Reading and following the rules.</p>
<p>Perhaps you should read the link I included above. The point is that MIT's Perleman trained the student to intentionally write a ridiculously bad essay that would meet the rubric's vauge standards, yet be meaningless. That essay would get an F in any high school English class. Spelling doesn't count, but what about merely writing in understandable English. The essay just does not make sense, even within its own warped world view. The student represents a trained monkey rather than an insightful writer. And that is what Perleman was illustrating with his experiment. And if you look at MIT's site you will see that they ignore the writing section. At many admissions information sessions at excellent schools the admissions officer notes the SAT score range in terms of 1600 scale and not 2400 scale.<br>
My complaint is with the test, the graders, and the self-interest of those who conducted the so-called studies and not the students. To require a brilliant writer to conform to a rubric and a short time period does not provide any insight into the student's abilities to write and think. They should give them the time and the standards provided by the AP Lang test. That would be a better test of unedited writing.
PS- just in case you think I am biased against the test for personal reasons, S earned an 800 on the SAT writing.</p>
<p>
[quote]
And if you look at MIT's site you will see that they ignore the writing section.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>MIT deviates from several peer institutions in doing this. There are a LOT of colleges that regard the writing section of the new three-section SAT. Plenty of colleges, of course, specify their own essay questions as part of the application process.</p>
<p>curious:</p>
<p>the only thing I disagree with on your post #32 is that the student would recieve an F in an english class. Given the time constraints, this essay is not that bad: it followed the rules, took a position, and gave three supporting arguments for that position (even if they were short on facts--no different than nearly every politician), and was long, and was the typical HS five paragraph essay. (Of course, such 5-par HS-style essays won't cut it at many selective colleges, but that is not the point of the rubric, which is whether they can write a quality HS essay, not a creative one nor a college-level one. Our HS does not offer AP Lang, btw.)</p>
<p>And, the Writing test is not new -- it was just reformatted from the former Writing Subject Test. Thus, the studies are not 'so-called' - they have plenty of years of data to review since the UCs required the former Writing Subject Test.</p>
<p>Caltech probably ignores the Writing test, too, and many other math-tech schools...</p>
<p>(btw: I'm willing to bet most high school english teachers wouldn't spell FDR's middle name correctly either.)</p>
<p>I guess I just don't get the venom directed at the writing section. To me it is the most pragmatic and justifiable of all the sections of the SAT. Also, like math, quite coachable. Why all the outrage? Why would an MIT professor waste his time in such a silly way? My own kids are very verbal, very good writers (awards, selective summer programs, peak scores on AP and subject tests in English) and they do not object at all to the SAT writing section. For them it's pretty straightforward, not a huge insult to their literary sensibilities.</p>
<p>How on earth can that essay demonstrate strong critical thinking? It is obvious that the writer did not even think when writing it, but just wrote a long essay full of fancy words, some of which were even misspelt.</p>
<p>Again, the only issue in an ordinal scoring scale is whether other essays were even worse--they surely were.</p>
<p>Can I just echo what an earlier poster mentioned. I think the biggest problem with the essay section is that they put a student in a foreign classroom filled with strangers, at the onset of a critical, future determining multiple choice exam, at eight in the morning on a Saturday, and expect that student to produce, explain, and justify a knee-jerk reaction on a random and possibly inane topic (Do we still need heros? Why or why not?). When I took it, my hands were numb from the cold, and I was preoccupied reciting the random equations needed for the math section. I didn't give a damn about the topic on offer. All I wanted to write about was how deep my disdain was for its assumptions, and how useless any four paragraph essay would be if it attempted a good faith answer. I can only right well if I have something to say, and the SAT penalized that.</p>
<p>Also, I would have gotten a perfect score had I received a decent essay score, but I'm not bitter. I'm sour.</p>
<p>You cannot always determine the circumstances and topic of your writing assignment. If you require that in order to write well, then it is a good thing that is revealed by the SAT. The SAT essay is most valuable, IMO, for providing a reality check for the application essays, many of which are heavily edited and doctored by a cast of professionals, teachers, parents, etc. Even within the high school English curriculum there is much browbeating and working the system over grades on writing. It is very tough for an English teacher to give a deserved C or B to a loud, assertive kid with loud, assertive parents. Much harder than in math or science, which is graded far more objectively. I think many of these classroom bullies and their parents get a calling out by the real time no net high wire act of the SAT esssay. A very good development in the interest of fairness and literacy.</p>