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Anecdote about the SAT writing test: D #1 was in the first class that had to take the new SAT. Her first writing score was in the 400's; I don't remember her essay score but it was very low. She is a very strong writer, but that means she goes through multiple revisions and her class papers are well researched, well crafted, and well reasoned. Her second SAT was even lower than her first so we enrolled her in a Kaplan class, which she hated. Her practice tests were all lousy too--towards the end of the class she was expressing frustration that she worked so hard on her essays; she knew they were good--what was the problem? We started picking apart her approach; it turned out that she was using techniques she'd learned in her AP English class and was pushing beyond the 5 paragraph box. We actually told her to go back to the essay structure she'd learned in EIGHTH GRADE--simple, formulaic five paragraph essay. Don't try anything sophisticated--dumb it down we told her. She was skeptical. She took the SAT a third time and did an 8th grade level 5 paragraph essay. The result was a SAT writing score just over 700.
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<p>Mombot, with all due respect, may I suggest to check the SAT Writing scoring methodology?</p>
<p>Frankly, I do not understand how a STRONG writer could score in the 400's. Why? You cannot be a strong writer and do well in an AP English class without a pretty good mastery of grammar. As everyone familiar with the scoring of the SAT writing knows, the essay accounts for a minority percentage of the score. </p>
<p>The remaining of the test consists of VERY simple mechanical questions ... questions that should extirely trivial to someone who was considered prepared enough to start an AP class. After all, we are talking about 9th grade grammar, and not the type of questions that would show up in an AP Lit test. </p>
<p>Fwiw, the difference between a very good SAT essay and a pretty bad one is about 100 points. While a score of 6 requires a well composed essay, it takes a gargantuan effort in ineptitude to score below a 3. That is why the majority of people score between 7 and 10, with an average of 7.2. All that is needed is paying a bit of attention to the instructions offered by TCB. Despite their inherent limitations, the instructions are pretty straightforward ... or as cynic might call them simplistic and formulaic. </p>
<p>All in all, while it's true that the SAT Writing is a HUGE waste of time, the problem is not that it is so hard to beat. For students whose SAT socres truly matters, the SAT Writing is a mere exercise in yawning.</p>
<p>PS According to TCB, only 8 percent of essays were identified as using the typical five-paragraph essay structure.</p>