<p>My 8th grader got a 2 and a 3 on the essay (5 total). He had a beautifully written intro paragraph, but couldn't think of any examples. My older son didn't do much better the first time a 3 and a 4 (7 total) despite what seemed to me a perfectly serviceable five paragraph essay. I really think they took off for handwriting and Star Trek examples. He did Kaplan where they regularly gave him 1s and 2s on practice essays with no comments. It made me furious that not only were they not helpful they were just plain wrong - I saw those essays. While they weren't going to garner top scores, they weren't abysmal. He got a 9 on the essay the second time round. He's not a fast writer and hates the sort of off the cuff writing the SAT requires. I was fine with the final score. I'm not an enemy of the essay though I do think the scoring is a bit capricious.</p>