<p>I got a 5 on the AP English Lang exam last year, and it wasn't because I was outstanding on the multiple choice, its because my essays were excellent. Rewind to earlier in the month of May, and I got a 10 on the SAT essay. I;d been told to throw out the AP style good writing, and go back to boring, simple 5 paragraph, Jane Schaffer format. I did so, and got a respectable 10. I still don't understand though how I could get perfect on a college level mastery exam, but not on the SAT? Should I write like I did for the AP exam, or keep going with Schaffer? Also, I only have 4 points in my dominant hand, which makes my hand writing appear somewhat sloppy. It's not that big a deal, and didnt keep me from getting a 5 on the AP Exam, but could my sloppy handwriting possibly have made a difference if I was on the fence between a 5 and a 6 from each of my 2 graders?</p>
<p>well handwriting is not supposed to affect your score.. but if its too messy, i guess the reader will have difficulty understanding the essay, which might translate into a lowe score</p>
<p>First, I wouldn't call a 5 on the AP English exam a "perfect" score; a five only indicates that you were in the highest scoring range. </p>
<p>I also got a 5 on AP but only received a 9 on my essay, partly because I hadn't practiced writing under such a short time-limit. I've written several practice essays since then, in the 5-paragraph cookie cutter format, since the strict time limit doesn't allow for much creativity, and I hope to bring up my score Oct 8.</p>
<p>So I don't really have any expertise except to say that I feel a lot better prepared now after writing several practice essays in the 5-paragraph format. I would recommend you do the same if you haven't already. As for handwriting...I don't really know, but I doubt it would impact your score unless they just cannot read what you're writing.</p>
<p>Handwriting definitely isn't an issue, or at least for me it wasn't. My handwriting is normally neat but the day I wrote my SAT essay I was so nervous my hands were shaking- my essay look like a crazy person who had escaped an insane asylum wrote it. And I still got a 12. </p>
<p>I think the key to the SAT essay is what you put in the essay. I brought in a lot of philosophical ideas: Nietzsche, Sartre etc. whereas other people I know who brought in more personal experience tended to score <10. The structure is less important as what you are trying to say. I think they tend to like the references to literature and current events. I wrote general 5 paragraph format.</p>
<p>Good tips scarlet. I quoted machivelli, and referenced Othello, MLK, and McCarthyism. My Othello example was possibly a little extraneous though, and my ending wasnt stellar since my proctor didnt warn me when I had 1 minute left. I think I can get a 12 if I fix a couple of kinks. Not dropping from my total writing score of 740 though is a different issue.</p>