<p>My S got an 11 on his first SAT (7th grade) and didn’t do as well on the essay either of the two other times he took it (he got a 7 the next year, and a 10 on his final SAT, which he took this past December). I don’t know that anything “prevented” him from getting a 12; I was astonished that he’d gotten an 11!</p>
<p>The atrocious handwriting theory would work for me except that his handwriting was likely as atrocious each time. So the essay score is totally baffling to me.</p>
<p>I imagine that readers generally don’t give out many 6s; a 5 is a good score, too. You’d have to have two readers, neither of which is likely to be handing out 6s often, concur that yes, this essay deserves that top, hard-to-hand-out top score of 6 to snare the elusive 12. So … some of it probably comes down to odds!</p>