<p>Things that should never be disccused in SAT essays</p>
<p>Did anyone get a particularly low score on your SAT essay because you dared to discuss some controversial topics? I know some people and incidents just don't strike the right chord for SAT readers...I think it's helpful if we shared them. I almost talked about Hitler in a positive light on my June SAT...Almost.</p>
<p>Untouchable topics:
-Exalting Communists/Communism
-Success of the Third Reich (...which fell)
-Lauding Hitler
-Prague Spring
-Oppenheimer Project being successful
-Birds and bees</p>
<p>Please add to this list :)</p>
<p>I did better on an essay comparing myself to Holden Caufield than when I said academics are the most important part of a high school. Makes sense /yawn</p>
<p>I find this topic funny. :) Well, there're lots on the "ban list". I'd add:</p>
<p>-boasting on your grandfather's notorious slaughters during the civil war :P
-condemning jews and explicitly saying you wish you could kill them all
-Iraqi war
-praising 9/11 attacks</p>
<p>Forest Gump quotes, namely the chocolate one.</p>
<p>The benefits of genocide.
Why white supremacy is ethically correct.
Explaining the greatest hoax of the 20th century: the Holocaust.</p>
<p>You don't actually believe it's a hoax, though, do you??</p>
<p>*giving kudos to Osama B.</p>
<p>I was just there, believe me, it wasnt.</p>
<p>affirmative action;the plight of the white middle class</p>
<p>one of the top-scoring essays in the blue book (page 198) describes how "the confederacy was defending its way of life" in the civil war. i don't think you'd get graded down for defending a repugnant position. as a practical matter, it's difficult to imagine a well-written and persuasive defense of somebody like hitler. on the other hand, since there's no penalty for making up facts, i guess you could maybe even get away with it. if the thinking in the essay is clear, i don't think pearson could get away with grading you down for it. that's just conjecture, of course.</p>
<p>if i didn't have much better things to do, i'd volunteer to try it on a real test as an experiment.</p>
<p>No I don't believe the Holocaust was a hoax, but a lot of people do.</p>
<p>For further reading: <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holocaust_denial%5B/url%5D">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holocaust_denial</a>.</p>
<p>Touching on "experimenting with an essay," has anyone actually made up events for their essay? Someone posted a link about how to prepare for the SAT essay, and it said to make up three events and use them as your three examples. Sounds risky. Anyone try it?</p>
<p>i made up two of the three i used and got a 12. the college board doesn't allow itself to grade you on the factual accuracy of your evidence or examples--if they did that, they'd be putting students from bad schools at a disadvantage. all that matters is whether the evidence you cite supports your argument, not whether it's actually true. also, the blue book has top-scoring essays with personal examples that seem to be made up.</p>
<p>Making up personal events is perfectly fine for obvious reasons. I guess if you make up historical facts, the readers will probably not catch it since they take only like 3 minutes to go over your essay. As long as you don't say something like James Monroe was the first president of the United States...making up stuff wouldn't hurt you.</p>
<p>Don't use trite experiences though. Make sure your "experience" somehow relates to the topic and remains coherent to your argument.</p>
<p>actually, even if it was that bad, they can't penalize you, according to what i hear from the pearson's graders i know. there's also this quote from the nyt article "ON EDUCATION; SAT Essay Test Rewards Length And Ignores Errors of
Fact":</p>
<p>"He was also struck by all the factual errors in even the top essays. An essay on the Civil War, given a perfect six, describes the nation being changed forever by the ''firing of two shots at Fort Sumter in late 1862.'' (Actually, it was in early 1861, and, according to ''Battle Cry of Freedom'' by James M. McPherson, it was ''33 hours of bombardment by 4,000 shot and shells.'')</p>
<p>"Dr. Perelman contacted the College Board and was surprised to learn that on the new SAT essay, students are not penalized for incorrect facts. The official guide for scorers explains: ''Writers may make errors in facts or information that do not affect the quality of their essays. For example, a writer may state 'The American Revolution began in 1842' or '''Anna Karenina,'' a play by the French author Joseph Conrad, was a very upbeat literary work.''' (Actually, that's 1775; a novel by the Russian Leo Tolstoy; and poor Anna hurls herself under a train.) No matter. ''You are scoring the writing, and not the correctness of facts.''</p>
<p>"How to prepare for such an essay? ''I would advise writing as long as possible,'' said Dr. Perelman, ''and include lots of facts, even if they're made up.'' This, of course, is not what he teaches his M.I.T. students. ''It's exactly what we don't want to teach our kids,'' he said."</p>
<p>[new york times, 4 may 2005]</p>