Frozen in the middle of CR & Please grade my essay?

<p>I just took my first “Official” SAT test, or at least tried to, but I froze up on section 2 of the CR reading passages. I cannot seem to understand what they are saying and they are way difficult than what I’m used to reading (BNW, Catch 22, and other novels). When I come across a word in the CR that I don’t know, I get stumped. I just cannot grasp even the meaning of the passage and what it’s trying to convey. What should I do? </p>

<p>I plan on reading 1 of these passages everyday without time and answer the questions. However, if I do that, will I be out of official tests to take afterwards? Do you guys practice on real tests or PR, Kaplan, etc. tests?</p>

<p>I’m just having the most trouble with CR, I got a 46 on my PSAT. I got a 52 on my writing… and I’m trying to aim for UCB/UCLA. Usually, when I read, I like to read slow and look up words and digest the meaning of the passage. However, I know I can’t do that on SATs. =[ Help?</p>

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<p>Here’s my first official SAT essay that I did in 25 min…
I took around 4-5 min on outlining and spent the rest just writing. I ran out of time for a complete conclusion. Had no time to doublecheck for spelling/grammar errors. Decent to Poor hand writing but I can read it okay. Wow, I’m going to have to work hard to beat the SAT. =P</p>

<p>Prompt: Is the world changing for the better? Plan and write an essay in which you develop your point of view on this issue. Support your position with reasoning and examples take from your reading, studies, experience, or observations.</p>

<p>Unfortunately, the world today is not changing for the better. The changing of the world involves the loss of the “human element.” The elements of love, laughter, and compassion. The change is mostly caused by the dominant creature, humans. With our busy lives, we try to focus on the quantity rather than the quality. We try to multi-task with the use of technology. Instead of living to change the world for the better, we live to change technology to make our lives easier. This technology affects not only the “human element” in us but everything else in the world as well: the environment and the other creatures that live on earth.</p>

<p>Rather than using technology as a tool we change them so we can be virtually dependent on them. For example, who does not own a cell phone nowadays? Talking on the phone blocks the animated one-on-one interaction: our hand gestures, facial expressions, and all of our five senses. We do everyone on our phones now. We listen to music, play games, and even look at the news! We choose to spend more time with metal and plastic that with other people. </p>

<p>Another example of change that barricades the world’s human element is the use of email and instant messaging. Don’t’ we all love sending short and quick instant messages to one another? We choose to open 15 messenger boxes at a time and switch back and forth. What even happened to “snail mail?” Today, the world has changed because people do not wish to dedicate their time and efforts into writing letters.The change of technology not only annihilates the human element but it also destoryes habitats and environments where other creates live. More and more animals become extinct from pollution and habitat damages. </p>

<p>Clearly, the world is not changing for the better, but for ourselves. To make our</p>

<p>When you said that talking on the cell phone doesn’t apply any of the five senses, I laughed. </p>

<p>You should take an SAT class or something.</p>

<p>Yeah, I just wrote whatever came to my mind. I know that I need improvement. lol I’m astonished by how you CCers write so well in 25 minutes. I need to practice more timed essays. =P What score would you give it though?</p>

<p>you got weak examples, incorrect grammar, sentence fragments, and a weak conclusion. 6 or 7</p>

<p>Wow, okay. I was excepting that lol. How do I combine my essay score to my overall writing score? How many points is the essay worth? I know it is out of 12 but I would like to know how much it is out of 800. Thanks.</p>

<p>Also, does anyone have a good writing/grammar book they could reccomend? I need to brush up on a few grammar concepts and I really need to practice pacing…</p>

<p>Do they only provide you 2 pages to write your essay on? What if you need more room? I filled up roughly 1 and 1/2 pages. Is that good length or should I fill the whole thing up?</p>

<p>I have huge handwriting and filled about 1.5 pages, and I wound up with a 10/12 (no conclusion, even…). So length isn’t that important – it’s quality of writing.</p>

<p>I’ve read somewhere that even if you have good quality, if you don’t have good length you won’t get a perfect score. So is 1.5 pages + good quality good for 10+?</p>

<p>you started well in the introduction…but the body was a little weak…probably because of the examples about phones and instant message did not really match the serious tone of your intro…just in my opinion…that is how i felt…i give it a 8 or 10 </p>

<p>sorry for the indecisiveness…i am not an expert on grading these essays…</p>

<p>please check my essay > i need help on improving ><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showthread.php?t=378176&highlight=essay[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showthread.php?t=378176&highlight=essay&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;