Grade my essay please!

Harlequin4Heart
Sun, 02 Aug 2015 18:07:54 +0000

Here are my thoughts while I was reading your essay (they are chronological):

Watch your grammar (example: “Although shortcuts are favorable, it limits and causes…” should be “Although shortcuts are favorable, they limit and cause…”); you also introduce the pronoun “we” in your second paragraph, which ruins your grammatical consistency.

“Math in high school” seems like a very vague example after only reading your thesis, but your second example seems great!

Simply writing “log” shows that YOU are taking the easy way out, which contradicts your stance in your thesis! Fully write out logarithm(s), and as a note for the future, practice/make sure that your writing style does not contradict the content of your essay.

You have a great transition to your second example, but within your third paragraph, you seem to be rushing. Also, malnutrition being an “easy way out” seems subjective.

Great conclusion!

So, your strength seems to be in your introduction/conclusion, which is good because for most people, this is the most difficult part of the SAT essay. For your body paragraphs, try coming up with a list of universal examples that can be used for any prompt beforehand. Having a general list of specific examples beforehand is how I think you can improve the quality of your examples the most. Also, check out these resources:

http://blog.prepscholar.com/how-to-get-a-12-on-the-sat-essay

http://blog.prepscholar.com/6-sat-essay-examples-to-answer-every-prompt

I would give this essay a 9/12.

You should pay more attention to grammar than in trying to come up with a third example; good writing follows the maxim, “quality over quantity.” So, to answer your final question, you should strive for at least two, well-developed and clear examples. I have seen a few essays with 2 examples that have scored a 12/12. However, I sometimes find that it helps to push my brain to think of three examples at the beginning to really come up with two great examples. If you can do three examples, definitely do three, but often times to think og three amazing examples, a lot of practice (perhaps starting with 2 examples) is necessary.