<p>So, I’ve begun studying for the SAT this summer and took my first real test today: the supplied one on College Board. I was surprised to see that my essay received a grade of 12 given that it was my first attempt at an SAT essay. I struggled to come up with good examples and only used two, and now that I read it, it certainly looks a far way off of perfect. So with that I ask, how reliable is the e-rater? Here is the essay I wrote for anyone wondering.</p>
<p>Prompt:Do people accomplish more when they are allowed to do things in their own way?</p>
<p>People tend to accomplish more when they follow their own orders instead of conforming to those ideas around them. This idea can be justified when examining the United States in the interwar period, as well as Shakespeare’s Othello. </p>
<p>After World War I, the United States, being one of the allied victors, was expected to, like the other winning countries, join and co-found the newly created League of Nations as an attempt to keep peace around the world and stop another global war from breaking out. However, instead, the U.S. adopted a policy of isolationism, staying away from foreign affairs and working on self development. By not following what the rest of the winning pact was doing, and instead doing things her own way, the US went into one of her most successful periods in history, the roaring 20s. In this period, the US was firing on all cylinders: cars now became common items for the average, middle class man, early signs of gender equality were coming into fruition, and economically, the U.S. was making a lot of money due to tariffs that limited imports. This was all able to happen because the U.S. took it upon herself to do things her own way rather than following what the other allied victors were doing. </p>
<p>The idea that more is accomplished by doing things in the your own manner is also seen in Othello by Shakespeare by observing how <em>not</em> having full control of what he was doing led to Othello’s downfall. To begin the play, Othello is at his peak, having married his love and having obtained the respect of all the Venetians around him despite him being a foreigner. However, once he begins listening to Iago, the play’s antagonist, everything begins spiraling downwards–he is now no longer in control of his own actions. From the point he meets Iago, it is essentially Iago who is in control of Othello’s life. This is seen by the series of unfortunate events that take place henceforth. Firstly, Othello discharges his lieutenant Michael Cassio, a man who was so close to him, because of Iago. Then, he slowly starts to lose his sanity since Iago’s nailed it in his head that Cassio had slept with Othello’s beautiful, Venetian wife, Desdemona. Ultimately, the final result of Othello not being able to do things his own way is that he murders his own wife, and after finding out that Cassio had not slept with his wife, he murders himself as well. And all this was because of Iago. At the end of the play, a nobleman even remarks to Iago that this was his work, while he points to Othello and Desdemona lying dead in their bed. It’s evident that the reason this all happened was because Othello was not allowed to do things his own way. If he were allowed to, the subsequent, unfortunate events would have never occurred.</p>
<p>After analyzing how being in control during the interwar period led to the U.S experiencing one of her most successful periods to date, and how not being in control led to the death of Othello and his wife in Shakespeare’s Othello, it’s clear that people tend to accomplish more when they are allowed to do things in their own way. Standing out and doing things in a manner that doesn’t conform to what the masses are doing is what’s helped develop our society to where it is today.</p>