<p>Not to detract from the really excellent advice that AcademicHacker has shared in the thread with the related title, but . . . </p>
<p>The key piece of advice that I’d give to a good writer who wants a 12 comes from a 2003 New York Times article by Tamar Lewin (6/11/2003, p. A25 of the national edition). Lewin signed up to grade SAT essays, after 25 years of experience as a journalist–and I think she knows good writing.</p>
<p>Here’s the advice: You do NOT need to address the prompt globally, philosophically, and abstractly. Lewin described a high-scoring calibration essay produced in response to this prompt: “The world is getting better all the time.” The student writer used two examples to argue that the world was becoming worse, “one about Clear Channel Communications and how it prevented its radio stations from broadcasting Rage Against the Machine after the Sept. 11 attacks and the other about how the New York Regents exam had been sanitized for political correctness.” Lewin initially gave this essay a 3. All of the other scorers rated it a 6.</p>
<p>When Lewin’s grading was out of line with that of the more experienced scorers, she “seem[ed] to be looking for some attempt to deliver a full disquisition on whether the world is getting better.” That is not what CB wants. Rather, she wrote, “they are looking for competent writing that glances at the larger questions,” even if the focus is quite narrow and the supporting examples are purely literary.</p>
<p>I think that most test-takers now know to follow the two-or-three examples rule. </p>
<p>But if you are a good writer, and you’ve written something that is Emersonian, abstract, and concise–and then been surprised by your score (on the low side), I hope that this commentary will be helpful to keep in mind.</p>
<p>(And now I can finally throw away that old newspaper clipping.)</p>