<p>Hi, all. I just took the online practice SAT on the College Board’s website, and it gave me a 12 on my essay. I was wondering how reliable the system actually is, and as such, have decided to ask what an actual human grader may have given my essay. Thanks in advance!</p>
<p>The prompt was “Do people accomplish more when they are allowed to do things in their own way? Plan and write an essay in which you develop your point of view on this issue. Support your position with reasoning and examples taken from your reading, studies, experience, or observations.”</p>
<p>My response is below:</p>
<p>“Due to society’s incredibly goal-oriented nature, it often becomes difficult to make novel contributions to the world while operating within a pre-established framework. Indeed, true societal advancement can only occur through individuals’ pushing the boundaries of what is accepted at the time.
For instance, the independence of research is the basis of new discoveries in the sciences. In the field of neurodegenerative diseases, for instance, much still remains unknown about the most fundamental factors that actually result in such afflictions. However, recently, I interned under a professor at Stanford, who, although previously criticized for researching a certain protein that was thought to be completely irrelevant to the disease ALS, has actually used that research to determine that, in the face of conventional wisdom, the misfolding of this protein is actually the most important factor that causes the disease. Moreover, in a review of literature, a type of study that is often considered inconsequential, the same group concluded that understanding such protein misfolding will provide a more basic understanding for how all neurodegenerative disorders affect their victims. This professor’s group would not have made such an important contribution to determining how ALS is caused if they had not been granted the funding to research their independently developed ideas about the pathogenesis of the disease.
Furthermore, if someone is motivated to achieve a certain goal, he will typically do so in whatever way he can. Often, the existing guidelines for performing certain actions are incredibly restrictive and allow little room for individualism, but if an innovative individual manages to find a way to improve on the existing system, he often outperforms his peers. One such inefficient set of rules manifests in the average person’s sleep patterns. Everyday, after getting back from school, most students typically bounce between their homework and their social media profiles until as late as midnight, or even two in the morning. However, because I return home at seven in the evening, exhausted from a three hour long water polo practice, I typically eat dinner and sleep from about seven-thirty to four-thirty. When I awake rejuvenated from my deep slumber, I am able to quickly finish my homework by six-thirty and be ready to leave the house by seven, as the countless people who would distract me on the internet are still asleep and thus of no consequence. In the process, I can not only sleep longer than most of my peers, improving my performance in class, but also improve my real-life, face-to-face bonds with my peers, as I cannot rely on Facebook as a substitute for them.
Thus, when people are allowed to do things on their own terms, they often discover new ways to do them that improve both their own life and even the societies they live in.”</p>