I have heard conflicting views regarding the type of essays which are successful. Some say that more organic, flowing essays without overly pedantic or esoteric vocabulary are worthy of a score of “6,” whereas others say that essays should be be filled with at least 3 well placed higher level vocabulary, and should sound sophisticated, even to to the point of appearing artificial, and pedantic. Does anyone know a tried and tested style of writing that is successful?
Well not the vocabulary driven attempt to sound sophisticated.
I used the “3 examples” rule for my essay, and I got a 10, however, I didn’t use a lot of vocabulary. What I did was write mine in a very standardized way (intro, 3 bodies, conclusion). Personally, I hate writing this way, but it got me a good score so I guess I’m happy that I did it the way that I did.
P.S; About the vocab thing, if you plan on using high level vocab, make sure (like 100% sure) that you’re using the word correctly. It won’t look good if the person reading your essay thinks that you’re just putting random words in there just for the sake of sounding 'sophisticated". But if you do use it correctly, it might be able to push you on the edge from a 5 to a 6.
Most of my higher level vocabulary words are just adjectives and synonyms of commonly used words like "absolute,: and “example.”
How much of a factor is handwriting in the essay grade… I have heard that many essay graders skim the essay and do not read full detail, so is can handwriting be a critical factor in determining the score?
QUANTITY OVER QUALITY ALWAYS. You can write the best essay in the world but if its only 1 page you are not getting higher than a 9. I write very crappy essays with imaginary examples (2 examples minimum though) BUT I make sure I write two full pages (literally there is no more space to write) and I have never gotten lower than a 10 (I have never even written a practice essay, trust me on this)