<p>Although I never wrote a practice essay when I was studying, the SAT essay rewards formulaic writing and doesn’t care much for style or prose. I’m a pretty good writer but I got 10s both times. I never bothered to find out exactly what collegeboard wanted in its essays and I never will, since I’m content with my Nov. scores.</p>
<p>I would say just work on your MC score, as a perfect MC score pretty much negates a sub-par essay. I got 78/80 MC and 10 essays on both the Oct. and Nov. tests and ended up with an 800 and 790. </p>
<p>With a perfect MC and an 8-9 essay, you’ll end up with a 780-800 typically. 80 MC and 9 essay is usually an 800, but it depends on the test too.</p>