Nissi Posted February 16, 2012 Share Posted February 16, 2012 Ds. did great and we are very happy with his scores and are not thinking of repeating the test but would like to know how to improve writing scores. He had an essay score of 8/12 in 7th, 10th, and in 11th grade! He has definitely improved his writing skills in general but has somehow failed to improve his SAT essay scores. Can anyone recommend courses/classes etc. which you have found helpful? Would like to do things differently with his sibling for writing. I don't know how to help in this area. Thanks for any input. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1Togo Posted February 16, 2012 Share Posted February 16, 2012 Bravewriter's Timed Essay course is excellent. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Barbara H Posted February 16, 2012 Share Posted February 16, 2012 How was his overall writing score? The multiple choice portion of the writing test is worth 70% of the overall score and the essay just 30%. So, working on the multiple choice questions may actually be a better way to improve his scores. SAT essay writing is a very specific part of writing. One thing I've found helps students is reading more about how the essays are graded - they are read very quickly. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nissi Posted February 16, 2012 Author Share Posted February 16, 2012 (edited) His overall writing score was 780. His MCQ scores were perfect. I was just wondering why his essay scores never improved over the years. Thanks for the suggestions. Edited February 16, 2012 by Nissi Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Musicmom Posted February 16, 2012 Share Posted February 16, 2012 How was his overall writing score? The multiple choice portion of the writing test is worth 70% of the overall score and the essay just 30%. So, working on the multiple choice questions may actually be a better way to improve his scores. :iagree:Both my kids got high writing scores by focussing on this part of the test (grammar, usage, word choice, etc.) In fact, you can get 8/12 on the essay and still get an 800 on the entire writing section--just by doing really well on the multiple choice (I think you can miss something like 2 and still get the 800.) My kids worked really hard on their essays too (for months in fact) and were never able to get higher than 8/12. They were really bummed, but I am fine with it. 8 is a good score. Frankly, I think it's very hard to achieve the really high scores on the essay unless the student thrives in that SAT essay environment. I think it takes a lot of writing aptitude and experience, a broad knowledge base from which to draw examples, the ability to think quickly, and the ability to produce large volumes of cogent and powerful writing quickly--plus a certain amount of luck in the topic that gets thrown at them on the test. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
angela in ohio Posted February 16, 2012 Share Posted February 16, 2012 Can you pinpoint the reason for the 8? Did he run out of time? Did he have trouble coming up with material/examples? Does he struggle with vocabulary? Does he need practice with outlining? Transitions? Grammar and spelling? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nissi Posted February 16, 2012 Author Share Posted February 16, 2012 Can you pinpoint the reason for the 8? Did he run out of time? Did he have trouble coming up with material/examples? Does he struggle with vocabulary? Does he need practice with outlining? Transitions? Grammar and spelling? Ds. does not know why. The only possibility he offered was that it was not specific enough to the topic. I guess we'll know when they make it available online later. Today, only the scores are up on the website. Ds. had a perfect score on CR and so his vocab. is good. His grammar is usually good too. I don't know. Like Music mom remarked 8 is a good score. Perhaps his essay was not exceptional. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
angela in ohio Posted February 16, 2012 Share Posted February 16, 2012 Goodness, now I want to know his math score!! Congratulations on the CR and Writing. :D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nynyny Posted February 16, 2012 Share Posted February 16, 2012 (edited) http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/sat-preparation/645763-how-write-12-essay-just-10-days.html Worked for my kids. Edited February 16, 2012 by nynyny bad link Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Barbara H Posted February 17, 2012 Share Posted February 17, 2012 If he's at an 800 in CR and a 780 in writing, his verbal scores are fantastic. If he's retaking to fix a weak math score, it makes sense. However, retaking it for the essay really isn't going to serve a purpose. He's already got a 99%tile score. Colleges by and large know that the SAT essay isn't a particularly good measure of writing ability. Some schools ignore it entirely and others use it just as a very rough confirmation of what they see in the student's application. So, if the student has an essay score of two and the essay they submit reads like it was written by a Pulitzer Prize winner it causes some suspicion. Just to keep perspective your son didn't bomb it, he got an eight and his overall writing score is a 99%tile score. Your son may find this interesting: http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/ConsumerNews/teen-student-finds-longer-sat-essay-equals-score/story?id=12061494#.Tz2rqLRCz3s Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nissi Posted February 17, 2012 Author Share Posted February 17, 2012 Barbara, thanks for the ABC article. As I said in my first post we are happy with his scores and he is not planning to retake the test but was just puzzled about his 8/12 SAT essay score in 7th grade (for Talent Search Program), 10th grade, and now in Jan. in 11th grade. Yes, the article does put things in perspective. NYNY, thanks for the college confidential link. I am saving it for future reference. Angela in OH, thanks. His math score is 760. It was somewhat unexpected. He thought he would get a perfect on his Math and lower scores for CR. Anyhow, all of us are very thankful for his scores. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
angela in ohio Posted February 17, 2012 Share Posted February 17, 2012 Angela in OH, thanks. His math score is 760. It was somewhat unexpected. He thought he would get a perfect on his Math and lower scores for CR. Anyhow, all of us are very thankful for his scores. Amazing! :hurray: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
snowbeltmom Posted February 17, 2012 Share Posted February 17, 2012 Angela in OH, thanks. His math score is 760. It was somewhat unexpected. He thought he would get a perfect on his Math and lower scores for CR. Anyhow, all of us are very thankful for his scores. That is awesome! Congratulations!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Barbara H Posted February 17, 2012 Share Posted February 17, 2012 Oh sorry, missed that he wasn't planning to retake. No 800 on Reading for me today. Bravo on such great scores! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Therese Posted February 17, 2012 Share Posted February 17, 2012 :iagree: In fact, you can get 8/12 on the essay and still get an 800 on the entire writing section--just by doing really well on the multiple choice (I think you can miss something like 2 and still get the 800.) While that may be true for some sessions (or dates) of the SAT, I don't think it applies universally for every time the test is administered. The number of answers one can miss and still score an 800 on a given section of the test varies each time the test is given. The College Board people have their desired bell curve and they make sure that there's always the same percentage of test takers that get a given score. So, if the test on a given date is "harder" (fewer test takers miss none, or one, or even two of the questions), it's possible to get an 800 even though the taker missed two questions. OTOH, if the test is "easier" on a certain date, only those who answered every one of the questions correctly will get a perfect score. Sometimes missing just one question will result in a score of 770 for that part of the test. As for the essay, it's pretty formulaic. You need to have a clear thesis statement in the first paragraph, three paragraphs illustrating the thesis and a concluding paragraph. The introductory and concluding paragraphs don't have to be long - two or three sentences will do. Studies have shown that longer essays do tend to score higher, so try to write a lot! As for content, I had my children study the prompts from past tests and use them develop a list of people from history and literature that they could use as examples to illustrate a variety of ideas similar to the ones in those prompts. After writing responses to about a half-dozen past SAT essay prompts, my daughter figured out that Frederick Douglas would be a pretty universal person to use as an example. Sure enough, when she took the test last spring, she was able to use him. I can't remember what she used for the other examples. She got a 10 on the essay and an 800 overall on the writing section. She was happy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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