I usually get 12's on my essays, and when i took the SAT's in June i thought the promt was pretty easy, and i thought i had done fairly well, only to learn that i had gotten a 9, the lowest score i've ever gotten on an essay. did anybody else have any big dissapointments? does anyone know what they're looking for in these essays where you only have two pages and 25 minutes to explain yourself??
Answers
Keep in mind that the essay scoring process is, at the end of the day, still subjective. I believe 2 sets of eyes look at each paper -- they individually score it and then average their responses to calc your total essay score. So, perhaps your score, if looked at by any other two graders, could have resulted in a 10, 11, or 12. Take this score with a grain of salt, especially since you're used to scoring high.
I read somewhere that graders, on average, spend 1-2 minutes reading each essay, so they are looking for very specific things. That said, it is important to make sure you hit all of the key checkpoints to ensure a high score. To name a few: 1. catchy intro, 2. strong thesis, 3. good transitions and topic sentences, 4. well-thought-out support sentences, 5. strong conclusion, etc. If you work on those areas and build up your proficiency in hitting all of those checkpoints in 25 min, I don't see why you can't go from a 9 to a 12 on your next test.
My scores from May were like that. Got an 8, when I usually score a 10/11.