SATan's Essay

The essay section of the new SAT is not only inappropriate for a SAT type of test, it is plain lunacy. I'm not going to give you some Leland Chargers Tribune crap about this. I'm going to give you what I believe everyone else should believe.

The SAT is supposed to measure a student's knowledge of basic math and reading. These are areas of knowledge that can be accurately measured. There is only one right answer in math, and generally one best answer on the verbal sections. The essay portion of the test does not fit into the black and white area of right and wrong. There are too many factors that go into determining an essay's score to have this score truly mean anything. A student, such as myself, should not have to suffer because one of these factors went awry.

Essays have to be written in a mere 25 minutes. This is not adequate time for a true essay to be completed. Sure, some people are capable of churning out a 25 minute piece, but with more time, others may be able to write a better essay then the first person. Has speed become so embedded in our every day lives that essays must be scribbled out with minimal thought? Do you see college applications being written in 25 minutes? Or even double that, 50 minutes? A good essay needs time to mature. Time is needed so the essay can be cleaned up, proofread, added to, and finalized.

Collegeboard acknowledges that they are not looking for a finalized essay. They know that with the time given, only a rough draft essay is feasible. Well, here comes the major flaw. Hey! Rough drafts are not supposed to be graded! That’s why they are rough drafts in the first place. Authors are not judged on their preliminary work, so why should students be judged on their rough drafts?

The SAT score is a major part of determining whether or not you get into the college you want. Why should your future be decided on a rough draft? Don't colleges want to know what you are capable of doing, not what you can do in 25 minutes? They aren't expecting you to do all your college work in 25 minutes are they? Or maybe they see a future in people who write fast?

And then comes along the fact that no two graders grade alike. Sure, they have a rubric and are trained on how to grade. And Collegeboard, being smarter than I gave them credit for, has two graders with a third grader coming in if scores differ too much. But! But! But don't tell me that it isn't possible for one grader to give a score of say, 4 and the other grader giving a score of 5. Maybe you really deserved two 4's. Or maybe two 5's. But who knows? Essays are too hard to grade. Since when does a humorous essay earn extra points on an essay? People are fickle. They might hate me just because of my handwriting or superior, but distinct, writing style.

Now I'm not saying that I have a solution to this problem. The only thing I can come up with is to have everyone who takes the SAT to send hate mail to SAT HQ. And make sure that they're all Howlers ( Harry Potter allusion right there, oo i'm learning!). Also, I'm not griping because I received a near 0 score on my essay. I just think it’s wrong. Comma. Oops, I mean period.