How several well-known writers (and the Unabomber) would fare on the new SAT
by John Katzman, Andy Lutz & Erik Olson
.....
by John Katzman, Andy Lutz & Erik Olson
.....
very year more
than a million college-bound high
school students spend
a Saturday morning taking the SAT. In 2001 the University of California
system, led by Richard Atkinson, then its president, threatened to
change that by replacing the SAT with a test that measured a student's
mastery of advanced high school-level math, did not contain
verbal-analogy questions, and included an essay. Since the University
of California is the SAT's biggest customer, and has been for more than
thirty years, many thought this spelled the beginning of the end for
the test.
In the summer of 2002 the College Board announced its plans to change the SAT. The new test will (surprise, surprise) contain several higher-level algebra questions, will no longer contain analogies questions, and will—as part of a whole new section on "writing"—include an essay question. It is scheduled to be administered for the first time in March of next year.
The writing section (which will be scored on a scale of 200 to 800, making 2400 the new maximum score on the SAT), will seem familiar to anyone who has taken the SAT II: Writing test (formerly known as the English Composition Achievement test). In its haste to satisfy the University of California, evidently, the College Board has simply tacked the SAT II test onto the SAT I. Students will have an extra half hour to complete the test, which currently lasts three hours.
To grade the roughly 2.5 million student essays the new SAT will generate each year, the College Board will have to hire thousands of readers (mainly high school teachers), who will generally score each essay in a minute or two.
Students will be asked to respond to a vague, platitudinous quotation with an essay that will be graded on a scale of 1 to 6. Essay readers will be trained to grade "holistically," taking into consideration "development of ideas, supporting examples, organization, word choice, and sentence structure." To receive a score of 6, according to the College Board, a paper must demonstrate "clear and consistent competence," though it may have "occasional errors." More specifically, a grade of 6 will indicate that an essay "effectively and insightfully addresses the writing task," "is well organized and fully developed, using clearly appropriate examples to support ideas," and "displays consistent facility in the use of language, demonstrating variety in sentence structure and range of vocabulary." A score of 1, in contrast, will indicate that an essay "demonstrates incompetence" and suffers from one or more of the following weaknesses: "very poor organization," "very thin development," "usage and syntactical errors so severe that meaning is somewhat obscured." (The full version of the SAT grading rubric can be found at www.collegeboard.com.)
We and our colleagues at The Princeton Review have spent many years training students to take the SAT II, and have carefully analyzed the College Board's essay-grading criteria. To receive a high score a student should write a long essay of three or more paragraphs, with each paragraph containing topic and concluding sentences and at least one sentence that includes the words "for example." Whenever possible the student should use polysyllabic words where shorter, clearer words would suffice. The SAT essay will not be a place to take rhetorical chances. Flair will win no points; the highest-scoring essays will be earnest, long-winded, and predictable.
To illustrate how the essays on the "new" SAT will be scored, The Princeton Review has composed some typical essay questions, provided answers from several well-known authors, and applied the College Board's grading criteria to their writing.
Directions: Consider carefully the following quotation and the assignment below it. Then plan and write an essay that explains your ideas as persuasively as possible. Keep in mind that the support you provide—both reasons and examples—will help make your view convincing to the reader.
"Writing is the most demanding of callings, more harrowing than a warrior's, more lonely than a whaling captain's—that, in essence, is the modern writer's message."
—Melvin Maddocks
Assignment: In an essay, discuss your opinion of the quotation above. Support your view with one or more examples from literature, the arts, science, politics, current events, or your personal experience or observations.
riting, at its best, is a lonely life. Organizations for writers
palliate the writer's loneliness but I doubt if they improve his
writing. He grows in public stature as he sheds his loneliness and
often his work deteriorates. For he does his work alone and if he is a
good enough writer he must face eternity, or the lack of it, each day.
For a true writer each book should be a new beginning where he tries again for something that is beyond attainment. He should always try for something that has never been done or that others have tried and failed. Then sometimes, with great luck, he will succeed.
How simple the writing of literature would be if it were only necessary to write in another way what has been well written. It is because we have had such great writers in the past that a writer is driven far out past where he can go, out to where no one can help him.
Reader's evaluation: Although it displays a solid vocabulary, Mr. Hemingway's essay lacks specific examples and clear topic sentences. Too undeveloped to be good. Grade: 3 out of 6
"The four stages of life are infancy, childhood, adolescence, and obsolescence." —Art Linkletter
ll the world's a stage, and all the men and women merely players: They
have their exits and their entrances; and one man in his time plays
many parts, his acts being seven ages. At first the infant, mewling and
puking in the nurse's arms. And then the whining schoolboy with his
satchel and shining morning face, creeping like snail unwillingly to
school. And then the lover, sighing like furnace, with a woeful ballad
made to his mistress' eyebrow. Then a soldier, full of strange oaths
and bearded like the pard, jealous in honour, sudden and quick in
quarrel, seeking the bubble reputation even in the cannon's mouth. And
then the justice, in fair round belly with good capon lined, with eyes
severe and beard of formal cut, full of wise saws and modern instances;
and so he plays his part. The sixth age shifts into the lean and
slipper'd pantaloon, with spectacles on nose and pouch on side; his
youthful hose, well saved, a world too wide for his shrunk shank; and
his big manly voice, turning again towards childish treble, pipes and
whistles in his sound. Last scene of all, that ends this strange
eventful history, is second childishness and mere oblivion, sans teeth,
sans eyes, sans taste, sans everything.
Reader's evaluation: This essay is poorly organized, with only one paragraph (though, to Mr. Shakespeare's credit, the topic sentence does speak to what the rest of the sentences in his one paragraph are about). It is riddled with errors in syntax, incomplete sentences being the most noticeable problem. Although his supporting sentences are vivid in their description, they are vague and general, not true examples. And he unfortunately spells "honor" with the extraneous "u." Grade: 2 out of 6
"Nothing great will ever be achieved without great men, and men are great only if they are determined to be so." —Charles de Gaulle
he Irish lady can say, that to-day is every day. Caesar can say that
every day is to-day and they say that every day is as they say.
In this way we have a place to stay and he was not met because he was settled to stay. When I said settled I meant settled to stay. When I said settled to stay I meant settled to stay Saturday. In this way a mouth is a mouth. In this way if in as a mouth if in as a mouth where, if in as a mouth where and there. Believe they have water too. Believe they have that water too and blue when you see blue, is all blue precious too, is all that that is precious too is all that and they meant to absolve you. In this way Cezanne nearly did nearly in this way. Cezanne nearly did nearly did and nearly did. And was I surprised. Was I very surprised. Was I surprised. I was surprised and in that patient, are you patient when you find bees. Bees in a garden make a specialty of honey and so does honey. Honey and prayer. Honey and there. There where the grass can grow nearly four times yearly.
Reader's evaluation: Although Ms. Stein's essay is expressive, it's a bit flaky, lacking any semblance of structure, focus, or examples, and using non-standard syntax to boot. Grade: 1 out of 6
"Whoso would be a man must be a nonconformist."
—Ralph Waldo Emerson
sychologists use the term "socialization" to designate the process by
which children are trained to think and act as society demands. A
person is said to be well socialized if he believes in and obeys the
moral code of his society and fits in well as a functioning part of
that society. It may seem senseless to say that many leftists are
oversocialized, since the leftist is perceived as a rebel.
Nevertheless, the position can be defended. Many leftists are not such
rebels as they seem.
The moral code of our society is so demanding that no one can think, feel and act in a completely moral way. For example, we are not supposed to hate anyone, yet almost everyone hates somebody at some time or other, whether he admits it to himself or not. Some people are so highly socialized that the attempt to think, feel and act morally imposes a severe burden on them. In order to avoid feelings of guilt, they continually have to deceive themselves about their own motives and find moral explanations for feelings and actions that in reality have a non-moral origin. We use the term "oversocialized" to describe such people.
Oversocialization can lead to low self-esteem, a sense of powerlessness, defeatism, guilt, etc. One of the most important means by which our society socializes children is by making them feel ashamed of behavior or speech that is contrary to society's expectations. If this is overdone, or if a particular child is especially susceptible to such feelings, he ends by feeling ashamed of HIMSELF. Moreover the thought and the behavior of the oversocialized person are more restricted by society's expectations than are those of the lightly socialized person. The majority of people engage in a significant amount of naughty behavior. They lie, they commit petty thefts, they break traffic laws, they goof off at work, they hate someone, they say spiteful things or they use some underhanded trick to get ahead of the other guy. The oversocialized person cannot do these things, or if he does do them he generates in himself a sense of shame and self-hatred. The oversocialized person cannot even experience, without guilt, thoughts or feelings that are contrary to the accepted morality; he cannot think "unclean" thoughts. And socialization is not just a matter of morality; we are socialized to conform to many norms of behavior that do not fall under the heading of morality. Thus the oversocialized person is kept on a psychological leash and spends his life running on rails that society has laid down for him. In many oversocialized people this results in a sense of constraint and powerlessness that can be a severe hardship. We suggest that oversocialization is among the more serious cruelties that human beings inflict on one another.
Reader's evaluation: Mr. Kaczynski's essay is well developed, displays an impressive vocabulary, and makes good use of supporting examples. He also demonstrates an understanding of how to use simple, compound, and complex sentences. Grade: 6 out of 6
| |
To the Editor:
Re "Topic: Essays Are Useful. Discuss," by Curtis Sittenfeld (Op-Ed, March 6):
As an Advanced Placement English teacher at DeWitt Clinton High School in the Bronx, I, too, applaud the inclusion of an essay in the SAT. I agree that the five-paragraph essay, far from promoting generic writing, is an essential skill that can produce writing that is both clear and creative.
As with chess, basketball or any other game for that matter, the rules of the game are not stifling restrictions; they are the game. And the best players are those who use their intelligence and imagination within those rules. Who would think of complaining that the bishop can move only diagonally?
As hard-working and deserving as my students are, they are at a severe disadvantage when it comes to the SAT - not only because their school is underfinanced and overcrowded, but also because the language of their homes and on the streets is not "standard" English.
But if they can express themselves clearly and imaginatively in a five-paragraph essay, they'll have come a long way toward breaking down the cultural barriers before them.
Kevin Greer
Bronx, March 8, 2005
To the Editor:
It is striking how even highly educated workers struggle to write clearly. There is hardly any acknowledgment of this problem.
People in the workplace speak of the need to "wordsmith" when what they mean is to write. The jargon is a means of avoiding the truth: that writing is hard.
Now college-bound students will be required to learn basic writing structure. It is time their parents learned it, too.
Brian Browdie
New York, March 6, 2005
To the Editor:
It is true that creativity need not be sacrificed in the five-paragraph essay format, which emphasizes organization of ideas and clarity of expression.
Look at the sonnet
- a rigorous, rigid structure if ever there was
one. Yet, writers working within its confines have produced some of the
most moving, evocative, memorable poetry ever written. (Boulding sonnets
to numbers).
Cecelia Steger
Oceanside, N.Y., March 6, 2005
The writer is an adjunct assistant professor of English at St.
John's University.
To the Editor:
Those of us who teach English in public schools and colleges see how privately developed tests squash the curriculum and deny students real opportunities for learning.
Teaching students to write the five-paragraph essay generally means drilling them instead of giving them chances to read (complete books) and write (more than five paragraphs) about what they have read.
Faced with tests that require fast, formulaic writing, we are often asked to teach students to write below their abilities. Then students are often "moved along" by these false measures of success, having been denied the intellectual challenges they deserve.
Gail Green-Anderson
Long Island City, Queens
March 10, 2005
The writer is a professor of English at LaGuardia Community
College, CUNY.
To the Editor:
The "five-paragraph essay" (genuflect) was not on my radar during my Eastern prep days (Westtown) or my Eastern college days (Haverford). I first heard of it in 1962, in the faculty room of a fancy California high school, where it was solemnly revered.
Yes, the form is a basic structure that many students can manage. But why connect this artificial format to the SAT?
When I was a reader of standardized-test essays in the late 70's and early 80's, such formulaic writing decreased the writer's score.
In 43 years of teaching English, I offered $25 to any student who could find an example of the five-paragraph essay - anywhere - in the public press. I still have my $25.
The problem with the structure is unlearning it.
Bruce Reeves
Walnut Creek, Calif., March 6, 2005
To the Editor:
Curtis Sittenfeld (Op-Ed, March 6) applauds the elimination of the verbal analogy section of the SAT and the introduction of an essay, a "skill that really does matter." But wait, isn't the ability to make analogies, think abstractly and make meaningful connections what makes an essay worth reading?
Yes, writing is important, and important writing is informed by complex reasoning and creativity.
Peggy Weil
Pacific Palisades, Calif.
March 6, 2005
The
writer is an adjunct professor of interactive media at the University
of Southern California School of Cinema and Television.