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SAT Essay Scoring Guidelines

This document will help you learn how to read, score, and comment on SAT essays so that you can effectively
proctor. After reading and practicing here, you will read three sample essays, then submit your scores and
comments online.

How the CollegeBoard Approaches the SAT Essay

The following is taken directly from the CollegeBoard’s instructions to students, both on the exam form and on their
website.

The SAT essay measures your ability to:
 Develop a point of view on an issue presented in an excerpt
 Support your point of view using reasoning and examples from your reading, studies, experience, or
observations
 Follow the conventions of standard written English

The essay gives you an opportunity to show how effectively you can develop and express ideas. You should,
therefore, take care to develop your point of view, present your ideas logically and clearly, and use language
precisely.

Your essay must be written on the lines provided on your answer sheet — you will receive no other paper on which
to write. You will have enough space if you write on every line, avoid wide margins, and keep your handwriting to a
reasonable size. Remember that people who are not familiar with your handwriting will read what you write. Try to
write or print so that what you are writing is legible to those readers.

The essay is scored by experienced and trained high school and college teachers. Each essay is scored by two
people who won’t know each other’s score. They won't know the student’s identity or school either. Each reader
gives the essay a score from 1 to 6 (6 is the highest score) based on the CollegeBoard’s SAT essay scoring guide;
those two scores are added together for a composite of 2-12. If the two readers’ scores vary from each other by
more than a point, a third reader scores the essay.

How Revolution Approaches the SAT Essay

Based on everything you just read, you can understand that the essay might seem daunting to students. The truth
is, it’s not that scary:

 Students only have 25 minutes, which means they’re not expected to write a masterpiece
 Each reader spends only 2-3 minutes on each essay
 The reader bases his or her score on “overall impression”
 There is no right or wrong answer, as long as students are clear and stick to the topic

With those points in mind, it’s essential that students learn how to deal with both the structure and the content of
the essay, since both will lead them to a clear, logical, ordered piece of writing. Revolution Prep’s strategy teaches
students how to prepare examples ahead of time, organize their thinking on test day, and then write.

The following summarizes how Revolution Prep’s students are taught to prepare for the SAT essay.

THE STRATEGY
Before you write anything, you must spend 2-3 minutes preparing.
1. Read the Assignment Question – This is the question you MUST address in your essay. If it is a yes/no
question, make sure you CLEARLY take one side or the other that you will defend with SPECIFIC examples.
2. Read the Quotation – Use the quotation to help you put the question into context, but don’t worry too
much about what it says.
3. Write an I-B-C – This is your brief outline. It need only make sense to you.
I: Introduction – Jot down a phrase or two about how you plan to respond to the question. This is
your THESIS.
B: Body – This is the meat of your essay. Jot down one or two examples (from history, literature,
current events, etc.) that clearly support your thesis, plus a few notes about HOW they support
your thesis.
C: Conclusion – A BRIEF wrap-up. Jot down a phrase that ties everything together.
4. Write Your Essay – Let your I-B-C notes be your guide. Follow traditional essay structure.

Rule of Abraham Lincoln
The essay topics are extremely general, so we have developed a rule that allows our students to prepare for the
essay ahead of time! By knowing enough details about a few key historical or literary figures, students can answer
almost any SAT question they encounter. Abraham Lincoln embodies this rule. Example essay topics include: “Do
people have to be highly competitive in order to succeed?” “Does adversity lead to self discovery?” “What
motivates people to change?” If a student knows enough about Abraham Lincoln – or Rosa Parks, Edison, Macbeth,
or Galileo – he can effectively use him and his additional prepared examples to support answers to all three of
these questions.

Please read the following scoring guide thoroughly. It summarizes each score and its rationale, and will provide the
guidelines you use as you learn to score essays for Revolution Prep’s students. A one-page quick reference guide
follows this extensive rubric.

Scoring Guide

Score of 6
An essay in this category demonstrates clear and consistent mastery, although it may have a few minor errors. A
typical essay:
 Effectively and insightfully develops a point of view on the issue and demonstrates outstanding critical
thinking, using clearly appropriate examples, reasons and other evidence to support its position
 Is well organized and clearly focused, demonstrating clear coherence and smooth progression of ideas
 Exhibits skillful use of language, using a varied, accurate and apt vocabulary
 Demonstrates meaningful variety in sentence structure
 Is free of most errors in grammar, usage and mechanics

Score of 5
An essay in this category demonstrates reasonably consistent mastery, although it has occasional errors or lapses
in quality. A typical essay:
 Effectively develops a point of view on the issue and demonstrates strong critical thinking, generally using
appropriate examples, reasons and other evidence to support its position
 Is well organized and focused, demonstrating coherence and progression of ideas
 Exhibits facility in the use of language, using appropriate vocabulary
 Demonstrates variety in sentence structure
 Is generally free of most errors in grammar, usage and mechanics

Score of 4
An essay in this category demonstrates adequate mastery, although it has lapses in quality. A typical essay:
 Develops a point of view on the issue and demonstrates competent critical thinking, using adequate
examples, reasons and other evidence to support its position
 Is generally organized and focused, demonstrating some coherence and progression of ideas
 Exhibits adequate but inconsistent facility in the use of language, using generally appropriate vocabulary
 Demonstrates some variety in sentence structure
 Has some errors in grammar, usage and mechanics

Score of 3
An essay in this category demonstrates developing mastery, and is marked by ONE OR MORE of the following
weaknesses:
 Develops a point of view on the issue, demonstrating some critical thinking, but may do so inconsistently or
use inadequate examples, reasons or other evidence to support its position
 Is limited in its organization or focus, or may demonstrate some lapses in coherence or progression of ideas
 Displays developing facility in the use of language, but sometimes uses weak vocabulary or inappropriate
word choice
 Lacks variety or demonstrates problems in sentence structure
 Contains an accumulation of errors in grammar, usage and mechanics

Score of 2
An essay in this category demonstrates little mastery, and is flawed by ONE OR MORE of the following weaknesses:
 Develops a point of view on the issue that is vague or seriously limited, and demonstrates weak critical
thinking, providing inappropriate or insufficient examples, reasons or other evidence to support its position
 Is poorly organized and/or focused, or demonstrates serious problems with coherence or progression of
ideas
 Displays very little facility in the use of language, using very limited vocabulary or incorrect word choice
 Demonstrates frequent problems in sentence structure
 Contains errors in grammar, usage and mechanics so serious that meaning is somewhat obscured

Score of 1
An essay in this category demonstrates very little or no mastery, and is severely flawed by ONE OR MORE of the
following weaknesses:
 Develops no viable point of view on the issue, or provides little or no evidence to support its position
 Is disorganized or unfocused, resulting in a disjointed or incoherent essay
 Displays fundamental errors in vocabulary
 Demonstrates severe flaws in sentence structure
 Contains pervasive errors in grammar, usage or mechanics that persistently interfere with meaning

Score of 0
Essays not written on the essay assignment will receive a score of zero

Essay Scoring Quick Reference Guide

1 2 3 4 5 6

Development of Point of
No clear thesis or Vague/weak Thesis, but Clear thesis; Clear thesis; Clear thesis;
no examples to thesis with example(s) is/are one well- two good two good
support thesis insufficient weak (repetitive, developed examples that examples that
example don’t support example or two clearly support the

View
thesis) not-so-detailed support the thesis
ones thesis

OR OR OR AND AND AND
No semblance of Bad structure Okay structure Good structure Good Strong
I-B-C structure; (some I-B-C (most I-B-C (I-B-C); logical structure (I-B- structure (I-B-
aimless babbling elements, but elements), but flow from idea C); clear flfow C); clear,
jumbled) or jerky flow to idea and build from concise flow

Organization
unclear flow of between or idea to idea within and
ideas within paragraphs between
paragraphs

OR OR OR BUT BUT AND
Basic vocab or Frequent Limited vocab or Okay command Some good Good, varied
grammar errors problems with sentence of grammar, vocab and vocab and
frequent enough sentence structure, or vocab, and sentence sentence
to obscure the structure or noticeable varied sentence style, but still structure; few Grammar/Style
author’s points grammar grammar errors structure a few errors errors

In addition to scoring each essay from 1-6, Revolution Prep’s graders provide at least two written comments to
students on every essay. As you grade essays, you will write these directly on the students’ work so that they can
review your comments, analyze your feedback, and strengthen their essays. Remember that your comments
should always be…

 Specific. “Good thesis!” is a nice compliment, but it might not help a student understand how to write
another good thesis in the future. A better comment might be, “Your thesis takes a clear stand on the issue.
I can tell exactly which side you’ll be arguing, and what evidence you’re going to use as support.”

 Direct. Students will improve with feedback that clearly addresses their strengths and weaknesses without
being rude or condescending. While a student’s writing might be difficult to understand, “This is weak,”
won’t help that student improve. Always consider – is my comment easy to understand? Could a student
act on my feedback without additional explanation? If so, you’ve written a good, direct comment.

 Grammatically correct. Your comments should be written in complete sentences, and should be free from
spelling and grammar errors. You are modeling good writing practices for your students.

 Impactful. You will be tempted to critique every element of a student’s essay. Restrain yourself –
remember that you only have a few minutes per essay, and you don’t want to overwhelm the students.
Write comments about the elements of the essay that will have the most major impact on the student’s
score and that will help him/her improve most effectively.

Before you practice scoring essays on your own, you will read and review three sample essays, their scores, and the
rationale for each score. As you read these, consider:
 What score would I give this essay and why?

 What two comments would I leave for this student?

The three sample essays are all responses to the following prompt:

Think carefully about the issue presented in the following excerpt and the assignment below.
Many persons believe that to move up the ladder of success and achievement, they must forget the past, repress it,
and relinquish it. But others have just the opposite view. They see old memories as a chance to reckon with the past
and integrate past and present.

Adapted from Sara Lawrence-Lightfoot, I've Known Rivers: Lives of Loss and Liberation

Assignment: Do memories hinder or help people in their effort to learn from the past and succeed in the present?
Plan and write an essay in which you develop your point of view on this issue. Support your position with reasoning
and examples taken from your reading, studies, experience, or observations.

Sample Essay #1
Memories can be helpful to some and hinder others. I believe that memories from different aspects of ones life
have different consequences. One memory may be bad and it may be best forgotten about, when trying to
succeed. Though some memories may give on strength to suceed in achieving a higher status in life.

When a person completes a task they have done once before, it trigers a memory and lets the reader reflect on
that particular time in life. For example, a sporting team at the local high school makes it to the state
championships, but severly loses to their opponent, the next time they get to the state championships they may
think about the past and how they lost before, and it may hinder there feelings and they may once again lose. This
demonstrates how a memory can ruin a certain activity for ever. On the other hand a memory can also help
someone to move up the ladder of success. As an example if a person has cancer and is given treatment then
diagnosed in remission they feel like they have beat the cancer.

When the patient in remission is later told that the cancer has grown back, the patient might feel that they can kill
the cancer again because when looking at the past they see they have beat it once why not beat it again. This
demonstrates how a memory can be helpful to a person. In this case it did not help the person climb the ladder of
success though it helped the to continue climbing the ladder of life to the extent that they were able to climb.
Those two short examples just go to demonstrate how memories of the past can both help and hinder a person in
their path of not only success but also in the path of life.

Your score: _____

Your comments:
1.

2.

Why this Essay Received a Score of 3
This essay develops a point of view ("Memories can be helpful to some and hinder others") and shows some critical
thinking by providing examples of the positive and negative effects of memories. However, the examples are
limited in focus, featuring some lapses in coherence and progression of ideas, and are thus inadequate to support
the position. The essay also demonstrates occasional problems in sentence structure and mechanics. To achieve a
higher score, this writer needs to use critical thinking to clarify and expand each example by adding additional
focused reasoning and details. The writer also needs to avoid using run-on sentences (". . . when looking at the past
they see they have beat it once why not beat it again"). The essay demonstrates developing mastery and earns a 3.

Sample Essay #2
I agree with Ms. Sara Lawrence-Lightfoot in saying that some people "see old memories as a chance to reckon with
the past and integrate past and present." Many people are so troubled by things that happened in their past that
they are not able to focus on the present. For example, in the book Ceremony, by Leslie Marmon Silko, Tayo, the
main character, can not concentrate on the present because he constantly hounds himself over things that
happened during World War II and his troubled childhood. However, past memories can help people to succeed in
the present. An historical example of people learning from the past would be the Marshall Plan. After the
conclusion of World War II there were many countries around the world in need of economical assistence to help
rebuild their war torn countries, and the United States would have to be the one to provide that assistence. Many
American politicians thought it was foolish for the US government to spend money abroad on countries that would
not be able to repay the loan for a long time. However, George Marshall, a former general and later Secretary of
State under President Truman, remembered how the exact same argument of "why should we spend money on
war torn nations that really owe us reparations?" had been used after World War I towards Germany. The lack of
assistance towards Germany after World War I had caused a gigantic economic depression in Germany that had
made the Mark (German money) virtually worthless. The German people became so desperate that they started
supporting an extreme German nationalist named Adolf Hitler, who eventually started World War II. Marshall knew
that if the US did not help war torn Germany and, especially, Japan, we could eventually have a World War III on
our hands.

Your score: _____

Your comments:
1.

2.

This focused essay effectively develops its point of view and demonstrates strong critical thinking ("Many people
are so troubled by things that happened in their past that they are not able to focus on the present. . . . However,
past memories can help people to succeed in the present"). The essay uses appropriate reasoning and examples
and demonstrates coherence and progression of ideas ("Many American politicians thought it was foolish for the
US government to spend money abroad on countries that would not be able to repay the loan for a long time.
However, George Marshall . . . remembered how the exact same argument . . . had been used after World War I
towards Germany"). The essay also exhibits facility in the use of language. To earn a score of 6, the writer needs to
achieve clearer coherence and smoother progression of ideas by integrating the example of Ceremony more
effectively into the overall essay, perhaps through an extended comparison of Tayo's and Marshall's experiences of
World War II. The essay demonstrates reasonably consistent mastery and is scored a 5.

Sample Essay #3
The point of making mistakes is to learn from them. If you don't learn from what you do wrong, then making
mistakes has no silver lining, it is purely bad. I have come to believe this through personal experience and watching
others.
When climbing the "ladder of success," each step gets you closer to the top. Therefore each step is a mistake that
you learned from, a good decision, or even a stroke of luck. How could a person climb that ladder without each and
every wooden rung to help them? I am human, therefor, far from perfect, I make mistakes all of the time and I am
a better person because of that. You could almost say that the more mistakes a person makes, the stronger a
person they are, assuming of course that they learn from them.
As a child I stole cookies from the cookie jar, lied to my parents (still happens every once in awhile), and played
tricks on my brothers. I, in turn, got in trouble with my parents and was punished. After that I learned that those
things aren't okay. Now I tend to make different mistakes, such as, going to places that aren't safe for me, and
giving up when things get hard. Life is a huge cycle of making mistakes and learning from them. That is why people
can become so wise and strong in what they do, they make good out of the bad.
I also see people close to me using problems and mistakes to make a good situation out of a bad one. My parents,
my brothers, and my closest friends are all slowly building up the knowledge to be successful. How can a person be
more successful by forgetting what they have already learned? That doesn't push you forward it just holds a person
back. Even if a person wanted to forget their past, they couldn't. It's like forgetting that if a stove is turned on and
you touch it, it will burn you.

Your score: _____

Your comments:
1.

2.

This essay develops a point of view ("Life is a huge cycle of making mistakes and learning from them") with
adequate reasons and examples, thus demonstrating competent critical thinking. Generally organized and focused
around the notion that remembering past learning experiences is crucial for success, the essay is marked by
coherence and progression of ideas ("As a child I stole cookies from the cookiejar, lied to my parents . . . , and
played tricks on my brothers. I, in turn, got in trouble with my parents and was punished. After that I learned that
those things aren't okay. Now I tend to make different mistakes"). The essay also exhibits adequate facility in the
use of language, despite some errors ("I am human, therefor, far from perfect, I make mistakes all of the time and I
am a better person because of that"). To attain a higher score, the writer needs to support and extend the essay's
argument with additional focused examples of people learning, or not learning, from their experiences. The essay
demonstrates adequate mastery and is scored a 4.

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