Super Fitness Health BlogWould Shakespeare Flunk the SAT Essay?
The question above is one asked by John Katzman of Swarthmore college who like me has studied how the SAT Essay Questions are graded.
His answer is very interesting.
Before I tell you what he said. Read the following prompt Shakespeare’s answer to it:
Directions: Consider carefully the following quotation and the assignment below it.
“The four stages of life are infancy, childhood, adolescence, and obsolescence.”
Art Linkletter
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.
Shakespeare’s answer:
All 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.
John Katzman’ evaluation (which I agree with): 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
If you’ve read Shakespeare in school then you know he uses lots of long sentences, unusual vocabulary (even for the time, he invented words like “zany” after all) and big blocky paragraphs that could fill a page.
After John analyzed one of Shakespeare’s essays according to SAT Essay patterns he found that Shakespeare would get a 2 out of 6 on the essay. So Shakespeare, one of the world’s greatest writers of English, wouldn’t be able to get into most colleges.
Why?
Because Shakespeare makes the same mistakes that many students make on the SAT.
1. Bad Organization
He doesn’t break his ideas into simple paragraphs.
2. Lack of Specific Examples
He uses metaphors and colorful language but doesn’t have one specific piece of evidence to support his point of view.
3. Not Enough Words
Shakespeare’s essay was only 212 words. Far short of the 400 needed to get the highest scores. This is a big one as Shakespeare was not a fast writer. Because of this he’d be doomed to a low SAT Essay score. There were several other problems but I think you get the gist.
Shakespeare just wouldn’t do too well on the SAT Essay.
Luckily, you are not Shakespeare. You can learn to write fast enough to get a high score on the SAT Essay. With the techniques in my SAT Essay Formula you’ll discover:
The Right way to organize your essay *How to find examples that support your point of view with my reverse example selection technique *How to use those examples to prove your point with my 4-step paragraphs *And how to fill up both pages with 400 words or more in less than 25 minutes When you are ready to step up to the Big Leagues and be ready to get into a top college or university visit my site. And reserve your copy of the SAT Essay Formula today.
Sincerely, Rodney Daut PS The techniques found in my book allow you to succeed where others without these tips and tricks have failed.
If you want to do better than you did last time, or make your first SAT a success get the SAT Essay Formula. When you enter your first year of college you’ll be glad you did.
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