SAT to drop essay requirement as part of overhaul

[MissB]

36. Ha!

I will say that the SAT essay portion of the test does little to demonstrate that a kid can actually write a good essay. The essay requires a kid to quickly take a side of an issue in a short introductory paragraph, include three supporting paragraphs with examples and then quickly summarize/extend their point of view.

And that's done in 25 minutes. The essay is graded by an actual human, who takes about two minutes to read it and assign a score. A second reader does the same: the two scores added together make up the score on a scale of 0-12.

And those three examples? The "best" SAT essays (read: scores of 10 to 12) include one example from literature, one from history and one from the student's experience. My favorite part: you can quite literally make up a book and author, give an example from the War of 1813 and talk about your fake Aunt Linda's fake cancer. It's utter bullshit.

What will help America produce students able to write real essays is allowing for small enough class sizes such that the teacher is able to assign many essays each term and provide individual feedback in a timely manner.