Household Income, SAT Scores & Essay Content

The relationship between SAT and ACT scores to household income is well-documented. Even the most ardent supporters of standardized tests cannot dispute the fact that higher scores are tied to higher family income brackets. 

Which is a big reason why the test-optional movement was gaining steam even before the pandemic. 

So without test scores, essays are gaining greater importance in the process of college admission. It's a logical result: in absence of test scores, college admission counselors are weighing college application essays heavier. 

But what if essay content is also related to household income? What if a student's word choice, punctuation and structures were also connected to household income? 

Turns out, there is indeed a strong relation. Essays, like test scores, are related to household income. 

In a new paper from Stanford CEPA (Center for Educational Policy Analysis), researchers concluded that "essay content is strongly related to household income and SAT scores." By reviewing 60,000 undergraduate applications and 240,000 essays, Salinas native AJ Alvero and his team at Stanford revealed that "essays have a stronger correlation to reported household income than SAT scores." 

This is big news. The Wall Street Journal just issued an Opinion piece about the same. 

But what does it mean? 

On one hand, this shouldn't be much of a surprise. Elite and selective institutions have likely flagged essays with targeted vocabulary or niche topics for generations. If the crew team needs a coxswain, then any essays about coxswain experience would likely receive special attention. 

On the other hand, we should be outraged. Here is hard evidence of yet more inequities in our higher education system. Access to elite and selective colleges is only for those in higher income brackets who can pay to prepare for the SAT/ACT or craft perfect essays?

Sure, I get it. Enrollment management is a business decision. In order for colleges to keep their doors open, they need to cater to some full pay students. 

But if we truly believe that higher education is a means towards upward mobility, we may need to reconsider why household income is so closely related to test scores and essay content. What do we value when we assess student potential? What should we value? 

As colleges grapple with these questions, CROSSWALK is here to support all students, regardless of income. Financial aid, and pro-bono programs, are available for all tutoring, especially test prep. 

Share this with someone you know that could benefit from academic support no matter what adjusted gross income they have. Let's be sure all students have a path to college. 

The #1 Reason SAT & ACT Essays Score Low

It's a far too common story: students that frequently score A's on their essays in school come up short on the SAT or ACT. Unfortunately, normally proficient writers can end up scoring lower than expected on test day. 

Why the difference? Why are so many students disappointed in their essay score on the SAT or ACT? 

It's a simple answer: most essays miss the mark because they lack a clear thesis. A clear thesis is the most important element to scoring high on both the SAT and the ACT essay. 

While a clear thesis may be important on a school essay, it is paramount to a good score on the SAT and ACT. Without it, you can score no higher than a five out of a possible six, and in many cases not better than a four. 

Most baffling is how unmistakably easy it is to communicate a clear thesis. Both the SAT and the ACT offer a question in which the writer must pick a side. Test scorers could care less which side you take as long as you take a side. 

Score higher by stating only one side of the argument. Make it patently obvious which side you take. The easy route is to answer the prompt in the positive or the negative, whichever will be the argument you develop in your essay. You don't need a catchy opening as some people might suggest. Just spell out your main point and hit the reader over the head by repeating it throughout the essay. After reading your essay, there should be no mistake as to your perspective on the issue. 

Sounds simple, and it really is. Unfortunately, even the best writers get lost in their own prose. Avoid a low score on your essay by making a clear point and sticking with it. 

Learn more test tips by reading "2400 SCORES: 24 Life Lessons to Demystify the SAT® and Boost Your Score" by Brooke Higgins available at Amazon. 

Contact CROSSWALK to learn about SAT and ACT Boot Camps, private test prep and academic tutoring for all subjects on the Monterey Peninsula. 

Two Secrets to a Better Essay

Back to School time means essay writing time. My guess is that most students, regardless of level, will be assigned some essay topic about your summer in the next coming weeks. For primary grades it might be a short paragraph about your summer. For secondary grades it might be about summer reading.

Regardless, start your school year with the two secrets to a better essay:

1) Make Your Point Clear: next time you are faced with an essay, think about who will read your essay. Put yourselves in their shoes and ask, "what number one point do I want the reader to understand?" Also known as your thesis, your main point should be very clear from the first sentence to the last. The worst type of essay is the one where the reader asks herself, "what did I just read?" Ouch! Ensure that your reader will walk away from your essay understanding your point very clearly. If you are writing about your summer vacation, make it clear how you spent your vacation. Was it fun? Boring? Short? Long? Whatever it was, make your point as clear as day. If you are writing on deeper subjects, like your summer reading, make sure your main point is the most obvious argument or statement in the essay. It never hurts to repeat your main point several times in a given piece.

2) Use Concrete Examples: I wrote about how a good essay is a "C" in a previous post. In this example, C was for concrete. The more concrete your essay, the more powerful the message. Trying to communicate that your summer was boring? Well, it's one thing to say it was boring. It's another thing to describe how your mind endlessly idled in a holding pattern while channel surfing through Judge Judy reruns on afternoon television programming. Or if you need to argue a point from a summer reading book, make sure you pull actual evidence from your story to paint a concrete picture of your point. For example, if you want to argue that Animal Farm is an allegory for the Russian Revolution, then use excerpts from the book to specifically connect actions and descriptions of Napoleon the pig to similar actions and descriptions of Stalin.

If you make your point clear and use concrete examples, your essay writing will drastically improve. Sure there are other things you can work on--like grammar, structure and vocabulary--but if you start with a clear point supported with concrete examples, your Back to School essays might cause your teacher to think you spent all summer studying!

Why "C" is a Great Essay

Which of the following arguments is most convincing?

A: Deception is bad.
B: Deception is bad because it is dishonest.
C: Deception is bad because when the dishonesty is revealed, real people are deeply impacted like those that lost their life savings when Bernard Madoff’s ponzi scheme collapsed.

Of course “C” is clearly more convincing. Why? Because “C” uses a very concrete example. “A” is too vague. “B” is better but it is still a bit abstract.

If you want to make your essays more convincing, shoot for “C” as in concrete. The number one way to make your essays more convincing is to use concrete examples. This is true on standardized test essays like the S.A.T. as well as essays for school assignments.

So for your next essay, lose the abstract and get concrete!