As most high school students are all too aware, the SAT has a writing component: one twenty-five-minute, opinion-based, argumentative essay. Since I’ve been working as a SAT tutor this summer, I’ve read hundreds of student essays. I have thus come to this conclusion about originality.
It’s not overrated.
I read so many essays with bland, dull, and repetitive examples that I can become quite bored while reading. I try to keep my mind objective, of course, while assigning a student paper for a grade; but honestly, something that’s poorly written but interesting might receive a higher grade than something that’s grammatically precise but dull as dirt. Examples that fall into the category of coma-induction are what I call the Terrible Three.
- Guess what! Christopher Columbus discovered America even though he thought the world was flat.
- Did you know that Galileo Galilei said the Earth went around the Sun even though everyone else thought it didn’t and they all said he was crazy but he was actually right?
- And about that Adolf Hitler. I heard he was really evil.
The fact might be obvious, but it bears restating: it’s far more interesting to read examples and scenarios that come from students’ personal experiences or particular and even peculiar passions. I would love to read an essay about, say, a student’s favorite novel or his or her trip to India or Japan instead of the Terrible Three. An example that is personal, unusual, and something the writer cares about makes a much better read than a mundane or well-worn topic.
There’s nothing wrong with writing what you know, but there is something to be said for writing what someone else may not know.
Originality is just interesting.
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