read to write by maserati

read to write by maserati - August 2016 Scholarship Essay

I've never understood how people could bury themselves into books. I, myself used to enjoy reading books when I was younger, but mostly just picture books. As I got older, the books got more and more complex, especially when English as my second language. I found the words to be increasingly difficult to understand, I decided to look them up. Even when I did find the definition, I still didn't understand it. It was frustrating because it would take me twice as long to understand the book. I decided to stop reading altogether because even if I did continue to read, I still wouldn’t be able to understand the author’s thought process.
Whenever a teacher would assign me a book to read, I would only read parts of the book. I would never finish them because I didn't think reading was worth it. One thing in particular that Dr. Poston (my English teacher) has taught me is that reading is quintessential. Reading goes hand in hand with writing and every time we would begin a new book, she would tell us that “even if you’ve never picked up a pencil in your life, as long as you read, you can write.” This is, and has, become my motivation to read.
Writing is hard, it’s very difficult trying to convey your ideas in a pleasant way.
During the course of the year, I continued to read. It definitely improved my vocabulary, but my essays were still lacking. And every time I would get my paper back I would be so disappointed, especially after seeing my friends’ grades. I was jealous and I wanted to prove to myself that I could get good grade too.
So I worked harder and harder. I continued to push myself to think of new ways to reword sentences or to make paragraphs blend together seamlessly.
STAAR was around the corner, and I was stressing out. I knew that if I failed and did not reach the satisfactory level, I would have to apply for summer school. I definitely didn’t want to waste my precious time doing school work, besides summer was the time to relax. So in order to prepare, we did practice STAAR tests and essays
When it was time to do the essay portion of the practice test, I panicked. I knew that this practice essay would show me the grade that I was going to get later on. This was the deciding factor. The timer started and the practice test began, I quickly read through the passages, and I tried my best to finish writing. As time went on, people began to finish but I was still on the first one. There were three essays in total that we needed to complete. Once everyone had finished and the essays were graded and my grade was only a little bit more than half of the total of seventeen points. I was so disappointed because if my essay was going to be this bad, there was no way I was ever going to pass the real thing.
The day came for the actual STAAR test. When the four hours began, my heart was pounding. Regardless, I began my test.
I had finished the multiple choice section. It was easy enough, besides it wasn't the multiple choice I was worried about, it was the essay. I wanted this essay to be amazing, to prove my hard work wasn't for nothing. I read the prompt and it had something to do with friendship. This was the one I was most worried about, my personal life. I never knew how to tell a story, so I decided to let the grader know what was on my mind. I just went at it, like there was no tomorrow. The essay was abruptly cut short, because I had too much to say, and not enough room to do it. So I decided to just do a half-baked ending, because if I were to erase all that hard work, the paper would have become messy and unpleasant to look at. I would have made the grader go from a Kanye 10 to a Kanye 2, and that was not about to happen today.
I knew my essay was horrendous, because I had just let it all hang out. I knew that if I didn't stop myself, I would've just kept piling it on. When it was all said and done, I knew there was no going back.
Fast forward to a couple months later. It was about time for final exams and Dr.Poston called me to her desk. This was a rare moment because teachers don't usually talk to me. She started by saying “I have your results for the STAAR test” and that just put me onto overdrive. I was thinking through all the worst outcomes, to have her interrupt my process to say “ You exploded, I’m not supposed to tell you, but your scores were amazing” I was like what is happening, she continued by saying “ You almost got a perfect score.” When she finished I immediately told my friend. I was so excited and I started tearing up, yes I know that’s lame, but I was emotional. Because I had just learned that my hard work payed off.