Common App essay grader · 2026–27
Common App Prompt 2 Essay Grader
Challenge, setback, or failure. Paste your draft and see how well it answers this exact prompt.
Get a clear score, six focused notes, and a practical next step for your college essay. See your score free — no sign-up. Sign in free to read the notes.
06
Reading lenses
01
Free first read
100
Point scale
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Used as context for the same six scoring dimensions; it does not add or change criteria.
No account needed for your score. Your essay is used only to grade it, and is deleted within 24 hours unless you sign in to keep the review.
Common App Prompt 2 · 2026–27
How to answer this prompt
The lessons we take from obstacles we encounter can be fundamental to later success. Recount a time when you faced a challenge, setback, or failure. How did it affect you, and what did you learn from the experience?
250–650 words. Choose one of the seven prompts.
What it is really asking
The obstacle is only the setup. Most of the essay should be about your response and what changed afterwards — readers are measuring reflection and resilience, not the size of the problem.
Angles that work
- A small, concrete failure with an honest account of what you got wrong.
- A setback whose lesson you only understood later, shown through a second moment that proves it.
- A challenge you are still working through, with clear evidence of how you now handle it.
Common traps
- Spending three quarters of the essay on the problem and one paragraph on the lesson.
- A tidy moral (“I learned to never give up”) that any applicant could have written.
- Choosing a failure that is really a humblebrag, such as getting a B+.
The grader above already has this prompt filled in. It scores your essay on the same six dimensions as always — narrative strength, specificity, reflection and insight, authentic voice, writing execution, and overall admissions value — and uses the prompt as context, so its notes point out where your essay drifts from the question.
By prompt
Other prompts
Each page pre-fills its prompt in the grader.
Common App personal essay (2026–27)
250–650 words. Choose one of the seven prompts.
- Common App Prompt 1 · Background, identity, interest, or talent
- Common App Prompt 3 · Questioning a belief or idea
- Common App Prompt 4 · Gratitude
- Common App Prompt 5 · Accomplishment, event, or realization that sparked growth
- Common App Prompt 6 · A topic that makes you lose track of time
- Common App Prompt 7 · Topic of your choice
UC Personal Insight Questions (2026–27)
Up to 350 words each. Answer four of the eight questions; all are weighed equally.