If you have never written an SAT essay, or if you’re not satisfied with your score, you will certainly benefit from learning more about the requirements and details which are especially important from the graders’ point of view. To help you write exactly what these people expect you to write, Writers-house experts collected 15 useful tips. Follow our advice, and you will master SAT essays, and most likely, get at least a decent score.
Difficulties
The first difficult thing about this type of essay is that it’s short. You have to read 650 to 750 words in 50 minutes, analyzing the literary devices used by the author, and the overall structure of the argument. After this, you have to write a comprehensive essay, so you should approach this task carefully, having an effective method.
This type of essays also requires a specific approach because it’s completely different from what you used to write in English class at your school. You should work effectively and use the given 50 minutes as well as you can.
We will start with five tips that you may have already heard from the college board. After this, we will tell you five facts that the college board doesn’t want students to know. The last 5 tips describe the whole writing process step by step.
What the College Board Wants You to Know
The college board makes it clear for all students what a successful SAT essay should look like.
1. Provide a clear thesis
The definition of a thesis is a response to a certain claim, which plays a key role in your essay. In other words, you have to provide a clear argument that will be understandable for your readers. Your central thesis should articulate the main idea of your essay, also referring to the used methods.
SAT gives students a certain advantage because it provides them with the main idea of the passage at the very beginning. Therefore, you don’t have to search for it yourself.
2. You should have both an introduction and a conclusion
Moreover, both these sections should be well-written and meaningful. You will not be able to get a score higher than 4 out of 8 if your essay doesn’t have an introduction. This paragraph should explain what you’re going to talk about and prepare your readers for the rest of your paper. In addition, your introduction reflects the quality of the whole essay. When your readers see a poorly written introduction, the impression of your essay gets significantly worse.
We suggest that you write both the introduction and the conclusion. However, if you are running out of time and realize that you will not make it, write the introduction. The importance of your introduction is due to the thesis statement. Writing introductions is not an easy task, because everything you’re going to write further depends on what you have written in the introduction. Thus, you may write the whole body of your essay first, and then create the introduction that will reflect your work best. Just don’t forget to return to it!
3. Use the right language and choose the right words
Your writing score also to a large extent depends on your style. The SAT essay rubric describes a good essay as a response that uses a highly effective language. Also known as a command language, the required style of writing takes a lot of time to master. Thus, if your writing skills are rather bad and you have a limited time to prepare, we suggest focusing on the other components of your essay.
You are also required to demonstrate the use of different structures for your sentences. Your sentences should be diverse, and you should also demonstrate your vocabulary. All students are asked to write in an objective and formal tone.
Simply put, it means that you shouldn’t be repetitive and you shouldn’t make grammar mistakes. As for the formal tone, it means that you should avoid words like “I,” “me,” or “my,” because SAT essays shouldn’t be written in the first person.
Try to use different words to describe the same things, in order to demonstrate the capabilities of your vocabulary. This is a reason why revision is so important when writing SAT essays. Once your first draft is finished, read it again and choose the best words that fit your context. Advanced vocabulary is necessary for obtaining a top score.
4. Use information from the passage
You may feel tempted to use your additional knowledge, but all the necessary information is in the passage. SAT essays imply the only correct way of supporting your arguments: Read the passage you’ve been asked to consider, and get all the specific details there.
5. Focus on important details
There is no need to mention every detail that can support your argument, in fact, your essay may receive a higher score if you are focused on just a few points which are really important. You should show your ability to pick the most important information and use it to support your argument.
Imagine that you have 50 minutes to describe the human face and its functions. Obviously, you will focus on such important features as a mouth, nose, and eyes. It would take much more time and require a more detailed description if you wrote about eyelashes, cheekbones, skin pores etc.
5 Secrets the College Board Will Never Tell You
Although SAT essays have general guidelines available for everyone, there are also some secrets that can give you a major advantage, and many students don’t know them.
1. Read your passage after the prompt
Your prompt describes your main claim. When you know what your essay will be about, you can read the passage focusing on the important details that can actually be used to support your argument.
2. Accurate facts and more important than your interpretation
Not only do you have to identify what devices the author uses to support his or her argument, but you also have to describe the effect of these devices on the audience. Honestly, there is no right answer when it comes to describing the effect. Therefore, your explanation shouldn’t be 100% accurate, but it should be convincing. Nobody knows the author’s intention for sure, even the SAT graders. The main thing is to back your claims with quotes and facts from the passage.
3. Write more than one page
It was always a sort of additional requirement for SAT essays. However, recently, The Official SAT Study Grade clearly indicated that the length of your essay does matter. You have one page for a plan or outline of your essay, and four pages for the essay itself, so make sure to write at least two pages.
4. Be objective
You should be objective when reading the passage. This part of the task may be especially confusing for those students who have already written the old SAT essays. Previously, you were asked to pick a side, while now you have to be as objective as you can. You can prepare for your SAT by reading persuasive essays and trying to stay detached.
You can also read news articles about something that you consider a very important and sensitive subject. Focus on opinions opposite to your point, jotting down important details and noting how they relate to the main topic.
Don’t make your essay emotional, and it will surely get a higher score.
5. Identify specific persuasive methods
Once you’ve read your passage objectively, break down the argument from the given passage. It will be easier to do if you get familiar with the most common methods used by authors when building their argument.
The SAT prompt includes a few such techniques, which imply the use of evidence (examples and facts), reasoning that connects evidence and your claims, and persuasive elements. You don’t need to know the names of each specific persuasive device, you just can use some features that you noticed when reading your text. However, if you know a certain number of effective techniques, it will be an advantage.
For example, after you identify all the important details and key ideas of the given text, think of how the author builds his or her argument. Does the author mostly appeal to emotions, or statistics, or personal stories?
How to Use All the Necessary Components in 50 Minutes
1. Answer your prompt
You have to not only summarize the passage and define persuasive devices used in it, but you should also analyze how the author builds the argument. The Official SAT Study Guide says that you should focus on what the author does, and what effect it has on the audience. Essays that score 2 out of 4 in Analysis are described as assertive, rather than explanatory.
2. Support your claims with evidence from the passage
If you want to get a good score in Reading, you should include quotes from the passage, using them in the context of your claims. You don’t have to use only direct quotes. Instead, you can paraphrase something and incorporate it into your essay, using your own words. However, make sure there are no factual inaccuracies.
3. Make your essay organized
Your ideas should evolve within each paragraph and throughout the whole essay. It will be easier to do if you stick with the standard essay structure that includes the introduction, body, and conclusion. Create a basic five-paragraph structure, and your essay will be perfectly organized and easy to read.
Use transitions so that your ideas will flow smoothly from one paragraph to another.
4. Mind time management
You should allocate enough time for each of the steps of the writing process. You have to read your passage, analyze it, plan your essay, write it, and revise it. These are basic components of an 8/8/8 essay.
5. Practice
The more you practice, the more prepared you will be when it comes to writing the SAT essay. Practice writing and analysis, especially if you’re a slow reader. When writing the SAT essay, you will have to do everything quickly, so you should be prepared. You may also improve your reading and writing speed while practicing.
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