How to Prepare for the SAT Essay

Saturday, November 1, 2008

When you are handed your SAT Reasoning Test, the first section you have to tackle is...

*Drumrolls*

...the essay. Yes. It sucks to be you and the countless high school students in the world.

I did not the get best possible score on my essay for my SATs (12/12). If I had gotten 1 or 2 marks higher, I would have had an 800 for my Writing section (I did unbelievably well for my grammar parts). But what I did to prepare really helped.

Is it possible to write an essay in 25 minutes? Yes. It is.

What can you do to achieve that?

• The SAT essay is different from the ones you usually write in that you do not HAVE to have 5 paragraphs. Four is enough. Even 3 is enough if you're essay is strong enough. Unless you are an extremely good writer, I'd say to stick with 4 though.
  (1) Introduction (2) Example (3) Example (4) Conclusion
  
• Familiarize yourself with the past essay topics. The one you might get will most likely be something similar. [Leave a message at the tagboard if you want them. I can send them to you]
  
• Memorize some versatile examples (FDR, Bill Gates, Mother Teresa, etc.) so you can grasp the topic and just write on test day rather than wasting your precious time brainstorming.
  
• Quit practicing your essays by typing. Grab a pencil and paper and write. A lot of the time, when you have essay examples carved into your brain, the only reason you can't finish in 25 minutes is that you can't write fast enough.
  

Okay. You can handle that. Now, you want a high mark on you essay. How do you do that?

• Use powerful examples from history (famous figures, leaders, etc) or literature. Avoid using personal examples. Personal examples (unless the experience is itself very touching), is very hard to write into a veyr powerful example
• Use creative yet critical examples.
  
• Use the PIE format. State your POINT. ILLUSTRATE with details. EXPLAIN your example so that it fits into your topic.
  
• Develop creative yet clear formats for your introduction and conclusion. If you're not the creative type, may I suggest:
  ~Intro~
  ` Restate the question, making it your thesis.
  ` Explain your thesis in one sentence (make sure this is not too detailed or too redundant)
  ` State the examples you will use
  ~Conclu~
  ` Restate your thesis
  ` Suggest a further step (without digressing)