How to Get 12 out of 12 on the SAT Essay
First, keep these things in mind:
~ Two people will read your essay, and each will assign it a 1 through 6. Their two scores will be
combined to total your score on the essay. Their scores must be within one point of each other,
or your essay will be read by a third, tie-breaking reader.
~ The readers are grading to a common standard; that is, they’re all trained to know what a 6
looks like, and a 5, and a 4, etc. You need to learn what a 6 essay looks like, so you can write
one!
Elements of a “6” Essay
or
What an SAT Scorer has been trained to look for:
1. LENGTH – You want your essay to be two pages long.
Because you have to write this essay in only 25 minutes, feel free to shoot for a four-paragraph
essay—not necessarily five—unless you’re confident that you can write a really good fiveparagraph essay in 25 minutes.
It’s better to write four strong paragraphs than five mediocre ones, keeping in mind that in
either case you want to write two or almost two pages.
Use detailed examples. I’ll repeat that: Use. Detailed. Examples. This will push your paper to
two pages. ** Refer to my handout, “Questions That Walk You Through Writing A Body
Paragraph” for help in making your body paragraphs say more more more.
2. FORMAT— It’s very safe to use Intro-Body Paragraphs-Conclusion structure.
The readers are probably English teachers, so they’re familiar with that classic essay structure
and can assess it very quickly.
INTRO: A lot of students know that a good introduction should mention the main ideas that
will be covered in the body paragraphs and should also include the thesis, but they often ask
“What else should I write about in an introduction?”
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Try this: consider starting your introduction as if you’re just thinking out loud about the
subject, as if you’ve thought of some ideas that are worth bouncing around in a discussion.
With that in mind, your opening sentences might look something like this:
For an essay about honesty: “We grow up learning about how honesty is the best policy while
at the same time hearing that ‘white lies’ aren’t so bad.”
For an essay about conformity vs. individuality: “People say that they want to be original in
the way that they speak and think and dress, but it seems that most people spend a lot of time
just trying to fit in.”
For an essay about imagination vs. knowledge: “From early childhood we’re told to use our
imaginations, but we’re also lectured not to color outside the lines.”
Do you see how these are observations—almost like thinking out loud, as if to get a
conversation rolling? If you start your introduction this way, you would follow the opening
sentence with another sentence or two to explain what you mean, then you could refer to the
examples that will come in your body paragraphs, and then state your thesis.
BODY: Probably two paragraphs. Maybe three.
Note: It’s great if your second body paragraph starts by making reference to the first body
paragraph—to show the relationship between the two. For example, “The materialism that
dominated Jay Gatsby’s life all those decades ago is even more evident today, as reality
television illustrates.”
CONCLUSION: This can be short, and it serves to say, essentially, “See what I’ve told you here?
Take these thoughts with you.” And you might end with a “look to the future”; you could
suggest to the reader what the impact might be if people followed the argument you made in
your essay. But don’t bring up brand new ideas in the conclusion.
3. THE THESIS
Immediately after reading the essay question, quickly brainstorm for examples to support your
thesis. If you can’t think of two solid examples fairly quickly, take the opposite position and see
how fast you can come up with examples to prove that thesis.
If you’re stuck without any insightful thoughts for the beginning of the introduction, it’s
perfectly safe to make the first sentence of the essay your thesis statement. You simply state
your position relative to the question—making clear where you stand on the issue. This makes
things easy for the readers because they’ll know immediately where you stand.
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What if you don’t know how to write a thesis statement simply and quickly?
Remember this: You’re always safe using “ALTHOUGH” or “BECAUSE” thesis statements.
For example:
“Although the opinions of others can hold merit, ultimately we need to make decisions
based on what we ourselves think and believe.”
“It’s important to question authority because doing so creates progress and moves
society forward.”
4. EXAMPLES – Personal examples are fine.
Think about some significant personal issues or experiences that might be used in most
generic essays. Referring to literature or history or current events is great—and advisable—
but if you can’t think of any pertinent and relevant examples quickly, it’s fine to use personal
experience. Many “12” essays cite only personal examples in the body paragraphs.
Let me be clear: readers will certainly be impressed if you can use examples from current
events, history, literature, etc. So why not jump on the Internet for 15 minutes and learn about
something that’s hot in the news lately? Learn and remember some interesting facts that
might not be commonly known. Spend a little time learning about a world leader who might
not be very well known to most Americans. Believe me, the SAT readers have seen thousands
of references to Martin Luther King, Jr., the Holocaust, and the American Revolution. You’ll
make an impact if you offer something fresh. But again, what matters most is that you write
with detail about whatever topic you choose, and that you DON’T breeze right through
without developing what you mean.
So. . . back to the Personal Examples. . .
Have some scenarios about yourself well thought out and ready to apply to the question.
Make sure that the examples you use are specific, concrete, detailed.
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This is too general:
“Playing competitive tennis for the past seven years has taught me about hard work and
sacrifice. I’ve spent countless hours practicing and missing out on some of the fun and
interesting things my friends do on weekends and after school.”
Compare it with something more specific, like:
“For the past seven years of my competitive tennis career, I’ve been cheated countless
times by a girl who calls the ball out whenever she’s desperate to win a point. I was
afraid to speak up and call for a line judge—vowing to beat her with my skill alone.
But this year, I overcame fear of looking like a whiner, and I turned her in. That was
when I realized that my beloved sport had offered me a chance to stand up and face
my fear of confrontation.”
Maybe you play water polo. Or you’re an amateur chef. Or you sing. Or you volunteer. Or you
can fix cars. Or you take care of one of your grandparents. Or you’ve lived in three countries.
Or you’ve built websites. Think of several scenarios within your personal experience that can
be used to illustrate a number of themes, like persistence, optimism, taking action,
independence, honesty, imagination, etc., and practice applying those scenarios to SAT essay
prompts. (See Jodi’s Example Bank Worksheet.)
And here’s some good news: you don’t need to use accurate facts nor do you have to write
truth. How are they going to know if what you write is true? They don’t know or care. You can
invent stories if you have to—just make sure that they have enough realistic detail to sound
believable. SAT readers have said that they can often spot the fake stories because such
stories “sound a little too contrived and aren’t well supported.”
One good idea I’ve heard is to take personal examples and “give them a little credibility by
turning them into news stories or examples from literature.” Maybe you’ve already used one
personal example, and you have another one that would suit the essay; write the second
example as if it’s not part of your life.
For example, if you have a brother who has helped improve a neighborhood by running
programs in a community center, you can spin it away from your personal life by saying
something like, “I recently read about a single citizen who is making a dramatic difference for
many, just because he’s willing to give his time.” Voila! You have an example from the local
community! What an involved and interested citizen you are! Again, what matters most is
that you offer good examples that you can support with details.
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5.) COUNTER ARGUMENTS
If you include counter arguments, make sure that you’re using them clearly—that you’re simply
offering what the other side might believe. Then get back to discussing why your side is more
logical, reasonable, believable, etc. Make sure that there’s no chance that a fast SAT reader
could be confused into thinking that you’re not committed to your side of the question.
Some other thoughts for a solid essay. . .
The opening paragraph
The first paragraph is particularly important because after reading it, the scorers will have an idea –
usually within a point—of how they’re going to score your essay. Then they’ll read the rest even
faster to see if you stay consistent. Here are some ways to make the first paragraph (and the rest of
the essay, of course) impressive:
~ Use some interesting punctuation, like a semicolon, a colon, quotation marks,
etc.
~ Use sentence variety—short, long, medium-length sentences—so that your
paragraphs don’t sound monotonous.
~ Throw in a few interesting vocabulary words and make sure you have a very
clear grasp of what a word means and how it’s used. If you write something
like, “There I lay after the match, prostate until help arrived,” when you should
have written “prostrate,” you’re going to cause a few laughs you don’t want!
~ You might even choose some words in advance and memorize them, words
that aren’t too specific and can be used when discussing many subjects. Really!
Words like: banal (boring, cliché), egregious (really bad), astute (bright, clever,
smart), facile (easy), exemplify (to show by example), benign (favorable,
harmless), fervor (great enthusiasm or passion for something), necessitate (to
make necessary or unavoidable), etc.
Choose some of your own and have a really firm grasp of them, in case no
interesting vocabulary words occur to you while you’re writing the essay.
~ Throw in one good simile or metaphor. Animal and nature metaphors are usually easy
to come up with if you’re stuck. This kind of thing can raise a reader’s eyebrows in a
good way:
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~ Like a hungry panther, I approached my opponent.
~ The coffee shop was a beehive of swarming, bustling activity, and she was the queen.
~ My bed is a soft, lush oasis in the midst of the design desert I call my bedroom.
~ The hush of the audience as they awaited the judge's score was eerie, as if a swirling,
howling wind had been mysteriously stilled.
~ On the football field, I am a freight train.
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BREAKDOWN of the 25 MINUTES (Really try to stick to this timing)
Spend three to five minutes understanding the question, choosing your position, and
prewriting— essentially figuring out the what the bulk of your body paragraphs is going to be
and writing a very quick, informal outline. Write notes, fragments, and snippets of ideas on the
test booklet in the space provided as scratch paper.
17-18 minutes writing the essay.
Three to four minutes proofreading, looking for glaring goofery.
That’s about it. And remember. . . .
On this essay, you don’t have to be a clever, cute, witty, brilliant, wordsmithy, or
otherwise impressive writer.
You simply need to be clear about where you stand and able to support your
position with at least two strong and specific examples. They want to see that you
can write cleanly and logically.
Also remember:
As you proofread in those last minutes, make sure that your sentences are clean
and lean; you never want to give the reader any reason to wonder, “huh?”
☼☼ GOOD LUCK!! ☼☼
Copyright© Jodi Fodor — www.satwordslam.com
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