SAT Essay in a Nutshell:
The SAT requires students to write an essay in 25 minutes. While this is not a lot of time, the two
graders will want to see a logical, well supported, organized first draft of an essay. The best way
to prepare for this part of the SAT is to practice, and we will be doing a great deal of this.
Since all of us have had different experiences with writing, I am going to start with the basics--a
strong paragraph. Essays are nothing more than several strong paragraphs. I do not want to
assume that you have all had the same amount of writing instruction. Before we get started on
how to write a good paragraph, let's first look at how your SAT essay will be scored and who will
be scoring it.
Scoring: The essay will be scored by experienced and trained high school and college teachers.
Each essay will be scored by two people who won't know each other's score. They won't know
your identity or school either. Each reader will give the essay a score from 1 to 6 (6 is the highest
score) based on the overall quality of the essay and your demonstration of writing competence.
Even with some errors in spelling, punctuation, and grammar, you can still get a top score on the
essay. The essay will be scored using a holistic approach. That means readers will consider the
essay as a total piece of work and will judge it on the overall impression it produces. Handwriting
will not count against you, but essay readers must be able to read your writing in order to score
your essay, so you should try to write legibly.
Each reader will assign your essay a score of 1 to 6, with 6 with the highest possible score. If both
readers give your essay a 4, your combined score will be an 8. If one reader gives your essay a 3
and the other gives it a 4, your score will be a 7. If the two readers disagree about your score--for
example, one reader scores your essay a 3 while the other scores it a 5--a third reader will read
your essay and score it. Remember that your essay score will be reported separately from your
math score and your critical reading score, ranging from 2 to 12.
Planning: Now it is time to start thinking about good writing. Remember this is a TIMED essay; this
means that you must produce a quality first draft in those 25 minutes. Your first impulse will be to
start writing immediately. This is by far the WRONG approach and a big mistake. I will not allow
you to do this! Taking the time to brainstorm and sketch your essay is the key to doing well on
this writing assignment as well as all writing assignments that you complete. Poor planning will
lead to an unorganized, unsupported essay and thus, a low score. FIVE minutes of planning time
will help you to write the kind of essay you need to write. However, you can not take longer than
five minutes to plan.
Paragraphs: Good paragraphs have the following qualities: they begin with a topic sentence,
they have many examples with details to PROVE that topic sentence, and all sentences stay on
topic. Somewhere along the way we were all taught that a good paragraph is five sentences.
Five sentences will rarely be a good paragraph. Remember that the key to good paragraph
writing is to PROVE your ideas. From my experiences both teaching the SAT essay and in grading
the test, all the high scoring essays share a lot of common characteristics. They are as follows:
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Clearly address the prompt! This is key! If you can use wording and phrasing from the
prompt, that's even better because it reinforces that you are, in fact, addressing the
prompt. Make sure all body paragraphs clearly support your thesis and clearly addresses
the prompt.
Choose a stance. Make sure all your supporting points support this stance. Don't qualify
your stance with phrases like "I feel," "I think," "I believe," or "I plan to prove..." Just state
your stance without any qualifiers. Ex.) "Blue shoes are superior to orange shoes for
several reasons."
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They have two-three body paragraphs of supporting points that reflect a variety of
experiences. Since the prompt requires you to use information from your readings,
observations, and personal experiences for support, really try to have a variety of
examples. For example, instead of using three personal experiences for support, try one
historical example, one literary, and one personal experience. Showing your wellroundedness and your ability to make connections will sustain your reader's interest and
will give you more to write about.
Similarly, having three examples is better than having two, if (and only if) you fully
develop each example. If time only permits you to discuss two examples, make sure you
discuss them really well. It's better to discuss two really well than gloss over three
examples.
Remember all the traits of good writing: incorporating transitions, varying sentence
lengths and structures, etc.
Use sophisticated diction (strong, precise, and varied word choice) whenever possible. It
could mean the difference between a 5 and a 6!