A Prep Guide to the SAT Essay

JuniorMint
Sat, 20 Apr 2013 00:16:54 +0000

The Essays That Make Them Cry

To my absolute consternation, College Board includes a copy of your essay when it sends SAT results. It will haunt you forever.

I still have no clue why they do this. Do they want you to frame it? Torch it? Are you supposed to smack your lips scrumptiously and think, “Oh boy oh boy, is this a mighty fine example of insta-rhetoric or what?” Mind you, I bagged the 12, but I would never look at that sloppy scribble-dash again.

So if you would be embarrassed by having evidence of a 25-minute case of writer’s block, then make sure you succeed on your first or second attempt. This guide may help.

Prep Time

As you know, the PSAT does not have an essay. Consequently, many students will never see an SAT prompt until they are seeing the one that matters. Kids on CC will no doubt be different, but it is important to realize that the essay deserves as much practice as the other sections. I would recommend writing ten essays, using different prompts each time. I did close to forty over the summer. The College Board free test grades the essay based on keywords and length, so it is not terribly accurate.

The first two times should be untimed. Take your time to read the prompt carefully and come up with less obvious examples. Then write a two page essay as you would for school, proofreading and polishing as you go. This could take you forty minutes or longer, but it will get you familiarized with the process.

The next five prompts should be timed to thirty minutes. You will get used to the time-crunch and the speed with which you have to come up with examples. Try to not use a mechanical pencil or pen; they are quicker than a regular pencil, but you won’t be able to use them on the test.

The last two prompts should be timed to twenty-five minutes. If you find yourself struggling, consider practicing more prompts. You should take these two a day before the actual test, because the process should be fresh in your mind.

Pacing

You will see a pattern develop as you practice. Some people take five minutes to plan and then go into a speed writing mode. Some people don’t proofread. Some don’t even have pacing. Ultimately, if you have a practice pace, the actual essay won’t feel so rushed and hectic.

I would recommend that you spend one minute reading the prompt. You should read it at least twice. If you find yourself mindlessly rereading it, then stop and slap yourself softly. The next two minutes should be spent coming up with examples. Scribble a one or two word phrase for the opposing sides of the argument and write the examples under each heading. The side you can argue more effectively is the side you should choose. In some cases, you could use the examples for the side you are not using to present a counterargument. If you find that you can only come up with two examples and three minutes have already passed, then start writing. With luck, you will think of a third example when you come to it.

The next 3-4 minutes should be spent writing the introduction. I will explain what you should write in this section later.

The next 12-13 minutes should be spent writing your body paragraphs and developing the examples. I will explain these sections in detail later

The next 3-4 minutes should be spent writing the conclusion.

The last 1-2 minutes should be spent proofreading.

Structure

As bland and unlovable as it is, the five-paragraph essay is the format nearly every student will use on the SAT. You can use a four paragraph essay if you have two mind-bogglingly relevant examples, but only do this if you can’t come up with a third one. Keep in mind, that you are not limited to three examples. If you can come up with more, then combine similar ones into a single body paragraph. Perhaps make a six-paragraph essay. A favorite tactic of mine was to bombard the reader with a series of names, events, books, and other examples in the conclusion. At the very least, this tells the grader that a 25 minute essay did not exhaust your entire knowledge base.

The Introduction. There are several things that need to happen here. The very first sentence should introduce the topic. Often, you can achieve this by repeating the question mentioned in the assignment part of the prompt (below the quote, adage, or concept). The next two sentences should suggest the position you will be taking, and broadly speaking, why you think that way. The next sentence should reference the examples you will be talking about. The final sentence in the introduction should be your thesis.

For example, here is a prompt from the March 2013 test.

Prompt: People often focus on “the details,” those seemingly minor features and elements that often have major effects or consequences. Whether they are making ordinary, everyday decisions, analyzing historical events, or enjoying the plot of a novel, many people consider the details to be all-important. Others, however, argue that paying attention to details distracts people from the big picture—perceiving an idea, goal, or plan in its entirety.

Assignment: Is it a disadvantage to pay attention to details? Plan and write an essay in which you develop your point of view on this issue. Support your position with reasoning and examples taken from your reading, studies, experience, or observations.



Your introduction could look like this:
Is it a disadvantage to pay attention to details? While some describe attention-to-detail as tunnel vision, not paying attention to the details can be worse. To put it in analogy, if the absent-minded professor is run over by a bus because he is more interested in his work than crossing the street safely, then a big-picture sort of bus driver would be running over everyone because he is not paying attention to the details. Simply put, ignoring the details can be disastrous and in most cases, heeding them will be beneficial. For example, Israel was able to notice slight changes in its neighbor’s activities preceding the Six Day War in 1967 and launched a successful preemptive strike. The city of Ilium suffered by not paying enough attention to the Trojan Horse, while the hubris of Oedipus Rex prevented him from noticing the horrid truth of his past. Consequently, it is to one’s advantage to pay attention to the details.

The Body Paragraphs. These two to four paragraphs also have specific duties. The topic sentence should set the paragraph in relation to the rest of the essay. This is done by using transitional phrases such as “for example”, “similarly”, “meanwhile”, or “conversely”. The bulk of the paragraph should explain the example. Mention dates and names whenever possible. I will talk later about good examples and avoiding clich