<p>I’ve been feeling like this even though I know it’s wrong. I got a 780 on the sat1 math and so I feel like I don’t need to study for that. For writing I feel like writing an essay is something you can’t study for so I’m procrastinating with that, too.</p>
<p>Any opinions or words of advice?(P.s. try to scare me into studying for them!)</p>
<p>Thanks…</p>
<p>You should practice writing the essay for the SAT II (or new SAT) because you might need practice pacing yourself and pacing your essay so you just use all the lines (it’s actually hard to write a shorter essay sometimes). Plus, the topics are so general that if you do practice, you can at least have some books/history in mind that you might want to use on the actual test.</p>
<p>You should also review grammar. Little things, such as when to use “as a result of” versus “due to” and what not.</p>
<p>I didn’t study for Writing or IC, and it went alright for me.</p>
<p>I thought the grammar stuff in the Writing study books was incredibly helpful. I could really identify each mistake, and which type of mistake it was. I used Kaplan, btw.</p>
<p>For writing, just look over the sample essays that they give you on the collegeboard website. Keep in mind what they are looking for. A good, short formula essay has the following:</p>
<p>1st paragraph: restatement and clarification of topic + thesis
2nd paragraph: 1 example with supporting details ( I think 1 well-supported example is sufficient)
3rd paragraph: closing</p>
<p>I know most people loathe to write formula-style essays, but hey, you have 20 min, and that’s what they are looking for. I don’t think that a short essay is necessarily bad either. They just want a sample of your writing style. I haven’t received my score report in the mail yet, but I got an 800, so my method must work!</p>
<p>u gave only one well example…and that was good enough?..great…so they dont care bout creativity as long as ur gramatically correct?..like i dont have to make the opening catchy or anything?</p>
<p>Thanks for the comments guys. I’ve decided to hit up my local B&N and read a 1c and writing book. I’m pretty lazy so if that 3 paragraph formula worked for you I’ll probably use it for mine, too.</p>
<p>Don’t practice essays if you can write well. However, brush up on your grammar (barron’s guide is good). Math ic and iic should be pretty easy if you got a 780 on math i and are in pre-calc or above.</p>
<p>Ignore Kodiak’s advice. He might have gotten an 800, but it’s not BECAUSE he wrote a short essay, it’s DESPITE that fact. Yes, a short essay CAN theoretically earn the top score, but this is extremely rare. In fact, I’m guessing his essay probably earned a maximum of 10 out of 12 (you can do so and still score 800). To give yourself the best chance of scoring very high, write a 4- or 5-paragraph essay. You’ll be glad you did.</p>
<p>Also, it never hurts to review the content and do practice exams for the SAT IIs. Don’t take them lightly, even if you scored very high on your SAT I. The two scores are not necessarily correlated.</p>
<p>I still disagree with newt; you should practice writing essays for the new SAT/SAT II Writing, perhaps <em>especially</em> “if you write well”. It’s difficult to make your argument so concise as to fit the (less than) two-page area you are alloted - and, to my greatest knowledge, most normally good writers develop arguments far too long for a test like the SAT II.</p>
<p>I agree with lavenderdream. You need to get a feel for what its like to see a prompt and have 20 minutes and 2 pages to respond. The more you practice, the better you’ll do. Also, you’ll find that with only a few themes, you can respond to most essays. If you practice, it’ll make it a lot less stressful on test day because you’ll already know exactly what you want to say because you’ve said it before in practice essays.</p>
<p>Godot, when I say “short essay”, I meant 250-300 words- that’s plenty, but shorter than a traditional school essay. Besides, I’m convinced that the readers are more concerned with quality than quantity. Next to no one can write a decent, well-organized, well-supported 5-paragraph essay in 20 minutes. And I’d be happy to tell you what my essay got when I get the score report.</p>