SAT Writing Opening Paragraph Structure???

avik224
Sun, 02 Sep 2007 17:35:26 +0000

In our schools, all of us have been taught a standard five paragraph essay protocol so to speak. At least, I have.

They say, that in the first paragraph, you INTRODUCE all the points that you are going to talk about, and then you use the three body paragraphs to detail on those points.

I have been reading a lot of SAT Strategies Books…and one thing they all say is that “A Well Written Essay is DIFFERENT from a well written SAT Essay, in some respects of course”…

Certain prep books, Grammatix especially, contain sample “6 essays” in which only the position is introduced in the first paragraph, not the examples. If you look at sample essays from Grammatix, most of the first paragraphs are like 3 sentences. In Grammatix, this is usually the structure of the first paragraph:

Thesis Statement
Include a though statement, and use it to support your point. (Longer than sentence 1)
End the paragraph with a sentence that gives an introduction to your examples. This would be something like

Three episodes from my personal experience serve as compelling examples of this fact

.


In a way, this is good, because it helps reduce the content of the essay, and you waste less time on the introduction. However, I was wondering if this method is actually effective in getting a 12 on the essay. Or, is it wise just to stick to the typical 5-paragraph essay protocol, in order to get a 12.

Please try to include the grade that your first-paragraph technique helped you receive on your essay…