SAT scores are just one of many criteria used by colleges to make admissions

decisions. Nevertheless, their importance shouldnt be underestimated. As

much as admissions officers say they take an open-minded and holistic
approach to their decisions, SAT scores can make or break an application.
And lets face it -- its easier to compare numerical data than it is to decide
whether a semester in France should be ranked higher than a state soccer
championship.
Also, schools usually make their SAT data public, and they know that their
reputations depend upon high numbers. A college wont be considered
highly selective or elite if its students have an average SAT math score of
470.
So what is a good SAT score? The exam consists of three parts: Critical
Reading, Mathematics and Writing. The scores from each section can range
from 200 to 800, so the best possible total score is 2400. The average score
for each section is roughly 500, so the average total score is about 1500. For
the 1.65 million test-takers in the class of 2011, the mean scores were 497
critical reading, 514 math, and 489 writing.
Very few students get a perfect SAT score, even those at the countrys top
colleges. The list below shows the middle range of SAT scores for different
schools. The middle 50% of admitted students fell within these numbers.
Keep in mind that 25% of students who were admitted scored below the
lower numbers listed here.
Finally, you'll see that some of the school profiles include the critical reading
and math scores, but not the writing scores. This is because the writing part
of the exam is still new, and many schools do not yet use it in their
admissions decisions. We're likely to see that change in the next couple years
as colleges figure out the relationship between the writing score and
academic success.

Your Strategy for Excelling on the Essay

If you are anything like the millions of students who take the SAT Reasoning Testeach
year, you are probably wondering (and worrying) about the new essay section.
Perhaps you are insecure about the fact that it is graded subjectively or the impact it will
have on your Writing score.

Your concerns are legitimate, but thankfully, you need not worry about the scoring. You
should spend your time preparing for and focusing on writing a solid essay that is
sure to gain many points.

What kind of essay is solid? High-scoring essays have the following basic
characteristics:

Length

Detail

Mastery of Language

The best indicator of how an essay will score is its length. The College Board and
most scorers will vehemently deny this, but studies have indicated that a strong
correlation exists between longer essays and higher scores. Why do long essays score
so well?
One reason may be because of the ability of the graders. Given the huge number of SAT
essays they must score, it is impossible for them to thoroughly read and dissect each
one. Rather, it lies on you to "wow" them with a great essay that not only reads well but
"looks" like a long, well-planned essay. A fairly long essay length will not hurt you, and it
probably will improve your score.

Also, it may just be that a longer essay length implies more detail. Detail is the meat
of the essay and makes an essay worthy of reading. Statements like It is better to live
in freedom than in fear must bequalified by examples, personal experiences,
expertise, and so forth.

Finally, students who have a proficiency in writing in the English language tend to score
high because they effectively use devices such as figurative language, transitions,
and idiomatic expressions. The statement the King was a hawk waiting to swoop
down on his next prey is certainly more effective than the King was very harsh towards
opposition.

You should keep the big three (length, detail, and mastery) in the front of your mind

while taking the writing section. Of course, applying these principles is easier said than
done. How do you go about writing an essay that employs all three of the principles?

The key is time management. You are given 25 minutes to write an essay that is
evaluated on a scale of 1-6 by two graders. That being said, you are given those 25
minutes not only to write the essay, but to read the prompt and create a plan. With such
little time to do so much, time management is of the essence.

Your strategy to success, therefore, revolves around time management. As soon as the
essay section (Section 1) begins, you should quickly read the given quote and the
prompt. Spend no more than two minutes doing so. Here is an example quote and
prompt:

a nation which can prefer disgrace to danger is prepared for a master and
deserves one. Alexander Hamilton

Is it immoral to sacrifice ones honor for ones safety or is it acceptable to concede honor
in return for guarantees of peace? 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.

The prompt always includes a quote such as the one above followed by a short question
(usually given as an A OR B choice). The key to these first two minutes is to understand
how the quote relates to the question and what the two options or positions you can take
are. In the above example, Hamilton basically purports that it is better to be honorable
and dead than dishonorable and safe. Now, the question asks if honor is a fair price for
safety. Can you make the connection between the quote and the question?

The two choices you can choose are:

Honor is a fair price for safety (not supported by quote)

One must not give up honor for safety (supported by quote)

Note that there is no middle ground the worst thing you can do is choose a
wishy-washy answer like:
Depending on the circumstances, it could be acceptable to sacrifice honor for safety but
in other circumstances it is not acceptable.

This position may actually be the one you hold, but you are not writing to fulfill your
beliefs you are writing to score high. Only a strongly-worded, persuasive response
will receive high marks.

Now that you have identified the two choices for response, choose one that you feel
you have the most supporting evidence for. Note that the evidence you can use is
from reasoning and examples meaning that you must combine both your ability to
logically reason with many descriptive examples.

For the next three minutes, you should briefly plan (either on paper or in your head)
exactly how you will support your response. Whether you pre-write, organize, or brain
dump, you should have at least some idea of where you will be going for the essay.

Once you have spent the first five minutes identifying the question and planning a
response, you should spend the next five minutes writing a killer introduction. The
introduction is the first thing that the scorers will read from your essay (they do not read
pre-writing) and will therefore have the most immediate impact on your score. Graders
are human and are prone to being persuaded by snazzy words, especially in the opening
sentence. A grader would yawn at:

You should never sacrifice your honor for safety.

However, an opening sentence that is powerful is more likely to capture the

readers attention:

Death before dishonor!

Within the opening, you should not only grab the readers attention, but firmly state
your position on the given question. Do NOT be wishy-washy about it.

After these five minutes have been spent, write like a banshee for the last fifteen
minutes. Trust us, the time will absolutely fly, and if you are doing a good job you will
probably run out of time. Pour out examples, descriptions, quotations, conversations,
statistics, and anything else that will wow your reader.

When time is ticking down, at around the last two minutes or so, you should spend
some time planning and writing a brief conclusion. The conclusion need not be an
amazing or eye-catching piece of work like the introduction, but it does need to be there.
Effective conclusions generalize the point you have made to a wider context; ineffective
conclusions simply restate your response:

Ineffective: For these reasons, it is much better to die in honor than to live in shame.

Effective: and, the next time we see the ruins of a forgotten city, we can remember
that the inhabitants believed in a higher and greater order than their humble existences.

In our next two lessons, we will examine some key strategies for writing good
introductions, conclusions, and above all, detail paragraphs. Remembering the three
goals we are working toward length, detail, and mastery will help you stay on track
and excel on the essay section. In no time, you should be scoring high!

Writing Effective Introduction and Details

In this lesson, we will take a look at strategies for writing effective introductions and body
paragraphs. We will be working with the following prompt for this guide:
If we are dissatisfied with our circumstances, we think about changing them. But the
most important and effective changesin our attitudehardly occur to us. In other

words, we should worry not about how to alter the world around us for the better but
about how to change ourselves in order to fit into that world.
Adapted from Michael Hymers, "Wittgenstein, Pessimism and Politics"
Assignment:
Is it better to change one's attitude than to change one's circumstances? 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.

[edit section]Writing

an Effective Introduction

There are two key components to the effective introduction:

Grabs the attention of the reader

Firmly states the response (thesis)

There is no single way to do either of the two, so let us look at ways to grab the attention
of the reader first. The first sentence that a scorer reads will typically have the most
impact when compared to any other sentence. It is therefore in your interest to create an
opening sentence that has a great deal of impact, catches your readers attention, and
relates directly to the response you will make. Here are some examples of ways to write
an effective opening (attention-grabbing) sentence:

Hyperbolic statement: Use a far-fetched, wild, extremist, or exaggerated

statement that is likely to be a little controversial or imaginative. For example, For
thousands of years of human history, optimists have used religion, politics, and
culture to try to change the attitudes of millions. They have miserably failed.

Statistic: Employ a statistic that relates to your response. Self-described

optimists are five times more likely to be happy and satisfied than their pessimist
counterparts.

Personal experience: Include an example of how an experience you have had

relates to your opinion on the response. When I was diagnosed with cancer four
years ago, the doctor told me I would concede to the wiles of destiny instead, I
made a choice to live a more enjoyable and fulfilling life than I ever had before.

Folksy/Common Statement: Include a saying that is common and then apply it

to an uncommon response. For example, They say that if you arent an optimist, the
glass is half-empty. And, if youre a pessimist, it probably has cyanide in it anyway.
Quote: Include a quote from a well-known source (other than the one given to

you) that relates to your response. Work is either fun or drudgery. It depends on your
attitude. I like fun." These were wise words from Colleen C. Barrett
Of course, there are probably a thousand other ways to grab the readers attention.
Weve just listed a few to spark your creative juices.
Regardless of how you choose to open your essay, you should incorporate your thesis
statement (response) worded as strongly as possible. Make sure that it is not wishywashy and directly answers the question given to you in the prompt.
Ideally, this introduction should be about five sentences long and should span about half
a page, depending on how large you write. The key is that you should, by writing an
effective introduction, interest the grader and inform him of the point you are trying to
make.

[edit section]Detail

and Description

The meat of your essay is found in the paragraphs between your introduction and
your conclusion the so-called body of the essay. It is this body section that will
ultimately make or break you based on your ability to include plenty of detail while using
appropriate, clear, and concise language.
The prompt always asks you to support your response using examples taken from
your reading, studies, experience, or observations. Take this to heart. A great
strategy is to make a note of these four categories and try to include two examples of
each. That is, cite two books youve read, two classes youve been in, two personal
experiences, and two observations about the world. Of course, this is not an iron law,
and it is very much flexible, but witheight solid details (each around two
sentences) you should have enough information to create a solid and lengthy essay.
How do you properly employ detail and examples? You should first recognize that the
grader wants some organization to your paper, so a random spattering of information will
not help. You should include detail to support general logical points for example:

1. A positive change in attitude can effect a change in conditions

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Non-Violence

Jesus Christ and Christianity

2. Having a positive attitude allows you to make the best of a situation

When I broke my leg and couldnt play basketball, I studied harder

The movie Little Miss Sunshine

3. Negative attitudes historically yield bad results

Marlowe in Heart of Darkness

Decline of Roman Empire

While you are probably not familiar with all of the details listed above, the idea is that you
should have a basic outline of the relation between the points you will be making and the
details you plan to include.
Second, you should lead-in and lead-out of any included detail. The formula is:
1. Lead-in: Transition to the example you are about to include
2. Detail: Include example
3. Lead-out: Relate example to the point you make
For example:
(Lead-in) Maintaining a positive attitude in a negative environment can actually change
your environment for the better. In fact, people who can maintain positive attitudes have
created a difference and made the world around them better.
(Detail) One such person was Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., who led the Civil Rights
Movement in America through a strategy of nonviolence and non-confrontation. His work
eventually allowed Blacks in the US more rights.

(Lead-out) His involvement and non-violence philosophy shows that even though he
could have become angry and violent towards the white establishment, his positive
attitude allowed him to effect bigger and better changes.
Of course, this is an exceedingly long detail, but it was created to show you the full extent
of the lead-in/lead-out system.

Demonstrating Mastery of Language

The College Board wants to see that you can demonstrate a mastery of the English
language. One of the main purposes of the SAT Writing (Essay) assessment is to
determine a student's ability to plan, consider, and write out a response in a small
amount of time that demonstrates his mastery of language and attention to detail.
Therefore, a good essay should not only have a great thesis and introduction but should
be supported by many facts.
Here is a general tip/reminder from the last lesson: If you make any kind of statement
within your essay, support it with at least one detail. It doesn't matter if the detail is true
or not (unless its a stupid and illogical blatantly-false lie), but it does matter if the detail
logically supports your argument. Many students fall into the trap of making many claims
without supporting them or being specific, as in the following:

Incorrect: Increased amounts of consumer spending and materialism lead to

more greed and government corruption. Also, materialism can lead to social
problems.

Correct: When people spend more money and become more materialistic, they
tend to become greedier and more selfish. I remember how my aunt went on a
shopping spree after she fell into a windfall of money in the form of my grandpa's will.
She became angry, violent, and unpleasant. Imagine how people in positions of
power take to such increases in spending - they become more powerful and less
mindful of their vulnerability, seeking additional wealth and participating in corrupt
activities.

Notice how the first paragraph is considerably shorter than the second. You may say:
What about terse language? What about being brief? You do want to be brief, but only in
the way you use words. It is not good to be brief about the details you include - as you

can see, the second paragraph is much more readable than the first. Graders will be
more likely to score the second a point or two higher than the first.

Once you have secured a strategy for including many details (and we cannot stress the
importance of the inclusion of details enough), you can use figurative language to better
convey your knowledge of the English language and mastery of prose.

How can you convey this mastery of language? Below are some easy suggestions that
show to the examiner that you know how to write well:

Figurative language - Similes, metaphors, hyperbole, and other devices can

really add on the points your score. If you are not sure what these are, we suggest
you look them up in an English book, but consider the following sentence: "I came
home because I was very tired." This sentence is quite tired! Let's add a simile: "I
came home, tired as an old winless greyhound dog." Now you have conveyed the
same message, but added interesting imagery and a comparison between you and a
winless dog. Even further, we can add hyperbole: "I dragged my toes the entire
way home, tired as an old winless greyhound dog." Now compare this sentence
to the first. It's easy to see which sentence better conveys your message.

Complex sentence structure - This is an easy device to implement that will also
improve your score. Consider the following simple sentence: "We sent Tyler to his
room." Easy enough, right? It consists of a single independent clause. What if we
add a dependent clause to the end? "We sent Tyler to his room when he threw a
tantrum." Now, more information is conveyed - precisely what the College Board
desires that you do. The difference is that the new sentence uses both an
independent clause and a dependent clause ("We sent Tyler to his room" / "when he
threw a tantrum"), which provides an explanation of the independent clause.

Effective Parallel Structure - You should remember parallelism from the ISE/IS
lessons, but let's go over implementing it in your writing. Parallel structure, if
employed correctly, can make an ordinary point exceedingly powerful. For example,
consider the following sentences: "I know many people think the mentally ill are
just lazy or can really help themselves, but let me give you a few examples why
they are helpless. My grandmother cannot even bathe herself. Also, my best
friends mom can't hold a job for more than a few days because she is so
mentally ill." This perpetuates an important point but does so in a boring way. Let's

add parallelism to the paragraph: "I know many people think the mentally ill are
lazy and can really help themselves, but when you have seen my friend's mom
struggling to hold a job, when you have seen my grandmother fumbling to
bathe herself, when you have seen war-torn veterans lying on the street as
drug addicts, then you will understand their suffering."

Formal register - This is certainly not a requirement for doing well on the SAT.
Many students earn scores of "12" and write in the informal, friendly style that they
know best. However, you are probably not an expert in informal writing, and therefore
it will be much easier for you to learn how to write in formal prose. Basically, you want
to avoid using words such as "I" or "you," and instead use "we" or "one." You will also
want to avoid indicating emotion in writing or recalling personal details with an
inappropriate lead-in. For example: "When I was young, my dog died and I asked
if there was a doggy heaven." This is incorrect register. Equally incorrect, however,
is this: "When one is young, one's dog could die and one may wonder if there
exists some kind of heaven for dogs." This is what we call "pedantic" - overly
academic or formal. You need to strike a happy medium: "Many children
experience the death of a pet and wonder if there really is a heaven for dogs."

Of course, these are only a few tips, but they should help you on the SAT Writing: Essay
assessment. We want you to show the examiners that you not only can prove a point, but
do so with a masterful flow and utilization of English. We wish you the best of luck!