SAT Prep — How to Take a Stand on Your SAT Essay

On the SAT, you may be asked to choose sides in an argument and defend your position.

Frequently, the essay prompt asks students whether they agree or disagree with a given quote or idea, such as: "Nothing requires more discipline than freedom."

For the purposes of the essay, you should either agree or disagree with the given statement.

Many students are wishy-washy, perhaps because they are afraid of giving the wrong answer. For example, an indecisive student might write:

Sometimes freedom requires great discipline, but sometimes it doesn't.

This position statement is bad, because it does not take a clear and decisive stand. These kinds of openings tend to lead to essays that wander and are unfocused. They also tend to get low scores.

If you agree with the statement in the essay prompt, you might begin with a simple but effective affirmation of the idea, like this:

Freedom requires great discipline.

If you disagree with the statement, you might begin by turning the idea on its head:

Freedom is the absence of discipline.

Both of these statements make a clear point, and would lead to completely different essays, in part because they interpret the word freedom in radically different ways. The first approach might go on to discuss political freedom, while the second approach is likely to focus on personal freedom. Either argument could work as the launching point for a strong essay.

On the SAT essay, there is no "wrong" answer in the normal sense. If the essay is about the statement "crime doesn't pay," you may decide to argue that crime does pay. The judges aren't going to grade your opinions. Instead, they are looking at how well you can defend them.

In cases like this, you should either agree with the statement and defend your position, or disagree with the statement and defend your position.

Never try to argue both sides.

SAT Prep — How to Avoid Pronoun Shifts

When writing your SAT essay, avoid pronoun shifts by keeping your pronouns consistent.

A pronoun shift occurs when you start a sentence using one type of pronoun, then shift to another type of pronoun.

For example, this is wrong:

If one wishes to earn a high score on the SAT essay, you should study grammar and take practice tests.

The error is a shift in pronoun from one to you.

To fix this, you can change all the pronouns to you:

If you wish to earn a high score on the SAT essay, you should study grammar and take practice tests.

Or change all the pronouns to one:

If one wishes to earn a high score on the SAT essay, one should study grammar and take practice tests.

There are other ways to correct the pronoun shift. For example:

If a person wishes to earn a high score on the SAT essay, he or she should study grammar and take practice tests.

Here is an example of a grammar mistake due to a pronoun shift from we to you:

When we prepared for the SAT essay, we realized you could improve your grammar through practice.

Here is a corrected version:

When we prepared for the SAT essay, we realized we could improve our grammar through practice.

Notice the difference?

When double-checking your SAT essays, pay close attention to your use of pronouns in order to avoid the dreaded pronoun shift.

SAT Prep — Plan Your SAT Essay Examples in Advance

Before you sit down to take the SAT, make sure you enter the room prepared with a handful of stories and examples to use on the SAT essay.

Of course, you can't anticipate all of the possible SAT essay prompts, but a having few good, well-rehearsed stories could save you precious time, and earn you a higher score.

What kinds of stories should you prepare in advance?

Think about overcoming adversity. Have you had any problems in your own life that you had to overcame? Poverty? Neglect? Stereotypes? Family drama? Ridicule? Any physical or social handicaps? How did you deal with your problem? Can you think of a specific example?

Do you have a "coming of age" story to tell? If not a personal story, what about a story involving an historical or even fictional character? Can you think of someone who faced great challenges and became a better person because of how they dealt with those challenges?

Think about ideals such as integrity, optimism, diversity, perseverance, hard work, and democracy. Can you recall any stories that might illustrate these ideals?

Humor can be very effective in communicating your ideas in a memorable way. Do you have an amusing story than can illustrate a human value?

Even if you end up using none of these stories on the actual essay, the simple act of thinking through possible examples will develop and hone your "mental muscles."

So prepare yourself by creating a narrative bag of tricks. Most good stories can be adapted to illustrate various themes. If you walk in the door with a lot of potential stories, you won't find yourself stuck for ideas on test day.

Good luck.

SAT Prep — How to Solve Multiple Choice Questions

The writing section of the SAT uses multiple choice questions for Identifying Sentence Errors, Improving Sentences, and Improving Paragraphs.

• In Identifying Sentence Errors, you are expected to spot a grammatical error.
• In Improving Sentences, you are expected to correct a grammatical error.
• In Improving Paragraphs, you are expected to correct an error in logic and language within the context of an entire passage.

General strategies can help you solve each of these problems. The test does not try to trick you, but it does assess your knowledge of grammar, so you will need to know basic grammar to do well.

Here are six simple strategies to help you solve the multiple choice questions:

1. Read carefully

Lots of mistakes occur because the student did not read carefully enough. This is the first and most important part. You must understand the question and the answer options fully.

2. Don't delay

Time is of the essence. You must read carefully, yet quickly. This takes practice. Many students spend too much time on Identifying Sentence Errors and run out of time. Learn to pace yourself. Don't get stuck on one problem. Move on if you have to, and come back later. Study and practice will help you find a rhythm that will allow you to solve all of the problems in the allotted time, with accuracy.

3. Read aloud in your head (internal vocalization)

You should hear the words in your head. This can help you catch errors faster than by simply seeing the words on the page. Most students hear English much more than they read it. Let your ear be your guide.

4. Review your grammar

Understanding basic grammar is the key to doing well on the SAT writing section. Your instincts for language can help you, but you also need to know the rules. You don't need to know fancy grammar terms like "gerund," but you do need to know how to use a gerund in sentence.

5. Know your choices

For Improving Sentences and Improving Paragraphs, read all of the answer choices before answering the question. For Identifying Sentence Errors, however, you should not look at the answer choices until you have identified the error in the sentence.

6. Pretend you're helping someone else

To take the pressure off, pretend you are grading a friend's paper. They've come to you with a problem. Their writing sucks. Can you help them? Read over the problem and give your "friend" the best advice you can by answering the question.

Keep these simple strategies in mind when faced with SAT multiple choice questions.

SAT Prep — Writing Test — Practice Question #13

Identifying Sentence Errors
If the following sentence contains an error, select the one part that must be changed to make the sentence correct; otherwise, select choice E.

There is growing evidence that breast-feeding, associated with a lower incidence of breast cancer among younger women whose families have a history of the disease. No error

A. is growing
B. breast-feeding, associated
C. incidence of
D. among
E. No error

ANSWER: B

(Highlight to reveal the correct answer.)

Thoughts? Questions? Please comment below.

SAT Prep — Writing Test — Practice Question #12

Identifying Sentence Errors
If the following sentence contains an error, select the one part that must be changed to make the sentence correct; otherwise, select choice E.

The origin of nursery rhymes often lie in historical events such as the bubonic plague, which inspired "Ring around the Rosie," or in historical figures such as Queen Mary I of England, who is believed by some to be the subject of "Mary, Mary, Quite Contrary." No error

A. The origin
B. such as
C. who is believed
D. by some
E. No error

ANSWER: A

(Highlight to reveal the correct answer.)

Thoughts? Questions? Please comment below.

Article — How to Improve Your SAT Critical Reading Score

I've posted another SAT test prep article on eHow.com:

How to Improve Your SAT Critical Reading Score

Check it out!