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Thinking about tackling the SAT Essay? Here's what you need to know: you'll be asked to read a text (typically a speech or editorial of some sort) and discuss how the author effectively builds an argument. This might be a familiar task if you’ve done it in school, but if not, don’t worry. The format is straightforward, and with some practice, you can learn how to write a great SAT essay.

What is the SAT essay?

The SAT essay is optional and costs an additional fee of $17.00. Currently, only 25 colleges and universities require the SAT essay. You can find a searchable list of school requirements for the essay here . If there is any chance that you might apply to one of those schools, you should sign up for the essay. If you are not sure where you will apply, you should strongly consider signing up for the essay. Your essay score will appear on every score report you send to colleges, regardless of whether or not the school requires an essay. 

Here are 5 tips for writing a killer SAT essay, should you decide to add on that section:

SAT essay tips

1. Stay Objective

The thing to remember here is that ETS (the company that writes the test) is not asking you for your opinion on a topic or a text. So be sure to maintain formal style and an objective tone. Tip: Avoid “I” and “you.

2. Keep It Tidy

Handwriting is becoming a lost art. Unfortunately, this is one occasion where your skill with a pencil matters. Graders read tons of essays each day. If they cannot decipher your script, they will lower your score. Do yourself a favor and write legibly.

3. (Indented) Paragraphs Are Your Friend

Remember the basic essay structure you learned in school: introductory paragraph, body paragraphs and a conclusion? The SAT essay graders love it! Your introduction should describe the text and paraphrase the argument being made, as well as introduce the specific elements of the passage and argument that you will discuss in the essay. Your conclusion should restate the goal of the passage/argument and sum up the points you made.

Read More: SAT Tips and Strategies

4. For Example…

Use your body paragraphs to back up your thesis statement by citing specific examples. Use short, relevant quotes from the text to support your points.

5. Don't Worry About the Exact Terms for Things

Blanking on terminology? When describing how the author builds his or her argument, “appeal to the emotions” is fine instead of specifically referencing “pathos.” And “comparison of two things” can be used instead of referring to a metaphor. If you do know the official terms, though, feel free to use them!

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Absolutely Essential SAT Writing Strategies

tl;dr: The SAT essay is graded on three metrics — Reading, Analysis, and Writing — each on a scale from 1-4. To score an 8/8/8 on the SAT essay, you need to understand the rubric and keep in mind the three important parts of the essay: analyzing the prompt, outlining, and writing. Analyzing the prompt requires you to identify the author’s claim, purpose, tone, and persuasive elements that help build the argument. Outlining helps you answer the three questions for each device—why, how, and affect—to ensure you have strong analysis. Finally, when writing the essay, make sure to include an introduction, body paragraphs, and conclusion. With these tips, you can write a great SAT essay and get the top score!

❓ What are the SAT Sections?

In the SAT, you will have 4-5 sections on the test (depending on whether you choose to take the essay section or not)! The sections are:

  • Check out this video with an overview of the reading section of the SAT .
  • Writing and Language (aka the Grammar section)
  • Make sure to watch this video with tips and tricks for the grammar section of the SAT .
  • Math (No-Calculator)
  • Review the important aspects of the math section with this SAT math review part 1 and part 2 .
  • Math (Calculator Allowed)
  • Writing/Essay (⚠️OPTIONAL ⚠️)

If you signed up for the essay portion of the SAT, you have a relaxing 2-minute break after the math calculator section. You're going to need it, as you have 50 minutes to write a rhetorical analysis essay. ⏲️

If you are taking AP Lang or have already taken the exam, you should be pretty familiar with this format of essay. It is very similar to FRQ 2, or the rhetorical analysis essay. 📰

✍️ Mastering the Rubric

Your essay is graded on these three metrics on a scale from 1-4:

Two readers will score your essay , so the highest score you can receive is an 8 on each of the three sections. Unlike the other SAT sections, there is no percentile for the SAT essay nor a composite score (the three categories aren't "added"). 💯 Let's break down each of these three scoring categories and how you can score an 8 in all three.

Grading Rubric

This scoring category covers comprehension! Essentially, the scorers want to see if you understand the relationship between the main idea(s) and important details. To get an 8 in this scoring category, you cannot misstate facts from the passage, nor make an interpretation about facts not in the passage.

One of the main things that SAT Essay scorers will check is to ensure you have textual evidence (quotations and/or paraphrases) throughout the essay to ensure that you have a true understanding of the text. 📚

What separates an 8 from a lower score in this category is whether you have thorough (as opposed to effective) comprehension of the text and whether you are making skillful (as opposed to appropriate) use of textual evidence. The line between thorough and skillful is drawn at your consistency; if you make a misrepresentation of text in just one place, that may lower you to a 6.

To earn a 8 in the analysis category, you should be accomplishing the following:

  • Offering an insightful analysis of source text.
  • Evaluating the author's choice of evidence, reasoning, stylistic & persuasive elements, and/or other features that you noticed.
  • Using relevant, sufficient, and strategically chosen support for your claims or points.
  • Consistently focusing on features that are most relevant to addressing the task.

https://firebasestorage.googleapis.com/v0/b/fiveable-92889.appspot.com/o/images%2F-W8zVtyEt9prQ.png?alt=media&token=df846954-6fef-4657-a1c6-c7babb0245bc

What separates an 8 in analysis from a lower score is whether you have strategically chosen support for claims and whether your essay is consistent in its analysis and its focus on "features most relevant to addressing the task."

The writing rubric category is exactly what it sounds like—checking your ability to write an essay! There are a number of guidelines that SAT essay scorers will be looking at, and here are a few of them that will help you earn an 8:

  • A cohesive essay that effectively uses and commands language
  • A precise central claim
  • Skillful introduction and conclusion
  • Progression of ideas that is highly effective both within paragraphs and throughout the essay
  • Wide variety in sentence structures
  • Consistent use of precise word choice
  • Formal style and objective tone
  • Strong command of English conventions, an essay free of errors

Student writing on paper

Consistency is also key to getting a high score in this category. Having a mostly cohesive essay or including a few errors could bump your score down to a 6 or below!

📖 Analyzing Prompt and Passage

On test day, you're not going to see the rubric or even the three scoring categories. All you will get is the prompt and passage. It's important you analyze and annotate the prompt and passage to ensure you can write an effective essay.

On test day, you'll see this at the beginning of the essay.

Sample prompt and passage

The most important thing to do before you even start reading the passage is to read the given context. In this example, we know that the article is from the Huffington Post and the author Peter Goodman is writing about crisis and foreign policy. 🔥

Then, you'll read a passage about an argument written for a broad audience. In that passage, the author will make a claim, and use different techniques to persuade the audience of that claim.

Since you will be writing about how the author uses different techniques in the passage to make their argument more persuasive, that is exactly what you should look out for while writing your essay. 🔍

When reading the passage, you'll want to look at the three bullet points given in the prompt: specific factual evidence or examples, reasoning that connects evidence and claims, and other stylistic or persuasive elements that helps the author build the argument. 🚧

Here's a short bullet list of stylistic or persuasive elements that you can look out for:

  • Shifts of any kind (in diction 🗣️, tone 😤, imagery 🖼️, etc.)
  • Appeals to emotion 💕, logic 🧠, or credibility 👩🏽‍🎓
  • Syntax (organization of paragraphs 📑, length of sentences ↔️)
  • Unique diction or imagery (make sure to describe diction/imagery with an adjective )

After you find the rhetorical devices you want to analyze, you'll need to answer three important questions:

  • Why does the author use this device or strategy?
  • How does this device or strategy help them achieve their purpose?
  • How does the device or strategy affect or change the audience?

You can strengthen your analysis and answer these three questions for each of your devices by outlining.

🗒️ Outlining

There are a few components to an outline that will help you secure an 8/8/8 on the SAT essay:

  • Identifying audience & author's purpose
  • Writing a thesis
  • Identifying rhetorical devices
  • Answering the three important "analysis" questions for each rhetorical device

On test day, find some white space under the article (or on the next page) to write your outline. Knowing and writing down these elements will make the writing process go a lot smoother!

📝 Writing the Essay

Let's break down how to write each section of the SAT essay portion: the introduction, body paragraphs, and conclusion.

Introduction

There are a few elements that you should explicitly include in your introduction:

  • Author's claim in the passage
  • Author's tone & purpose
  • Audience of passage
  • Specific rhetorical choices or persuasive elements in the passage that "enhance logic/persuasiveness" of the argument

One example template for an introduction is:

Template for essay introduction

Here's an example:

Writer Marcus Stern in his article, "How to Prevent an Oil Train Disaster," asserts that new Obama-era regulations in 2015 were insufficient in protecting the public's safety and needed to be expanded. Stern adopts a critical tone to persuade his audience, the general public, of his purpose of supporting stricter, comprehensive regulations that reduce oil volatility. To achieve his purpose, Stern utilizes a variety of rhetorical techniques, including but not limited to specific credible evidence, appeals to the general public's fear of disaster, and emotional word choice that enhances the logic and persuasiveness of his argument.

Body Paragraphs

Your body paragraphs should create a line of reasoning , which is just a fancy of way of saying that it should follow the structure you outline in the essay. For instance, from the introduction paragraph above, I would make my first body paragraph about the "specific credible evidence," my second body paragraph about the appeals to the general public, and so on. 🤩

⚠️ Note: There is no minimum or maximum number of body paragraphs that you should include —focus on developing solid body paragraphs rather than including as many as possible!

You should include the following in a body paragraph to earn high scores on reading, analysis, and writing:

  • A strong introduction sentence tied to the thesis
  • Embedded quote or paraphrase with context
  • Why the author uses this rhetorical strategy or persuasive element
  • How it affects the audience and/or how it helps the author achieve their purpose
  • Link back to thesis

Let's see these five elements in an example!

  • Stern furthers his argument by appealing to the general public’s fear of disaster.
  • He invokes specific visual imagery when asserting that an oil tanker rupture would send a “mushroom-shaped fireball” into the sky. In fact, Stern further builds his argument by citing the “nine other places in North America” in which oil tanker explosions materialized.
  • Stern uses these appeals to logic and emotion primarily because they highlight a somber reality of the impacts of continued inaction.
  • Because Stern includes multiple instances of oil explosions, the audience feels logically impacted. This sense of urgency communicated by the visual imagery makes the audience more convinced that action must be taken, specifically because it could harm them very soon.
  • Ultimately, Stern successfully leaves the audience convinced that lax oil restriction could lead to devastating consequences that could harm the audience, which strengthens the persuasion of his argument that we should enact strict regulation that decreases volatility.

US Coastguard extinguishing fire in ocean

You may hear sometimes from your teacher that the conclusion is not that important, or that it can simply be one sentence. This is not true for the SAT; in fact, you could get points taken off the writing section with an oversimplified or non-existent conclusion.

However, you can score highly with a slightly reworded introduction! Here's what you should include in your conclusion:

  • Author's central claim (reworded from intro)
  • Persuasive elements/rhetorical choices
  • Audience & author's purpose

Here's an example conclusion paragraph that includes those elements (and you can see its parallel to the intro):

Author Olmer Stern communicates to the general public that there is a necessity for stricter safety regulations that decrease oil volatility. To convince the audience of his purpose, Stern effectively invokes fearful emotion of the general public, cites specific evidence from the oil industry, and communicates powerful diction about the imminent oil threat to strengthen the logic and persuasiveness of his argument.

📂 Resources and Example Essays

There are some fantastic ways to practice for the SAT essay! Here are some useful resources and example essays :

  • Two sample SAT Essay prompts from College Board's website
  • 50 CrackSAT Practice Essays and Prompts

Guide Outline

Related content, sat math: guide to quadratic equations & radicals, sat math: guide to linear equations, sat math: how to use your calculator, sat reading: guide to the social science passage, how to study for the sat/psat english sections, sat language: guide to word choice & passive flow.

tips for sat essay

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10 Tips for the SAT Essay

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1. Follow the rules. Don’t score a zero for failing to follow instructions. Use the essay paper that is provided. Do not write in your booklet. Do not change the question. Do not use a pen.

2. Divide your time. You will have twenty-five minutes to write your essay . As soon as you begin, make a note of the time and give yourself benchmarks and limits. For example, give yourself five minutes to brainstorm for main points (which will become topic sentences), one minute to come up with a great introduction, two minutes to organize your examples into paragraphs, etc.

3. Take a stance. You will be writing about an issue. Readers judge essays on the depth and complexity of the argument you make (and you will be taking a side), so be sure to show that you understand both sides of the issue you’re writing about. However, you can’t be wishy washy!

You will pick one side and explain why it is right. Demonstrate that you understand both sides, but pick one and explain why it is correct.

4. Don’t get hung up if you don’t actually have strong feelings one way or the other on a subject. You don’t have to feel guilty about saying things you don’t really believe. Your task is to show that you can craft a complex argument essay. That means you will have to make specific statements about your position and expound upon your individual points. Just take a side and argue it !

5. Don’t try to change the subject. It may be tempting to change the question to something that is more to your liking. Don’t do that! Readers are instructed to assign a zero score to an essay that doesn’t answer the question provided. If you try to change your question, even slightly, you are taking a risk that the reader will not like your answer.

6. Work with an outline! Use the first few minutes to brainstorm as many thoughts as possible; organize those thoughts into a logical pattern or outline; then write as quickly and neatly as you can.

7. Talk to your reader. Remember that the person scoring your essay is a person and not a machine. As a matter of fact, the reader is a trained educator—and most likely a high school teacher. As you write your essay, imagine that you are talking to your favorite high school teacher.

We all have one special teacher who always talks with us and treats us like adults and actually listens to what we have to say. Imagine that you are talking to this teacher as you write your essay.

8. Start with a fabulous or surprising introductory sentence to make a great first impression. Examples: Issue: Should cell phones be banned from school property? First sentence: Ring, ring! Note: You would follow up on this with well-crafted, fact-filled statements. Don’t try too much cute stuff! Issue: Should the school day be extended? First sentence: No matter where you live, the longest period of any school day is the last one.

9. Vary your sentences to show that you have a command of sentence structure. Use complex sentences sometimes, mid-sized sentences sometimes, and two-word sentences a few times to make your writing more interesting. Also--don’t keep repeating the same point by rewording it several ways. Readers will see right through that.

10. Write neatly. Neatness counts to some degree, in that the reader must be able to read what you’ve written. If your writing is notoriously difficult to read, you should print your essay. Don’t get too hung up on neatness, though. You can still cross out mistakes that you catch as you proofread your work.

The essay represents a first draft. Readers will like to see that you did, in fact, proof your work and that you recognized your mistakes.

Further reading:

How to Write a Descriptive Essay

  • How to Write a Great Process Essay
  • 6 Steps to Writing the Perfect Personal Essay
  • Write an Attention-Grabbing Opening Sentence for an Essay
  • How to Write Your Graduate School Admissions Essay
  • 14 Ways to Write Better in High School
  • Writing Cause and Effect Essays for English Learners
  • Private School Application Essay Tips
  • How to Write a Persuasive Essay
  • Tips for the 8 University of California Personal Insight Questions
  • How to Write a Narrative Essay or Speech
  • How to Write a Great College Application Essay Title
  • How to Write a Great Essay for the TOEFL or TOEIC
  • How To Write an Essay
  • How to Structure an Essay
  • How to Write the Graduate Admissions Essay
  • How to Ace Your University of Wisconsin Personal Statements

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Articles & Advice > Test Prep > Blog

8 Smart Tips to Improve Your SAT Essay

The SAT Essay is often the most daunting part of the test, so go into it with confidence using these tips on writing your best essay!

Last Updated: Mar 16, 2023

Originally Posted: Feb 25, 2020

This blog originally appeared on brainly.com .

You’ve inevitably felt the pressure of a big test before. When it comes to the SAT Essay, you may be at your wits’ end. Don’t worry! You’re in the right place to learn how to approach the SAT Essay component with confidence instead of fear. Preparing yourself for what to expect can make all the difference. Here are eight tips that you can use to maximize your score on the optional Essay component.

1. Know the prompt

If you’re a student who values practice prompts, there’s good news.  CollegeBoard.com  offers not only sample SAT Essay prompts but also examples of student responses coupled with their scores and feedback.

Before each SAT Essay passage, you’ll notice a generic prompt. This prompt acts as a guide, encouraging you to consider the bulleted items of what to take note of as you read. Be sure to take this seriously and scour the passage for them. Why? Because the rest of the prompt, found after the reading, will ask you to reference these ideas in your essay.

Essay prompts are all structured in this way, and each asks you to explain how an author accomplishes a given task through the passage.

2. Detail the how, not the what

Before getting into how to approach the passage, the prompt, and tips for writing the best possible essay in 50 minutes, there’s one tip that will immediately set you on the path to writing success: the SAT Essay prompt will never ask you to retell what you’ve read.

When pressure mounts, you may be tempted to summarize the passage or explain why you agree or disagree with the author’s points. Avoid both at all costs! They’re called the “what” of the passage.

Instead, the SAT graders want to know if you can analyze the “how” of the passage. How does the author persuade? How do they use devices to make a point? How does the message come across to the audience? How can the reader tell that the author is passionate about this message?

3. Know your terminology

This is where your English classes may come to your rescue; if you haven’t yet, study up on the stylistic and persuasive devices that you’ll have to use in your SAT Essay. If you’re not familiar with many, here is a  detailed list  that you can use to study.

Don’t just memorize the definitions of these terms; find examples of them being used in pieces of literature and try using them yourself. Students who apply concepts rather than rely on muscle memory often find it easier to take notice of them in the passage on test day.

4. Let the full prompt guide your reading

Read both parts of the prompt before you start reading. To make sure you stay focused on the prompt throughout the entire writing process, here are some quick tips:

  • Underline everything that the prompt asks you to do. Then, as you brainstorm, you can refer back to the underlined portions of your prompt to make sure you’re staying focused.
  • Take notes directly on the passage, including underling sections the prompt told you to consider and making brief notes in the margins of any ideas you might be able to use in your essay.
  • Glance frequently back at the prompt to remind yourself of what you’re looking for.

You’ll be surprised how much easier it is to stay focused on your task if you’re annotating and referencing the prompt frequently. Practice these techniques on a sample SAT Essay and see how they help you regain control over this seemingly daunting task.

Related: 5 Common SAT Reading Mistakes You're Likely Making

5. Always brainstorm

Like the strategy above, brainstorming is essential to creating a focused essay . Without a little bit of planning, your essay will lack the depth and detail that leads to a high score. When students don’t spend enough time brainstorming, they approach the essay component without confidence, causing them to spend even more valuable time going back to the passage and rereading.

So, what does a successful brainstorm look like? Luckily, it doesn’t matter. As long as you scribble down ideas and organize them in a way that makes sense to you, you’re good to go. Since you don’t have a lot of time, you don’t need to make this part look nice.

6. What to focus on

Make sure the following aspects of your writing take up the majority of your energy and focus.

Relevant ideas

Your ideas are everything! That’s why you should frequently check yourself, making sure that your points align with the prompt and the mission of your essay. Your essay’s success hinges on whether your ideas relate to and address the question or task posed in the prompt.

Organization

There are so many different ways to organize an essay. For an analytical essay like this, consider organizing your paragraphs in one of the following ways:

  • Chronologically: Make sure the ideas in your essay are placed in the same order that they appear in the passage.
  • By topic: Group paragraphs based on the type of method the author used to persuade the reader.

If you come up with an organizational structure that works better for you, go for it—just as long as you use one. You will be scored on your ability to organize your thoughts.

Scorers are trained to ignore handwriting when grading essays. Still, remember that you’re trying to communicate your point of view to someone else. If they can barely read it, this will be difficult to accomplish.

Related: Short-Term SAT Prep (or What to Do If Your Test Is This Week!)

7. What not to focus on

Spelling, grammar, mechanics, and usage are always necessary . However, graders are not trained to take a point off here or there for every minor error. So don’t spend too much time worrying about misspelled words or small grammatical mistakes. Your ideas are more important. (That said, an essay full of errors will undoubtedly receive a lower score, so don’t be too careless.)

8. Make sure it’s complete

SAT graders will be checking to make sure you’ve submitted a complete essay. In other words, you’ll need to have an introduction, several body paragraphs (two to four), and a conclusion.

There are a few ways to ensure that your essay appears to be complete, even if you end up struggling with time.

  • Indentation: Make sure you indent the first line of each paragraph to clearly show that you’ve got the right structure. Your scorers will conclude that your content lacks depth and organization if you don’t.
  • Conclusion: Even if you’re strapped for time, write a conclusion. Your graders know that you’ve only got 50 minutes to read, annotate, brainstorm, and write, so they’re trained to place more emphasis on the body of your essay anyway. Even if your conclusion restates your main points in one or two sentences, it’s better than leaving it out.
  • Verbosity: It’s important to write as much as possible. Response length is one of the easiest metrics for a grader to quickly measure.

Before you take a look at what other students wrote for the College Board SAT Essay prompt examples, try to write your response to the sample essay using the strategies we outlined above. Then compare your answer with the sample responses. It could provide you with some valuable insight into your strengths and weaknesses when it comes to the SAT Essay. Study hard, use these strategies, and watch your score go up!

Read the full blog here , and find more SAT tips in our Test Prep section.

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SAT Essay: Writing Tips, Test Scores & Examples

SAT essay

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The SAT essay is an optional section of the SAT exam that measures a student's ability to analyze and interpret a given piece of writing. It is a timed, 50-minute essay task that requires students to read a 600-700 word passage and then write a coherent response. This essay is designed to assess reading, writing, and analytical skills.

The SAT essay is scored on a scale of 2 to 8, with 2 being the lowest score and 8 being the highest score. The essay is scored based on three key areas: reading, analysis, and writing. The scores for each area are then added together to get a total score out of 24.

Feeling a little nervous before taking your SAT essay is normal. When you're dealing with something important for your future, it's ok to feel some pressure. That's why the goal of this guide is to help you get ready for this assignment and finally, get the highest SAT essay scoring. Let's take a look at SAT essay examples and the best practices to write it so that you can pass this test successfully.

What Is the SAT Essay?

SAT essay is a short, timed writing assignment that you'll get as part of the SAT. There are two great things about it. First, now the majority of educational institutions don't require an SAT writing essay. It is an optional task, which nevertheless, you are recommended to do. 

Secondly, new SAT essay rules don't require you to reinvent the wheel and deal with something you've never encountered before. At the same time, you shouldn't expect a typical essay-style question; there are no prompts like "Tell us about your favorite book." Instead, you will have to read a specific prompt, for example, a short article or speech, and analyze, interpret, and evaluate a given text.

Purpose of the SAT Essay

The main goal of the SAT essay is to evaluate three academic skills you should have and demonstrate. They are:

A perfect SAT essay wins 5-5-5 in reading, analysis, and writing. That's why you will have to read an assigned prompt first, then analyze the ways authors build their arguments, and describe their approach in writing. SAT essay is meant to be an opportunity for students to show off their writing skills, but it's also meant to test a student's ability to think critically about a topic, and most importantly, the ways an author explains it.

If you ever have trouble with SAT tasks, use college essay help online for the best result.

How to Write an SAT Essay

Keep in mind that SAT essay writing task is timed and requires you to analyze a passage and then support your analysis with evidence from a text. While SAT with essay usually lasts up to 5 hours, you will have up to one hour (usually 50 minutes) to complete a paper after you are done with the test itself. 

So, break down your assignment into four stages and keep track of the timeyou should devote to each of the states.

  • Read and analyze — 10 minutes. For the first time, read the passage quickly to get an overall sense of its main idea. Then, re-read it more slowly. Highlight any arguments or opinions that stand out to you. This is critical because if you don't have an idea of what exactly an author is trying to say and what persuasion approaches they use, then it will be hard for you to write an effective analysis based on their argumentation.
  • Outline — 10 minutes. Follow a standard essay structure of introduction-body-conclusion. Pay the most attention to the body. Draft three-four paragraphs, following one paragraph — one statement rule. Here, SAT essay practice doesn’t differ from writing any other type of paper.
  • Write — 20 minutes. Next, proceed with writing being guided by your outline. We recommend getting started right with a body paragraph. Pick up the writing or reasoning technique an author uses in the passage and explain it, using examples from the test. Do it three-four times discussing different approaches of a writer and highlighting their weak and strong points. Sum up everything in your conclusion. Here you can also briefly state your opinion. Then, get back to the intro. You will feel how easy it is to write it after you have fully understood the passage and analyzed it in your body.
  • Proofread and edit — 10 minutes. Don't skip this step! It's very important for your essay to be flawless in terms of spelling and grammatical correctness. So, make sure to provide enough time for essay revision and check everything twice before submission. Although the SAT have an essay as an optional assignment, do your best to show your paper writing skills.

>> View more: How to Write a Good Essay

SAT Essay Outline

Creating a new SAT essay outline before you start writing is a great way to ensure that you cover all necessary ideas. It is also an opportunity to prepare yourself mentally for such a task at hand. When you know what you're going to write and what SAT essay format to follow, you can get in the right mindset for writing effectively. The template you'll find below will help you as well. 

>> Read more: How to Write an Outline for an Essay

SAT Essay Template

  • Briefly introduce a topic
  • Mention a passage you're going to analyze and its author
  • State your thesis statement
  • State your first supporting point – how an author uses a specific persuasion technique
  • Provide evidence for supporting your point – cite an example for a passage directly
  • Explain how the evidence supports your point
  • Transition to the next paragraph
  • Follow the same structure as shown above
  • Elaborate on different points until you reach the necessary essay length
  • Restate your thesis
  • Summarize your supporting points
  • End with a strong concluding statement

You can pay for college essays at any time if you find anything too difficult or mind-boggling.

SAT Essay Prompts

SAT sample essay prompts are written in a way that asks you to analyze and evaluate other writers or speakers. SAT practice essay requires analytical writing on your part. That's why topics and questions for this assignment are diverse. Below you will find some prompts and corresponding samples to get an idea of what to expect from this task and how to deal with it. 

Sample SAT Essay Prompt 1 & Answer

So, let’s proceed with real-life examples and discover what to write in an SAT essay. 

For instance, the task may sound as follows: 

Write an essay in which you explain how Bill Gates builds his argument to persuade the audience of the need to address global climate change in his "Innovating to Zero" speech at the TED conference in 2010.

Here is what you can write about.

SAT Essay Sample 1

Bill Gates was at the forefront of the innovation development that is now changing the world. However, these changes are not always positive. In his "Innovating to Zero" speech at TED2010, he set an ambitious goal of achieving zero emissions by 2050. Bill Gates used a combination of emotional, logical, and ethical appeals to persuade the audience of the urgency and importance of tackling climate change. The most prominent persuasion technique that he uses throughout the speech is an emotional appeal. He uses an approach that's on the verge of rhetoric and psychology, making his audience feel compassion and pointing out that 2 million purest people on the globe will be unable to survive climate change. The goal of this technique is to help people realize the true cost of the upcoming disaster, and then — get a solution everyone can contribute to. Next, Bill Gates uses a logical appeal. He says: "We have to go from rapidly rising to fall [carbon emissions], and falling all the way to zero." To add credibility to his persuasion, he cites examples of new technologies that already make a difference. The speaker also supports his statements with statistics and calculations, moving to the concluding part — the call to action. Finally, Gates uses a call to action to encourage the audience to take care and rethink their attitudes toward climate change now. At this moment, he is leveraging the power of his reputation and global recognition of his contribution to technology development. Through this example, we can see how the personality of the speaker significantly amplifies all the persuasion techniques he used during the speech.

Sample SAT Essay Prompt 2 & Answer

Let’s consider one more example and deal with the following task:

Write an essay in which you explain how Sojourner Truth builds her argument to persuade the audience on men's and women's rights equity in her "Ain’t I a Woman" speech at a women's rights convention in 1851 in Ohio, USA.

SAT Essay Sample

The problem of equal gender rights, especially for people of color, has been relevant for over three centuries. History knows many outstanding speakers and activists of both genders, and Sojourner Truth is one of them. Her speech "Ain't I a Woman?" is a worthy example of consistent logic and strong persuasion. The speaker builds her argument using the rhetorical approach of opposition and contrast. She argued that if women were capable of doing hard work and bearing children, then they should be treated as equals to men. Next, she cites examples from her life to show that women are capable of doing even more. In the next sections of her speech, Sojourner Truth asks rhetorical questions and repeats them for better persuasion. "Where did your Christ come from? Where did your Christ come from? From God and a woman! A man had nothing to do with Him." The goal of this tactic is to appeal to religion which was very important for people of that time and help women realize that they are more powerful than they used to think. "If the first woman God ever made was strong enough to turn the world upside down all alone, these women together ought to be able to turn back and get side up again". This statement is the continuation of the previous one. At the same time, it is a passionate, courageous, and driving call to action Sojourner Truth concludes her speech with.

Would you like additional assistance with your writing? If so, we can offer proficient support. Simply fill out our online essays order form, and our experts will handle your task quickly.

How Is the SAT Essay Scored? 

SAT essay scores simply. Two independent reviewers from an admission committee rate your paper based on 3 criteria:

They can score you from 1 to 4 points for each criterion. The points each of the reviewers gave are added together and students get a total SAT writing score with 24 points being the maximum. 

Tips for Writing the SAT Essay

So, now you have an idea of what to write in your paper, what kinds of topics to expect, and how your essay will be scored. Find out more SAT essay writing tips to skyrocket your chances of getting the highest grade possible.

  • Review successful SAT examples. The best way to get started is by reviewing past essays that got a good SAT essay score. Pay attention to topics and ways other students express themselves in response.
  • Practice at home before taking a test. Pick up prompts you like and try writing a piece at home. Exercise with different topics several times. Next, find a passage you've never read before. Set a cutdown timer and try to write an SAT essay under time pressure.
  • Read the passage twice. The first time through, focus on understanding what an author is saying and how they're saying it. The second time around, pay more attention to their logic and argumentation.
  • Highlight important points during the second reading round. Mark these points with a pencil. So, you can easily find them later when you're writing your essay.
  • Focus on analysis. Instead of simply stating your opinion or offering an example, explain why your opinion or example is valid based on what an author has written. You should be able to support your position with evidence from a passage. If there isn't enough evidence in the passage itself, draw from outside sources that support your argument (such as real-world experience).
  • Use specific evidence from the passage. Instead of making up your own ideas about what an author was trying to say, use specific examples from a text to support your point of view.
  • Use strong vocabulary. SAT essay is a very formal, academic writing prompt, so you need to write with that in mind. Choose words that are more advanced than those you'd use in conversation.
  • Proofread and edit twice. Once you've finished your draft, go back and read through it again. Making sure there are no typos or grammatical errors. Be very attentive since during your SAT test, you will not be able to use online tools for grammar and readability checks.

Bottom Line on SAT Essay Writing

SAT practice essays are challenging, but they are also an opportunity to show colleges you're ready to take on the next step in your education. Fortunately, SAT writing essays aren't as hard as they look. All you need to remember is that, at its core, an essay is just an argument — and every good argument has three parts: a claim, evidence for supporting that claim, and a conclusion. Invest your time and effort into getting ready for this assignment. Take a look at new SAT essay samples and try writing some pieces following the structure and tips we've shared in this article. 

If you found our SAT essay blog post helpful, you may also be interested in learning how to write an ACT essay  or succeed at AP English Language and Composition Exam .

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Take advantage of our professional writing service . Our writers specialize in a wide range of academic disciplines and are dedicated to providing high-quality content to students for all types of assignments.

FAQ About SAT Essays

1. how long is the sat with an essay and without an essay.

The SAT without essay usually takes up to four hours. If you have to complete a writing assignment, you will be given extra 50 minutes for it. As for SAT essay length, it is 550-750 words.

2. What is a good SAT essay score?

The highest SAT essay scoring you can earn is five points for reading, analysis, and writing respectively. 3-4 scores on each task are average. 1-2 scores are a low result.

3. What colleges require the SAT essay?

The most famous institutions requiring the SAT essay include but aren't limited to: 

  • Harvard University
  • The University of California schools
  • City University London
  • Delaware State University
  • Howard University.

4. Should I take the SAT essay?

Despite being an optional task, it is still better to take the SAT essay. If you have a chance to improve your score and you know how to handle this task, take the fullest advantage of this opportunity.

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Rachel R. Hill is a real educational devotee. She prides in writing exceptional general guides while listening to every need of students.

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How to write a critical analysis essay

SAT essay is required to make sure you can think critically, and you can't just write about what you've already read. You should form your own opinions and explain them when writing the SAT essay.

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Get That High SAT Essay Score With These Tips

NOTE: The SAT Essay no longer exists as of 2024. The SAT has transitioned to a new digital format, which is radically different. For an updated guide to the new digital SAT, follow the link here.

You’ve decided to take the optional SAT Essay . You’re familiar with the essay’s format and instructions .

Now what does it take to get that high SAT Essay score?

The SAT Essay presents test-takers with a challenging task. Students must analyze an author’s argument and write a response that discusses the components of that argument.

AP English and SAT test prep students are at an advantage here. But keep in mind that the SAT Essay comes last , when students’ brains are already pretty tired! 

The good news? It is possible to achieve that amazing SAT essay score.

In this post, we’ll teach you how to use those 50 minutes to get closer to that perfect score.

Here’s what we cover:

The Anatomy of a Perfect SAT Essay

Breakdown of a perfect sat essay response, your game plan for writing a stellar sat essay.

  • 10 Argument Techniques to Use in Your Essay  
  • Quick Ways to Improve Writing Quality

As a reminder, the SAT Essay requires students to read an argumentative essay and then analyze how the author uses various techniques to build his/her argument.  

SAT Essay Parts

What does a perfect SAT essay look like? 

SAT Essay Response Skeleton Structure

Notice how this skeleton structure looks a lot like a standard five-paragraph essay structure, commonly taught in high school.

Keep in mind, however, that on the SAT Essay, most students will likely only have time to compose two body paragraphs.  Plus, the introduction and conclusion paragraphs can consist of as few as two sentences .

Now, take a look at this SAT essay response that scored a 4 in each of the three categories: Analysis, Reading, and Writing. 

Notice how this response follows the skeleton structure we have just outlined.

Write an essay in which you explain how Paul Bogard builds an argument to persuade his audience that natural darkness should be preserved. In your essay, analyze how Bogard uses one or more of the features in the directions that precede the passage (or features of your own choice) to strengthen the logic and persuasiveness of his argument. Be sure that your analysis focuses on the most relevant features of the passage.

[Find the full reading selection for this task here .]

Introduction 

  • Sentence 1: Restates the argument
  • Sentence 2: Thesis statement with three argument techniques
In response to our world’s growing reliance on artificial light, writer Paul Bogard argues that natural darkness should be preserved in his article “Let There be dark”. He effectively builds his argument by using a personal anecdote, allusions to art and history, and rhetorical questions.

Body Paragraph 1

  • Sentence 1: Topic statement including argument technique and quote evidence of the technique
  • Sentence 2: Paraphrases quote and explain the effect on the audience
  • Sentence 3, 4: Continues to explain the effect of argument technique on the audience, the persuasive value of technique, and includes an additional quote reference
  • Sentence 5: Conclusion sentence
[ 1] Bogard starts his article off by recounting a personal story – a summer spent on a Minnesota lake where there was “woods so dark that [his] hands disappeared before [his] eyes.” [2] In telling this brief anecdote, Bogard challenges the audience to remember a time where they could fully amass themselves in natural darkness void of artificial light. [3] By drawing in his readers with a personal encounter about night darkness, the author means to establish the potential for beauty, glamour, and awe-inspiring mystery that genuine darkness can possess. [4] He builds his argument for the preservation of natural darkness by reminiscing for his readers a first-hand encounter that proves the “irreplaceable value of darkness.” [5] This anecdote provides a baseline of sorts for readers to find credence with the author’s claims.

Body Paragraph 2

  • Sentence 1: Topic statement includes argument type and includes two examples of the argument
  • Sentence 2,3,4: Explains the persuasive value of example 1 and effect on the audience
  • Sentence 5: Discusses example 2 and restates quote evidence
  • Sentence 6, 7, 8, 9: Paraphrases content relevant to example, explains the persuasive value of example 2, explains how the technique and example build the argument
[1] Bogard’s argument is also furthered by his use of allusion to art – Van Gogh’s “Starry Night” – and modern history – Paris’ reputation as “The City of Light”. [2] By first referencing “Starry Night”, a painting generally considered to be undoubtedly beautiful, Bogard establishes that the natural magnificence of stars in a dark sky is definite. [3] A world absent of excess artificial light could potentially hold the key to a grand, glorious night sky like Van Gogh’s according to the writer. [4] This urges the readers to weigh the disadvantages of our world consumed by unnatural, vapid lighting. [5] Furthermore, Bogard’s alludes to Paris as “the famed ‘city of light’”. [6] He then goes on to state how Paris has taken steps to exercise more sustainable lighting practices. [7] By doing this, Bogard creates a dichotomy between Paris’ traditionally alluded-to name and the reality of what Paris is becoming – no longer “the city of light”, but more so “the city of light…before 2 AM”. [8] This furthers his line of argumentation because it shows how steps can be and are being taken to preserve natural darkness. [9] It shows that even a city that is literally famous for being constantly lit can practically address light pollution in a manner that preserves the beauty of both the city itself and the universe as a whole.

Body Paragraph 3

  • Sentence 1: Topic statement includes an argument technique
  • Sentence 2: Includes quote that includes evidence of the technique in action
  • Sentence 3,4: Explains the persuasive value of example 1 and effect on the audience
  • Sentence 5: Emphasizes how technique builds the argument
[1] Finally, Bogard makes subtle yet efficient use of rhetorical questioning to persuade his audience that natural darkness preservation is essential. [2] He asks the readers to consider “what the vision of the night sky might inspire in each of us, in our children or grandchildren?” in a way that brutally plays to each of our emotions. [3] By asking this question, Bogard draws out heartfelt ponderance from his readers about the affecting power of an untainted night sky. This rhetorical question tugs at the readers’ heartstrings; while the reader may have seen an unobscured night skyline before, the possibility that their child or grandchild will never get the chance sways them to see as Bogard sees. [4] This strategy is definitively an appeal to pathos, forcing the audience to directly face an emotionally-charged inquiry that will surely spur some kind of response. [5] By doing this, Bogard develops his argument, adding guttural power to the idea that the issue of maintaining natural darkness is relevant and multifaceted.
  • Sentence 2: Restates thesis statement with three argument techniques
Writing as a reaction to his disappointment that artificial light has largely permeated the presence of natural darkness, Paul Bogard argues that we must preserve true, unaffected darkness. He builds this claim by making use of a personal anecdote, allusions, and rhetorical questioning.

The College Board also has other sample responses to this prompt. We recommend viewing these as well.

What steps can you take to get that perfect SAT essay score? Here’s your game plan!

Step 1: Read and Annotate (~ 3-5 minutes)

Read carefully and mark up your text before diving into your response. Underline the author’s central claim.  

Pay particular attention to the author’s argument techniques and make sure to underline evidence of these in action.

Step 2:  Make an Outline and Thesis Statement (~ 3-5 minutes)

Consider 2 or more key argument techniques, and connect these techniques to 

  • Specific examples from the text (IMPORTANT!)
  • The purpose and effect of these techniques on the audience (IMPORTANT!)

If you have done this step properly, your essay will almost write itself. You must also study and prepare argument strategies and purposes of these strategies before the test.  

In the next section, we will show you common argument strategies and their purposes.

Backup Thesis: If you are completely lost, you can almost always use this emergency thesis statement format:

In [ essay ], [ author ] uses a combination of evidence and emotional appeals to build his/her argument.

Step 3:  Write! (~ 35 minutes)

Follow a standard Intro + Body Paragraph + Conclusion model, using tips from our skeleton structure. 

We also recommend integrating advanced vocabulary and transition words (discussed later on in this post).

Step 4:  Revise! (~2-3 minutes)

Make sure to take a couple of minutes at the end to revise your essay for spelling, grammar, and, if possible, content.

You won’t be marked off for individual grammatical errors. However, if these errors impede the reader’s understanding of your response, you will lose points!

10 Argument Techniques to Use in Your Essay

The SAT Essay prompt ultimately tests students’ knowledge of argument techniques. These are the “building blocks” that make an argument compelling and persuasive.

We highly recommend you study commonly used argumentative /persuasive techniques and their purposes before you take the SAT Essay. 

Remember: a successful essay states the techniques used in the text and analyzes these techniques. It also thoroughly explains their impact on the reader.

This list is by no means exhaustive, but it is a great start! Whenever you’re reading an article/essay with a main claim of any kind, see if you can detect these techniques in action.   

Quick Tips to Improve Writing Quality

What are some other ways you can improve your SAT essay score?

We recommend using advanced vocabulary and transition words.

Transition Words 

Transition words show the relationship between ideas. They can improve the flow and organization of your essay. 

This chart shows transition words that connect similar, contrasting, and cause-and-effect ideas.

Doing so will impress your SAT essay reader and influence your writing score.

Advanced Word Choice

Another way to quickly improve your writing score is to arm yourself with a very specific set of strong vocabulary words and phrases before the essay.  

You should certainly keep working on building your overall vocabulary. A shortcut for the SAT Essay, however, is to build a strong vocabulary that is related to the specific writing task (analyzing an argument and its effectiveness) and prepare to use strong words and phrases on the essay.  

Here’s a sample set of effective essay words.

Other writing tips that can improve your score:

  • Write legibly.
  • Write more than one page! Quality is always better than quantity, but your analysis should be substantial. 

The SAT Essay task may feel daunting, but now you have a range of strategies for improving your score. 

In addition to these strategies, we strongly recommend that students regularly practice SAT essay responses . Doing so with the help of a professional instructor can be particularly beneficial.

Please note that the CollegeBoard has decided to discontinue the SAT Essay after the June 2021 administration of the SAT. 

Kate is a graduate of Princeton University. Over the last decade, Kate has successfully mentored hundreds of students in all aspects of the college admissions process, including the SAT, ACT, and college application essay.

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Our free chancing engine takes into consideration your SAT score, in addition to other profile factors, such as GPA and extracurriculars. Create a free account to discover your chances at hundreds of different schools.

The SAT remains an important aspect for most college admissions processes. Schools use it as one factor to determine a student’s college readiness, and it can even help students qualify for merit scholarships. There are a lot of reasons why you should do your best on this test, so we’ve compiled some of our expert advice to help you improve your score.

When Should Students Prepare for the SAT?

Most students take the SAT in their junior and senior year of high school, but you can start preparing for it earlier than that. Although they aren’t the exact same test, preparing for the PSAT can go a long way in helping you be more prepared for the SAT.

Generally speaking, we suggest that students take the SAT as early as possible in their junior year. That way, you can compare your score to the average scores of admitted students on your college list and see if you want to retake the test to improve your score.

Whether you’ve never taken the SAT or you’re planning to retake it, you should definitely spend some time preparing for the test. But how much time should you spend? The answer, although you may not like it, is that it depends.

There is no wrong amount of time to spend preparing for the SAT. Some students spend months, while others cram their studying in to a couple of weeks. To gauge how long you need, it’s a good idea to take a free practice test available from the College Board and score it. Compare your scores—the total score and your section scores—to the scores of the schools you plan on applying to. The lower your score is compared to the school scores, the more time you should allot for studying and preparing.

Of course, strategy matters when it comes to making the most of your test prep. That’s why we’ve included a few tips and tricks to help you get started.

General Tips

There are some tips that apply to the SAT as a whole. These have to do with your approach to the test and how you study in general.

1. Some anxiety is normal.

Some students think that if they experience any test anxiety, then they are doomed to a poor test performance. But it’s normal to experience some level of anxiety. Anxiety is a part of the fight-or-flight response which allows you to focus and think more quickly—both good for a testing situation. Instead of trying to get rid of your anxiety, keep a more balanced approach; don’t let the anxiety get to the point of panic, but there’s also no need to overly control your emotions. For more advice about how to manage your test anxiety, check out our post 10 Ways to Overcome Test Taking Anxiety

2. Have a plan for each section.

The Reading Test, Writing and Language Test, and the two parts of the Math Test each have their nuances. While some strategies overlap across tests, you also want to develop ones that are unique for each section. Maybe you struggle with motivation when you reach the last section, which is the Math Test, or maybe you have trouble gearing up to start the test with Reading. We’ll give some specific advice in the sections below.

3. Don’t do the questions in order.

This is my favorite strategy, but it takes some practice to get used to. In order to build up your confidence and avoid any test panics, answer all of the easy questions first, and then go back to answer increasingly difficult questions. Decide quickly, after reading a question, whether you will solve it or skip it. You’ll find that when you go back to take on “hard” questions, some of them will be easier because you’ve warmed up through the easy questions.

4. Know what it takes to achieve your goals.

You should have some idea of what kind of a score you’d like to achieve before you start studying. But beyond that, use the free SAT practice test scoring guides to give you even greater insight. For example, if you’re aiming for a 650 on the SAT Math, you’ll need to get around 41 questions right out of 58. This can help you prioritize which questions you answer (with Tip #3) to make sure you get to at least 41 that you actually attempted and are confident in your choice.

5. Don’t study everything at once.

If you’re like most students at the start of their test prep journey, then you have a lot of different areas you could improve in. However, you’re better off zeroing in on a few key concepts and mastering them, rather than trying to hit a little bit of everything. By progressing through concepts one at a time, you’ll see more improvements in your score than if you spread your efforts thin.

Reading Test

Some of these tips overlap with the Writing and Language Test, but for the most part they are especially applicable to the Reading Test.

6. Reorder the passages.

While I don’t mean this literally, I do mean that you should do the passages out of order. It’ll take some practice for you to figure out the best order based on subject and skimming for complex language, but it’s important that you do the passages in the order you want. The Reading Test is the first test on the SAT, so starting this test strong can set the tone for your entire testing experience. Note: while I suggested doing the questions out of order in #3, you should complete all of the questions regarding a passage before moving on to the next set of questions in the Reading and Writing & Language test.

7. Read the passage introductions.

The SAT includes a one- or two-sentence introduction before each passage in italics. These introductions often tell you who wrote the passage, when it was written, and where the passage comes from. This contextual information can help you make sense of the passage and more easily answer author-based questions. It also is the biggest key in deciding which passage to attempt first.

8. Come up with your own answer.

Just as you would solve the Math Test questions and find the answer that best fits your own, you should come up with your own answer for the Reading Test questions before looking at the choices. As practice, you may want to do a sample Reading Test untimed to write your own answers to questions and then choose the answer choice based on which is closest to your own. While you may be stumped on some questions (which is totally normal!) this can help you avoid any confusion from long, partially-true answer choices.

9. Identify the “rhetoric” questions.

A little less than half of the SAT Reading Test questions fall under a category the College Board calls “Rhetoric,” which has to do with the structure and development of the passage rather than the ideas and information. These questions should be approached differently, since many ask about the role that different literary elements play, or about the author’s choices. Instead of working with the ideas in the passage, think about how the writing accomplishes the author’s purpose.

10. Refer back to the passage.

To answer most of the Reading Test questions, you should refer back to the passage rather than relying on your memory of the passage itself. There’s no need to base your answers entirely on memory, since this portion of the SAT is structured like an open-book test. In fact, if you do this along with answering the questions from easiest to hardest, then you’ll actually develop a deeper understanding of the passage relatively quickly and feel more confident answering those tough questions.

Writing & Language Test

These tips really focus on pitfalls students make on the Writing & Language Test. Working on this and the Reading Test will boost your Evidence-Based Reading and Writing section score .

11. Brush up on grammar.

The Writing & Language Test doesn’t just test your knowledge of grammar, but it makes up a big portion of it. The Standard English Conventions subscore is based on 20 out of 44 questions, or about 5 questions per passage, and I find it is the easier of the two subscores to work on. There are plenty of short books available at public libraries, or you can find grammar lessons online. This is a broad tip, so I’ve included some of the common errors below.

12. Watch out for agreement.

Errors in subject-verb or pronoun-antecedent agreement are difficult for students to catch. Often, the sentence separates the two related parts using prepositional phrases, parentheticals, or appositives. If there is a pronoun or a verb in the underlined portion, find the antecedent or subject it corresponds to and makes sure it matches.

For example: When any one of these changes occur, it is likely the result of careful analysis conducted by transportation planners.

The verb “occur” corresponds to the subject “one”, so it should be changed to “occurs.” The pronoun “it” has the antecedent “one,” so this agrees and should be left alone. Some students would be tempted to choose an answer with “they are” instead of “it is” because the noun “changes” is closer to the pronoun and is plural, but pay attention to the meaning of the sentence.

tips for sat essay

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13. Commas and in-sentence punctuation.

Many students are uncomfortable with commas and other types of in-sentence punctuation like dashes, semi-colon, colons, and parentheses. If you find yourself in this situation, learn when you can use each type of punctuation and when you can’t. Many of these are interchangeable, and depend on the meaning that the author wants to convey or their style. Just know that the SAT won’t give you a question where all of the punctuation marks are interchangeable—either one of those is right, or the correct choice is no punctuation in the underlined portion.

14. Figure out the style.

The passages on the Writing & Language Test are unfinished drafts, and they each have a different intended audience or level of formality. While very formal English is appropriate for highly academic texts, casual writing often “breaks” some grammar rules, such as starting sentences with prepositions or including sentence fragments. Don’t assume that the very formal or “fancy” answer is the right one for each question, since each part should fit into the whole.

15. Consider the whole passage.

Speaking of a passage’s style, you should consider the passage as a whole. Many students only look at the particular sentence for each question, and maybe the sentences surrounding it before deciding their answer. However, if you do this, you may miss out on the bigger picture and have difficulty answering questions about whether sentences should be included or omitted, or how a passage can be restructured to strengthen it. If you have the time, try reading the passage once quickly to get the gist before answering the questions.

Math Test, No Calculator

Many of these tips also apply to the Math with Calculator portion, but because they greatly improve your performance on the no-calculator portion, I’ve included them here.

16. Memorize key facts.

On this particular section, knowing “math facts” can help you solve questions more quickly and efficiently, especially since you’ll likely be using at least some pencil and paper to find answers. Some of the facts I recommend students review and brush up include exponent rules and the common squares and cubes of numbers. We’ve dedicated a whole post to 30 SAT Math Formulas You Need to Know to help you out.

17. Review working with fractions.

This one is especially important for students who are used to solving every question with a calculator. Calculators allow you to easily work with decimals, so many of the no-calculator questions use fractions specifically. You should feel comfortable rewriting fractions, finding least common denominators, and how to divide fractions.

18. Get comfortable with variables.

Along the same lines as fractions, many questions don’t give explicit values but instead use only variables, or they use values that are often treated like variables such as pi or e (Euler’s number). You may need to rewrite equations or inequalities in terms of another variable, or understand how changing a variable would alter the result of the equation. Algebra is a huge portion of both the no-calculator and calculator section, so it’s in your best interest to know how to do math with variables.

19. Use easy numbers.

While some SAT variable questions require you to work with the variables as variables, you can sometimes substitute numbers to help you find the answer when you are truly stuck. For example, consider question 12 from SAT practice test 2 below:

tips for sat essay

You can manipulate the equation using algebra to find the solution, or you can replace R, N, and F with numbers that satisfy the first equation. I’m going to replace F with 2 and N with 3, which gives me an R of 2/5. Plugging 2, 3, and 2/5 into the answer choices, I find that B is the only answer choice where the equation is true, and that is the right answer.

Make sure to choose single-digit numbers or numbers like 10. Avoid choosing 1, since 1 has special mathematical properties that can lead you with two “correct” answers.

20. Don’t confuse equations and inequalities.

Many of SAT problems involve equations, but word problems tend to deal with inequalities rather than equations. Phrases like “at most” or “at least” tip you off that you’re dealing with an inequality, and you need to see if the end of the range is included in the answer as defined in the problem. For example, if the question states that a value can be “no more than” a certain number, then you need to choose the next lowest number, rather than the number that would yield an equality.

Math Test, with Calculator

Of the two parts to the Math Test, students tend to feel more confident when they get to this section. Here’s how you can make the most of it.

21. Don’t overuse your calculator.

Virtually every question in this section can be solved without a calculator. I recommend that you try solving as many questions as you can on your own before you bust out the calculator to figure out the remaining questions. As with many of the tips, you should practice this untimed so you can see how much you solve without a calculator. Not only does it sharpen your mathematical thinking overall, but it helps boost your confidence for the no-calculator section.

22. Plug and chug.

This is a tried-and-true test-taking method, and because it works, we mention it here. This type of strategy should be used only when you think it is the fastest way to solve a problem (calculators make short work of this, but see Tip #21), or when you have no other idea how to solve the problem.

23. Slow down with percents.

More than ratios or rates or its related concepts, percents trip students (and adults) up. Most of this has to do with the fact that you need to convert percents to decimals and then back to percents, which can lead to careless errors.

Some students also, in their speed, lump percent increases and decreases together, which does not work. If a problem says that a lamp is discounted at 40% and then a customer has a 10% off coupon, the lamp is not 50% off. Instead, you apply the 40% discount first to get your new value, and then 10% of the new value is discounted with the coupon. Take each percent increase and decrease one step at a time, being careful to do the percent of the new value at each step.

24. Not all questions require “math.”

The calculator portion of the SAT includes questions that have to do with statistics, but many of these don’t require explicit calculation of any kind. Instead, these test your reasoning skills as it applies to statistical concepts, such as sampling techniques, margin of error, standard deviation, and reasonable conclusions that can be drawn. These problems tend to pack a lot of information into a few short sentences, so pay attention to what is and isn’t included.

25. Familiarize yourself with circles.

Although circles, their graphs, and their equations are part of the more advanced topics covered on the SAT, there is usually at least one question on the SAT that deals with circles. You should be able to recognize and interpret the equation of a circle and rewrite the equation into different forms. If you want a top score, then this is a must.

Wrapping it Up

We hope that this has given you a great starting point for your test prep endeavors. While you can certainly improve your score on your own, it’s much easier to do it when you work with an expert who can give you personalized guidance.

Preparing for the SAT? Download our  free guide with our top 8 tips for mastering the SAT.

Want to know how your SAT score impacts your chances of acceptance to your dream schools? Our free Chancing Engine will not only help you predict your odds, but also let you know how you stack up against other applicants, and which aspects of your profile to improve. Sign up for your free CollegeVine account today to gain access to our Chancing Engine and get a jumpstart on your college strategy!

For more information about the SAT, check out these posts:

What Does the Math Section of the SAT Test?

How to Get a Perfect Score on the SAT Essay

What is a Good, Bad, and Excellent SAT Score? Here’s How to Think About It.

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SAT Essay Writi...

SAT Essay Writing Tips: All about the SAT Essay Preparation

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The Scholastic Aptitude Test or SAT consists of 2 major segments: evidence-based reading and writing, and mathematics. Apart from these two sections, there is also the SAT essay. The essay writing section has a specific and separate set of demands that you might need to satisfy in order to score well in this section. 

So, if you find yourself stressing at the prospect of taking on yet another section, take a deep breath and consider that the SAT Essay is completely optional. Stay with us till the end to know if you should opt for the SAT essay or not. And if you are, this blog will also give you lots of SAT essay writing tips, along with last minute SAT writing tips! 

What is the SAT Essay?

An optional section of the SAT exam, the SAT essay will give you a passage by an author who is taking a stance on an issue. Your job will be to analyse how the author built that argument. If you choose to take the essay, it will be its own section of the SAT, and the score you get on the essay will be separate from your score on the rest of the exam. 

Your main SAT score will be out of 1600 while your essay will be graded across three different categories: Reading, Analysis, and Writing. For each area, your essay will be given a score from 2-8.

Suggested: Check Out the SAT Exam Syllabus 2022! 

SAT Essay Structure

While pursuing the SAT essay, you’ll be presented with a passage between 650 and 750 words. In the 50 minutes allotted to you, it’ll be your job to both read the passage and respond to the corresponding SAT Essay prompts. This tests your ability to analyse the author’s argument in terms of the author's use of evidence, reasoning, and other rhetorical techniques.

Suggested: All about the SAT Exam Pattern! 

Tips for Conquering SAT Essay

Moving on, let us understand how to prepare for SAT essay. This section will make you familiar with the most important SAT writing tips, and the kind of SAT essay strategy that you should follow to ace the exam! 

Understand the SAT Essay Scoring System

The SAT essay is not scored as correct or wrong as the multiple-choice questions. Two evaluators will read your essay separately and give you a grade in the range of 1-4 for each of the 3 sections: reading, analysis, and writing. The two reader's scores are then added together. 

  • Your Reading score will reflect how well your essay shows that you understood the passage. 
  • Your Analysis score will reflect how well your essay analyzes how the author went about persuading the audience. 
  • Finally, your Writing score will reflect the cohesiveness of your essay as well as how well it demonstrates a command of language and the conventions of standard written English.

Study and Analyse Sample SAT essays

One crucial SAT essay strategy is analysing the high-scored sample SAT essay which will help you understand what exactly is expected in a good SAT essay. Take time to review the sample essays in detail and as you read through each of the example passages and corresponding responses, consider how and why the author used evidence, reasoning, and stylistic or persuasive elements.

Turn to Professional Writing and Editorial Outlets

One of the most crucial SAT writing test tips is to consistently read and analyse op-ed pieces from reputed media outlets. The more often you apply the skills required of you for the SAT Essay in your everyday life, the more prepared you’ll be to apply them in a test setting.

Prepare with Practice Essays

Quite common tips for writing SAT essay is to set aside an exact 50 minutes for the SAT essay as you would allow time for the rest of SAT paper practice. Take up the practice essay in a near actual test environment and evaluate your essay precisely.Compare your response to that of the student examples provided at different score points to discover possible weaknesses in your reading, analytics, and writing skills that you'll need to focus on in your preparations.

Read Your Test Day SAT Essay Passage Thoroughly

You may feel like you need to start writing as quickly as possible, but make sure you understand the author's argument thoroughly before beginning. Give yourself enough time to write, but don’t underestimate the importance of reading carefully as well.

Start with an Outline

Mapping out your approach for an introduction, body, and conclusion when the content is fresh in your mind will ensure that you don’t arrive at the end of your response with holes in your argument. An outline also helps you plan your writing by giving you a clear sense of direction when transitioning from one point to the next.

Start Strong, Build Strong, End Strong

‘First impact is the last impact’ will never make more sense to you than in your SAT essay. Make sure your essay has a really strong beginning and closure. Apart from that, the build-up has to be comparably impactful. 

Make Time for Edits

While not always possible, aim to leave some time at the end for review. In doing so, you may catch misinterpreted information or find other ways to further build on the points you made in your response. Rectifying your mistakes before giving in your answer scripts can save you the loss of a lot of marks.

Do’s and Don’ts for SAT Essay Writing Preparation

It is necessary to understand precisely what you have to do in your SAT Essay. Here is a list for how to prepare for SAT essay in the form of “Do’s”: 

  • Use a thesis statement
  • Use specific examples
  • Refer to specific ideas in the sample argument
  • Restate your thesis
  • Leave time to edit

Having seen the “Do’s”, it is also important to keep in mind what we don't have to do in our SAT essays: 

  • Don’t restate the prompt
  • Don't repeat yourself
  • Don't use phrases like “I think”, “I believe”
  • Don't push your sentence structure
  • Don't stuff your essay with big words

Suggested: What is the SAT Exam Eligibility Criteria?  

Because of the College Board’s recent decision to make the SAT essay optional, students are now faced with the decision of whether they should take it or not. The best way to decide is to learn the essay policy for each of the colleges you're interested in applying to. Some schools will still require the essay, some won’t even look at an applicant’s essay scores, and other schools don’t require the essay but will look at your score if you do take it. These last minute SAT writing tips will definitely help you up your game! 

Frequently Asked Questions about SAT Essay

Should You Take the SAT Essay?

Before you think about taking the SAT essay, you should realise that the SAT essay is completely optional now. In January 2021, the College Board announced that after June 2021, it would no longer offer the Essay portion of the SAT except at schools that opt-in during School Day Testing. While most colleges had already made SAT Essay scores optional, this move by the College Board means no colleges now require the SAT Essay.  Taking up the essay or not solely depends on whether your school demands it or not, but if you take it up you are covered for all schools.

What are the benefits and drawbacks of taking the SAT essay?

Here are some other benefits of taking up the SAT essay: 1. You're Covered for All Schools 2. A Good Score May Boost Your Application Slightly But it doesn’t come with just benefits. These are the major drawbacks of taking up the SAT essay: 1. It's Another Section to Study For 2. It Makes the Exam Longer 3. The Essay Costs Extra

Is 3 months enough to study for the SAT?

Three months is a great amount of time to prepare for the SAT. You can spread out your studying and you'll have ample time to master the concepts tested on the SAT. With a good SAT study plan, 3 months is good enough for you to crack the SAT.

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A tutor shares 3 rules for writing college application essays, including how to use ChatGPT the right way

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  • Carter Osborne started a side hustle tutoring students on their college admissions essays in 2017.
  • The Stanford graduate shared his recommendations for students looking to ace their personal essays.
  • He said students could use ChatGPT to brainstorm ideas by inputting their experiences and prompting it to ask questions.

Stanford graduate Carter Osborne started a side hustle tutoring high school students on their college application essays in 2017. He had 50 clients last year and made $114,000 from tutoring in 2023.

He quit his day job earlier this month, which he said he could only do because of his tutoring income.

Osborne shared three tips for students writing their college application essays with Business Insider — including how to use and not use AI chatbots.

1. Students should stick to their personal stories

Osborne told BI the key to writing college essays is making it personal. "What I always encourage my students to do is go off script. Find something personal about your life that nobody else could talk about, or at least an angle on something you've done that feels different," he said.

He added he viewed his job as helping high schoolers "tell compelling, interesting stories that are personal and expressive."

2. An AI chatbot like ChatGPT can help brainstorm — but it can't write it for you

Osborne would never write his students' essays for them, he said. Instead, he suggests revisions or edits based on topics they've discussed in meetings.

"The thought has to have come from my student," he said. "My job is to help them weave those thoughts together in the most compelling way."

If stuck, students could use an AI chatbot to help them develop an idea, Osborne said. "Tell it to pretend that it's a college admissions counselor, and ask it questions about what you should write about for your college essay," he suggested.

He said students could talk to it about their experiences and use it to help them brainstorm ideas for essay topics based on their achievements or experiences. He said they could input some personal information, values, and activities they do and prompt ChatGPT to ask them questions about themselves.

Some colleges have issued guidelines against using AI in the application process, while others have encouraged its use in brainstorming and editing their essays. Many colleges, however, have warned students against copying and pasting content from ChatGPT or other AI models.

Osborne said students should never use ChatGPT or other AI chatbots to write an essay , though, he said.

"It comes out feeling stock and flat. There's no life to it," he said. But AI can provide an outline to help students structure the first draft of their essays, he added.

After figuring out their idea, Osborne suggested students could ask ChatGPT to: "Provide an outline for a 650-word personal statement that's four or five paragraphs, and tell me what each section should be about."

3. A chatbot could also give you ideas for improving the first draft

Once students have written their first draft, if they don't have access to a tutor or an English teacher, they could ask ChatGPT what it thinks about it, he said.

They could prompt it to, "Imagine you're a college admissions counselor and react to this essay. What do you think about it? And provide several specific suggestions about how to improve it," he said.

Osborne said some of its suggestions might be bad, but some could be useful. The important thing is never to take what the AI says as a "firm recommendation" that you should follow but as ideas that you might consider, he added.

"Always bring that critical thinking to the process," he said.

tips for sat essay

Watch: Former Princeton admissions director reveals the biggest mistakes applicants make

tips for sat essay

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Big changes are coming to the SAT, and not everyone is happy. What students should know.

tips for sat essay

Last fall, a junior named Mia approached Candice Mackey with an unusual request: She wanted to take the SAT – typically administered at her school in the spring – a few months early. Mia was one of several juniors to broach the idea with Mackey.

Mackey coordinates testing at the Los Angeles Center for Enriched Studies (LACES) and is also the public magnet school’s only college counselor. Normally, she’d discourage her students from taking the standardized exam prematurely. She’d want them to fulfill their maximum potential, to pack in as much test prep as possible before they take the high-pressure ( if now largely optional ) assessment. 

But this time, she understood the students' concerns: Starting in March, the SAT will be digital . The traditional paper-and-pencil format is no longer available, with rare exceptions for students with visual impairments, severe reading disabilities or other documented challenges. 

Mia, who asked to use her first name only to avoid harming her college prospects, said she has eye problems and gets headaches when she stares at a screen for an extended period. The materials she’s been using to train since middle school, including Preliminary SATs (PSAT) and practice SATs, were almost always in paper format. There are relatively few digital prep materials. 

Other students expressed similar concerns, Mackey said. 

“They felt an urgency ... to take the paper exam,” she said, knowing that they won’t have that option anymore. 

The new format comes amid fierce debates over whether colleges should consider students’ race in admissions , and after some colleges reinstated the test score requirement .

Some say the new SAT could make college admissions even messier. 

The College Board, the organization that administers the SAT, believes digitization is for the better – that societal changes demand the modern format and that students are ready and eager to enter a new electronic era. Educators, test-prep experts and youth advocates, however, are worried the digital rollout could make the admissions process more precarious. They say many students, especially those without the means or savvy to keep up with the latest developments, are ill-prepared for what's to come. 

“This past year, a lot of big changes have happened too quickly,” said Diane Barnett, a consultant with the online education provider Knovva Academy.

How is the SAT changing in 2024?

The digital SAT launched internationally last year, and the digital PSAT debuted in the U.S. last fall. This spring when students in the U.S. will take the SAT using their personal or school-provided laptops or tablets, via an app called Bluebook . 

While the College Board says the scores will be comparable , the new exam isn’t just an on-screen version of the paper-and-pencil test from years past. Test takers will experience something fundamentally different in several ways .

A key change is that the new test is what the College Board describes as “adaptive” in nature. Both the math and reading sections will be divided into two parts. A student’s performance in the first part of each section will determine the difficulty level of the second part that shows up on their screen. 

The second half of the test will either be harder or easier than the first half, depending on a student's performance. If a test taker breezes through the first half of the math questions, the second half of that person’s test be more difficult. For a test-taker who struggles during the first half, the second half will be easier. In both scenarios, a person’s scores will be calibrated based on the questions’ difficulty.

This system benefits students who have studied, are good at test-taking and are unintimidated by difficult questions. And psychologically, test-prep experts say, it could benefit students who are prone to botching their performance when faced with questions too hard for them because they'll perform better with a second set that’s more manageable. 

But the adaptive functionality could disadvantage others, educators say, like students who simply have bad luck with the first half and are forced into getting to a lower-than-expected score because they won’t get as many points with an easier second half. 

Adaptive testing allows the College Board to more quickly assess what an individual is capable of – it doesn’t waste time asking the student questions that are too easy or too hard for their performance level. 

That efficiency allows for the second major difference in the digital SAT: At a little more than two hours, it’s roughly an hour shorter than the last iteration, which was launched in 2016. With the digital SAT, students will get more time per question. Math questions will be explained more concisely than before, and reading passages will also be shorter. 

The format works better for testers, said Priscilla Rodriguez, the College Board’s senior vice president of college readiness assessments. The organization ran pilot programs, she said, and “what students are telling us is … they feel less tired, less rushed and less freaked out.” 

SAT is going digital: Exam will be online-only, shorter as colleges ditch standardized tests

SAT registration deadline is coming up, but lots of students unaware of changes

The deadline to register for the March SAT is in just a few weeks, on Feb. 23. 

“It’s not on everyone’s radar,” said Knovva Academy’s Barnett. “A lot of kids … are really going to be surprised by it and have not had time to practice that calculator in the app or to figure out how to get their own (device). And that will adversely affect them.”

The College Board first announced the move to digital two years ago. It has partnered with Khan Academy, which provides free online learning resources, to disseminate materials and help students prepare for the digital SAT. The College Board also provides four free full-length digital practice tests via its Bluebook app. 

Rodriguez feels confident that word has spread far and wide and assured that the exam will continue to improve to meet applicants’ needs.

“My hope is that students who are about to engage with this new SAT … know what to expect, they know what’s coming; they know it’s shorter, they know how to practice,” she said. “Given this is a test that can open up a lot of doors for them, it might as well be the best possible test.”

Still, counselors say news about the digital-only test likely hasn’t reached many students, especially those who live in rural or high-poverty communities and have less access to people in the know.

The rationale for changing an admissions exam

Mackey, at LACES, says the benefits of the new format are evident, at least for people like her who will administer it. 

The traditional exam necessitated piles of paper materials being shipped to schools or centers and locked up before test day, a cumbersome process that allowed would-be cheaters easier access to booklets beforehand. 

With the digital format, students will take the exam on their own devices, and each test taker will see a unique sequence of questions, making it more difficult to cheat. 

Many educators are optimistic because the new test takes into consideration accessibility issues and students’ well-being. The fact that it’s shorter and adaptive makes it less stressful for students, Rodriguez said. 

The shorter prompts make the 2024 test more manageable for students who are learning English. The app and the built-in calculator students can use on the math questions feel more intuitive to a digital-native generation, according to some educators and students.

Lujain Malash, 17, a high school senior in Egypt who has taken the digital SAT several times, disliked that her performance in the first half determined the difficulty level of the second: “The worst part is that depending on how you do in the first part ... if you don’t do well you don’t end up with a really good score.” 

But Malash said the shorter length makes it worth it. As someone who prefers math over reading, she felt the briefer passages are “more relaxed” than the longer, paper-format ones.

While the digital exam may be more convenient and secure, Mackey and other observers say those improvements could make success more uneven as it’s rolled out. 

Admissions tests have long been criticized as being a better measurement of students’ wealth than of their competence or potential. Since so much of the exam necessitates strategies such as intelligent guessing and time management, teens with the means to enroll in expensive test prep services are better equipped to score well than students who are just as smart but haven’t had the time or resources for practice. 

“Practice makes perfect – there is something to that,” said Charles Lang, senior executive director of the Digital Futures Institute at Columbia University’s Teachers College. “Getting a scenario that you can practice in that is as similar to the actual event is a very important factor” in achieving a high score. He said it’s problematic that the College Board is pitching this new test’s scoring system as essentially the same as the old one’s: “I don’t think it’s quite as straightforward as they’re painting it.”

Are SAT scores fair? New exam faces ongoing equity concerns

Some College Board skeptics, like Akil Bello of the advocacy group FairTest, say the digital SAT doesn’t do anything to address the exam’s inherent inequities and may make student performance more uneven.

“Theoretically, digital testing is better; theoretically, (the College Board has) prepared schools and provided guidance,” Bello said. “But I’m concerned about the practical realities and the differences between what your ideal school has and what the common school has.” 

On a basic level, people need technology to take the new test.

The exam requires that each student have a device and reliable broadband. Two-thirds of students take the SAT on campus during class time, and many students use devices provided by their schools, but huge gaps remain in terms of which districts have access to adequate infrastructure for administering the new SAT. 

What happens if, say, a rural school has faulty broadband service and there’s no IT person on staff on a day when troubleshooting is needed? What if a student doesn’t have consistent access to a device on which they can practice, that comes with the app downloaded on it? 

Judy Henriquez, the director for career and college counseling at the Bronx Center for Science & Mathematics (BXCSM) in New York City, said the Chromebooks provided by the school can be unreliable and students can have unstable internet access. Because of the issues, many teachers choose not to do computer-based testing in their own English language arts and history classes, for example.

Ama Oduro, a 17-year-old senior at Henriquez’s school, said she frequently struggles to sign in or access assignments on the Chromebooks. The malfunctions suck up a lot of class time. Even if the school manages to troubleshoot problems that arise on a test day, and the new format doesn't require a continuous connection to proceed, a flustered student might struggle to concentrate for the rest of the exam.

“Certain people who are not built for testing are, in a way, excluded,” she said. 

If students can’t get a testing device from their school, the College Board says it will send a loaner to the campus. But navigating an unfamiliar computer can be overwhelming and glitchy for anyone, educators noted, especially for someone taking a stressful test.

Others are concerned about the adaptive nature of the assessment. There’s little clarity about how the change-as-you-go tests will be scored or about the implications of the adaptive model for applicants. 

“My number one concern about going digital is that there’s not an option to have it on paper as well,” said Mackey, the educator in Los Angeles. “I just don't think that it is in the best interest of students to only have it in that format.” 

Is the SAT making a comeback in college admissions?

Since the pandemic, the vast majority of colleges no longer require applicants to submit standardized test scores. The trend toward de-emphasizing the SAT began before COVID-19 and it became the default policy when circumstances made access to in-person exams difficult. 

Fausto Rivera, a 17-year-old senior at BXCSM, is grateful colleges are less interested in test scores, which he sees as a misleading and unfair “way to analyze students’ potential and … control students’ future.” Last spring, Rivera took the paper SAT, having never practiced because of his work and family obligations. He was curious about how he’d fare. 

His score reinforced for him that the SAT was “not really measuring your capacity.” A student could be having a bad day. People who buckle under pressure or who can’t pay for expensive test prep seem fated to perform poorly on the exam, he said.

A few schools are returning to the test requirement. Dartmouth on Monday became the first Ivy League institution to reinstate it . The Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Georgetown, which are Ivy-adjacent, already returned to requiring it for applicants. They’ve often cited research suggesting the scores are more predictive of college success than grades, which are sometimes inflated.

The College Board, meanwhile, is eager to remain relevant as it continues to compete with the ACT. The digital format is one lever for boosting its market share, according to Lisa Speransky, whose company, Ivy Tutors Network, works with students from a broad range of backgrounds. The ACT will offer a digital version beginning this year but it will continue administering the paper option as well. 

Henriquez has embraced the fact that many colleges are distancing themselves from admissions exams. She has intentionally de-emphasized test prep when counseling her predominantly low-income students at BXCSM.

She saw how fixated they’d become on getting a good score, on how quickly they lost sight of the parts of learning she thinks truly matter – the essays where they could describe their passions, the after-school activities where they could explore new hobbies, the community service where they could help families like their own. 

“They thought (the SAT) was the only way they could get into a ‘good’ school,” she said. “I hated what they were giving up.”

More changes to college admissions: What students can expect after Supreme Court’s ruling on affirmative action

Disrupting the fixation on the Ivy League, ‘elite’ colleges

Swaths of students still place immense weight on the exam even though it is largely optional at the most selective of institutions. Nearly 2 million high school seniors took the test during the last school year, the highest number since the start of the pandemic and just a hair short of the record rate – 2.2 million members of the Class of 2019. For comparison, roughly 2.5 million freshmen enrolled in a college or university in the fall of 2019 , while 2.3 million enrolled in the fall of 2022. 

Bello and others said the hullabaloo about the new SAT format distracts from a more pressing concern: students’ ongoing fixation on highly selective – or, as they put it “highly rejective” – schools.

“I worry about students who think that those top 10 or 15 schools are the only schools and that they won’t be successful if they don’t end up there,” Barnett said. “There is a school out there for everyone. It’s OK if you haven’t heard of it yet. It’s OK if it’s not what your parents want on their bumper sticker.”

Contact Alia Wong at (202) 507-2256 or [email protected]. Follow her on X at @aliaemily.

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Sat / act prep online guides and tips, should i take the sat essay how to decide.

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New SAT , SAT Essay

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The SAT underwent some major revisions in 2016, and one of the biggest changes is that its previously required essay is now optional. This can be confusing for some students and parents. Should you take the essay? Will colleges require the essay or not? Will taking the essay make your application stronger?

Read on for answers to all these questions. This guide will explain what the SAT essay is, what the pros and cons of taking it are, and how you can make the best choice for you.

UPDATE: SAT Essay No Longer Offered

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In January 2021, the College Board announced that after June 2021, it would no longer offer the Essay portion of the SAT (except at schools who opt in during School Day Testing). It is now no longer possible to take the SAT Essay, unless your school is one of the small number who choose to offer it during SAT School Day Testing.

While most colleges had already made SAT Essay scores optional, this move by the College Board means no colleges now require the SAT Essay. It will also likely lead to additional college application changes such not looking at essay scores at all for the SAT or ACT, as well as potentially requiring additional writing samples for placement.

What does the end of the SAT Essay mean for your college applications? Check out our article on the College Board's SAT Essay decision for everything you need to know.

What Is the SAT Essay?

The SAT essay is one of the sections of the SAT. After being required since its inception, the College Board has now decided to make the essay optional. This is similar to the ACT, whose essay has always been optional.

During this section, students will be given 50 minutes to write an essay. The essay for the new SAT is very different than it was for the previous version of the SAT. You can read all about the changes to the SAT here , but, as a brief overview, the essay will give you a passage by an author who is taking a stance on an issue. Your job will be to analyze how the author built that argument.

If you choose to take the essay, it will be its own section of the SAT, and the score you get on the essay will be separate from your score on the rest of the exam. Your main SAT score will be out of 1600 while your essay will be graded across three different categories: Reading, Analysis, and Writing. For each area, your essay will be given a score from 2-8.

Below is a sample prompt from one of the official practice tests released by the College Board. Here you can read the entire prompt, including the passages you would need to analyze.

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Do Colleges Require the SAT Essay Now That It's Optional?

So, the College Board has now made the essay an optional part of the SAT, but does that change how colleges view the essay (or if they even view it at all)? Kind of. Some schools that used the essays before no longer require them now that both the ACT and SAT have made the essays optional, but other schools continue to require the SAT essay.

Each school makes this decision individually, so there are no patterns to follow to try and guess who will require the essay and who won’t. Even top schools like the Ivy League are divided on whether to require the essay or not.  

This can make things confusing if you’re applying to college soon and don’t know if you should take the SAT essay or not. The following sections of this guide will explain the benefits and drawbacks of taking the essay and walk you through different scenarios so you can make an informed decision.

The #1 Consideration: Do Any of the Schools You're Interested in Require the Essay?

The absolute most important factor, the factor that matters more than anything else in the rest of this guide, is if any of the schools you’re applying to or thinking of applying to require the SAT essay.

The best way to get this information is to  Google “[school name] SAT essay requirement,” look directly on each school’s admission webpage, or   check out our list of the schools that require the SAT essay.

Find this information for every school you plan on applying to, even schools you’re not sure you want to apply to, but are considering. If even one school you’re interested in requires the SAT essay, then you should take it, regardless of any other factors.  There is no way to take just the SAT essay by itself, so if you take the SAT without the essay and then, later on, realize you need an essay score for a school you’re applying to, you will have to retake the entire test.

So, if a school you’re interested in requires the SAT essay, your choice is clear: take the essay when you take the SAT. However, what if the schools you’re interested in don’t require the essay? If that’s the case, you have some other factors to consider. Read on!

Benefits of Taking the SAT Essay

If none of the schools you’re thinking of applying to require the SAT essay, why would you want to take it? The two main reasons are explained below.

#1: You're Covered for All Schools

Taking the SAT essay means that, no matter which schools you end up applying to, you will absolutely have all their SAT requirements met. If you decide to apply to a new school that requires the SAT essay, that won’t be a problem because you’ll already have taken it.

If you already are absolutely certain about which schools you’re applying to and none of them require the essay, then this may not be a big deal to you. However, if you have a tentative list of schools, and you’ve been adding a school or removing a school from that list occasionally, you may want to be better safe than sorry and take the SAT essay, just in case.

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Taking the SAT essay means you have all your bases covered, no matter which schools you end up applying to.

#2: A Good Score May Boost Your Application Slightly

While it’s highly unlikely that your SAT essay will be the deciding factor of your college application, there are some cases where it can give you a small leg up on the competition. This is the case if a school recommends, but doesn’t require the essay, and that school is particularly competitive.

Having a strong SAT essay score to submit may strengthen your application a bit, especially if you are trying to show strong English/writing skills.

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Drawbacks to Taking the SAT Essay

There are also costs to taking the SAT essay; here are three of the most common:

#1: It's Another Section to Study For

If you choose to take the essay, that means you have an entire extra SAT section to study and prepare for. If you already feel like you have a ton of SAT prep to do or have doubts about staying motivated, adding on more work can make you feel stressed and end up hurting your scores in the other SAT sections.

#2: It Makes the Exam Longer

Taking the essay will, obviously, increase the total time you spend taking the SAT. You’re given 50 minutes to write the essay, and, including time needed for students not taking the essay to leave and things to get settled, that will add about an hour to the test, increasing your total SAT test time from about three hours to four hours.

If you struggle with keeping focused or staying on your A game during long exams (and, let’s be honest, it’s not hard to lose concentration after several hours of answering SAT questions), adding an additional hour of test time can reduce your test-taking endurance and make you feel tired and distracted during the essay, likely making it hard for you to get your best score.

#3: The Essay Costs Extra

Taking the SAT with the essay will also cost you a bit more money. Taking the SAT without the essay costs $46, but if you choose to take the essay, it costs $14 extra, raising the total cost of the SAT to $60.

However, if you're eligible for an SAT fee waiver, the waiver also applies to this section of the exam, so you still won't have to pay anything if you choose to take the essay.

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Taking the essay likely means the cost of taking the SAT will be slightly higher for you.

Should You Take the SAT Essay? Five Scenarios to Help You Decide

Now you know what the SAT essay is and the pros and cons of taking it. So, what should you decide? Five scenarios are listed below; find the one that applies to your situation and follow the advice in order to make the best decision for you.

Scenario 1: You're planning on applying to at least one school that requires the essay

As mentioned above, if even one school you’re thinking about applying to requires the SAT essay, you should take it in order to avoid retaking the entire SAT again at a later date because you need an essay score.

Scenario 2: None of the schools you're applying to look at essay scores

If none of the schools you’re thinking about applying to even look at SAT essay scores, then you shouldn’t take it. Even if you get a perfect score, if the schools don’t consider essay scores, then taking it will have no benefits for you.

Scenario 3: The schools you're applying to don't require the SAT essay and aren't highly competitive

In this case, you don’t need to take the SAT essay, unless you’re trying to make up for weak writing skills in other parts of your application.

Scenario 4: The schools you're applying to recommend the SAT essay and are more competitive

For this scenario, you should take the SAT essay in order to give your application an extra boost, unless you really think you’d perform poorly or preparing for and taking the essay would cause your scores in other sections to decline.

Scenario 5: You aren't sure where you're going to apply yet

If you’re not sure which schools you want to apply to, then you should take the SAT essay, just to be safe. This way you’re covered no matter where you end up applying to college.

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If the thought of figuring out which colleges to apply to has you as confused as this blue panda, your safest option is to take the SAT essay.

Because of the College Board’s recent decision to make the SAT essay optional, students are now faced with the decision of whether they should take it or not.  The best way to decide is to learn the essay policy for each of the colleges you're interested in applying to.  Some schools will still require the essay, some won’t even look at an applicant’s essay scores, and other schools don’t require the essay but will look at your score if you do take it.

Use these school policies to help decide whether you should take the essay. Remember, if you end up needing to submit an essay score, you will have to retake the entire SAT, so make sure you have accurate and up-to-date information for each school you are thinking of applying to.

What's Next?

Have you decided to take the essay and want to know how to start studying? We have a step-by-step guide that explains how to write a great SAT essay.

Want more examples of sample prompts? Here are all of the real SAT essay prompts that have been released by the College Board.

Are you aiming for a perfect SAT essay score?  Check out our guide on how to get a perfect 8/8/8 on the SAT essay.

Want to improve your SAT score by 160 points?  We've written a guide about the top 5 strategies you must be using to have a shot at improving your score. Download it for free now:

Get eBook: 5 Tips for 160+ Points

Christine graduated from Michigan State University with degrees in Environmental Biology and Geography and received her Master's from Duke University. In high school she scored in the 99th percentile on the SAT and was named a National Merit Finalist. She has taught English and biology in several countries.

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  1. SAT Essay Tips: 15 Ways to Improve Your Score

    The Challenge The SAT Essay is a very short assignment. You only get 50 minutes to read a 650-750 word passage, analyze the devices the author uses to structure her/his argument, and write a full-fledged essay —and it can pass in a flash if you don't have a method for attacking it.

  2. 6 SAT Essay Examples to Answer Every Prompt

    The SAT essay prompts have several important things in common: They're all passages that try to convince the reader of the veracity of the author's claim They're all around the same length (650-750 words) They're all meant to be analyzed and written about in a relatively short period of time (50 minutes)

  3. How to Write an SAT Essay, Step by Step

    As we mentioned in our 15 SAT essay tips article, the author's argument that you'll be discussing is in the first line of the prompt: "Write an essay in which you explain how Peter S. Goodman builds an argument to persuade his audience that news organizations should increase the amount of professional foreign news coverage provided to people in ...

  4. 8 Tips For Earning a High Score on the SAT Essay

    1. Understand the SAT Essay Scoring System Unlike your multiple-choice answers, which are scored as either correct or incorrect, the SAT Essay is assigned three scores. Two readers will score your Essay separately and assign a score of 1 to 4 for each of three sections that include Reading, Analysis, and Writing.

  5. About the SAT Essay: What to expect

    An overview of the SAT Essay.View more lessons or practice this subject at https://www.khanacademy.org/sat. Khan Academy is a nonprofit organization with the...

  6. Tips on How to Write the SAT Essay

    Tips on How to Write the SAT Essay When it comes to the SAT essay, the College Board is very helpful—they always use exactly the same format for the SAT essay, give you exactly the same directions, and ask you to include exactly the same kind of information in your essay.

  7. 5 SAT Essay Tips for a Great Score

    1. Stay Objective The thing to remember here is that ETS (the company that writes the test) is not asking you for your opinion on a topic or a text. So be sure to maintain formal style and an objective tone. Tip: Avoid "I" and "you. 2. Keep It Tidy Handwriting is becoming a lost art.

  8. PDF CHAPTER 14 About the SAT Essay

    To do well on the SAT Essay, you'll want to have a good sense of what the test asks of you as well as the reading, analysis, and writing knowledge and skills required to compose a response to the Essay prompt. This chapter is intended primarily to get you more familiar with the Essay.

  9. SAT Study Guide

    The redesigned SAT Essay is aligned to typical college writing assignments. Get tips, read the prompt and sample essays, and get ready to write. PDF; 1.48 MB; Close Download All Downloads. Math Explore the Math Test. Math Close Modal. Download. Official SAT Study Guide: About the SAT Math Test ...

  10. Absolutely Essential SAT Writing Strategies

    Absolutely Essential SAT Writing Strategies. November 15, 2022. •. 10.8 min read. tl;dr: The SAT essay is graded on three metrics — Reading, Analysis, and Writing — each on a scale from 1-4. To score an 8/8/8 on the SAT essay, you need to understand the rubric and keep in mind the three important parts of the essay: analyzing the prompt ...

  11. Khan Academy

    We encourage learners that are looking for more resources to prepare for the Digital SAT to use both Khan Academy's Official Digital SAT Prep for skill practice and College Board's Bluebook app for full-length practice tests. For tips and tricks on how to prepare for the Digital SAT, please check out this quick and helpful guide from College Board.

  12. 10 Tips for the SAT Essay

    1. Follow the rules. Don't score a zero for failing to follow instructions. Use the essay paper that is provided. Do not write in your booklet. Do not change the question. Do not use a pen. 2. Divide your time. You will have twenty-five minutes to write your essay.

  13. The Ultimate SAT Essay Study Guide: Tips and Review

    Complete List Depending on which colleges you want to apply to, you may not need to take the SAT essay at all. Find out if the schools you're interested in require or recommend you take the SAT essay with this article. Understanding SAT Essay Prompts and the SAT Essay Rubric

  14. 8 Smart Tips to Improve Your SAT Essay

    1. Know the prompt If you're a student who values practice prompts, there's good news. CollegeBoard.com offers not only sample SAT Essay prompts but also examples of student responses coupled with their scores and feedback. Before each SAT Essay passage, you'll notice a generic prompt.

  15. 13 SAT Tips to Help You Study and Take the Test

    4. Purchase an SAT prep book or other study materials. If you're someone who enjoys studying solo, there are many SAT prep books available to purchase or potentially available from your local library. They offer study tips, detailed descriptions of the testing format, pacing techniques, weekly study guides, and several practice exams. 5.

  16. SAT Essay Writing Guide: Outline, Tips, Scoring & Examples

    This essay is designed to assess reading, writing, and analytical skills. The SAT essay is scored on a scale of 2 to 8, with 2 being the lowest score and 8 being the highest score. The essay is scored based on three key areas: reading, analysis, and writing. The scores for each area are then added together to get a total score out of 24.

  17. Get That High SAT Essay Score With These Tips

    Step 1: Read and Annotate (~ 3-5 minutes) Read carefully and mark up your text before diving into your response. Underline the author's central claim. Pay particular attention to the author's argument techniques and make sure to underline evidence of these in action.

  18. The Reading and Writing Section

    The questions on the Reading and Writing section fall into four content domains: Information and Ideas. Measures comprehension, analysis, and reasoning skills and knowledge and the ability to locate, interpret, evaluate, and integrate information and ideas from texts and informational graphics (tables, bar graphs, and line graphs).

  19. 25 Tips and Tricks for the SAT

    There are some tips that apply to the SAT as a whole. These have to do with your approach to the test and how you study in general. 1. Some anxiety is normal. Some students think that if they experience any test anxiety, then they are doomed to a poor test performance. But it's normal to experience some level of anxiety.

  20. SAT Essay Writing Tips: All about the SAT Essay Preparation

    Quite common tips for writing SAT essay is to set aside an exact 50 minutes for the SAT essay as you would allow time for the rest of SAT paper practice. Take up the practice essay in a near actual test environment and evaluate your essay precisely.Compare your response to that of the student examples provided at different score points to ...

  21. The 23 SAT Tips and Tricks You Must Use

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  23. SAT Essay Prompts: The Complete List

    Overview SAT essay prompts always keep to the same basic format. Not only is the prompt format consistent from test to test, but what you're actually asked to do (discuss how an author builds an argument) also remains the same across different test administrations.

  24. SAT Essay Scoring

    Responses to the optional SAT Essay are scored using a carefully designed process. Two different people will read and score your essay. Each scorer awards 1-4 points for each dimension: reading, analysis, and writing. The two scores for each dimension are added. You'll receive three scores for the SAT Essay—one for each dimension—ranging ...

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    With the digital SAT, students will get more time per question. Math questions will be explained more concisely than before, and reading passages will also be shorter. The format works better for ...

  26. Should I Take the SAT Essay? How to Decide

    Kind of. Some schools that used the essays before no longer require them now that both the ACT and SAT have made the essays optional, but other schools continue to require the SAT essay. Each school makes this decision individually, so there are no patterns to follow to try and guess who will require the essay and who won't.