Best SAT prep book to get 800 in Writing Section

Test Preparation
1

<p>Hi</p>

<p>I am an international student from the UK studying for the SAT. I have purchased the big blue CollegeBoard SAT book but want some more help with the writing section.I have already got Dr Chung's book for maths which is really really helpful and have gotten Larry Krieger's book for CR. Could someone please recommend a book for the writing section?</p>

<p>Right now I am considering between</p>

<p><a href="http://www.amazon.com/College-Pandas-SAT-Writing-Advanced/dp/0989496414/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1418497663&sr=8-4&keywords=sat+writing#customerReviews"&gt;http://www.amazon.com/College-Pandas-SAT-Writing-Advanced/dp/0989496414/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1418497663&sr=8-4&keywords=sat+writing#customerReviews&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>and</p>

<p><a href="http://www.amazon.com/How-Write-Killer-Essay-Award-Winning/dp/0578076659/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1418497663&sr=8-2&keywords=sat+writing#customerReviews"&gt;http://www.amazon.com/How-Write-Killer-Essay-Award-Winning/dp/0578076659/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1418497663&sr=8-2&keywords=sat+writing#customerReviews&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>, does anyone have an opinion on either of these two books or even on a different book I haven't looked at?</p>

<p>Many thanks</p>

2

<p>I don’t know too much about the books you’ve listed, so I can’t really give you much insight there. However, I am too an international student (Sweden) who managed to score 770 on writing (48/49 on grammar, 10/12 on essay) last month and I can share what I’ve learned.</p>

<p>First, the grammar section accounts for 70% of the total score, so spend most of your study time here. For grammar, I learned everything I needed from Erica Meltzer’s “The Ultimate Guide to SAT Grammar”: <a href=“http://www.amazon.com/2nd-Edition-Ultimate-Guide-Grammar/dp/1492353299”>http://www.amazon.com/2nd-Edition-Ultimate-Guide-Grammar/dp/1492353299&lt;/a&gt; From then on, doing practice tests should suffice. If you still don’t quite grasp everything, there are ample free sources out there, of which this one has been lauded by many CCers: <a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/sat-preparation/1693275-how-to-hit-800-on-writing-section-of-the-sat-in-less-than-10-days-p2.html”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/sat-preparation/1693275-how-to-hit-800-on-writing-section-of-the-sat-in-less-than-10-days-p2.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>As for the essay, there are many conflicting opinions as to how to write your essay to get a 12 so I would dissuade you from spending any money on a book for the essay specifically. There are many different approaches you can take to score a 12, and you just have to find an approach that suits you. The main source I used was Pwnthesat’s 5 part series on how to write a five paragraph SAT essay. Part 1: <a href=“http://■■■■■■■■■■■■■/wp/2012/02/an-oldie-but-goodie-5-paragraph-essay-part-i-introduction-paragraph/”>http://■■■■■■■■■■■■■/wp/2012/02/an-oldie-but-goodie-5-paragraph-essay-part-i-introduction-paragraph/&lt;/a&gt; You can probably google the rest.</p>

<p>There are however some things that most people agree with that helps boost your score:

  • the safest (though not required for a 12) structure is writing either 4 or 5 paragraphs: intro, body, body, (body), conclusion.
  • length matters, write preferably 1.5-2 pages
  • Use advanced vocab, but only where you are absolutely sure it works; it’s better to use simpler words to clearly get your arguments across than to use difficult words that ultimately make your essay unnecessarily convoluted.
  • Be specific and avoid generalities in your arguments, support them by facts.</p>

<p>If I could be reflective as to why I didn’t get a 12 on my essay, I’d say lack of practice. Definitely try to write at least a few timed essays on official SAT topics before your test. 25 minutes seem to fly by on test day. </p>

<p>Tl;dr Grammar most important, essay important, but not as important. Had I gotten 1 more essay point I would probably have scored an 800, oh well.</p>

3

<p>The simplest way to increase your writing score is to write more. There is a measurably high correlation between length and score. This effect is independent of content, style, and syntax. It may be the reason they are dropping the test. </p>

<p><a href=“The man who killed the SAT essay - The Boston Globe”>The man who killed the SAT essay - The Boston Globe;