Guide to how to get a 12 on an SAT Essay

Test Preparation SAT Preparation
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<p>How to Score a 12 on You Essay: </p>

<pre><code>One of the quickest and easiest ways to boost a SAT score is through the essay. If you missed four questions on the multiple choice, but got a 12 on the essay. An increase of just 2 points (IE: 2 5’s upped to 2 6’s) will give you an average boost of 30 points. If you get 4’s or 3’s or your essay, that same boost is between 50-100 points on your writing score should you get the elusive 12. The benefits are clearly there. Not to mention that while it may take countless hours of studying to raise your 600 to a 650 on math or your 700 to 750 on critical reading, you will already improve your essay just by spending 5-10 minutes to read this article.
</code></pre>

<p>When you get your essay topic, scan over the quote. It usually is of no use, but sometimes when you are searching for an idea for that third body paragraph or the right way to phrase a sentence, the quote can help. But don’t respond to the QUOTE. You must respond to the PROMPT. Upon reading it, immediately pick a side to support. Don’t be in the middle. Take a strong stance for or against. </p>

<p>Write the full two pages, or both pages except for like 3 remaining lines. Every time. There is a HUGE correlation between length of essay and score. </p>

<p>Let us first start with the structure.</p>

<p>Do this. Every time. Every single time. Some of what I say are basic guidelines, but to get a 12, you should write a standard five paragraph essay. Sure, you can do it with four, but your chances will go up with a five.</p>

<p>Opening Paragraph
-Zinger
-Link
-Thesis</p>

<p>You’re “zinger” is your opening sentence. You wont have time to craft something really clever, but if you go into it with a basic structure, you will be fine. “One of the great issues that face our world is…” or “It has become increasing evident that…” or “One of the most pondered issues of all time is the question of…” “BLANK has always been present in our world…”</p>

<p>Next do a link. It should flow directly into you thesis and hint what stance you have on the issue. “One of the greatest issues that face our world is the battle between privacy and security. Our right privacy is something that should not be infringed upon just to allow a little more security.”</p>

<p>Finally the thesis. “One of the greatest issues that face our world is the battle between privacy and security. Our right privacy is something that should not be infringed upon just to allow a little more security. This is shown by BLAH, Blah, and BlAh.” The three blahs MUST be your three body paragraphs. Sometimes it takes me a little while to think of my third body paragraph. To not waste time, I just skip an extra line on my thesis, and jump right into my body paragraphs, and come back to it later.
Body 1
Body 2
Body 3</p>

<p>There are many strategies to the 3 body paragraphs. Some schools/prep classes stress the Global – Local –Personal approach. While this is fine, I find it much easier to build a “reservoir” of five-ten things you can use from history, literature, or current events you can use. Try something you are interested in. For example, I’m a big baseball fan. So, for any essay on change, on progress, on laws or rules, I can use Jackie Robinson as one of my paragraphs. Hopefully you read the books in your English class (or at least sparknote them very thoroughly).
You can use The Catcher in the Rye, The Scarlet Letter, The Great Gatsby, Fahrenheit 451, and others as paragraphs. You may not remember the main characters name from Fahrenheit, so just call him “the protagonist.” However, you do remember it was on the banning of books and the problems it caused, so you can use that for an essay on censorship, on defiance, on protest, etc.
This will cover two of your three body paragraphs (one from literature and one from history). The final one should be topic-specific. Like, on an essay on the importance of trust, you can use an unspecific example such as the trust patients must put in their doctors.</p>

<p>Conclusion
Make your third paragraph end about 4 lines from the bottom of the page, depending on the size of your handwriting. Your conclusion should contain a summary of your position, a restatement of your thesis, and a concluding statement. “Society must never sacrifice privacy for more security. BLAH BLAH and BLAH show that when privacy is sacrificed, only bad things can occur. In today’s technologically advanced world, where privacy can be breached in many ways, it is import to hold true to this belief.”</p>

<p>Yay. That’s you’re essay.</p>

<p>Here should be your time:</p>

<p>3 minutes reading/planning
3 minutes opening paragraph
15 minutes for your 3 essays,
2 minutes for your conclusion
2 minutes to look over</p>

<p>You average about 5 minutes a body paragraph, some will be easier than others. However, if you are starting off with a 7 minute paragraph, you can only spend 4 on the other two, so move on. Remember, length is key.</p>

<p>I don’t generally like leaving a lot of time to look over things, but rather I am just careful as I write my essay. But the most things to look out for are parallelism, run on sentences, inappropriate comma use, and word misplacements (than vs. then, their vs. there, its vs. it’s, effect vs. affect).</p>

<p>If you can do all this, you should have a very good shot at getting a 12 on your next essay. Good Luck!</p>

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<p>I found that you need 5 minutes to come up with 2 solid supports and then to come up with what you are going to say. Then 20 minutes to write a pretty good essay. Make stuff up if nothing comes to mind. And stick with one position, do not change. I got an 11 so maybe I'm not the person to listen to, but I made up one of my supports (acutally used a real book, but made up the plot).</p>

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<p>I got a twelve, completely made stuff up, and honestly, there's no formula. It depends on the person and their 25-minute reaction to the subject, with points for eloquence and vocabulary and ingenuity, which are really things you can't quantify to the degree that I think you're attempting.</p>

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<p>I used this tactic
Opening sentence for paragraph 1
3 bodies
and a conclusion
other than starting I had the same as you and got an 11.</p>

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<p>
[quote]
“One of the greatest issues that face our world is the battle between privacy and security. Our right privacy is something that should not be infringed upon just to allow a little more security.”</p>

<p>Finally the thesis. “One of the greatest issues that face our world is the battle between privacy and security. Our right privacy is something that should not be infringed upon just to allow a little more security. This is shown by BLAH, Blah, and BlAh.”

[/quote]
</p>

<p>After hundreds of essays I dont imagine that a reader would be impressed by the fluff in sentences such as these. Nor do references to generic and overused books leave a favorable impression. Go with a personal approach instead, even if you have to change experiences around a bit to make them work. Original and also far more impressionable. I've gotten 12 both times; and although I do agree with one of the posters above that there is no one formula, ones as boring as the OP's make me want to throw up.</p>

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<p>They dont have to be impressed. As long as the paragraphs are valid arguments and good support for what you are saying, the "fluff" doesn't matter. Generic, if done right, will get you a 12.</p>

<p>And there is no "formula," but for those that have trouble even writing a page, a formula, a guideline, can be helpful.</p>

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<p>you'll get big, big bonus points if your two examples are linked. my first example on the october sat was nietzsche's Thus Spoke Zarathustra, and my second one was nazi germany. if you know of nietzsche's philosophy, you would know that the nazis drew much influence from his writing, and i used that fully to my advantage. i didn't even fill up both pages, nor did i have a conclusion, and i still got a 12.</p>

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<p>eh i have a couple points
I got a 9 first sitting and a 12 just now.
How? I wrote a hell of a lot of essays for my ap english lit class. intro basic setup is right for above. transitioning sentences are also key. amount of bodies? 1 great one can be done, 2 & 3 are safest (neither is stronger than the other), 4 means they're too weak. Conclusion is of course to tie it all up, add in some nice point, and try, if you can, to give it a beautiful big picture spin. Vocab and varied sentence structure are also key. Literary and historical references are not necessary. I used both in the 9 and only historical in the 12. Personal anecdotes (even if fabricated) are good too. I used a science reference in the 12.
My length of each essay was nearly the exact same so length is overemphasized but definitely do at least 1.5 pages.
but here is the kicker..........</p>

<p>i saw this somewhere else and decided to use it. write "i <3 sats" in small letters in the bottom right corner. it worked for me. total lie though. i hate cb</p>

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<p>thanks????????????</p>

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<p>I wrote one big long paragraph and got an 11</p>

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<p>I did basically what you suggest on my first sitting, 9 on the essay. I had only 2 body paragraphs both from similar areas for my second sitting, 11. </p>

<p>So yah, your strategy is flawless, there is no other way.</p>

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<p>I've gotten 2 12s!</p>

<p>:-D The only thing about my scores worth mentioning.</p>

<p>LOL</p>

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<p>nice thread...</p>

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<p>essay really would bump up ur score, i got a 76 MC but an 8 on the essay on the oct and it brought my score down 40 points! (720)</p>

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<p>my prep place says to ONLY use one body paragraph or piece of evidence. </p>

<p>the "i <3 sats" thing... ima try it</p>

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<p>My older daughter is a trained SAT essay grader who works online for prep classes, evaluating their clients' essay attempts. She has shared what she calls the right formula for success on the essay.</p>

<p>Limit your intro paragraph to just one or two sentences. Elaborate with only two body paragraphs. Make sure to use a concluding paragraph, and one sentence (or two) is sufficient. If you do not get to the conclusion at all, you will lose major points, so make sure to at least sum it all up in one good sentence. </p>

<p>Good luck to all of you SAT takers tomorrow!</p>

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<p>------------good luck-------------</p>