<p>My S is a junior in high school and is generally an excellent student. He takes, and does well with, advanced math and science classes and does well with humanities classes as well. His biggest issue is that he hates to write. I have spent the last 17 years trying to convince him that the ability to express thoughts and ideas in writing is just as important to an engineer or mathematician as it is to a lawyer or an English professor. Its not that he doesnt understand the mechanics or lacks the vocabulary he simply doesn't enjoy it. The same kid that will work on a complicated mathematical equation for hours thinks the idea of writing several drafts of a paper is an utterly ridiculous waste of time. To make matters worse, he writes very technically and succinctly. He doesn't see the need to add fluff or extra details just to fill the page. While fine in some situations, Im sure you can guess how this tactic fared with his SAT essay score. Specifically my questions and concerns are:</p>
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<li><p>What can he do over the summer to learn how to express his thoughts / ideas / passions in writing in a meaningful way? His stats will make him a competitive applicant for many schools but he is beginning to realize that stats alone aren't enough. Hopefully that realization will make the process a little less painful for both of us! </p></li>
<li><p>SAT scores. He took the SAT for the first time in January and did very well, scoring a 2290 overall. CR + M was 1590 with 700 in W. I do realize that his scores are excellent, but I am concerned that the 700 on writing will stand out in a negative way compared to the other scores. He was hoping that the composite score was good enough to be done with testing. He will also be looking for merit aid, so Im not sure how much the writing score weighs in with that. What are your thoughts? </p></li>
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<p>Hoping others have had similar experiences with reluctant writers. Suggestions and ideas for overcoming this are appreciated!</p>
<p>You have been trying for 17 years without success, so my thought is it’s time to be done with this. People write the way they think, and you can’t do very much to change that. His grades and scores are wonderful. Hopefully he will meet a professor who will change his mind about descriptive narrative, but it seems to me that you are worrying needlessly. No student is perfect in everything ( and yours seems pretty awesome, regardless)</p>
<p>Well, my son didn’t start off as a great writer but has evolved into one based on the sheer amount of writing he has to do. The main thing that he learned (to avoid a million drafts) is to create a good outline first. He puts all thoughts on paper–succinct wording, major ideas, right order and then fills in the cracks. Everything is ordered before actual writing begins. The actual writing isn’t that hard–it’s the ordering of thoughts that is the difficult part. The better your first draft, the more the second draft is just an editing job. Having someone else help edit takes some of the tedium out and eventually self-editing becomes easier.</p>
<p>GSM, are you sure the W 700 score is “low” because of his essay? Forgive me for suggesting this, but a lot of people are unaware of how much objective grammar assessment is included in that portion of the test.</p>
<p>As he doesn’t sound like an eager candidate for writing instruction, two possible paths to improvement might be encouraging him to: (1) master the five-paragraph essay: it isn’t exciting, but it is classic, and the formula can ease the pain for those daunted by writing, and (2) read, read, read: what he reads matters less than making sure there’s at least some variety in genre and style.</p>
<p>GraniteStateMom, my DS fits into the exact same mold as your DS when it comes to writing. He scored 760 on his SAT writing with only an 8 on his SAT Essay. So he understands English grammar but just don’t like (or know how) to write. He prepared his SAT essays by reading suggestions from Princeton Reviews etc… He also wrote about 5 practice essays before the exam. All of his practice essays looked like they would have gotten an 8 score. I also need helpful suggestions on this topic.</p>
<p>TXArtemis, yes, I am sure. 1 wrong MC, 7 essay. </p>
<p>Greenbutton, I appreciate your candid input. I’m sure you realize that the 17 years was an exaggeration (but not by much!). I agree with many of your points and also hope that he meets a professor who will change how he feels about writing. He is an awesome kid and a great student. My main concern is that he can get his head around it (the actual writing as well as the need to put effort into it) for the short term to write decent essays for college apps. I fear that his lackluster writing style will adversely affect his admission chances at some colleges. I’m hoping that recent college visits have motivated him to at least be willing to work on his writing as every admissions person he talked to, as well as professors in STEM departments, reminded him that his passion and aptitude for math and science is wonderful, but that it has to be balanced by well written essays that demonstrate who he is as a person.</p>
<p>4beardolls, glad my S isn’t the only one like this! </p>
<p>LakeWashington, that’s my plan! His best writing was a piece about how he disdains writing. This is sure to be an uphill battle!</p>
<p>Technical, good writing is fine as long as it is complete. You call it lackluster but I think admissions folks must cringe when they read a flowery, overdone piece filled with fancy words that don’t quite fit. I would not worry about a lack of “style” and I’d only have him be the best, logical writer he can be. Have him make sure that he isn’t overlooking a critical step in his argument or explanation when he writes. How does he do with lab reports? That’s a perfect place for a kid like this to start. My D says that the brilliant boys who work with her as lab partners have a tendency not to write clearly because they think so fast and assume knowledge on the part of the reader. If your son can break this down and become aware of each piece in the paper, it might help him overall.</p>
<p>I think he’s pretty typical of many math-oriented boys but I have to add that my oldest D, who is a professional writer, scored an 8 on the ACT essay. i wouldn’t worry too much about it.</p>
<p>What type of school does he want to attend? Many large state schools don’t look at essays (Pitt doesn’t require one at all). It sounds like he can write, just not fluffy writing. He may be fine as a STEM student. </p>
<p>The SAT essay is based on a formula - he can probably read and practice for improving that. He may never enjoy writing. I never had much use for descriptive writing, but as an engineering student I really only had to write lab reports.</p>
<p>I am the same way. Who wants to do something that he is bad at? To a stem person, writing is more about conveying data.
There are 3 types of writing styles and classes to consider: creative narrative writing in non- fiction, analytical essays, research papers. If it were me, I would enroll him in a class of creative non-fiction. It will be different than other writing that he has done, and might unlock an interest in writing. He can get in touch with applying sensory aspects to his writing etc. unfortunately, the only way to become a good writer is to write A LOT. If the class unlocks an interest for writing, then maybe he will write more.</p>
<p>Dear Mom: You’re doing such a great thing. Writing is so important. But alas you can only lead him to water. The good news is that it sounds like he knows the basics which is better than most kids. Let’s hope that as he becomes older, the need to express himself will become more important and all your hard work will payoff.</p>
<p>My first semester of college, I wrote my papers on a typewriter. Did all my research, let it percolate around in my head for a while, sat down and started typing, turned in what came out. No outlines, no revisions, no nothing. My papers got good grades. Even with computerized word processing, I’m more of a revise-as-I-go writer.</p>
<p>There’s nothing wrong with writing succinctly; that’s a valid stylistic choice. Or with not writing multiple drafts; what matters is the quality of the output, not the number of iterations it takes to get there.</p>
<p>I can definately relate with a son who will be graduating in June looking forward to pursuing an engineering degree. One thing that I did was encourage (and by encourage, I really mean force) him to take the creative writing elective this year that his HS offers to juniors and seniors. It’s only a minor, meets twice a cycle…and while it meant giving up a couple of free periods…even he admits that it’s been a great opportunity for him to flex his writing muscles. From my own experience, writing is all about confidence…and as with all things, confidence comes from practice. Any writer…be it of the professional or the “just for fun” sort will tell you that the only way to feel comfortable with the process of writing is to write…every day. I would also suggest that he journal. Most boys will cringe at the thought…but as a parent I’m not above the well-placed bribe. Journal for a week and I’ll throw you some gas money. Journal for a month and I’ll get you that video game that you want. The hope is that they’ll start out writing for the “prize”…but continue for the personal satisfaction they get as writing becomes less of a burden and more or a personal expression.</p>
<p>700 is a great score for someone who hates to write. Both my non-writer and my great writer got similar scores on the SAT writing section and essays. Neither is good at that particular sort of writing and spent way too long trying to think of something to say. Your kid might do better on the ACT - their essay questions IMO are much easier to answer.</p>
<p>My younger son just got nominated for a writing prize at his college - that 7 or 8 on the essay is history. Most colleges don’t pay that much attention to the writing section, particularly if there is other evidence that the kid can write (AP scores in English or history, personal essays on the application, teacher recommendations.)</p>
<p>Terse will never get you a high SAT scores, but in college many professors will appreciate his style.</p>
<p>Additionally, if he takes a creative nonfiction class, most college app essays are written in that style so he may even generate some ideas for his essay or even generate a college app essay or 2 from the class.</p>
<p>Lastly, for his 7 on sat essay score, writing is “weighted” the least on the sat. however if he wants to retake it, there is this great thread on the SAT prep section on cc called " how to write a 12 essay in 10 days". Also there is another thread which lists the past essay questions. Alternately, we hired a tutor from an sat prep place called elite and the tutor spent 2 hrs (1 hr over 2 sessions) doing prep and practice for the essay portion. The reason we did the tutor, is because there is no way to know what the score would have been on practice essays.</p>
<p>The 700 is great - keep it - don’t retake - concentrate any writing improvements and efforts on those college essays - those will count a lot more than the essay score.</p>
<p>I should also mention that while I got an abysmal score on the SAT II Writing section, I wound up with a 5.5/6 on the GRE, and I can assure you my writing didn’t improve much during those four years.</p>
<p>Thinking back to my freshman year with my only English class I got a lot of criticism from my professor for my writing style. I wound up with a B, which I was happy enough with. Most of my engineering professors were very happy with how I wrote. I also took a technical writing class my final semester to fill up some space, and I felt it was about a million times more useful than any English class I had ever taken. I was already a succinct writer to begin with, but that class helped me understand when I needed to expand on ideas a little more in order to help my reader understand what I was writing about.</p>
<p>I’d actually recommend your son take a technical writing/presentation class if he has the chance; it’ll probably be a lot more useful, and interesting, than any other sort of composition class.</p>
Even with computerized word processing, I’m more of a revise-as-I-go writer.</p>