<p>I've taken practice SAT's from the The Official SAT Study Guide and have averaged a 2100 (~ 600 CR, 750 M, 750 W) on the practice tests. I've sent the essays to graders I've had access to, and they normally give me a 10 or 12. </p>
<p>I took the SAT in January and got a 2000. The problem was that my Writing was a 640... a 65 subscore and an 8 on the essay. I don't know what went wrong, so I took another practice test today, and got my score up to a 2090 (assuming my essay was an 8). </p>
<p>What can I do to help my essay score? I'm a AP English student, and I normally find myself frantically writing the essay because I'm limited on time.</p>
<p>Make sure that you clearly select one side of the argument (either agreeing or disagreeing with the author of the quote.) It doesn’t matter which side. Choose three examples to support your position, either from a book, history or a personal example. one paragrapsh for each. Use transition words to connect the paragraphs. Write a clear conclusion supporting your thesis. Fill up two full pages.</p>
<p>Review how best to get two independent thoughts expressed in expository prose (with a period for two sentences or with commas or semicolons)</p>
<p>I faced the same problem… My SAT superscore 800 math 730 CR and 680 writing with 8 in essay. Do your essay well because each point is worth 20 marks.</p>
<p>Fully agree. Also, it helps to memorize examples for the most common “essay themes” in advance - so you don’t have to come up with them during the test, but focus on writing them down.</p>
<p>It is extremely important that you write all the way down to the bottom of the second page(you need to use most of the space given). It sounds ridiculous, but once you do that, you can’t get below 10 unless your writing is bad. The length is really important, although the collegeboard doesn’t seem to admit it openly. In order to get above 10, it helps if you use some literary examples(prominent novels that somehow matches the topic). It shows your knowledge and at the same time makes it easier to fill out
the space. (I followed my writing teacher’s advice and was able to score 11 on two exams I took)
Message me if you need more info or clarification.</p>
<p>By the way, you don’t need three examples if you can fill up two pages using two nice examples. Trust me, two thorough examples are better than three sloppily analyzed ones.</p>
<p>^ YES, many people on this site say that you need 3 examples for your essay to score well. This is not true at all. I actually find that it is very hard to analyze 3 examples in the limited time and space that you are provided with. 2 examples is best for me and I got a 12 without being an amazing writer as a result.</p>
<p>@4beardolls: Kaplan SAT class instructors submitted the essays to a partner they have. It sounds official enough in my opinion, but maybe not.</p>
<p>Making 2 clear examples definitely seems easier. I normally find myself personally interested in the examples I use so I tend to write about 8-10 sentences in those paragraphs. 3 examples means that I have to reset my mind a bit more, which does seem to waste time.</p>
<p>So, 3 5-7 sentence paragraphs for the example or 2 10-12 sentence paragraphs?
I’m taking the SAT again in March, so I’ll have a few weeks to get the hang of whichever approach.</p>
<p>i’ll go for two long examples. Oh, and you don’t even have to write more than ten sentences for each paragraph. The collegeboard graders love complex sentences. Write some logically organized complex sentences with advanced vocabulary (Don’t be too wordy, though). Short, clear sentences are generally considered better writing, but collegeboard looks for sophisticated writing too. The difficulty is being
sophisticated and clear at the same time. You’ll screw your score if you confuse your readers.</p>
<p>I got a 12 on my SAT and I just re-read it online the other day: TERRIBLE writing, oh how young I was haha.</p>
<p>But here’s what you do.</p>
<p>Write to the very last corner. — 10
Organized coherently — 11
One lit example, one history example, one personal example - a paragraph for each of them, connected logically to the topic and helps your stance — 12</p>