Hey all!
I have been practicing doing the SAT essay, but its pretty difficult to try and get a top score when you don’t really know what you might be doing wrong, or continue what you’re doing right. So I was wondering if anyone wanted to start an SAT essay peer group review, or become SAT essay buddies? A group of 2-4 people would be nice! We can all learn from each other, and learn how to do best on the actual SAT!
Basically, we would write maybe 3-4 essays per week, and then critique them as harshly as we can in order to really develop our skills (grade out of 6). We can look to the SAT blue book for prompts, or the College Confidential archive of essay questions (http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/sat-preparation/764514-sat-essay-prompt-archetypes.html) or any other reliable source!
I hope some of you guys are interested! Reply if you are, and I look forward to working with you!
Count me in. I’m taking the SAT in May.
Awesome, @milopenguin !!
So, what I think we can do is pick like two prompts by this Friday, and then write two essays the following week, one essay per prompt. We can share our essays on Tuesday, by posting them on the forum, and then edit/critique them on Tuesday as well.
Comment if you have any questions! Thanks for joining the group!!! 
May I join as well? I’ll take the SAT in October.
Yeah, for sure @Synonyms !
Just pick two prompts from either the blue book or the archives by Friday, and we can start!
Sounds good. Are we doing the same prompts?
I’m taking the SAT in May and would like to join too.
@milopenguin That’s a good question! Since we are now a group of 4, we could each pick one prompt for Friday, and then collectively decide which 2 prompts from the 4 we want to do, or we could each do a different prompt. Either way works! What are your guys’ opinions?
@clpony7 Ok, sounds good! Just like I asked @milopenguin , each of us could either do a different prompt or the same…what do you think?
By the way to anyone else who is interested, this study group is now full!
I know this doesn’t really answer your question, but I looked at the link to archive of essay questions and I think it would be a really good idea to have us do at least one that falls into each category. That way we can have a good pool of examples to choose from…preventing situations like me blanking out on the practice essay for 15 mins lol
@clpony7 Good idea, I totally understand what you mean haha. I think we could each just bring two questions on Friday then, and collectively decide which two out of the eight we want to write about/best represent a different category…how does that sound guys?
Awesome! @clpony7 Hear from ya Friday unless you have anymore questions!
How are you guys feeling about the new plan? @milopenguin @Synonyms
Sounds good.
Prompt suggestions:
Is a perfect society possible or even desirable?
Is it important to question the ideas and decisions of people in positions of authority?
Awesome! Thanks @Synonyms for the rubric, and yeah @milopenguin those sound like some pretty good prompts! Tomorrow, we can all decide on which ones we want to write about. Hear from you all Friday, unless you guys have anymore questions and/or suggestions! :)>-
OK, here’s my prompts:
Prompt 1 (From the January 2011 SAT):
Think carefully about the issue presented in the following excerpt and the assignment below.
Idealistic people, people who pursue great ideas in hopes of changing the world, often have ambitious plans that are difficult or even impossible to carry out. These people can claim few solid accomplishments. In contrast, practical people concentrate on workable ideas and goals, even though these may not meet an idealist’s high standards. Their approach is likely to be more valuable than the approach of idealistic people.
Assignment:
Is an idealistic approach less valuable than a practical approach Plan and write an essay in which you develop your point of view on this issue. Support your position with reasoning and examples taken from your reading, studies, experience, or observations.
Prompt 2 (From the June 2013 SAT):
Think carefully about the issue presented in the following excerpt and the assignment below.
Thanks to the Internet, people have more access to more information than at any other time in history. People can instantly find information on almost any topic in the time it takes to type a couple of words and click a mouse. But we often know so little about the source of this information, including its reliability and the qualifications of the person who wrote it. If we do not know its source, information is not much good to us.
Assignment: Do people need to know the source of any information before they use it? Plan and write an essay in which you develop your point of view on this issue. Support your position with reasoning and examples taken from your reading, studies, experience, or observations.
“Things do not change; we change.” -Henry David Thoreau, Walden
Do we ourselves cause change in our lives by making certain ecisions, or are we acted upon by certain events that happen around us?
“Failure is impossible.” -Susan B. Anthony
Is it really impossible to fail? Are some failures simply unsuccessful attempts to accomplish what we set out to do, or do all failures ultimately provide benefit, even if we can’t see it right away?
(Both from Kaplan’s 12 Practice Tests for the SAT)
I really like your prompts, by the way @Synonyms
Ok, here are my prompts guys. Sorry, I have been busy and didn’t post these earlier 
But here they are now!
@milopenguin @clpony7 @Synonyms
Topic #1: Creativity!
It is better to try to be original than to merely imitate others. People should always try to say, write, think, or create something new. There is little value in merely repeating what has been done before. People who merely copy or use the ideas and inventions of others, no matter how successful they may be, have never achieved anything significant.
Assignment:
Is it always better to be original than to imitate or use the ideas of others?
Topic #2: Hardship and success!
It is not true that prosperity is better for people than adversity. When people are thriving and content, they seldom feel the need to look for ways to improve themselves or their situation. Hardship, on the other hand, forces people to closely examine–and possibly change–their own lives and even the lives of others. Misfortune rather than prosperity helps people to gain a greater understanding of themselves and the world around them.
Assignment:
Do people truly benefit from hardship and misfortune?
Wowowow all your guys’ prompts are so good!! It’ll be tough to pick which two we wanna do on Friday, but at least we have a good batch of questions to choose from! So, be thinking about which two you guys wanna pick…I was thinking we could pick a question from one person and then another from a different person, so we each have a chance to pick one. What do you guys think?!