SAT Jitterbugs

Test Preparation SAT Preparation
1

<p>Wellp, I'm about to take my first SAT this Saturday, and I'm feeling quite nervous. I have a bunch of butterflies in my stomach, and one of the things that I'm dreading the most is the SAT Essay. I worry that I'll plan out everything and won't have time to finish my essay OR the prompt will be something SO boring (a topic I dislike), and I won't have any examples that could relate to it.</p>

<p>Is anyone else going to take the SAT for the first time this Saturday? If so, are you in a anxiety-stress-nervous-mood like I am right now??!!</p>

<p>Since there are a numerous amount of people here who are high scorers, I was wondering if anyone could give me any tips or advice that would help me with the Math, Critical Reading, and Writing Portion of the SAT (something that I've never heard before please! I've seen: pace yourself, get a goodnight sleep, skip questions that are going to take time, skim the passage, etc al. about a billion times by now! Something unique for once!)</p>

<p>I also heard that you could make up your own personal experiences and books as examples for the SAT. I don't like to use personal experiences in my essay (I lack them, plus it'll take a lot of time for me to make one up on test day), so I made up a book to use as an example - for backup if I can't think of anything else:</p>

<p>I've created a title name, author name, main character, and a plot..well the plot will be anything the essay addresses. </p>

<p>Do you think this is a pretty solid idea? Or do think this will make the readers suspicious, like "Hey, I've never heard of this book/author before"?</p>

<p>I've also gotten some essay advice from my dad, and he says not to completely agree or disagree with a topic, just agree with some reservations or disagree with some reservations. I guess it's true - let's face it, not EVERYTHING is all positive or all negative. I was just wondering though - will essay readers penalize you if you discuss both the good and bad sides of a chosen issue? Or is it a MUST that you just choose one side of an issue and stick to it?</p>

<p>That's all from me. Sorry for such a long post - it's just that this is my first time taking the SAT and I could pretty much use all the help I could get!</p>

<p>Thank you so much!</p>

2

<p>I took a polar stance on my march 10 issue and it earned me a very good score.</p>

3

<p>In my opinion, focusing on only one side of the issue is better. You don't have time for a wishy-washy essay. You could however include a paragraph that addresses the other side, eg "Some people think that blahblah, however..." and refute it. I don't think readers will penalize you for having a "sometimes yes, sometimes no" essay, but it won't be as focused, which will indirectly help your score. </p>

<p>For the essay, read a wikipedia article on some historical event (Pearl Harbor, Cultural Revolution) or book the night/morning before. I find that I have been able to twist most historical events to match the topic...</p>

<p>But, I'm taking the SAT the first time this weekend too, so we'll see how my advice goes over.</p>

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<p>Would it be good to have three examples.</p>

<p>Historical
Literature
Personal Life</p>

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<p>Get a list of essay prompts from the College Board website or the big blue book (official sat study guide). Try taking your novel (although I recommend using a real book rather than the one you fabricated) and applying it to different essay prompts. Train your mind to find different aspects of novel and make them fit the various prompts. Resist the temptation to pick a different novel, or different supporting example altogether, while you perform this exercise.</p>

<p>You can try this technique with a personal or historical example as well. It's not pleasant, but it gets easier the more you try it.</p>

<p>The essay prompts issued by the College Board so far are not very diverse. There are a few common themes.</p>

<p>Listen to the new on National Public Radio as you drive to the SAT on Saturday.</p>

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<p>Does anyone have a list of book summaries? I want a variety of books to go into the essay with so that I'll be prepared to provide examples, no matter the prompt</p>

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<p>^^sparknotes : D</p>

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<p>i don't think literary examples are good for you. if you do it too much, the reader could get distracted, or feel that you are just using the lit examples to make up for a poor argument/poor writing.</p>

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<p>can you use examples from not well known books?</p>

10

<p>Can someone answer me? Is it ideal to have three examples, personal life, historical, and literary?</p>

<p>Thanks</p>