<p>I feel a little silly asking an SAT question at this point (because I've been through this with two kids already!). DS#3 is a hs junior and just got his first SAT scores. CR and M were not bad (hooray!), Writing fairly low (400s). This kid will not be aiming particularly high for college. I know many schools <em>claim</em> they don't take the writing score into account, but I'm looking for a little reassurance that this is in fact true. I mean--when the schools get the scores, they at least <em>see</em> all three, right? Do the schools who say they only look at CR and M <em>really</em> only consider them?</p>
<p>(He will take an SAT prep class before his second sitting, and I'm not sure whether to tell him he needs to boost the Writing score or not. I almost hate to take attention away from the CR and M. I think his older brothers applied to schools that didn't consider the Writing score, but theirs were more in line with the CR and M.)</p>
<p>D2 is a very good writer, but her writing wasn’t SAT style. Her score was not reflective of the kind of writer she was, but with help of a tutor, she did get a perfect score. I think if you get a good tutor to focus on your son’s writing section, he probably could bring it up substaintially.</p>
<p>You are right that schools will see all three scores, and a 400 in writing would be of concern to schools.</p>
<p>Writing can improve tremendously over Junior year. Son got a PSAT 54 in writing in the fall, and an SAT 710 in the spring. We credit an excellent AP English teacher (language) who included SAT essays in class work for the bulk of the improvement, but his SAT tutor (who was helping him primarily in Math) gave him some tips and had him do a couple practice exams too. So yes, tell him the SAT writing needs to improve (and probably will), if for no other reason than to compete better for outside scholarships. That said, I’m very sure that the two public schools my son applied to do not consider the writing portion.</p>
<p>I would be more worried about college success later on - a 400 may suggest that the kid would struggle to write anything longer than a Facebook status update with all due respect. If said kid is in a major where writing is paramount, i.e. pretty much everything, I would be concerned. </p>
<p>In college English it’s not that hard to get a decent grade (B) but the ability to crank out a 10 page paper in a couple days with other things going on may be in question…</p>
<p>He said his essay was actually pretty good–just did not really address the prompt. He’s a competent writer (although a little more style-over-substance in my opinion). He did not get a 400, but did not break a 500, which I’d like to see (at least). He went into this test cold–really to get his feet wet. He will be better prepared for his second sitting, although in my family we’ve not overdone the SAT prep.</p>
<p>I was really more looking for perspective on whether schools that say they only consider CR and M actually do so.</p>
<p>I’m not sure how any of us would really know if colleges do what they say regarding the SAT writing score. I am not sure how it would benefit them to lie about it. You can look at individual schools’ common data sets, and it will list if it is used for admission, or placement, or not at all. I know the U of Chicago said they do not look at SAT writing because they do not feel it is a good example of an applicant’s writing skill; they have their own application essays for that.</p>
<p>If he is a good writer, perhaps just looking at some essay tips and examples in a prep book would help. My D did a little prep on her own and her writing section went from her lowest section score in practice to her highest score.</p>
<p>My son received a perfect score on the PSAT Writing section. The SAT Writing was very low. The Essay was his downfall - He could not complete it in time. This is part of his LD. As turbo93 said, this is an issue to be sensitive when choosing a college and major. It is certainly driving my son’s decision.</p>
<p>First, break out the essay score from the multiple choice score. If there is a discrepancy, such as a 6 essay score and 35 MC, then work on grammar. You can get a copy of the essay from College Board. It may help.</p>
<p>Most SAT prep classes ONLY focus on CR/M. You may want to look into a tutor for the Writing session. </p>
<p>Check the common data set for each school he is interested in – some do not even list a Writing score. I think those really do not look at the Writing.</p>
Then there was my older son, who got an 80 on the PSAT writing, but never managed to crack 700 on the SAT writing. Luckily he applied the first year writing was introduced and I don’t think any of his colleges looked at the score. For both my kids the kind of essay asked for by the SAT was torture. They were fine with AP History essays, they would have been fine with ACT type essays (which as I recall had much more straightforward questions and skipped the slightly related quotes.) Both did practice writing maybe half a dozen essays and their essay scores went up slightly. </p>
<p>My kids biggest problem was coming up with three or four examples quickly and writing about it. I read their essays, and except for the one my youngest wrote in 8th grade I thought they were better than the scores they received, but they were short. Once in college they got very good grades on class essays by the way. My younger son is in an extremely writing intensive major.</p>
<p>All this is to say, I don’t think the essay score means much, but there is the danger that the colleges think it means something. I’d want it within 100 points of the other score if feasible, but I don’t think it’s a big worry if it’s somewhat lower. IME the SAT prep classes are completely useless at addressing the writing section - especially the essay.</p>
<p>Basically, the formula is like the 5 paragraph essays the kids have been taught already. However, the student pre-prepares by reviewing notes on some basic books he has read that have themes that can be applied to many prompts. The tutor says to prepare 20-25, 10 is adequate for a basic essay. </p>
<p>The SAT prompts are always about moral and ethics. </p>
<p>So your son can review the spark notes on books that have themes that are applicable to many situations such as The Alchemist or even Harry Potter. This way, he will goes into the test with some possible books already in mind he can pull from. Really reduces anxiety about writing since the essay is first.</p>
<p>I don’t know how much colleges look at writing (hell, I don’t even know if they’re telling the truth when they say they ‘superscore’–I mean, the scores are right in front of them, despite their best intentions), but I can tell you that my son improved from a 60 on writing on his PSAT in Oct to 710 this past January and all he did was a few practices and listen to my distillation of the ‘10 days to a 12’ advice found right here on CC. (he got a 10, but it was filtered through me plus we had less than a week at that point, so proportionally we still came out ahead in my opinion). Perhaps it can help your S as well. Good luck. We need it too–his writing score went up by 110 but his other scores went down by exactly that!</p>
<p>Many thanks for all the advice/recommendations. I’m completely ignorant about that section of the SATs–obviously have no personal experience with it and really didn’t give it much thought with my older two because their scores were fine. I’ll do a little poking around and will pass on the “How to Write. . .” link to DS. He won’t take the test again until June–lots of time to prepare!</p>
<p>If you go on college board dot com and look you will see how the school uses the writing section. My son has dysgraphia and did horrendously on the writing but still got into a pretty decent school.</p>
<p>Some use it only to check that the essay was in fact written by them. Some average it with cr score, some ignore it all together. I think I read 70% of schools don’t consider it. </p>
<p>I hear junior year english is writing focused to help get the kids ready for the essay.</p>