<p>First of all, I want to say that I am a Sophomore that has never taken an officially administered version of the SAT. But don't stop reading!</p>
<p>For many people, the writing section is the most difficult section of the SAT, however for me, it's by far the easiest. In my freshman PSAT I scored a 59 on it (183 total), my Sophomore I scored a 69 (198 total), and in a PR practice test I took last week, a 780 if you score my essay a 12 (1980 total. Would've been 2100+, but I really couldn't focus at all on the readings. Really easy to space out in your own house :)), maybe 760 if it's a 10 (I'm a good writer, and I know my essay will be at least a 10). </p>
<p>Much of my 8th and 9th grade years was spent learning Spanish, extracurricularly of course (highschool Spanish classes are a complete joke, even in my school which offers step 6 for Sophomores). In learning Spanish and having to learn all of the grammar rules, I picked up a lot of subtleties which are needed for the language. And, oddly enough, all of these subtleties work for English too! And they're essentially what the entire writing section is predicated on. For instance, when to use the subject pronoun after a preposition, when to use the infinitive form, when to use the past perfect tense, etc. </p>
<p>These subtleties are by far much easier to learn in a non-native language. Many native Spanish speakers struggle in Spanish classes, because it's very hard to undo old habits of colloquial speech. The same is true for native English speakers and the writing portion of the SAT. My advice, however roundabout it may seem, is to advance your foreign language skills, be it in Spanish, French, or whatever your school offers. And if it turns out that this doesn't help you at all, it will indeed be great waste of time. . . . Except of course that you'll be fluent or near-fluent in another language, ace every test in that subject, and pretty much guarantee an 800 on the corresponding SAT subject test and a 5 on the AP test. If anyone would like, I know a great many Spanish grammar websites and methods to learn the language that I would be happy to share either via pm or right here on this board.</p>