Your SAT Essay Questions Answered

Hi
I am an international student
I actually know people who really have alot of gramatical mistakes and still they tok 7 and 8
so after all i believe it is luck.
I want to know the names of the people i can use as a supportive example in the essay. such as Martin Luther King.

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roddaut Reply:
January 15th, 2009 at 9:38 am

It's not names you need to be concerned about. It's useful examples from literature and history. And putting together the logic and evidence properly to support your thesis is key. In the sample essays at http://www.sat-essay.net/sample-sat-essays.htmlyou'll see how to put together your examples.

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And I also want to know what websites might give me essay samples with high scores.

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roddaut Reply:
January 15th, 2009 at 9:36 am

You can get sample sat essays with high scores by visiting this page http://www.sat-essay.net/sample-sat-essays.html

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I spend too much time thinking. Do you have any methods/tips?

Should I formulate several "universal examples" at home and try to incorporate those into the prompt when taking the essay?

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Emily, yes definitely create some good examples you can use before test day. In my book I give a step-by-step process for thinking through the prompt that can help you avoid overthinking. But here's the gist: read the prompt, notice the yes/no question they are asking you, brainstorm several examples, decide if you have more evidence for a yes or a no response, choose your thesis, start writing.

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hey do you have a website for sat writing's other portions because i am horrible at grammar
or can you suggest the websites that you think are good

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roddaut Reply:
March 20th, 2009 at 6:04 am

Sevara, I only teach the SAT Essay. However, you can find some good information at majortests.com/sat/grammar.php

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to get at a high score on SAT essays, do i need to use high level words?another thing is that i want to know whether i should practice it regularly.at present ,i take more than 25 minutes to write an essay.how can i improve my writing speed?

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roddaut Reply:
March 20th, 2009 at 6:04 am

To improve your writing skills first focus on writing one good body paragraph at a time for a given prompt. Focus on writing something clear and that proves your thesis. Once you get good at this start increasing your speed. In my book The SAT Essay Formula I go into depth as to how to use this strategy and others so you can write a quality essay very quickly. You can find my book at http://www.sat-essay.net/sat-ebook.html

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I'd like to know if the essay is read and graded in handwritten form, or whether it is scanned using an optical character recognition (OCR) computer utility. If it's scanned, does the computer also do a spelling check, word count, and make a vocabulary grid to assess the writer's level of language competence?

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admin Reply:
April 8th, 2009 at 3:05 am

SEO,

The SAT Essay is graded by hand in it’s handwritten form. That’s one reason why you definitely want to write legibly on the test. All the data that shows you should write longer essays that are 5 paragraphs roughly equal in size are based on analyzing hundreds of essays. The grading is not done by computer however you’d think it was based on the fact that essays of 400 words or more have a 90% chance of getting the highest score.

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roddaut Reply:
September 5th, 2009 at 3:19 am

The essay is graded by real people. Graders are high school and college writing teachers with at least 2 years of experience teaching writing.

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i am an indian student preparing 4 the sat. we in india arent martin luther etc. instead we are taught about people like gandhiji. is it okay if i use examples of famous indian nationalists. also i havent read any of the books from which examples have been given in ur sample essays.

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admin Reply:
April 23rd, 2009 at 2:12 am

Indian history is full of great examples. Mahatma Gandhi is one. So are leaders like Indira Gandhi and Nehru. If you know US history well, then use it as the teachers are from the US. However, they are told not to be biased against other cultures. The main thing that will get you a high score is to learn to write a 400 word essay in under 25 minutes. And make sure you include examples from English or American literature as well as Indian history and you’ll do fine.

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I never found history very interesting when I had it at school, so I have a feeble grasp on historical events. How hard is it to write a top-scoring essay that does not rely on history or literature? I find myself more comfortable writing narrative essays or citing events from my own experience. Should I start reading more books, or should I stick to what I’m good at?

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admin Reply:
July 17th, 2009 at 6:22 pm

Akash,

It’s generally easier to score well with history and literature. With a little practice and by reviewing what you’ve already learned in school you should be able to use those kinds of examples on the test.

However, if you really don’t think you can, I would get someone to professionally score your essays using personal experience and see if you get any high scores. If you write in a very sophisticated way you can get away with this. But for most students you’ve really got to be super sharp to get a high score that way so I’d avoid it and just take the time to review what you’ve already learned from history and literature and use that on the test.

Rodney

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Hi I am an international SAT student and I need good examples as supporting ideas in my essays,so from where shall I get them?Would you please tell me any kind of resources such as books or something?
Thank you for your cooperation.

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Rodney Reply:
January 27th, 2012 at 4:10 am

Wedad,

The best thing to so is use what you’ve learned in your own schooling to answer the SAT Essay prompts.

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I would like to add one more thing, when planning a persuasive essay, follow these steps:

1. Choose their position.
2. Analyze their audience.
3. Research their topic.
4. Follow the proper format for their persuasive essay.

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AJ Sutjahjo Reply:
November 21st, 2011 at 12:51 pm

So, regarding the 4 points you mentioned, would you please further explain them? As in what do do you mean by saying “…position”, “…audience” and “…topic”?

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i need an essay on dropt out from school

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i just wanna what are the ways to improve my SAT writing.I’m not good in English especially in writing but i wanted to take a SAT score.i hope u can help me to solve this problem.

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what kind of evidence is considered most welcomed?

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Hi,I am an international SAT student and I need good examples as supporting ideas in my essays,so from where shall I get them?Would you please tell me any kind of resources such as books or something? What kinds of books do I need to read? What kinds of famous novels do I need to search?

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Rodney Reply:
October 9th, 2011 at 6:25 pm

Khine,

The best thing to do is to use the information you already learned in school. The scorers are taught not to judge you if you use examples they are unfamiliar with. Just make sure the examples are clear.

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Hi i am an Indian student and m giving my SAT on 5th november.. I am bad at writting essays.. i dont know what to write in the examples.. i dont know anything about the American History and the books i hve read are “harry potter series” and “twilight series”.. please help me come up with examples which i can use in any topic.. i am left with only 15 days to prepare.. thanks

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Rodney Reply:
October 21st, 2011 at 9:29 pm

Sakashi,

The best thing for you to do is to read my free report that you can sign up for at http://www.sat-essay.net. In that report I show you how to come up with ideas for examples to use in your essay that will support your thesis. And on the rest of my website I have other articles that will help you learn what you need to learn.

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Hey!
I’ve been talking to some teachers about this essay and it got me really confused! Some of them told me that the best choice would be getting really personal and writing about a personal experience, or using personal examples to explain a point I wanna make. But then, other teachers told me that the best would be to use literary and historic examples. I don’t want to sound wordy or pretentious, but I don’t wanna sound dumb either! haha What shoul I do?

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Rodney Reply:
October 21st, 2011 at 9:27 pm

Karen,

This may help you with your confusion. First, you can get a high score with personal experience or scholarly examples. Some data show that using scholarly examples helps a student score higher but it’s not worth worrying over too much. Use what you know. And use literature and history if you know that.

Second, the number one thing that helps a student score higher is writing a longer essay and including 3 examples that support your thesis. So focus on learning how to prove your thesis first. Then focus on learning to write faster so you can write about 400 words. Do both these things and you’ll do fine.

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hello
can I use examples of India etc like the system followed over there?
and can we use personal examples?

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Rodney Reply:
April 28th, 2012 at 10:30 pm

Yes you can use examples from things you’ve learned in India. Also you can use personal examples but you need to use them effectively. Most students who use them don’t get as high a score because they have not thought deeply about their personal experiences.

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i cant find examples to fit the topics and i always think i am gonna mess things up. and i cant just go on reading random general information about literature or history or whatever i need something specific.. and i also have some trouble with vocabulary i tend to use simple language in my normal essays so its hard for me to use big words :S
can you help me please ????

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Hello,

I have been getting mixed feedback, but essentially I am trying to see if it is better to designate the first 2 minutes to write an outline, then execute the essay and use the outline as a guide (or a road map for the essay). Also, is it good to have 4 well-structured paragraphs, or better to have over 400 words? I figured try to have 4 somewhat lengthy paragraphs that are over 400 words (are 5 paragraphs bad)? Thanks, I’d appreciate your feedback.

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Rodney Reply:
January 5th, 2012 at 6:26 am

John,

You asked quite a few questions. Here are some quick answers.

1. Yes it is best to start out writing a quick outline as I describe in my free report.

2. It is best to have over 400 words and…

3. You want to break your essay up into paragraphs of roughly equal length.

4. There is no right or wrong answer for number of paragraphs. Most students try to write a five paragraph essay. Three examples each with their own body paragraph and introduction paragraph and a conclusion.

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hi! So i was just wondering, when we’re asked to take a side on a subject, will it be better to present both sides before presenting arguments? or will it suffice to go straight to the point with a thesis statement and develop with supporting arguments and examples?

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Rodney Reply:
January 5th, 2012 at 6:27 am

It is best to take just one side of the argument.

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Hi. For SAT Essays, I am horrible at responding to prompts that deal with technology/society and heroes. I’m still thinking about how to work with technology/society prompts but for heroes, I am testing a style of writing that I have never done in my over a dozen practice SAT tests that I have taken: personal narrative.

The prompt was: “Should heroes be defined as people who say what they think when we ourselves lack the courage to say it?

There was a similar topic previously and my SAT Writing teacher at Elite SAT Academy gave me and the other kids sample essays that have gotten 6s. I styled my essay after one of the essays that caught my attention. The writer used a very novel-structured format involving dialogues and details and so forth.

I did the same and kinda liked it since I like to write (I’m currently trying to write a book now). It’s new, however, and I’m not sure if SAT scorers would like it.

What do you think?

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Rodney Reply:
January 5th, 2012 at 6:31 am

Josh,

I suggest using the same format for all of your essays. It’s easiest to cite examples from literature, history or your personal observations or experience. You can write about all three topics you mentioned above using literature and history.

All literature has a protagonist who can be said to be a hero.
Technology is anything human beings create to make their lives better – this includes not just cell phones and the Internet but also fire, stone tools, and shoes.
Society is what literature and history are all about. So you can write about society using literature easily.

As far as using a novel-structure format, it can work. Length is very important so if you can write a lengthy essay using that format and clearly support your thesis, you can get a high score.

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Hi (I posted something here but I’m not seeing it so I might as well post again)
For SAT essays I’m horrible at responding to technology/society and heroes prompt. For technology/society I’m still working with. However, I tried to create a personal narrative for a heroes prompt from the Official SAT Study Guide Test #8.

In my SAT Elite Academy, my Writing section teacher handed us sample essays that have been scored 12s. One of them caught my attention. It was like a novel. There were dialogues, details, and a plot that almost made some of the girls cry. And it was on a heroes prompt too! So I decided to try this out and posted my essay on Collegeconfidential.com. So far, I’ve been getting comments that such essays are not SAT format and that scorers are not looking for this type of structure. Just to give you an idea here’s my first few sentences:
“He was a small, red-haired boy with large glasses that nearly encompassed his entire face, magnifying the dozens of freckles dotted on his nose and cheeks.
“Hey Freckle Face!” someone cried out in the midst of the hall. I looked around and saw that it was my old friend Ryan. “Big bad brother Rick isn’t here anymore. Who’s gonna protect you now, twerp?”
I really liked this style of writing (for heroes prompt only, I don’t want to write personal narratives for other topics) and I came upon this website on google.
Can you give me any words of advice?

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Josh Reply:
January 3rd, 2012 at 8:04 pm

Whoops. Now it came up. Sorry

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I prepare students for the SAT, and I’m looking to have someone grade students’ essays for me.
What is your experience in grading essays?
How much do you charge for grading SAT essays?
How fast is your turnaround?

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Hi!
I’m international student and gonna take the SAT in 28th JAN, just 14 days left. I can write essay with clear introduction, conclusion and 3 ,well Sentence structure varied, main points. But finally i can’t come up with strong evidences/examples! I don’t know much about US history and didn’t read any good novels. But even worse than this: THERE IS NO TIME LEFT TO READ HISTORY AND LITRATURE BOOKS. So here is what i wanted to ask:
1.Is there any list of instant, flexible examples that can be used in any SAT essay question?
2.If not can i write 5 para essay that has only 1 example about CHINGIS (he is an Mongolian king who conquered over 40 million square area in 13th century) KHAAN. Will this kinda essay win HIGH SCORE about 10-12?

Thank you for all your help and looking forward your answer!

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Rodney Reply:
January 14th, 2012 at 3:24 am

If you are an International student, I don’t suggest that you use examples from US history. Use examples from the history of your own country and literature that you know. You’re correct, you don’t have time to study additional material but even if you did, it’s likely that you would have a hard time reasoning about material that you’ve only recently learned. Also, instead of looking for a list of examples you can borrow make lists of what you do know and practice using that material in your essays.

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Mend Reply:
January 14th, 2012 at 11:58 pm

Thank you for your replay and all the great advices.
1 more Question
Can essay with only 1 big example ,discussed through 3 paragraphs, earn high score?

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Rodney Reply:
January 15th, 2012 at 5:14 am

Mend,

I’m glad my advice has been helpful. To answer your latest question, yes some top-scoring essays have used one basic example for all three body paragraphs. Those essays were exceptional but if you really have three points to make to support your thesis with one example, try going that route and you may be successful.

what are some good literary examples that I can use for My SAT essay?

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Rodney Reply:
January 27th, 2012 at 4:03 am

Jasmin,

The best literary examples to use are those you know best. If you know a book or story well, you can bring up details relevant to your thesis more effectively than if you use something you are less familiar with.

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I’m taking the SAT in like, 7th grade. Actually in like 10 days! Its because of the Duke University Talent Search. But,anyway,thats not my point. My point is, I’m only like 12, so I’m not that familiar with much going on in the world, and I know that I’ll probably get a higher score if I use a real world example, How exactly do I ready myself for that.

I’m also not too god when it comes to finding the right words to use, since sometimes I might had a PERFECT idea in my head, but then I either forget what I was going to say, or I can’t find the right word to complete the sentence.

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Rodney Reply:
January 20th, 2012 at 2:27 am

Imari,

Ten days is not long to prepare for a test. You’ll need to prioritize. Is the essay the part of the test you need to work on most or should you focus on the Math, Critical Reading or even the Grammar portion of the Writing Section.

Assuming you need help on the SAT Essay, you’ll want to solve the two problems you mentioned in your comment.

Problem 1 – “I don’t know that much of what’s going on in the world.”

Fortunately, you don’t need to be up on current events to do well on the SAT Essay. You only need to be able to use the knowledge you currently have to support your thesis. So instead of studying current events, review what you’ve already learned from your history and literature classes. These examples can be used in just about any essay.

Problem 2 – I’m also not too god when it comes to finding the right words to use.

Fortunately, the essay is not graded on whether you use the “right words.” A professor at MIT found that length is the greatest predictor of your score. So write something that logically supports your thesis and use enough examples so that you can fill up both sides of the page. That will get you the highest score of which you are currently capable.

Of course, you still need to know how to come up with a thesis and find examples I show you hwo to do that with the free report offered on the home page of this website http://www.sat-essay.net. Just enter your name and email into the yellow box.

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Is the SAT one of those tests that are easy for some people and really hard for other people? Or is it one of those tests that is easy for everyone or hard for everyone? What are some of the promts like? Is the SAT scary? Or is it just the pressure of the test that makes people scared? Is it normal to be this apprehensive about it? Or am I just overeacting?

Please Answer Soon,

From: Totally Nervous

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Rodney Reply:
January 27th, 2012 at 4:05 am

Meredith,

Just about everything in life is easy for some people and hard for others. And yes it’s very common to be nervous about the SAT. Most students are. If you are feeling a lot of test anxiety I suggest using mindfulness-based techniques to help you cope with your fear. You can find some scientifically validated ideas on how to deal with anxiety in a book by Russ Harris called “The Confidence Gap.”

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Why do the examples of 12 rated essays always seem a litttle too ordinary to be anything special to me? What is the difference between a 6 rated essay and a 12 rated essay?

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Rodney Reply:
January 27th, 2012 at 4:07 am

Brooke,

The essays don’t need to be spectacular to get a high score. If you read the SAT Essays the College Board releases you’ll see that the top scoring essays are good but not great. That’s because the students are writing in only 25 minutes with no chance for revision. Also, research from MIT has shown that just writing a long essay will virtually guarantee you a top score. Ninety percent of essays over 400 words get the highest score of 6 from each grader.

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Hi, i’ve read all of your essays and i haven’t noticed any unusual grammar or words!So my question is Can you get a good mark in an essay without using high-level vocabulary?

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Rodney Reply:
January 27th, 2012 at 4:09 am

Pingali,

Yes you can get a high score without using high-level vocabulary. However, MIT research did show an increase in score from using big words. So although I hate when students do that and don’t teach it, using big words does appear to improve the score so you may want to try this strategy.

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15 years ago i dropt out of high school in CA i only mised wsampler test from my SAT can i do the testing on 2012

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Rodney Reply:
January 27th, 2012 at 4:09 am

Jess,

There are no age-limits on the SAT so you can take the test again if you wish.

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Hi, can I ask someone to help me correct my essay? How can I do this? I am incredibly bad at essays. Please help. Thanks a lot.

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Rodney Reply:
February 24th, 2012 at 1:28 am

I do have an sat essay scoring service. Send an email to rodney (at) sat-essay.net to learn how to take advantage of it.

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Does spelling and grammar affect the scores?

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Rodney Reply:
March 2nd, 2012 at 4:29 am

EMC,

I’m actually not sure if anyone has done research to examine that question. However, based on other research that shows that people do judge an writer as less capable based on major errors in spelling suggests to me that it would hurt your score if the errors were gross errors. However, if you make only one or two minor or common errors I think you’ll be ok.

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I was wondering if using controversial examples for the essay could bring down youre score. I am aware that the essay is hand graded so do the graders use any bias while grading the essays?

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Rodney Reply:
March 6th, 2012 at 12:48 am

Gabriella,

The graders do try to be as objective as possible. However, Adam Robinson hired graders to grade a large number of essays and he did find that in general using examples that support a specific political party or a highly charged issue like abortion will sometimes get a lower score with all else being equal. So I would advise against taking a stand on issues that are highly polarized.

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Hi-

Your sample free chapter on the SAT essay was very helpful to me. Thanks!

My question: About how long does the essay have to be, and how many examples will I need, to satisfy the graders?

Thank you

-Colleen

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Hi, I am a student from India and will be appearing for SAT on May 5th, 2012. I wanted to know if you could grade a few essays for me or if you know any site where someone would do it for free, as I really can’t pay for it right now.

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Hi there,
I’m practice writing an essay on sat book.So,how do i know that how much score i will get on practicing.Does I need to use high vocabulary? Where can I get the answer of essay in each prompt?
I am the international student also.I can’t think what i should write about is it important that sometimes we challenge the authority people?
It so hard.What i should do??
Thank you

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Hi Rodney,
I wanted to let you know that I got your SAT Ebook to help my son with his essay. He was one of those who would have been completely stumped by the prompt, and probably written very little and run out of time. But thanks to your book, we put your instructions to practice and he got his score back – he got a 12!
Please let this be a hearty endorsement of your product, use it in whatever marketing materials you use. I am a firm believer in providing feedback for good products…and yours met our needs perfectly. Thank you very much.
Sara

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I have always struggled with the thought that I can never write a “great” essay. Like, I know everyone can write an essay but I seem to have fallen into this very hole that I started and right now, have so much trouble in writing anything… I’m an “A” junior student and I need advice on how to fix this part of myself.. I’m sorry if I sound wierd.

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Rodney Reply:
April 8th, 2012 at 2:15 pm

Victoria,

It’s actually very common that people have thoughts about not being able to write an essay. And I’m sorry to hear you’ve been struggling with this thought for some time.

Fortunately there is something you can do about it. First, it’s good to know that research has shown that struggling with a thought actually makes it worse. So you’ll want to drop that struggle.

Second, here’s a way to drop the struggle with that thought. It’s called a cognitive defusion exercise from something called Acceptance and Committment Therapy (ACT). You can find a lot of exercises by googling that term.

Anyhow here’s one way to do it. Notice how much you believe the thought on a scale of 0-10. Zero is not believable at all and 10 is 100% believable.

Then imagine that the words of your thought are projected on a wall in front of you and answer these questions.

How tall are the letters?
What color are they?
Are they on one line or more than one line?

Notice how the thought can be represented by series of symbols called letters. This helps the mind to see that the thought is not reality but something created by symbols in the mind.

Now think the thought again. You might even try saying it out loud. How believable is the thought now on a scale of 0-10? It may have gone down a few notches.

If so congratulations. By seeing the thought as just words and not something that is reality, you can allow yourself to learn more about writing an essay.

If the thought is just as believable as ever, write back to me and I’ll help you further.

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Hi
I am preparing to take an SAT exam on 5th May.
Am I allowed to give an example from novels written by authors from my country(Kenya) in my essay?

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Hi
I need to know, am I allowed to use examples from novels by authors from my country(Kenya) when writing my essay?

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