Complete Guide to New SAT Essay Scores

The new SAT has a brand new Essay section! The essay is now designed to allow you, the student, to show off those analysis and essay-crafting skills you’ve been building in English class. You will have 50 minutes to read a passage and then write an essay analyzing how the author makes his or her point. Two readers will grade your essay on a scale from 1- that found â€Å"80% of pigeons examined in New York City qualified as being overweight†. These sentences are both pretty basic, but the second one does a much better job of proving that the writer is able to connect evidence from the passage to the author’s overall strategy. This evidence should then be followed by a couple of sentences providing commentary on whether this evidence is effective in proving the main point or whether it could be improved upon.    3. Does your essay focus on parts of the passage that help you answer the question? This is the caveat to the second question. To score well, you should reference plenty of evidence, but also make sure it’s focused on helping you make your point. Don’t just throw quotes in and hope it looks good. The graders will know the passage very well and will know what you should have picked up on. Planning your essay before you begin writing is essential to ensuring your essay stays focused and only uses evidence that backs up any claims you make about the author and his or her point.   Analyzing a passage can be daunting, but if you dig out your English notes and refresh your knowledge of rhetorical devices and arguments, you’ll have all the tools you need. Just remember: find your evidence, cite your evidence, and then analyze your evidence. Following those steps will help you score well on all three big questions and master the Analysis part of the SAT essay. New SAT Essay Score: Writing Writing is the part of the Essay score in which the nitty gritty details come to play. It is also the most likely to be harmed by rushing through the essay and not having time to proofread or check your work. To determine what Writing score your essay deserves, the graders will ask themselves three questions. 1. Is your essay cohesive and logically written? This question ties in with the Reading and Analysis scores in that it is based on how you put your thoughts together. The graders want to see that you have a clear central claim (thesis statement) that you maintain throughout your essay. A good way to set yourself up for success   here is to make sure that every claim you make connects to your thesis. Never assume that your readers will make the connection on their own. The other half of this question addresses whether you have a well-written introduction and conclusion and whether your ideas flow logically and smoothly between them. 2. Does your essay display an appropriate style and tone? You should treat this essay the same way you would treat one you were planning to turn in to your English teacher. Pick your words carefully to reflect a formal style and to keep your tone as objective as possible. This is a great opportunity to show off your stellar vocabulary. However, don’t throw in words just to sound â€Å"fancy†, and just stick to ones you know well and feel comfortable using. Varying your sentence structure is also a great way to improve your writing style. Avoid using too many simple sentences (such as this one!). Instead, occasionally combine two or three clauses in a sentence to make your writing more interesting to read. 3. Does your essay demonstrate good grammar and mechanics? This part of the score depends on the nitty gritty details of your writing. The graders understand that you are under a time limit and they don’t expect absolute perfection. However, if any grammar or mechanics errors get in the way of their ability to understand your writing, they will mark you down. Make sure you’re comfortable with topics such as subject-verb agreement and punctuation rules. Chances are good you have already had plenty of practice writing cohesive, formal essays and using correct grammar. If any part of the Writing score makes you nervous, however, try practicing by editing some of your writing. Grab an old essay or journal entry and see how you could improve its flow, sentence structure, or grammar. Knowing what kind of mistakes you tend to make can arm you against making them on the SAT.