Help on year 8 practice Sat's??

Question

We have practise SATS this week(writing), and it will determine our sets next year- a higher set means better advice for our yr9 SATS. Our teacher hasn't taught us how to get good marks in our SATS but all the other teachers have, any help please?

Answer 1

Well, this is my SAT teacher's email from a long time ago.

he has a phd in english. i hope this will help with essay writing.

= D

Essay question:

Think carefully about the issue presented in the following excerpt and the assignment below:

Some observers contend that people reveal their character when they participate in athletic competition. Aggressiveness, belligerence, even a tendency to cheat can all come to the surface, they say – in people who do not otherwise demonstrate those traits. In your experience, does competition often bring out new personality traits in athletes?

Assignment: Use appropriate reasons, examples, and illustrations to support your view.

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What problems should we avoid in SAT essay writing?

An essay must have a clear structure. The first paragraph establishes your point of view. That is, it is time for you to take a stand. Normally, examples are not given here though exceptions are not difficult to find.

The next two to three paragraphs are called the "middle" or "development" paragraphs, where you will address the items, aspects or points of view mentioned in the first paragraph.

Each paragraph should have a topic sentence that reveals the theme of the paragraph. Each paragraph should have an wrapping sentence that serves as a summary or conclusion for the paragraph, or to drive home the point expressed in that particular paragraph. Ideally, it connects naturally to the next paragraph.

All middle paragraphs must work together to progressively push toward the conclusions in the last (forth or fifth) paragraph. These middle paragraphs should not be used to list one example after another simply for the sake of giving a few examples. Each example should be given to illustrate a point or to serve a good purpose so that you can progress your idea. Progressing ideas logically is a big requirement for SAT essay writing.

It is dangerous to make overstatements, such as "All athletes would cheat in order to win." If you do not give examples to illustrate this point, your writing is doomed. If you do try to prove the point, your argument will be weak because it is very easy to find an opposite example. You are still doomed. The point is, say what you mean.

The College Board's last essay grading guideline says, "Essays not written on the essay assignment will receive a score of zero." Therefore, answer the question. This requirement seems so easy to fulfill, but my observation over the years on student SAT essay writings tells me many students get off track very easily and, as a result, earn an undesirable grade. So, read the question very carefully. Detect College Board's rationale behind issuing the question and find out the key words to get the gist of the question within the first three minutes, then, decide a strategy to tackle the job based on your comprehension. For instance, in this writing, the key words are "athletic competition," "your experience," "new personality traits," and "otherwise." The requirement of the question is that you compare an athlete's or athletes' personality traits shown during athletic competitions and during non-athletic competition times to demonstrate whether athletic competitions bring out NEW personality traits.

Quite some of you went off track to prove that athletic competitions bring out "true" or "truer" personality traits. First, how can you know which is truer for someone? Second, that is not what the question asks for. Some of you went off track to show what kinds of good or bad personality traits are brought out by athletic competitions and went on to give different examples. Well, the question asks, first, do you agree that athletic competitions bring out "new," that is, "different" personality traits, that are "otherwise" not shown? You can agree or disagree. Most students agreed. Try your best to argue for the minority side to stand out of the crowd. After you have established your point of view in the first paragraph, your job in the following paragraphs is to SHOW (Important!) and tell how and why you agree or disagree. Your idea delivery will be more of a fact-finding process rather than value judgment (good or bad, true or false) in this case. Your focus should be on comparing (mandated by "otherwise") the personality traits a person usually shows in routine, mundane life and the personality traits that he or she shows in athletic competitions. Such discourse can be based on your personal experience and/or your vicarious experience, such as what you have learned from books, movies, friends, etc. A combination of such sources in the similar vein usually weaves the richest fabric of fact web. What happens to different people, and across time, may provide interesting corroboration and contrast. Only one example from one person, say, you, may sound idiosyncratic. Therefore, providing a matrix of situations from one person or from different people, some discussed in detail and some touched on briefly, can well enrich your elaboration.

Your fact-finding should start with athletic competition, but in a separate paragraph, could move on to discuss whether "new personality traits" also occur in non-athletic competitions, such as piano, math competitions, or spelling bees, to illustrate a point (for instance, high pressure causes personality deviation). Some of you moved far enough to use examples of a turtle-rabbit race, which is no longer "people reveal," as defined by the question, or examples of wartime killing, which is no longer competition. You can use an example from math competitions, but you need to justify your choice of such an example and cannot start your writing with such an example.

When giving examples, some of you stay on the level of stating generic scenarios. For instance, "Also, for example, in track, the people who usually don't make a peep in school or the public show their endurance and strength on the run." "I have also observed that many people who are rude in competition are the same even out of competition events." These are not real examples. In addition, you are telling, not showing. Show us how your friend named Min Miller behaves inside and outside of competitions. Show us the interesting moments and changes with a vivid, descriptive language.

Do not be wordy. Be succinct. You should not fill up the two pages with redundant examples or redundant points, but with new ideas after new ideas culminating in a supportable conclusion or conclusions.

Try not to write anything like "I feel," "I think," "I believe," "in my opinion," "to me," and the like. Such wording betrays your ignorance on the subject, your naivety or your lack of confidence. Judges may also think that you are trying to fill up the space with useless words. Just say whatever you have to say without using any of these words.

Use written language and not spoken language.

Logistically,

•    write legibly to leave a good first impression on the judges;

•    leave no blank lines or a large chunk of white space at the end

of each line,

•    do not write a headline, which is not required, and

•    fill up the two pages as much as you can. That means you need to continually write and write fast. It is fair to say that writing a long essay does not guarantee a good score but good essays are almost never short. What matters most is your logical flow of ideas that reflect your mature thinking on the topic.

Edgar Huang, Ph.D.