How should I prepare for the writing section of the SAT?

Question

I did well on all the other sections of the SAT, but I did pretty poorly in writing. Many times I have no idea why one answer is preferable over another one. Other times, it's such a small detail it seems that I just didn't remember it at the time. Has anyone else had a similar problem? Can you recommend some books on grammar and style for me? How did you study? (: thanks

Answer 1

Maybe you should try to plan your essays out before you actually write it. That's what I do. I also pick a side to the essay, and I try to give so many details to support my reason. The structure of your essay is also important. You have to list your reasons in the introductory paragraph and elaborate on them later on. I didn't really study for the writing section at all. You should try to make the reader convinced that your side is the preferable one. It's true that sometimes you forget some details to write, but that's why you need to spend like the first couple of minutes just planning. You list reasons to both sides of the topic (usually essays are persuasive essays) and whichever one has more reasons for justification is the one I usually pick. I don't think it's a matter of which answer is preferable, but how strong you can make your essay and convince the audience of your reason. Get some workbooks for the SAT essay. Go to amazon.com, type in SAT workbook, read the review of the buyers and pick a book. Hope this helps.

Answer 2

Practice tests! You can't be more prepared than if you take practice tests. For people who've asked me the same question, I tell them to not over think it. Sometimes there really is "no error" or just saying the sentence to yourself will help you narrow down the choices. I'd try kaplan's SAT prep books--very helpful (I found that Kaplan is a better indicator of real SAT tests than others, including Princeton Review and Barron's)

Don't procrastinate and don't overthink the questions.

Hope this helps.

Answer 3

Thats an easy answer..... Get an essay topic and write an essay in 25 minutes and read it over to see how well you think you did.  The hardest part is writing the essay in 25 minutes.  Thats what you have to get used to