Sat Writing Tips

1. Don’t panic. If you allow yourself to become too anxious, your thoughts will get frantic and your essay score will suffer. Taking the time for SAT prepwell before your exam date will make you feel more confident and less nervous at exam time.2. Know how to structure an essay. Graders want to make sure you know how an essay is structured, so write four to five well-organized paragraphs with both an introduction and a conclusion.3. Show off what you know. Using more advanced words properly will help your score, as will citing examples from your knowledge of history or literature to strengthen your argument.4. Be tidy and organized. You don’t want your poor handwriting, punctuation, or paragraph separation to distract your reader and grader from what you’ve actually said. Write in print instead of cursive and be sure to leave an indentation before a new paragraph.

5. Use all the time and space you are given. Take your time and don’t rush. Your essay will benefit from extra time for outlining and editing. Also, research shows that SAT essay graders consistently give longer essays higher scores, so try to use every line on the page.