how to improve essay writing for sat

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10 Easy SAT Writing Tips to Get a Perfect Score in 2024

Bonus Material: Download free grammar practice developed by Ivy-League educators

Scoring well on the SAT is an important part of the college admissions process. Even with the new test-optional policies , a strong SAT score will still help students get into college .

What’s more, strong test scores can be used to win scholarships or be admitted to honors programs and other special opportunities.

On the new Digital SAT, the Reading and Writing section combines questions on reading comprehension with questions that test your knowledge of key grammar concepts. The two Reading and Writing modules make up half of your potential score.

Fortunately, effective study and exercises can help students to improve their SAT Reading and Writing scores. Grammar is a set of rules that can be learned and practiced. I should know, because back when I took the SAT I earned a perfect 800 on the Writing section on my first try!

Through following these tips, we’ve helped students to improve their SAT scores by as much as 380 points!

Although the SAT itself is changing in 2024, we’ve got good news: English grammar is staying the same. That means that all of the rules covered in this post apply equally to the new and old versions of the SAT!

For our breakdown of the new, Digital SAT, check out our comprehensive post here.

For more tips and exercises, download our Essential Grammar Workbook!

Download the free SAT Essential Grammar Workbook

Jump to section:

Tip #1: Don’t avoid the “no change” answers Tip #2: Pace yourself Tip #3: The semicolon trick Tip #4: Understand dependent vs independent clauses Tip #5: Shorter is (almost always) better Tip #6: Read it out loud Tip #7: Don’t change verb tenses Tip #8: Know your transition words Tip #9: Eliminate duplicate answers Tip #10: Practice! What is the SAT? What is the SAT Reading and Writing section? How is the Reading and Writing section on the SAT scored? How can students improve on the SAT Reading and Writing section?

Tip #1: Don’t avoid the “No change” answer

One of the easiest ways to improve your performance on the SAT Writing section is to treat the “No change” multiple-choice answer just like any other option.

That’s because there is no difference between “no change” and the other answers . They are all equal contenders. For example, in this example, “no change” is definitely the correct choice!

Students often avoid picking “no change” because they feel like they have to do something to fix the sentence. But the “no change” option is just one of four possible ways of fixing it, all equal. It’s purely a formatting decision that the SAT has made — and it’s changing on the new digital SAT , perhaps because the College Board has realized that it tends to confuse students.

Tip #2: Pace yourself

Pacing is a challenging aspect of every part of the SAT. On the Reading and Writing section, students have two take two “modules,” each of which gives you 32 minutes to answer 27 multiple-choice questions . The questions are not ordered by difficulty on the Reading and Writing section, but the difficulty of the questions in the second module depend on your performance on the first module.

If you spend too much time on a hard question, you’ll potentially run out of time and miss out on the chance to answer several easier questions.

If you find yourself spending more than a minute on a given question, make your best guess and move on. You can mark the question to come back to at the end of the section if you have enough time.

(This is why it’s a great idea to bring a watch with a second hand on test day.)

Tip #3: The semicolon trick

My favorite grammar hack is super short and sweet.

There are a lot of grammar questions about semicolons on the SAT. The semicolon is the punctuation mark that looks like this:

In your own writing, you may rarely use semicolons. However, our theory is that the SAT likes to focus on the semicolon because they’re a great way to check if students understand independent clauses (more on that in the next tip). On the SAT, you’ll see lots of questions like this one:

There’s a great hack to tell if a semicolon is being used appropriately or not. Just replace the semicolon with a period.

Does it work? Do you have two complete sentences, each one with a subject and a main verb? Then great, that semicolon is being used correctly.

Does it leave you with a sentence fragment? Is one of the sentences lacking a subject or a main verb? Then nope, you can’t use a semicolon there.

Check it out in action:

Last summer, my family adopted a dog from the shelter; a black lab mix. → Last summer, my family adopted a dog from the shelter. A black lab mix. (This doesn’t work — the second sentence is a fragment!) The shelter said the dog was about four years old; however, we’ll never know for sure. → The shelter said the dog was about four years old. However, we’ll never know for sure. (This works — both sentences are complete!) We named the dog Apollo; after the ancient Greek god. → We named the dog Apollo. After the ancient Greek god. I had underestimated how much work it was going to be making sure that Apollo got enough exercise every day; but it was worth it knowing that he was happy. → I had underestimated how much work it was going to be making sure that Apollo got enough exercise every day. But it was worth it knowing that he was happy. My parents were also happy that Apollo was too tired from running and playing with me to make a mess at the house; that had been the one concern that my dad expressed before we got our dog. → My parents were also happy that Apollo was too tired from running and playing with me to make a mess at the house. The one concern that my dad expressed before we got our dog. I’m looking forward to introducing Apollo to my friends; everyone has been asking to meet him, but we’re taking it slowly so he’s not too overwhelmed. → I’m looking forward to introducing Apollo to my friends. Everyone has been asking to meet him, but we’re taking it slowly so he’s not too overwhelmed.

Using this one trick will help you answer several questions on the SAT correctly!

Tip #4: Understand dependent vs independent clauses

Half of the questions on the SAT Writing section are about grammar, and if we had to pick one single grammar concept to know, it would be understanding how to identify dependent clauses versus independent clauses .

Why? Because so many of the grammar questions are fundamentally about this concept. Once you know how to identify if a clause is independent or dependent , you can memorize a few short rules about how to connect two independent clauses .

In a nutshell, a clause is independent if it can stand on its own as a sentence. With some rare exceptions, it will always have a subject + a main verb.

Here’s some examples, with independent clauses highlighted in green and dependent clauses highlighted in yellow :

Last spring, I took the SAT for the first time . Some of my friends thought it was easy , but most of my friends thought it was hard . I’m not sure how I did on the test ; I’ll have to wait a few weeks to get my scores back . Fortunately, when we finished the test we all went out for ice cream together at the little shop that’s near the school . After I had spent three hours concentrating hard on the test , I felt like I deserved to get an extra scoop of ice cream .

If you have two independent clauses in one sentence , they can be connected with:

A semicolon (or sometimes a colon)
A period (just make them two sentences)
A FANBOYS conjunction: for, and, nor, but, or, yet, or so

On the other hand, if you’re connecting a dependent phrase or clause to the rest of the sentence , you don’t want to use any of the things on this list! Depending on the sentence, you’ll either want no punctuation or just a comma. (We often work on the tougher nuances of this with our tutoring students .)

For more exercises and examples of independent clauses vs dependent clauses, check out our free Essential Grammar Workbook . Thousands of SAT students have used it to improve their Writing scores on the SAT!

Tip #5: Shorter is (almost always) better

Half of the questions on the Reading and Writing section are about grammar and punctuation, but the other half of the questions are about what the SAT calls “Effective Use of Language.”

In other words, the SAT will ask you to judge which version of a sentence or a paragraph is the best one, even if all of them are grammatically correct.

These questions often feel challenging to students because all of the sentences sound okay, and it feels subjective.

However, it’s less subjective than you might think! The trick is to think like a test creator , and know what the SAT considers to be “good writing.”

One of the biggest hacks on the Reading and Writing section is to choose the shortest answer , if all of the answers seem correct grammatically.

That’s because the SAT values concision , which is saying something in the shortest amount of time necessary and not using extra words.

Eliminate words or phrases that are repetitive, and avoid sentences that seem more convoluted than they need to be.

The shortcut here is to simply choose the shortest answer.

Check out this example:

Now, once in a while there will be something wrong with the shortest answer, and the correct answer will be the second-shortest answer. So ideally you should double-check your answer after using this shortcut.

But the vast majority of the time, yes, the shortest answer will be the right one.

Using this hack will make sure that you answer up to 18% of the questions on the Reading and Writing section correctly!

Get more examples in our free SAT Essential Grammar Workbook

Tip #6: Read it out loud

One great way to tell if a sentence has correct grammar is to read it out loud .

When we read silently, our brains tend to “fix” the sentence for us. When we read it out loud, we can more easily “hear” any grammatical mistakes.

Of course, in the real test room on testing day you can’t make sound while you’re taking the SAT. However, it’s still a powerful tool to physically move your mouth as if you’re silently whispering to yourself !

Don’t worry about feeling silly doing this. It’s part of how I scored a perfect 800 on the first try!

This hack is especially useful for determining whether you should have a comma or no comma. If reading the sentence without a pause sounds fine, then you don’t need a comma there!

(Use this to decide if you need punctuation or no punctuation — not what type of punctuation to use. It’s probably impossible to “hear” the difference between a comma and a semicolon, since they’re both a pause, but hearing the difference between a pause and no pause is definitely possible.)

Tip #7: Don’t change verb tenses (without a good reason)

On the Reading and Writing section of the SAT you’ll see lots of questions about verbs.

One easy tip is that you shouldn’t change the tense of the verb unless you have a specific good reason to do so.

Most of the time, just take a look at the other verbs nearby and match their tense.

Here’s an example of how this will look on the real SAT:

We explain grammar questions involving verbs in a lot more detail in our free Grammar Guide , developed by Princeton graduates.

Tip #8: Know your transition words

Too often, SAT students spend hours trying to memorize vocabulary words with flashcards.

We don’t recommend this, because it’s not a very effective way of studying and improving your score! It’s hard to memorize words out of context, and the chances that you’ll encounter the exact word you learned on the test is very, very small.

The one exception to this is transition words . These are words that signal how sentences relate logically to one another. Transition words are really important in clear writing!

Usually about 18% of the questions on the SAT Writing section are about transition words. That’s a lot!

Because of that, we do recommend making sure that you know the meaning of all of these transition words:

The SAT will ask you to choose the type of transition that makes sense, like this:

For more practice, check out our free guide to SAT Reading and Writing:

Tip #9: Eliminate duplicate answers

This is a sneaky hack that can be applied to many types of questions on the Reading and Writing section.

If you see two answers in the multiple choice that are essentially the same, you can eliminate both of them.

That’s because the SAT is never going to make you choose between two answers that are equally correct.

As much as the Writing section might feel subjective at times, it’s really not. There’s always only one right answer , and if you know the rules, the right answer is usually very clear .

That’s how I got a perfect 800 score on the Writing section — I knew the grammar rules and how to pick the most concise or clear version, so it was always clear which answer to choose. I’ve also used the same grammar and writing rules to help professors at Harvard and Yale edit their books for publication!

For example, if you see two choices on a transition-word question that mean the same thing, you can eliminate them both.

In this example, “in addition” and “also” mean the same thing, so neither of them is correct, because the SAT will never make us choose between them!

Same thing with many grammar questions. If you see both a period and a semicolon in the multiple-choice, neither is correct, because they are grammatically pretty much the same! (see tip #3 )

This is an example of how thinking like test creators can help us to answer questions more accurately.

Tip #10: Practice!

In the end, the best way to improve on the Reading and Writing section is to practice.

Drill specific concepts with targeted practice that focuses on that one grammar or writing skill. A great SAT tutor can help you find good exercises for this kind of drill, or even create custom practice sentences to help you truly understand.

Then put everything together by taking full timed practice sections from real SAT tests. Track your progress over time!

With hard work, our test prep students have improved their SAT scores by as much as 200–400 points. The trick is to make sure that you’re practicing effectively and not wasting your time with the wrong practice.

What is the SAT?

The SAT is one of two main tests (along with the ACT) used by colleges and universities in the US and sometimes internationally for admissions purposes.

The SAT covers basic high school material and is used to measure college readiness.

Since the spring of 2020 and challenges to testing caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, many schools have adopted temporary test-optional policies.

However, test scores are still an important way to show colleges your abilities. (These days, if you can take the test and don’t submit your scores, colleges are likely to assume that your scores were low.)

If you are able to take the SAT or ACT, you should still take the test. To the best of your abilities, you should still prepare for the test and take it seriously.

What is the SAT Reading and Writing section?

The Reading and Writing section on the SAT tests students’ abilities in reading comprehension, grammar, and “effective writing,” which is writing in a way that is concise, clear, and logical.

Students have to take two modules, each of which gives them 32 minutes to answer 27 multiple-choice questions . Why have two sections with the same exact format? Because the new adaptive SAT will tailor the second “module” based on your performance on the first.

Roughly half of the questions in this section are about grammar and punctuation. Unfortunately, we’ve found in our work helping students that many schools no longer teach students grammar rules !

That’s where our free Essential Grammar Guide can step in and help.

The other half of the questions in the Reading and Writing section present different versions of a sentence or a paragraph and ask students to choose the one that makes the most sense.

Students working with our one-on-one tutors receive a free companion guide that covers these questions about Effective Use of Language .

There is no longer an Essay component for the SAT. All of the Reading and Writing questions are multiple-choice , and students will not have to write their own answers.

How is the Reading and Writing section on the SAT Scored?

Students are scored based on the number of questions they answer correctly. Every question is worth the same amount of points, and there are no penalties for wrong answers.

The Reading and Writing part of the SAT makes up exactly half of your total Digital SAT score. The Reading & Writing section is scored out of 800. The average score for this section in the US is 533.

Students also earn a score out of 800 for the Math section, and their total SAT score is out of 1600. Anything above 1060 is above-average, and students should aim for a score in the 1500s to be competitive applicants at the most selective colleges and universities.

For a decade (between 2005 and 2016), Writing was a separate score out of 800 on the SAT. Students earned up to 800 points for Reading, Writing, and Math, with total SAT scores out of 2400. In spring 2016, the SAT went back to a 1600-point scale with combined Reading & Writing scores.

Schedule a free short test-prep consultation

How can students improve on the SAT Reading and Writing section?

If you’re planning years in advance, there are some general activities that students can do that will lead to higher scores on the SAT Reading & Writing section.

Reading extensively, with whatever books or other media students enjoy the most, is incredibly powerful.

Studying another language besides English is also helpful for understanding grammar better. Languages that share a significant etymological history with English like Spanish, French, Latin, and Ancient Greek are especially useful.

However, there are lots of things that students can do to improve their scores on the SAT Reading and Writing section with only a few months or even weeks of effort! In fact, grammar questions on the Writing section are some of the most common question types where students tend to see the most improvement.

It’s important for students to familiarize themselves with the general structure of the test.

Students should also learn the main grammar rules tested on the SAT. These rules are absolutely predictable — because I knew the rules of English grammar, I earned a perfect score on the SAT Writing on my first try.

Unfortunately, most schools these days don’t teach the rules of grammar. Many of the students we work with don’t know grammar rules, and that’s not their fault — they never learned grammar at school .

A great SAT tutor can help students to learn the rules and feel confident on the SAT. Our tutors are from the Ivy League and many have impressive backgrounds in professional writing, publishing, and teaching.

Finally, the best way for students to improve on the SAT Writing section is to practice effectively, using the right materials. There is some limited SAT writing practice available for free via Khan Academy . Our experienced tutors can also guide students through the best practice exercises tailored to their specific needs .

Request a short test-prep consultation today!

Bonus Material: Download our free Essential Grammar Guide, developed by Ivy-League educators

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SAT® Writing

How to get a perfect score on the sat® writing and language test.

The Albert Team
Last Updated On: March 1, 2022

Imagine waking up at midnight to the blaring sound of your fire alarm beeping loudly. The siren is blasting through the house warning you to leave. You leap from your bed and start towards the door, but before you get there your foot slips on a stack of books sitting across from the bed, and you fall. It takes you a few seconds to regain your footing and get out of the room.

Lucky for you, in this hypothetical scenario, there was no fire. It was just a false alarm. If this happened, though, you would work towards a better knowledge of the layout of your room, in case there was actually a fire next time.

This hypothetical situation is a lot like studying for the SAT® Writing and Language test. The better you know the layout, the better you will do on the test. If you have a good grasp of the rules of grammar, punctuation, and rhetoric, you will be more successful than if you don’t understand the rules that govern written English.

This guide exists to prepare you for the treacherous terrain of the SAT® Writing and Language test and help answer the question of “How to get a perfect score on SAT® Writing and Language”? Keep reading to get an in-depth overview of the test and key components that you will need to master to score a perfect 800.

What do they Test?

The SAT® Language section is designed to test two areas of English Language skills. The first area is Usage and Mechanics , which tests grammar, syntax, punctuation, and proper use. The second area focuses on Writing Strategy , which tests expression, command of evidence, and editing.

If you can’t already tell – one section of the test is going to be easier to study for than the other. Usage and Mechanics is a set of rules that you can learn. Those rules are laid out in a later section, but they will take some amount of memorization and practice to familiarize yourself with how they work.

Writing Strategy will be a more difficult section to practice. It requires you to understand more abstract ideas like how the topic of a passage is best expressed through organization or structure. Understanding the distinctive features that make the organization effective, or the reasoning behind those features, is much more complicated than just memorizing a set of rules.

Even though Writing Strategy might push you further, there are still strategies that you can practice to ensure you maximize your point totals. Sometimes it doesn’t matter so much that you know the right answer on the test, as long as you can determine the wrong answers. We will keep that in mind as we talk about the structure of the test.

Test Structure

Knowing what is on the test is important, but you must also keep in mind the overall structure of the test. It, like the rest of the SAT®, is set with a specific time limit. That limit will determine how you answer questions and will color your approach to the questions.

The test has 44 multiple choice questions to be answered over the course of 35 minutes. There will be four passages with 11 questions each. The math works out to mean that you have about 47 seconds for each question, and that isn’t even budgeting for reading the passages! If you want a perfect score on the new SAT® Verbal, you will need to get the most out of your time.

There are four passages with 11 sections each. The passages come from four different topics:

Careers passages: The passage will present information and a debate within a career field like business, education, or medicine.
Social Science passages: These passages will focus on a topic or phenomena from a field within social sciences like sociology, history, or psychology.
Science passages: These passages will focus on topics and research within scientific fields like biology, chemistry, or physics.
Humanities passages: These passages will explore the works or a particular era, author/artist, or genre of work. It could cover prose, poetry, dance, music, or art.

The writing and language section will break down to be roughly 24 questions on the writing strategies, with the other 20 focused on the grammar and usage. The breakdown between the two means that the test is almost evenly distributed between the two.

You might find, during your studying, that you are struggling to understand how to answer a particular type of question. Understanding the differences between the writing strategy and usage and mechanics sections is key to identifying weaknesses for correction.

The test is relatively straightforward in its structure. If you get all of the points, your raw score will then be scaled down to a 10-40 scale. Let’s talk about why getting an 800 on the new verbal section is important.

The Value of 800

Earning an 800 may seem impossible, but don’t be fooled. You can earn an 800. Thousands of students have done it before, and thousands of students will score 800 on their verbal sections in the future. The goal is to help you become one of those students.

For many students getting an 800 seems “extra”, and you might be thinking, “I don’t know if I will need an 800”. Most students don’t have what it takes to get an 800 on the verbal section, and an 800 isn’t necessary to achieve their goals. The average SAT® score is 500, and most schools do not look for students who score 800 because those students don’t apply. As a result, many students don’t worry about scoring 800.

You are different. You aren’t looking to get into any school. You are here, reading this article, which means that you are seeking to become excellent . The reality is that an 800 isn’t just useful, but necessary.

Depending on your goals, there is a very real possibility that an 800 on the verbal portion of the SAT® is what you need to gain admission to the college of your choice.

For many of the top universities, a perfect SAT® score is competitive. Yale University, one of the top three in the world, is an excellent example of the competition that the SAT® creates.

At Yale the average SAT® Verbal score of admitted students is 760, the 25th percentile is 710, and the 75th percentile is 800.

What does this mean?

Most students at Yale score around 760 on the SAT®, but you don’t want to be an average applicant. An 800 will set you apart. It will place you in the top 25 percent of students that are applying to the school.

Scoring an 800 is not only possible, but for many students intending to attend a top ten school, it is necessary. The breakdown of scores at Yale is similar to other top ten schools. When you apply to these schools, an 800 on the SAT® can show that you are a cut above, and help make up for weaknesses in your application.

The Challenge of Perfection

To earn an 800, you must score a 44 raw score on the Writing and Language section. A 44 raw score means that you must get every single question right . Take a look at the chart for how the raw scores on the test translate to scaled scores:

Notice that if you miss a single question, you will drop to a 39 scaled score. The scoring system leaves no room for error.

Note: Let’s talk briefly about how the scaled to final score conversion works. You’ll notice that we included the reading raw -> scale conversion on the chart. That is because the SAT® Verbal score is made up of a combination of the Reading and Writing and Language sections. This is new to the SAT® system and just came into effect in March of 2016.

The two tests now combine to form an overall verbal score which is half of the overall 1600 you can earn on the SAT®. The two raw scores will convert to a 10-40 and then the scaled numbers are added for a possible 20-80 total. The 20-80 is then multiplied by 10 to give you the 200-800 you can receive on the Verbal Section.

Getting a perfect score on the writing and language section becomes more important now because unlike the old SAT® a lower score on Writing and Language can hurt your entire SAT® Verbal score.

The test is unforgiving. There is no place for a mistake. So, how can people get an 800 when there is no forgiveness on the test? An 800 is possible because each question has only one right answer.

The Right Answer

Every question has only one correct answer. Every question has three incorrect answers.

Any question that seems like it has two possible answers doesn’t, so don’t be tricked. Realizing that there is only one right answer to every question allows you to overcome that trap.

We’ve been taught, in our English classes, that most questions have many valid answers. The texts that we read in English classes are often complicated, dealing with topics like inequality or coming of age. When writing an essay or participating in discussions in English, class teachers don’t dismiss ideas as wrong.

In those classes, we often look for the question that is the most right, because no single answer can apply in all situations. That is not how the SAT® works.

The design of the SAT® acts as an equalizer so that any student can do well. Therefore, the answers are not subjective, and the questions all have a single correct response.

The key to scoring an 800 on the SAT® Writing and Language section is to find the right answer for every question. Let’s go over a few strategies that can help when finding the right answer.

“How to Get a Perfect Score on SAT® Writing and Language” in Five Strategies

Strategy 1: memorize the usage and mechanics rules.

The rules for usage and mechanics make up half of the SAT® Writing and Language section. The best way to study for Usage and Mechanics is to examine all parts of grammar.

Grasping the concepts contained within the subject of usage and mechanics can be difficult for many students. It’s hard for the same reason that students struggle with math. Despite being a part of English, grammar rules , and functions actually, share many similar concepts to math.

The rules are often complex. Depending on the particular mechanic or usage, there could be anywhere from 3 to 10+ rules associated with the specific part of grammar.

Consider commas. Commas are probably the most used punctuation after periods. However, if you asked around, you would find that most people are hazy on the rules of commas. Commas come with a myriad of uses and standards – below is a short list of the possible uses and standards associated with commas:

Use commas between independent clauses when used with coordinating conjunctions.
Use commas after introductory phrases or words.
Use two commas in the middle of a sentence to indicate that there is extra information inside.
Commas shouldn’t surround essential information.
Use commas between words in a list or series.
Use commas between two or more adjectives assigned to a noun
Use commas to separate a phrase at the end of the sentence that references other information in the sentence.
Use commas between places, dates, addresses, and titles.
Use a comma in a dialogue between the prose and the speech.
Use commas to prevent confusion.

That is ten rules. Ten . That is crazy. There are so many grammar rules that exist, most likely you don’t know them all, but you need to know them for the SAT® Writing and Language. That means you will need to memorize the rules for each part of usage and mechanics. Before we get into ways you can remember the rules, let’s review the concepts covered for usage and mechanics on the SAT® Writing and Language.

The parts of usage and mechanics break down like this:

Apostrophes
Pronoun Number Agreement
Subject/Verb Agreement
(Examples: affect/effect, either… or, to/two/too)
Parallel Construction
Comparison/Description
Sentence Fragments and Run-on Sentences
Pronoun Choice
Pronoun Case
Conjugation

It seems like a lot, but don’t let it overwhelm you. You already know some of the rules and concepts, and you have time to learn the others. Even if you only have two weeks before your test, you can drill and practice to memorize in many ways that will help you max out your scores.

The first step, before you begin memorizing, is to ascertain your weakness in usage and mechanics. You can find a test to identify your weaknesses here .

Once you know your weaknesses there are a few ways you can study for the usage and mechanics questions:

Write Down the Grammar Rules on Flashcards: You can find the grammar rules here . On one side of a flashcard you will write down the particular usage or mechanic (like a comma) and a sentence that shows the rule used. On the other side of the flashcard, you write the rule. You will need to go through the flashcards by looking at the examples and reciting the rule to yourself.
Work on Correction Worksheets: Download some copies of correction worksheets here or drill on Khan academy . Memorizing the rules is useful, but learning through correcting errors will also provide the opportunity to grow. Correcting improper usage and mechanics may be difficult, but it will give you practice that mirrors the test.
Identify the Grammar Rules You See in Life: One simple solution to learning the rules of grammar is to look for them in the texts you are already reading. This type of practice is the most accessible. Despite the ease of access, it can be difficult to train yourself to notice grammar in the things you read every day. It will require careful observation and consistent reminders to yourself.

Those three strategies should help you keep on top of the grammar section of the SAT® Writing and Language test.

For more on “how to get a perfect score on SAT® Writing and Language” check out our next strategy that focuses on writing strategies.

Strategy 2: Begin to Notice Writing Strategies

Writing Strategies are the second set of skills tested on the SAT® Writing and Language section. The key to maxing out your score on the strategy section is to notice it in your everyday life. First, you need to understand the exam:

Writing Strategies tests a broad range of reading and writing skills. The section is officials testing the “expression of ideas” which covers the style, organization, and the effective use of language within texts.

When broken down into discreet skills, the Strategy section on the exam covers six broad categories:

Tone: The attitude of the author on the subject of the piece.
Cohesion: The coherence of paragraphs, sentences, and phrases
Purpose: Understand why a text exists
Formality: Determine the style of the text
Congruence: Determine if a sentence fits
Support: Examining evidence for inferences and claims.

Writing Strategy is going to be harder to beat than grammar. Grammar has a set of clear rules to memorize. Strategy, while it does have some objective and distinctive traits, usually relies more on inferences and experience to understand.

Some parts, like tone, are typically easy for students to identify. If you know words to describe the attitude, you match a word to the feeling portrayed by the author.

Others, like cohesion or congruence, require that you understand more of the nuance of writing. That only comes with focused reading and practice. To prepare for the SAT® Writing and Language, you will need to read texts (assigned or for pleasure) and focus on identifying where each of the tested parts of Strategy come into play.

Some readings that will show the distinct parts of Strategy are speeches and essays. If you have the chance, read some of those texts, and identify how the author uses each of the different parts of rhetoric.

You can work on some of the SAT® Writing and Language practice questions we have on the Albert.io website.

The key to strategy two is consistently analyzing texts to find those strategies that authors use.

Strategy 3: Practice for Perfection

Part of any winning strategy is practice. We practice for almost every activity. We spend endless hours shooting free throws or playing a particular measure from a piano concerto attempting to make it perfect. The old saying is “practice makes perfect” for a reason. It’s true.

If you want to know “how to get a perfect score on SAT® Writing and Language”, the first part is to realize that it means you will need to practice until you are perfect. It means long hours of commitment to studying and reading to improve your skills.

As a culture, we don’t believe practice can help you with a test. We like to treat tests like an either, or situation: either you know the material, or you don’t. That isn’t true. You can practice for a test. You can improve your skills and knowledge through repetition and practice.

When you practice for the SAT® Writing and Language section, you should use the materials and tools provided in strategies 1 and 2. Using those strategies by themselves will not be enough. You must commit your time and energy to the practice.

When you commit your time, it means you are setting aside those precious hours every week. You are attempting to earn a perfect score on the SAT® Writing and Language section. You will need to study approximately 40 hours in total to raise your scores from a 650 to 800.

40 hours divided over five weeks works out to 8 hours a week. That is a massive commitment, but this test is a huge part of your college admissions package. You have to devote the time necessary to get a perfect score.

When you set time aside to study, you must study fruitfully. Study time is easily wasted. When you study and practice, make sure you unplug: turn off your cell phone, don’t listen to distracting music, shut down the T.V., and log out of your social media. If you spend just one hour a day fully focused on beating the SAT® Writing and Language, you will be one step closer to scoring 800.

Along with your time, you will need to commit energy to practice. That means full focus every time you sit down to work. Many students fail to practice because they don’t focus their energy on the test. It is easy to be distracted or to fail to try your hardest when you know that the exam won’t count. That isn’t useful. You can’t go into your practice situations half-heartedly.

When you take your practice tests, treat them as if they are the actual SAT®. Give yourself the right amount of time for the test, and put in the energy necessary to finish in that time-frame. If you don’t put the energy of a real testing situation into your practice, you will never reach your full potential.

Finding Real Study Materials

Practice is only useful if it mirrors the test. You will want your practice materials to be as close to the test as possible. SAT® just redesigned the Writing and Language Section, so they are difficult to find. So difficult that there are no released tests to use. So the next best thing can be found here:

SAT® Official Writing and Language Practice Questions
CRACKSAT® Practice Tests

Those tests will be your best shot at finding out accurate scores on the SAT®. They should be used as benchmarks to gauge your progress. You should examine the amount of time you have left until the test, and space the tests out evenly.

The SAT® official practice questions should be something you complete to gauge your skills. Then you can drill the CrackSAT® tests as benchmarks to chart your progress.

Those practice tests are not going to make up the bulk of your study materials. You will need to use other training materials to improve your skills in between the tests. Some excellent materials for the test are on the Albert.io website. You should also check out practice books or articles online for free.

Regardless of the materials you use to drill the skills you will want to pick materials that are similar to the test. Read reviews before you purchase any books, and find websites that are highly rated by online communities.

Just Keep Practicing

Above all, keep practicing. Whatever schedule you set for yourself, keep to it. Whatever way you decide to practice, use it. There is little gained by sitting idle and waiting for the test to arrive. If you want to score 800, you will need to practice the test to perfection.

Strategy 4: Plug the Leaks

A practice schedule is important, but all the practice in the world won’t make any difference without focus. It is important that you learn where you have weaknesses, and compensate.

If you imagine your testing ability as a boat, every weakness you possess has the potential to spring a leak. Too many leaks and your boat will capsize. That is why you need to work on filling the holes. You must practice to correct and compensate for your weaknesses to have any chance at scoring 800.

Diagnosing your weaknesses isn’t easy. It will require you to begin to think seriously about the way you process information. If you find that there is a particular skill you lack or fundamental knowledge you haven’t learned, you can push to change before the test.

Ask the Right Questions

As you go through the officially released tests, you should keep track of the items that you didn’t know for certain. Marking all of the items that were not a 100% certainty will allow you to go back and ascertain the reason why you were confused even if you get the question right by chance.

Knowing that you couldn’t narrow down the correct answer is important because it should lead to some deep thinking. You should ask questions like:

Why was this choice right?
Why were the other choices incorrect?
What about the choices I couldn’t rule out confused me?
Why did I think those wrong answers could be correct?
What rule or reasoning exists to prove the right answer?

Asking these deeper thinking questions will help you to go further in figuring out your weaknesses and making changes before you take your next test. As you test, always go deeper with the questions you ask, stopping at “what is the right answer” will never be fruitful.

Determine the Explanation Yourself

Beyond the questioning strategy, you will want to stop reading the answer explanations for the questions you drill. Instead, seek to figure out and explain the choices yourself. Nearly every test and program provide detailed explanations for why certain a choice is correct and why other choices are not, don’t read those until after you have already explained it yourself.

Part of the growth process is struggling with difficult concepts to come out stronger. Reading the explanations doesn’t challenge you to learn, and it means less focus on understanding the reasoning behind the choices. If you take the time to explain why one choice is correct and the others are not, you will learn much more about the test’s construction, and the specific skills tested.

So, don’t read the explanations until after you have already explained the choices yourself. Then read the explanations provided to ensure that they give similar responses to the ones you created. The logic should be similar in each, and as your explanations get closer to the ones provided, you can keep track to see if your scores improve.

Common Weaknesses

Some weaknesses are common among students. Here are the top three to avoid.

1 – Misreading the Question

One of the easiest mistakes to correct is misinterpreting the question. Testing situations often put students under pressure, leading to simple mistakes.

When you read the question, pay attention to the vital details mentioned. Questions on the SAT® give away major clues to finding the correct response in the wording of the question.

You must read the questions thoroughly so that you don’t miss any valuable information. Pay attention to those very specific words like not. Students overlook test items that use the word not, which can lead to mistakenly answering with the wrong choice. If it asks you to pick the option written incorrectly, you might accidentally select one of the three that is correct by mistake.

Always read the question closely to glean information.

2 – Over or Under Choice of “No Change.”

One of the choices on many of the grammar questions is “no change” which means that the chosen sentence has no grammatical issues. Students have trouble figuring out when that is the correct choice.

Some students choose to air on the side of caution, rarely choosing the “no change” option. While it is a good idea to look for grammatical errors on the test continually, it is not a good idea to see them where they don’t exist. “No change” will be the correct answer about 25% of the time, so that means you shouldn’t avoid it.

The flip side of this problem is students find no errors too often. If you are reading quickly and not thinking clearly – you might fall susceptible to this mistake. It is easy to skim a sentence and not see the error, so always make sure you re-read before picking “no change”.

3 – Too Many Commas

A comma splice is when you put a comma where it doesn’t belong. The comma splice is a common error on the SAT® Writing and Language because students read the sentences out loud to determine the errors. When they read, the students pause more often than is dictated by the grammar. This reading habit leads to placing commas where they don’t belong.

Take this sentence for example:

Lily walked up to the house and took a long, hard look into the darkness of the surrounding forest.

This sentence has far too many commas. If we remove the commas, the sentence still works:

Lily walked up to the house and took a long hard look in the darkness of the surrounding forest.

The best remedy is to learn the comma rules. Once you know them, you will be less tempted to insert unneeded commas.

On the test, if all else fails, you can use the next strategy to narrow down to the right answer.

Strategy 5: One Answer to Rule Them All

The key to strategy five is remembering that there is only one correct answer to each question. No matter the appeal of the other choices, there is an obvious or apparent error in those choices. If you can rule out the three wrong options, it will give you the ability to choose the right answer every time.

Here is a sample question from Albert.io . Let’s find the issues present in three of the four choices:

The question is asking the reader to find the most “economical” way to restate the point from the passage. This will require the reader to understand the passage and find the best way to express the ideas in the sentence. Let’s examine the answer choices and determine which is correct.

Answer A – Correct Answer

Answer A is correct. The choice provides the shortest and most straightforward way to rephrase the sentence. The shortness of the answer choice is what accounts for the “economical” in the question.

Answer B – Convoluted Phrasing

Choice B is incorrect. The phrasing of this answer choice is confusing – which is the opposite of economical. Therefore it would not fit the criteria put forth by the question.

Answer C – Additional Rhetoric

Choice C is incorrect. Although it also retranslates the original phrase correctly, it adds in unnecessary elements. The use of parallel structure at the beginning of the sentence makes the phrase much more complicated than it needs to be, and the length of the sentence rules it out from being “economical” as the question requires.

Answer D – Repetition and Confusing Phrasing

Choice D is incorrect. It is also the easiest choice to rule out. It repeats its words multiple times, and it is so confusing that it doesn’t say much at all.

Narrow it down

When you work through every question, you need to work on narrowing down the possible choices. Every question has one correct answer. You are looking for what is wrong with the other three choices as much as you are looking for what is right about the correct choice.

Bonus Strategy: Bubbling for Time

One last strategy for the test revolves around filling in the answer bubbles. The traditional way to bubble a test is very time-consuming. Students will move back and forth between the test booklet and answer sheet after every item.

The physical act of moving, first your eyes and then your hand, from the test booklet to the answer sheet takes a lot of available time. If it takes you 3 seconds to move from the test booklet to the answer sheet and bubble in the answer, and you do that for 44 questions, it will take you a total of two minutes and twelve seconds just for bubbling.

You will need all the time you can get on the exam. To save time on bubbling the best advice is to change your strategy. Instead of moving back and forth between the booklet and the test, only mark the correct answers on the test booklet. After about ten answers you should bubble in on the answer sheet. If you memorize a series of solutions like ABDCBBADCA you can save yourself time in the way that you bubble and cut down on making mistakes.

Find out what type of bubbling strategy works best for you and go with it. The time you save in bubbling the best way will be invaluable towards getting a perfect score on the SAT® Writing and Language.

Go and Get a Perfect Score

There are the five strategies to help you get a perfect score on the SAT® Writing and Language. If you work hard on each of these strategies, implementing them in your daily study and practice, you will have an excellent shot at getting the 800.

Review the tools often, come back to this guide any time you need a refresher. Make the adjustments necessary, and keep focused on your goals.

Remember to check out the Albert.io website for more blog posts and study help. As promised, there is a short guide to scoring an eight on the SAT® Essay below.

The SAT® Essay section is an optional section of the test. The top colleges, the same ones that care about your 800 in Writing and Language, will look for a score on the SAT® Essay. Opting for the writing exam adds 50 minutes onto your testing time, so be prepared for a longer test.

Two readers give a raw score of 1-4 for three separate categories. The two raw scores add together for each category to give you a scaled score. If one reader scores the essay at 3 and another at 4, you end up with a 7 for the section. You have 50 minutes to plan, write, and revise your essay. If you do it right, you can score an 8 for each section and make yourself that much more marketable to a top tier university.

Each section is graded on its rubric. The three sections that will be assessed are Reading, Writing, and Analysis.

The essay must show that you understood the passage provided in the prompt. That means you understood the important details, main idea, and argument presented. The essay must also show you read the text and can use it as evidence.

Here is the holistic rubric for reading from the SAT® website:

Analysis

The essay needs to show that you understand how arguments are constructed by:

Examining the use of evidence, reasoning, and persuasion
Creating a claim and supporting it with evidence of the text

The rubric from the SAT® Website:

The essay needs to be well written. The essay must be focused, organized, and utilize the writing strategies that are common to standard written English.

The rubric for the writing portion of the essay from the SAT® website:

The essay presents a prompt and some relevant background information. The SAT® will require you to read an excerpt from a larger work. The excerpt will display an opinion, and the prompt will ask you to analyze the opinion finding the structure of the argument and explaining the most relevant or important parts.

An example of an SAT® Essay prompt shows the required parts:

As you read the passage below, consider how Paul Bogard uses

evidence, such as facts or examples, to support claims.
reasoning to develop ideas and to connect claims and evidence.
stylistic or persuasive elements, such as word choice or appeals to emotion, to add power to the ideas expressed.

Instructions:

Write an essay in which you explain how Paul Bogard builds an argument to persuade his audience that natural darkness should be preserved. In your essay, analyze how Bogard uses one or more of the features in the directions that precede the passage (or features of your own choice) to strengthen the logic and persuasiveness of his argument. Be sure that your analysis focuses on the most relevant features of the passage.

Your essay should not explain whether you agree with Bogard’s claims, but rather explain how Bogard builds an argument to persuade his audience.

As you can see, the prompt is complicated. The essay asks you not to create your argument, but instead to analyze the argument put forth by the author. This and other essay prompts, as well as sample essays, can be found here .

This essay will be time-consuming, and it will be useful to practice your writing skills. Let’s talk about a few strategies that can help you get the best score possible on the test.

Strategy 1: Make a Plan

You won’t be able to anticipate the subject of the essay on the SAT® Essay section, but you can still work on the plan ahead for the exam. Along with the official practice prompts found on the SAT® website, the internet is full of prompts to analyze the argument of an article. The best way to prepare for the exam is to use those prompts to plan out essays.

You don’t have to write the essays. Instead, work on your planning abilities. Many students fail to do their best on the exam because they are not ready for the rigors of writing a long and complicated essay. The best tool you have, regardless of the topic or requirement, is the ability to outline a high-quality essay quickly.

The time spent drafting shouldn’t be more than 2 minutes, but the power of having a well thought out essay cannot be overstated. You should practice outlining on at least one essay a day for the three weeks leading up to your test. The act of planning will become second nature with practice, and that can make up for ignorance of the passage or subject matter.

A good outline should look like this:

Thesis Statement: How is the author building their argument? Are they using facts, persuasion, or narrative techniques?
Evidence from the text of this technique
Wrapping up the argumentative strength of the essay

You’ll notice that the outline follows the standard five paragraph format. If you find that you have extra time, you can expand each of the reasons into a series of paragraphs using multiple pieces of evidence, but the time pressure may make that too difficult to complete.

You should find two analytical prompts per day, and work out an outline for each prompt. The prompt will not be complete without a short sentence that explains the focus of each paragraph. Instead of only writing “introductory paragraph” you would write a short sentence that explains what that section would cover.

Let’s look at an example outline for the prompt above:

Thesis: He uses anecdotal evidence, rhetorical questions, and evidence of wasted money to make his argument.
Evidence: The author explains how the beauty of darkness allowed him to experience the joys of the natural world at night, and how that provided a formative experience in his younger years.
Evidence: You could point out some rhetorical questions he uses, but in particular he talks about the painting of starry night and asks if it would be possible that it could be painted without darkness. Which shows the value of darkness to beauty and humanity.
Evidence: There is evidence in the text given by the author about the wasted use of electricity. This should be used in the essay to the point that out.
Conclusion: Reassert the main point of the essay and describe what the author is doing to craft their argument.

That is a very detailed outline for the essay. Your outline shouldn’t be as detailed as this one, but it should still include all of the parts. You should have a short sentence in each part so that you know what you’re planning to write when you sit down to do the essay.

Work to make your essay as detailed as possible, and practice your planning. That way you can be clear in your writing, and won’t get stuck trying to figure out what should be in the next paragraph.

Strategy 2: Be Nice to Your Reader

This strategy is essential to doing well. You must make your writing easy to read. There are three essential things that you can do to make it easy for your readers to understand your writing, and therefore grade your essay faster.

Think about it; your readers will have about three minutes to read your writing, and they are reading about 500 essays in the entire session. The easier you make it on them, the more they are going to like you. As objective as we want to believe the test is, essay grading is still subjective. If they like you because you make their job easy, they might be more likely to give you a four over a three if your essay falls somewhere in between.

You need to make your writing legible. The better your hand writing, the less you cross out, and the better your grammar and spelling, the easier it will be to understand what you are saying. If your writing is messy, and the reader has been reading essays all day, you might end up getting a much lower score than you deserve.

It is very easy to write off an essay that is difficult to read than to give it more time and effort. You need to put in the effort to make it easy to read. So work on your legibility.

Five Paragraphs

You should follow the five-paragraph format for an argumentative essay. One of the reasons for following the format is that it is standard. Being standard means that it will make reading faster, and it can help a reader understand your points much more succinctly. Utilize the format and help your reader process.

Clear Thesis and Reasons

The last point is that you need to have a clearly established main point, all of your evidence should support that main point. If your main point and evidence work together, it will make your essay much easier to read. Work on establishing a clear connection between your thesis, reasoning, and evidence to gain some extra favor in the eyes of your reader.

Work Hard and Score High

So that is the guide for how to get a perfect score on SAT® Essay and How to get an eight on the SAT® Essay. Use these strategies to ensure that you do well on the test and get the perfect score that you deserve.

If you have any questions or any other study strategies, let us know in a comment below.

Looking for even more SAT® Writing tips? You may find this list of 125 SAT® tips helpful .

Looking SAT® practice?

You can find thousands of practice questions on Albert.io. Albert.io lets you customize your learning experience to target practice where you need the most help. We’ll give you challenging practice questions to help you achieve mastery of the SAT®.

Start practicing here .

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Thinking about tackling the SAT Essay? Here's what you need to know: you'll be asked to read a text (typically a speech or editorial of some sort) and discuss how the author effectively builds an argument. This might be a familiar task if you’ve done it in school, but if not, don’t worry. The format is straightforward, and with some practice, you can learn how to write a great SAT essay.

What is the SAT essay?

The SAT essay is optional and costs an additional fee of $17.00. Currently, only 25 colleges and universities require the SAT essay. You can find a searchable list of school requirements for the essay here . If there is any chance that you might apply to one of those schools, you should sign up for the essay. If you are not sure where you will apply, you should strongly consider signing up for the essay. Your essay score will appear on every score report you send to colleges, regardless of whether or not the school requires an essay.

Here are 5 tips for writing a killer SAT essay, should you decide to add on that section:

1. Stay Objective

The thing to remember here is that ETS (the company that writes the test) is not asking you for your opinion on a topic or a text. So be sure to maintain formal style and an objective tone. Tip: Avoid “I” and “you.

2. Keep It Tidy

Handwriting is becoming a lost art. Unfortunately, this is one occasion where your skill with a pencil matters. Graders read tons of essays each day. If they cannot decipher your script, they will lower your score. Do yourself a favor and write legibly.

3. (Indented) Paragraphs Are Your Friend

Remember the basic essay structure you learned in school: introductory paragraph, body paragraphs and a conclusion? The SAT essay graders love it! Your introduction should describe the text and paraphrase the argument being made, as well as introduce the specific elements of the passage and argument that you will discuss in the essay. Your conclusion should restate the goal of the passage/argument and sum up the points you made.

4. For Example…

Use your body paragraphs to back up your thesis statement by citing specific examples. Use short, relevant quotes from the text to support your points.

5. Don't Worry About the Exact Terms for Things

Blanking on terminology? When describing how the author builds his or her argument, “appeal to the emotions” is fine instead of specifically referencing “pathos.” And “comparison of two things” can be used instead of referring to a metaphor. If you do know the official terms, though, feel free to use them!

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How to Prepare for the SAT Writing Section

About the Writing Section

Every SAT administered by the College Board has four sections: Reading , Writing, Math (no calculator), and Math (with a calculator). The Writing section consists of 44 multiple choice questions that students must answer in 35 minutes.

Although the number of questions and time constraints of the Writing section may initially seem daunting, the curriculum that the SAT tests remains constant among every single SAT. In this Writing section guide, we’ll go over some general study strategies, the types of questions, and some major grammar rules.

Students looking to boost their Writing section scores will have to focus on a few key question types: command of evidence, words in context, specific subject area analysis, expression of ideas, and standard English conventions. Once these concepts are mastered, students will be able to apply them to any question the SAT Writing section throws their way.

Studying for the SAT while juggling a high school academic and extracurricular schedule can be difficult, but taking practice tests and understanding the format of the SAT language section doesn’t have to be overly hard. Scoring well on the SAT Writing section will help boost your total SAT score, which will also help you with college admissions!

Read on to learn all the best tips and tricks about the SAT Writing section, as well as some of the concepts it covers.

Why Does a Good SAT Writing Section Score Matter?

Not only does your Writing section score affect your larger SAT score, but it is also particularly important if you plan on applying to colleges as a humanities major.

If you are interested in pursuing the humanities after high school, demonstrating mastery of the language section is a very important part of your application. A high score on the Reading and Writing sections will show that you have a strong grasp on the English language, reading comprehension, and grammar skills.

For students who are more interested in studying STEM in college, focusing on the Math sections can be more important than focusing on the Reading test portion. However, balance is key: the better you can do on any section, the better. This being said, doing well on the Writing section is important for everyone, not just future humanities majors.

Best Strategies to Prepare for the SAT Writing Section

The best way to prepare for the SAT Writing section is targeted practice!

Answering practice problems and going back to review any that were difficult will help students understand their main points of weakness. From there, students should create a list of concepts they need help with. However, in order to do that, students need to understand how to categorize the types of questions they are getting incorrect.

Students can better understand how to categorize their areas of weakness by considering what type of question they are missing in the Writing section , detailed later in this article. Conversely, students can also make their list of weak areas based on specific grammar rules they struggle with . This will allow them to closely examine the rule in question and master it before attempting a similar problem.

Certain prep books for the SAT contain distinct sections that will first explain certain concepts and then provide practice questions that specifically test one area. These can be particularly helpful for students looking to make the most out of their practice time.

Another helpful alternative is working with a tutor , as they will be able to identify categories of weakness while explaining the right answers. With a strong tutor, these tips and tricks will come from personal experience and SAT expertise. Both options will take some stress off determining where students are having the most trouble.

Close to the exam day, students should take a practice run of the Writing section and replicate real test-day conditions. This will allow them to gain an understanding of their pace and timing, as well as present an opportunity to look for any unexpected areas of difficulty that they might not have faced during regular practice sessions. Test day anxiety is another factor that affects many students, regardless of how much they studied — in order to assuage test day anxiety, taking a practice run in a silent environment can also help the exam feel more familiar on the actual test date.

Types of Questions in the Writing Section

1) command of evidence.

Command of Evidence questions will ask students to e xamine specific parts of the provided passages in order to make their meaning more clear. One common Command of Evidence question is when students are asked whether or not a new sentence should be introduced.

When considering whether or not to add the line in question, students must consider if the sentence adds relevant or new details, or if it distracts from the main point and provides unrelated information . Depending on the value-added to the paragraph, students must then decide whether or not to add it and back their decision up with a reason.

2) Words in Context

These questions test a student’s command over vocabulary. Students will need to decide whether to keep the word already embedded in the paragraph, or choose to change the word .

An extremely important aspect of answering Word in Context questions is to go back and read the sentence in question — context is everything! Since the same word can have so many different meanings depending on the context, reading the sentence in its entirety can be the difference between getting the question correct or incorrect.

3) Specific Subject Area Analysis

The Writing section, like the Reading section, will include passages spanning a wide range of topics. Specifically, the Writing section will ask students to analyze passages about the history and social studies as well as science.

However, this shouldn’t be a deterrent to students who don’t feel as strong in those areas: absolutely no background knowledge is ever required on the SAT. Important historical details will be included throughout the passage, and all relevant information is available on the page.

Subject Area Analysis will ask students to read passages through a critical lens and make editorial decisions in order to improve their flow, diction, and/or clarity.

4) Expression of Ideas

Expression of Ideas asks students to think about the organization of a passage. Specifically, these questions may push students to consider word choice or paragraph structure in order to ensure the passage is making the clearest point it can.

An example of these types of questions is when the SAT asks students to reorder sentences within a paragraph. When answering these types of questions, students should be sure to carefully and quickly read through the passage as a whole and determine what the main point or argument is. Once that is established, students can then think about what order of sentences would make the strongest argument.

5) Standard English Conventions

Questions that test Standard English Conventions will call upon the knowledge of basic grammar rules. However, just because they are testing the building blocks of writing doesn’t necessarily mean the questions will come easily. These questions will ask about punctuation, verb tense, subject-verb agreement, and parallel construction.

Staying alert while taking the SAT Writing section will help students make sure they’re not letting small errors slip past them. Since colloquial language oftentimes uses incorrect grammar, students may be used to seeing a phrase written in a way that is technically grammatically incorrect. Therefore, operating in a thoughtful and engaging manner when reading through questions and answer choices is extremely important, as sometimes errors will not automatically send alarm bells ringing.

Basic Grammar Rules and Concepts to Know

Many grammar rules will come naturally to native English speakers since they’re accustomed to hearing and reading English in everyday life. However, students need to make sure they are rock solid in a few basic English grammar rules in order to best prepare for the SAT Writing section.

1) Subject–Verb Agreement

Singular nouns need to be paired with singular verbs, and plural nouns require plural verbs. Don’t get confused by “singular verbs” and “plural verbs!” While we can tell when nouns are plural by determining whether or not they end in ‘s,’ plural verbs do not end in ‘s.’ For example, we wouldn’t say “The students runs.” We would say “The students run.”

Although the subject-verb agreement may seem obvious to many English speakers, the SAT Writing section often tests this concept using an unclear subject . When reading a long and complicated sentence, it becomes harder to tell what or who the true subject of a sentence is.

Example: It’s been days since the news outlets covered the Senate’s huge public relations crisis, but the Senator, along with other members of Congress, have yet to respond.

While at first glance, this sentence may seem correct, there is an unclear subject. The grammatically correct sentence would actually need to replace “have” with “has,” because the subject (the person who has not responded yet), is the Senator, not the other members of Congress. Since the members of Congress are mentioned right before the verb is introduced, students may believe that the subject of the sentence is those members of Congress. However, if students think carefully about who has yet to respond, they will notice that the actual subject of the sentence performing the action verb is the Senator.

After reading through many paragraphs and sentences, it’s easy to miss small details. We recommend that when students come across a sentence testing verb tense, they identify the subject in the sentence — that means going back and rereading it! The answer might not be as obvious as it may seem.

Another hint: students should watch out for verb-subject agreement questions. The same rules apply, but these questions might be confusing because the sentence will place the verb before the subject. An example of a verb-subject sentence is: “Lounging across the window lies the house cat, purring and licking its paw.” In this case, the cat is the subject, and “lies” is the verb, but the order in which we are introduced to both words is flipped.

2) Collective Noun Plurality and “Or” Plurality

Collective nouns are nouns that refer to a group of things or people, but the word itself is singular. Therefore, when choosing a verb for a collective noun, students have to make sure to choose a singular verb!

Example: The group of chickens clucks.

In this example, the group is the collective noun serving as the subject. Therefore, even though the sentence may not “sound correct,” it’s the grammatically correct way to compose the idea. Writing “the group of chickens cluck” would be incorrect because it would assume that the subject-verb agreement in question is “chickens cluck” instead of “the group clucks.”

“Or” plurality refers to when there are two subjects related by the word “or.” When this occurs, the subject is actually singular, even though more than one subject may be mentioned.

Example: “The chicken or the goose eats lunch” versus “The chicken and goose eat lunch.”

In the first sentence, the chicken and goose are related by “or,” meaning only one of them performs the action. Therefore, the sentence requires a singular verb, “eats.” On the other hand, the second sentence relates the chicken and goose with “and,” meaning the subject refers to multiple nouns and requires a plural verb, “eat.”

3) Parenthesis and Em–Dash

Em–dashes are one of the hardest punctuation concepts for students taking the SAT to master. However they behave very similarly to parentheses and therefore, students should consider their similarities if struggling to decide whether or not the sentence requires em–dashes.

Both parentheses and em–dashes are used to set off nonessential phrases and clauses from the rest of the sentence. A good way to test whether or not a phrase is “nonessential” is to remove it from the sentence and reread the altered version — it should still make sense! Parentheses are used to contain additional information that provides more context about a subject, while em–dashes can be used in order to emphasize a certain point. If the emphasized phrase occurs at the end of the sentence, only one em–dash is required.

Example: My friend Anna’s new puppy (a mini dachshund) loves to play outside.

Note that the information inside the parentheses is not essential to our understanding of the sentence!

Example: My other friend usually doesn’t like dogs — even the cutest puppies — but she loved Anna’s new addition to the family!

In this example, we use two em–dashes in order to emphasize that someone doesn’t like even the cutest and most lovable dogs in order to drive the point home. If we removed the phrase inside the em–dashes, the sentence would still logically make sense!

Example: A good way to test whether or not a phrase is “nonessential” is to remove it from the sentence and reread the altered version — it should still make sense!

If this sentence sounded familiar, it’s because it is — it’s featured in an earlier paragraph for the parenthesis and em–dash section! Em–dashes can be very commonplace and applicable to many different sentences. Since the emphasized phrase occurs at the end of the sentence, we don’t need to use two em–dashes to set it off from the rest of the sentence. This example also shows that the phrase offset by an em–dash at the end of a sentence doesn’t necessarily have to be an incomplete clause: in this example, “it should still make sense” is a complete clause with both a subject and verb.

4) Clauses (Independent, Dependent)

Clauses are similar to phrases, but they contain both a subject and a verb. Independent clauses refer to complete sentences while dependent clauses refer to a phrase that cannot form a full sentence on its own. Sentences with multiple clauses usually require some form of punctuation, usually commas, in order to separate them from each other.

To identify a clause, look for both a subject and verb preceding or following a comma. Alternatively, another way is to look for a subject and verb before subordinating conjunction, which we’ll dive into in this section.

Students can think of subordinating conjunctions as transitional phrases in sentences. A few extremely common subordinating conjunctions include: after, although, because, before, even though, since, when, where, whenever, whether, while, etc. If a clause begins with a subordinating conjunction, then that clause cannot stand on its own and must be followed by an independent clause.

In order to identify independent clauses, students should ask themselves if the part of the sentence they are considering can stand on its own: does it have both a subject and a verb?

Example: Even though Andie didn’t like studying, she knew that all her time in the library paid off when she aced her Economics exam.

In this example, there are two distinct clauses. The first clause, “even though Andie didn’t like studying,” contains a subordinating conjunction (“even though”), and therefore cannot stand on its own. Since it can’t stand on its own, the first clause we read is a dependent clause. However, the second clause contains both a subject and a verb and does not include a subordinating clause. If we were to simply read the second clause on its own, we would be able to comprehend the sentence: “She knew that all her time in the library paid off when she aced her Economics exam.” Therefore, students can identify this as an independent clause.

Once students feel comfortable with independent versus dependent clauses, they should also think about the process of building sentences. For example, connecting two independent clauses is necessary and usually requires common coordinating conjunctions: for, and, nor, but, or, yet, so. A good mnemonic device to remember coordinating conjunctions is the acronym FANBOYS — F or A nd N or B ut O r Y et S o.

5) Semicolons and Commas with Coordinating Conjunctions

Two independent clauses cannot exist next to each other without either a comma and coordinating conjunction or if they are separated by a semicolon.

Semicolons can get confusing for students, but they act very similarly to periods. In fact, the biggest difference separating the function of semicolons and periods is that semicolons separate two complete sentences that are directly related. Still, periods can be used to separate two sentences that are directly related — semicolons just help to drive the connection home.

Example: She just bought a car, she can drive it tomorrow. (This is grammatically incorrect! )

This example combines two independent clauses together, but actually is grammatically incorrect because it doesn’t separate them with a coordinating conjunction or semicolon. The correct way to express this idea would be “She just bought a car, so she can drive it tomorrow,” or “She just bought a car; she can drive it tomorrow.”

Another punctuation mark that might lead to confusion for some students is the colon. Colons are used to separate an independent clause and list, or an independent clause and an explanation of the independent clause.

The most common use for colons is to denote a list, but that is not the only time colons are grammatically correct! Typically, students will eliminate an answer choice with a colon if they do not see a list come after; it’s extremely important to understand that colons can also act similarly to em-dashes in that they can be used to provide more details about a previous clause.

Example: To go camping, bring the following items: a tent, sleeping bag, warm clothing, toiletries, and a water bottle.

This example demonstrates the most familiar use of a colon.

Example: I can’t believe what happened: we got lost in the woods and couldn’t get out until the ranger came to get us!

The colon in this example separates the independent clause (“I can’t believe what happened”) and an expansion of that idea (“we got lost in the woods and couldn’t get out until the ranger came to get us!”) Both uses of the colon are grammatically correct.

7) False Comparisons

Another commonly–missed concept on the SAT Writing section is false comparisons. The two objects being compared to one another must fall under the same “category” of nouns in order to make the sentence grammatically correct. For instance, objects must be compared with other objects, and people have to be compared with other people; comparing an object with a person would not make sense.

Example : Jane’s clothes are more flattering than Josh’s. (This is grammatically incorrect .)

Here, Jane’s clothes are being compared to Josh’s. While this sentence may sound alright because we may colloquially speak this way, grammatically the sentence is illogical. Comparing items (clothes) to a person (Josh) doesn’t make sense; the sentence is trying to compare Jane’s clothes to Josh’s clothes. Therefore, the proper way to write this sentence is, “Jane’s clothes are more flattering than Josh’s clothes.”

The SAT may find ways to complicate this concept. For example, they might write the sentence as “Jane’s clothes are more flattering than that of Josh.” The grammar issue here is now that the plurality of the compared items is not parallel. Since clothes are plural, the noun representing both items must be plural. The correct way to phrase this sentence would be, “Jane’s clothes are more flattering than those of Josh.”

8) Transition Words

Another common concept the SAT likes to test is your understanding of transition words.

In the writing test section, you will know that the SAT is testing your transition word knowledge if you see that the answer choices contain words like “however,” “consequently,” or “nevertheless.” Transition words help connect two different ideas together, making sure that the logical flow of the passage makes sense.

Different transition words serve different purposes. The SAT will ask about basic transition transitional relationships: addition, contrast, and causation.

Addition words will continue a previous line of thought, or it might introduce new information that supports a sentence earlier in the passage. On the other hand, contrasting words will transition from one idea to a competing idea — in fact, we just used transition words (“on the other hand”) to move from talking about addition words to contrasting words! Causation words will indicate a causal relationship, as its name indicates. This means that the two sentences connected by a causation transition word will be related to or caused by one another.

“Addition” Transition Words

Furthermore
In other words
In addition
For example

“Contrast” Transition Words

Despite this
Nevertheless
On the other hand

“Causation” Transition Words

As a result
Consequently
Due to this

How to Get a Perfect 800 on the SAT Writing Section

Practice tests.

While the section above covered some of the biggest concepts tested by the Writing section, there are still many rules to learn and master. The best way to do this is, again, targeted practice!

Since you’re focusing on the SAT Writing section specifically, completing the Writing sections of different practice tests is a great place to start. Looking back at questions you struggled with can help you understand why certain choices are wrong answers, and you’ll also become more familiar and comfortable with the exam’s format.

Knowing some of the more common types of concepts the SAT tests also means you will know how to study for answer questions that cover topics that we discussed earlier in this article. The more you know about the College Board’s curriculum, the better — so you’re already a step ahead after reading through this article.

Private Tutoring with SoFlo Tutors

Whether students choose to develop their understanding on their own or turn to an online SAT tutor , they can conquer the Writing section by brushing up on key grammar rules.

SoFlo Tutors have bright tutors who have scored in the top percentiles of the SAT in the past and can help boost your score. Schedule a free consultation here to get started.

Additional SAT Resources

When Should I Take the SAT?: https://soflotutors.com/blog/when-should-i-take-the-sat/
SAT Crash Courses | How to Cram for the SAT: https://soflotutors.com/blog/sat-crash-course/
Ivy League SAT Expectations: What Harvard and All the Ivies Want: https://soflotutors.com/blog/ivy-harvard/
How to Get a Perfect 1600 Score on the SAT 2021 | Your Comprehensive Guide: https://soflotutors.com/blog/how-to-get-a-perfect-1600-score-on-the-sat-2021-your-comprehensive-guide/
The Best SAT Prep Cram Camps: https://soflotutors.com/blog/sat-prep-bootcamps/

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Students taking the latest version of the SAT have a lot of questions about the Essay section in particular. When the College Board redesigned the SAT in 2016, the Essay section was the aspect of the test that changed most substantially.

As a result, it is the section that is least understood. Keep reading to learn how we approach setting a good target score for this often enigmatic section of the SAT.

What Is the SAT Essay?

Students taking the optional Essay section are provided with a written argument and asked to analyze it. Check out the College Board’s example prompt with sample graded responses to get a sense of what the exam looks like.

Is the SAT Essay Required?

This is the only optional section of the SAT. It does not impact your overall score out of 1600. Instead, your Essay grade stands alone on your score report.

While the College Board does not require the SAT Essay, certain schools do.

Schools that Require the SAT Essay

All of the University of California schools
Benedictine University
City University London
Delaware State University
DeSales University
Dominican University of California
Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University
Howard University
John Wesley University
Kentucky State University
Martin Luther College
Molloy College
Schreiner University
Soka University of America
Southern California Institute of Architecture
Texas A&M University—Galveston
United States Military Academy (West Point)
University of North Texas
West Virginia University Institute of Technology
Western Carolina University

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Additionally, these schools do not require the SAT Essay but recommend it.

Schools that Recommend the SAT Essay

Abilene Christian University
Albany College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences
Allegheny College
Amherst College
Art Institute of Houston
Augsburg University
Austin College
Caldwell University
California State University, Northridge
Central Connecticut State University
Central Michigan University
Cheyney University of Pennsylvania
Coastal Carolina University
Colby College
College of Wooster
Colorado School of Mines
Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art
Corban University
Cornerstone University
Dallas Christian College
Duke University
Eastern Illinois University
Eastern Nazarene College
Easternn University
Endicott College
Five Towns College
Gallaudet University
George Washington University
Georgia Highlands College
Greenville University
Gwynedd Mercy University
High Point University
Hofstra University
Holy Family University
Husson University
Indiana University South Bend
Indiana University Southeast
Indiana Wesleyan University
Inter American University of Puerto Rico: Barranquitas Campus
Juilliard School
Keiser University (West Palm Beach)
Lehigh University
Madonna University
Manhattan College
Marymount California University
Massachusetts Maritime Academy
McMurry University
Mercy College
Modern College of Design
Montana Tech of the University of Montana
Morehouse College
Mount Saint Mary College
Mount St. Joseph University
National-Louis University
New Jersey City University
Nichols College
North Park University
Occidental College
Ohio University
Oregon State University
Purdue University Northwest
Randall University
Randolph-Macon College
Reading Area Community College
Rowan University
Rutgers University—Camden Campus
Rutgers University—Newark Campus
Saint Michael’s College
Seton Hill University
Shiloh University
Shippensburg University of Pennsylvania
Silver Lake College of the Holy Family
Southern Illinois University of Carbondale
Southern Oregon University
Spring Hill College
Sul Ross State University
SUNY Farmingdale State College
SUNY University at Stony Brook
Tarleton State University
Texas A&M International University
Texas A&M University
Texas State University
The King’s College
United States Air Force Academy
University of Evansville
University of La Verne
University of Mary Hardin—Baylor
University of Massachusetts Amherst
University of Minnesota: Twin Cities
University of New England
University of Northwestern—St. Paul
University of the Virgin Islands
University of Toledo
University of Washington Bothell
VanderCook College of Music
Virginia Union University
Wabash College
Webb Institute
Webber International University
Wesleyan College
William Jewell College

Should You Take the SAT Essay Section?

We recommend taking the Essay section just in case you want to apply to one of the schools that requires or recommends it. If you’re absolutely sure you won’t apply to any of these schools, you can skip it. Just know that you can’t retake the SAT essay alone, so if you change your mind and want to apply to a school that requires the Essay section, you’ll have to retake the whole test.

How Is the SAT Essay Scored?

Your essay will be evaluated on three criteria—Reading, Analysis, and Writing.

The Reading grade is meant to gauge how well you understand the passage content. Did you absorb the information you just read? Especially when the details are not intuitive, your readers will be checking to see that you read closely and caught the nuance of the piece.

The Analysis score relates to how well you represented the argument that the writer made. Your goal in the Essay section should be to determine what the writer’s main argument is and describe how they present it.

Finally, your score in Writing reflects your own command over the English language. Your capacity to write clear, well-structured sentences that use a wide range of vocabulary will determine this grade.

Two readers each give the essay a score between 1 and 4, depending on how well each reader thinks you did in the three categories. Their grades are then summed to give you a three-part grade. The highest grade you can receive is 8, 8, 8, while the lowest possible score is 2, 2, 2. To give an example, one student may score a 5, 4, 4, which would mean that their readers submitted the following feedback:

What’s a Good, Average, and Bad SAT Essay Score?

In 2019, the mean score on the Reading and Writing for the SAT Essay was a 5. For the Analysis section, the mean score was a little lower at 3, simply because Analysis is a skill that high school students spend less time honing than Reading or Writing.

For a detailed breakdown of how 2019’s test takers performed, here are a few score distributions:

sat essay reading score distribution chart

Here’s a rough breakdown of the percentile scores based on the most recent College Board data. Here’s how this chart works: say you scored a 6 on the Reading section. According to the data, that means that you performed better than 70% of other essay writers.

SAT Essay Score Percentile Rankings

Source: College Board and CollegeVine data analysis

How Should You Understand and Improve Your SAT Essay Score?

Unless your SAT Essay score is rock-bottom, you should not feel the need to retest just to improve your Essay score. If you received a low score that you feel isn’t representative of your writing abilities, focus on crafting stellar college essays instead of retaking the SAT just for the Essay section.

If you were unhappy with your SAT Essay score AND your overall SAT score, however, then you should consider retaking the test with the Essay section.

Here are a few tips on how to improve your SAT Essay score:

1. Annotate the passage. Read carefully. Start by boxing the main argument of the passage, then put a star next to three or four places where the author employs a strategy to win the readers over. These may include:

Refuting a counter argument
Raising a question
Providing anecdotal evidence
Using statistics to support a claim
Citing historical examples
Employing rhetorical devices, such as metaphor

2. State the main point of the passage author. Make it clear that you understand what the author is trying to say by stating their thesis clearly in your essay response. No one reading your essay should have any doubt as to what you think the main point of the passage is.

Make the author’s thesis clear at the beginning of your response as well as in your concluding paragraph. Tie back to it often within your body paragraphs too.

3. Outline before you write. Spend 3-5 minutes organizing your thoughts. Build up 2-4 points about the argument’s structure. Think of yourself as a debate coach. Give feedback on the persuasion tactics the author used. Which ones were most effective? What could they have done to sway their audience even more?

Remembered the strategies you starred when you were annotating? These are the building blocks of the author’s argument, and your essay should provide analysis of how effectively these building blocks were used.

4. DO NOT include your personal opinion. The essay exists to assess whether you can analyze an argument. It has nothing to do with your personal views. If you find yourself defending or disagreeing with the passage, that is a good sign that you are missing a chance to analyze the argument’s structure.

5. Proofread your essay. Give yourself 2 minutes towards the end of the section to improve the language you used. Search for spelling and grammar mistakes, as well as weak word choice. Replace monosyllabic words like “good” and “is” with more dynamic vocabulary, such as “striking” or “constitutes.” This is a quick and easy way to boost your Writing score.

For more advice on how to study for the Essay section, check out our How to Get a Perfect Score on the SAT Essay and The Ultimate Guide to the New SAT Essay .

Want to know how your SAT score impacts your chances of acceptance to your dream schools? Our free Chancing Engine will not only help you predict your odds, but also let you know how you stack up against other applicants, and which aspects of your profile to improve. Sign up for your free CollegeVine account today to gain access to our Chancing Engine and get a jumpstart on your college strategy!

How to Write an SAT Essay: Crucial Things to Consider

Writing an SAT essay may appear overwhelming, especially when unsure of what to expect. Crafting this paper demonstrates your ability to dig into a text, interpret it, and express your ideas well in writing. But don’t worry about possible difficulties or pitfalls. Use this guide, focusing on paper format, examiners' expectations, and useful SAT essay tips. Do you need an impressive score or the desire to develop your writing skills? Here are all the details you should know about!

What is an SAT Essay?

This essay is part of the SAT college entrance exam, which measures a student's writing and analytical skills. This includes comprehending a paragraph and writing an essay explaining how the writer develops an argument to win the audience. This assignment assesses your ability to interpret writers' methods to make a point, not your personal opinions concerning the issue.

Things You Should Know About SAT Essays

The SAT essay is optional since not all colleges require it for admission. But what if your chosen educational institution still adheres to all SAT stages and assignments? In that case, you should focus on the key things about SAT essays.

Format and Structure of the SAT Essay

Now, let’s talk about the SAT essay format. This paper is designed to simulate your ability to read, analyze, and write. Here is what you should know about the SAT essay length. You will be given 50 minutes to read an essay of about 650-750 words and the author's argument. The SAT essay task is the same in each test as it varies only in the passage. You are supposed to explore how the author constructs their argument by demonstrating evidence, logic, and other persuasive tools. So, stick to the basic SAT essay format.

Scoring Criteria for the SAT Essay

During the essay part of your exam, you will face three assignment dimensions: Reading, Analysis, and Writing. The evaluation of each dimension is performed by two different graders, each giving a SAT essay score between 1 and 4. As a result, for each dimension, you can get from 2 to 8 points. The Reading test demonstrates your ability to grasp and comprehend the passage. The SAT essay analysis stage evaluates how well you analyze the author's use of evidence, logic, and persuasive SAT essay test-taking strategies. The Writing stage examines your essay for its clarity, logic, grammar, and style. So, learn all about the SAT essay scoring rubric in advance!

Key Skills Tested in the SAT Essay

Yes, it is all about your skills. The SAT essay is a test that examines the usage of several important skills that are vital for academic success. Here are three things that each admission committee cares about:

Critical reading skills.
Analytical skills.
Writing skills.

All these academic traits can show your readiness for the academic process, understanding of educational material, and ability to analyze it and achieve the required result according to generally accepted educational canons. Remember, your goal is to get a high SAT essay score.

What Things Does Your SAT Essay Need?

A paper must include various components to achieve the desired SAT essay score. These aspects include an organized introduction, a clear thesis statement, and specific instances to illustrate your analysis. Let's take a look at all the things that should be added to your SAT essay.

An Introduction

The introduction of your essay should establish the scene for your examination. It should provide a summary of the passage you're analyzing, clearly outlining the author's main claim and the overall context of the text. Do not forget about the SAT essay coherence. This part of your essay is important as it is a prelude to the following detailed analysis. Start strong with a captivating introduction that presents the text in an easy-to-understand way. Soon, you will find SAT essay tips to do that correctly. So, pass the SAT essay preparation stage without a rush.

A Clear Thesis Statement

What is a good SAT essay score if not an excellent paper with an outstanding intro? A well-structured thesis is an important element in making your essay look coherent. It is expected to briefly introduce the core idea of your analysis and declare how the author manages to support their argument. A good thesis states the main argument and briefly describes the author's techniques, which you will discuss. Such SAT essay strategies provide you with a template for your essay that helps to keep it concise and orderly.

Specific Examples That Support Your Point

To successfully write an SAT essay, you should support your arguments with specific examples from the passage. These illustrations will demonstrate the author's use of evidence, logic, and persuasion. Give your opinion on how these components help the author with the persuasiveness of his argument. The key here is that for every illustration, you need to tie it back to your SAT essay thesis, as that will show how it all adds up to your general analysis. With this method, you show the depth of your understanding of the text and the validity of your arguments. Complete a couple of SAT essay practice samples to master your writing skills.

Explanations of the Examples That Support Your Point

For SAT essays, giving the audience more than just examples is necessary. In addition, you should also discuss how each illustration strengthens your thesis statement. This entails discussing the author's methods, such as emotional appeals, logical thinking, and credibility, and showing why these methods are effective. Your examples should be able to link the dots for the reader and show how the author's methods add to the whole argument and make the text persuasive. So, do not forget that proper SAT essay time management is your only choice.

A Strong Conclusion

Here is how to write an SAT essay to stand out! A powerful ending is the last pillar to round off your essay for the SAT efficiently. It should rephrase the thesis in another manner, summarize the major points of your argument, and underscore its importance. Here are other crucial things to add to your SAT essay conclusion:

Show the reader how you conclude from your analysis.
Visualize why the author's techniques are so important.
Briefly summarize all key points.

A carefully crafted conclusion can ensure the essay's good flow and high impact and make the graders remember its content. Think of this part of your essay as the finish line, after which you need to run a couple more seconds so as not to fall and not to overshadow the positive emotions of being a winner. But what is a good SAT essay score? The answer is 6-8 points. A solid conclusion will help you achieve these results.

SAT Essay Outline

Here is a typical SAT outline you should stick to.

Summary of the passage.
Thesis statement.
Topic sentence.
Example from the text.
Explanation.
Restate thesis.
Recap main points.
Add a closing thought.

Writing Process: Steps to Follow

Using an organized approach for SAT writing will considerably improve your capabilities and productivity. Organizing your thoughts and planning your writing will allow you to achieve a clear, coherent, and compelling essay. Here are some essential SAT essay tips for writing a good paper.

Read Properly

Correct reading is the basis of a well-written SAT essay. Give time to read the passage completely to understand its content and the author's point of view. Be aware of the SAT essay structure, the tools the author employs, and the general aim of the writing. Pick out the main claim and highlight if there is any evidence, reasoning, or SAT essay argumentation strategies employed. This approach will allow you to understand the context of the work more clearly and will consequently help you to analyze the text in your essay.

Draw a Structure

Here is how to write an SAT essay like a pro. Before you start writing, draw out the structure of your essay. This means planning the introduction, the thesis statement, the body paragraphs, and the conclusion. Decide how your analysis will be organized and which examples from the text will be specifically addressed in each paragraph. A good structure guides your SAT essay writing and helps you stay on point, allowing readers to follow your reasoning easily.

Jot Down Details

Your SAT essay skills are crucial! While writing your paper, list details and quotes in the passage that evince your analysis. These notes will be of immense help in writing compelling body paragraphs. Ensure every detail supports the main idea you want to express. This way, you not only save time in the actual writing process but also ensure the essay is on the right track and contains relevant evidence from the text. So, here is how to write SAT essay papers correctly.

Add an Introduction

The introduction paragraph gives you a chance to make a good first impression. You should provide a brief introduction, state the passage's context, summarize its key argument, and formulate a thesis and your main analysis. Commence with the hook, which is a superb line that stirs interest. Strive for concision and clarity. Your introduction should be solid, leading the reader to the following analysis and thought. You should start by reading an SAT essay example to get straight to the point.

The Body Must Contain Details

Now comes the most difficult part of your essay. The time has come for detailed analysis because each paragraph should center on a particular aspect of the author's argumentative tools.

Start by formulating a topic sentence that presents what you will focus on.
Use a quotation or paraphrase from the text to discuss how this fits your thesis.
Demonstrate your competence in the area of analyzing and criticizing the text.

At first glance, such a mission does not seem impossible since all SAT essays have similar tasks. But do not forget that you are only one of dozens or even hundreds of people who want to become students. Take your mission responsibly. But first, try to handle a couple of test SAT essay sample prompts!

Add a Concluding Note

Here is how to write SAT essay papers correctly. A robust conclusion is a key aspect of your analysis and a convincing ending to your essay that will be remembered. Make sure to update your thesis statement according to the information you have acquired. Conclude your essay by reiterating the key points you have discussed, explicitly highlighting how they shed light on the author's methods to persuade the audience. Sum up the article by writing the main idea of the author's method or the importance of the theme. With this, you are providing a nice touch to the essay and bringing to the fore the propensity and significance of your analysis. Here is how to write SAT essay assignments correctly. And do not forget to improve your SAT essay vocabulary!

Now, let’s talk about the SAT essay revision phase. It is a significant step during writing, especially for the SAT essay, in which clarity and accuracy are necessary. Do a thorough reading of your first draft. Ensure you pay attention to every detail before moving to the next step. Seek for places in your argument when you feel it lacks strength, or you could provide a better example to illustrate your argument. Proofread and check your grammar, spelling, and punctuation because small blunders can distract the reader from the message. The SAT essay editing procedure is crucial.

Tips on How to Craft an Outstanding SAT Essay

To write a brilliant SAT essay, concentrate on clarity, cohesion, and critical thinking. Understand the passage well and plan to deliver your essay before the writing begins. Make sure that you have a thoughtful thesis and thorough analysis. Here are SAT writing tips you should stick to!

Thesis with a Twist

As you write your thesis, add an original twist or insight so that your essay stands out. Attempt to go beyond stating what the writer is doing by providing specific reasons why these techniques are effective in light of the author's purpose. An original thesis may demonstrate how well you think critically and analyze things. This can show you have a deeper and wider understanding of the text and its topics. So, check at least one good SAT essay example to craft a standout thesis. Besides, you can always choose WritePaperForMe as your guide in the world of SATpapers.

Cross-Referencing Techniques

Use cross-referencing in your SAT essay to support your analysis. Here, the reader needs to establish the unity of the parts of the text or the unity of the text and the entire literary world as it encapsulates techniques and themes. Another example is a comparison between the author's statistics and logic, pointing out how it adds to the power of their argument. Remember, regular SAT essay practice can significantly improve your writing. Besides, add more SAT essay personal examples!

Contrast with Hypotheticals

Contrasting hypotheticals with the author's arguments can be a very influential strategy in your SAT essay. This includes suggesting other scenarios or outcomes to challenge or justify the author's claims. Consider what might happen if:

Different choices were made;
different evidence was used;
alternative arguments were presented.

Addressing a particular topic from multiple angles demonstrates your SAT essay critical thinking skills and ability to see the situation from different perspectives, making your analysis more profound.

Contextual Connections

Start with this if you want to learn all about SAT essay writing. Linking the text to the wider social, historical, or cultural context involves making contextual connections. Consider the role of these factors on the author's reasoning or explain how these factors are relevant to today's problems. This mode helps you go deeper in your insight into the work and shows you the ability to think beyond the book. Just read a couple of SAT essay examples to get to the point!

Precise Language Identification

Highlight the specific language used by the author in this SAT essay. Give attention to lexicon, attitude, and style. Mention how the use of these elements helps make the argument persuasive. For illustration, analyze how the language can stimulate emotions, make the author more credible, or strongly support the logic. Accordingly, the description is so intricate that it can present the reader with a clear depiction of the role of language in persuasion, thus increasing the maturity of your commentary. Besides, don't forget that you can always choose academic assistance as a reliable alternative. Just say, “Write my paper!”

Critique the Effectiveness

Here is another thing you should know about SAT essay writing. Criticizing the success of the author's arguments is to evaluate how the author's methods match up with the desired results. Explain whether the facts furnished are impressive, the logic is flawless, or the persuasive elements engage the audience. Think of any shortcomings in the argument and propose how they could be eliminated or an effort could have been made to address them. This critical assessment demonstrates your analysis skills and shows you can participate in-depth in the material.

End with a Forward-Thinking Conclusion

In the last paragraph, you can explore how the critical analysis can be extended to a futuristic perspective. The author's thesis encourages us to speculate on the consequences for the future or perhaps the applicability to other issues. This way of putting things not only allows you to consolidate your analysis but also allows you to show your ability to be holistic and contextual. An engaging conclusion demonstrating you can reason, a highly respected skill in an academic setting, will be a big plus. May your SAT essay scoring be successful!

Good SAT Essay Ideas to Start From

Be prepared for all youngsters to receive a common topic for the SAT exam. Sometimes, this rule may be broken, but you should be prepared for any scenario. Here are the SAT essay prompts you should usually expect:

Example 1: Analyze Jimmy Carter's techniques to convince his audience of the need to preserve the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge from industrial development.
Example 2: Discuss how Martin Luther King Jr. crafts his argument to persuade listeners that America's participation in the Vietnam War is unjustified.
Example 3: Analyze how Eliana Dockterman constructs her argument to advocate for the advantages of early exposure to technology for children.

Similar SAT essay prompts can be found in documents posted on the servers of many colleges. Typically, educational institutions provide all future students access to materials that help them understand the principles of writing SAT essays.

SAT Essay Don'ts: Things to Avoid

To ensure your analysis is top-notch, there are some things to watch out for when writing your SAT essay. At first glance, they may seem insignificant, but any mistake can negatively affect the final result and reduce the chances of successful admission. Do you want to learn how to write an SAT essay? Here are the nuances that you should avoid.

Don't Restate the Prompt

Do you want to know how to write an SAT essay? Do not restate the prompt! It is a usual error to copy the prompt instead of developing a personal analysis in the SAT essay. In your introduction, both the author's opinion and your thesis statement should be stated, for the thesis should contain a more complex idea on the text. Your thesis statement should not simply rephrase the SAT essay prompt but rather introduce your point of view and how you will analyze the author's work techniques. This will build a base for your essay and show evidence of your critical thinking ability.

Don't Repeat Yourself

Repetition may weaken your essay by making it seem as if you only have a little background of the text. Don't rely on just one SAT essay example for each point or repeatedly tell the reader the same thing. Unlike the first paragraph, each paragraph should provide something new regarding the author's techniques or add a unique slant. This method indicates your in-depth study, which evokes the reader's attention, thus signifying your profound intellect and creativity.

Don't Use Phrases Like "I Think," "I Believe"

Being objective and analytical is key to the SAT essay. Sentences that use "I think" or "I believe" are subjective and do not present a logical idea. The primary aim is to provide the SAT essay evidence from the passages and assess whether it supports the author's claims. This approach to writing reinforces your credibility and the formality of writing that a typical academic essay demands. Check relevant SAT essay examples to know how to compose your paper correctly.

Don't Push Your Sentence Structure

Here is how to write an SAT essay like a pro. It is not enough to prove your ability to build a sophisticated sentence. If you over-complicate your sentence structure, then clarity will be lost. Avoid using extremely long and complex sentences that might confuse the reader or make your points controversial. Strive to achieve a natural and easy flow where your sentence structure strengthens the readability and continuity of your essay. Ideal communication should be considered; thus, use structures that convey what you have analyzed clearly and straightforwardly, which will, in turn, put your thoughts and evidence under the spotlight.

How long should an SAT essay be?

This paper is typically about 650-750 words long. This option may vary slightly depending on the college you choose.

Can I use personal experiences in the SAT essay?

Not really. Avoid using personal experiences in the SAT essay. Instead, focus on analyzing the techniques used by the author of the given passage.

What is the best way to structure an SAT essay?

Create an SAT essay introduction with a clear thesis statement, a couple of body paragraphs, and a concluding part summarizing the findings.

How important is handwriting in the SAT essay?

Well, your SAT essay handwriting is not the most critical factor. Still, it can affect the final SAT essay score. If certain words or sentences are written illegibly, this will affect graders' ability to understand your argument.

Are there specific examples to use in the SAT essay?

Yes. You should use specific SAT essay examples directly from the passage provided.

APA Proposal Format: All Writing Tips & Examples

How to start a personal essay: Top prompts shared by professionals

Crafting a Perfect Social Media Essay: Your Academic Guide

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Your chance of acceptance, your chancing factors, extracurriculars, how to interpret practice sat scores.

I just took a practice SAT and I'm not sure how to interpret my scores. Can someone help me understand them, or direct me to a resource that will? Also, any tips to improve my scores would be great!

Sure, I'd be happy to help you interpret your practice SAT scores and provide some tips for improvement. The SAT is scored on a scale of 400 to 1600, with two main sections — Reading and Writing (Evidence-Based Reading and Writing) and Math. Each section is scored from 200 to 800, so the maximum possible score is 1600 (800 for each section).

Here's a breakdown of your practice score:

1. Find your scores for each section: Math and Reading & Writing.

2. Add these two scores together to find your composite score, which should fall between 400 and 1600.

You can also check percentiles to get an idea of how your scores compare to those of other test-takers. Every year, the College Board publishes a percentile table to help students understand their performance in relation to others. Higher percentiles indicate that you scored better than a larger percentage of students.

Now, for tips on improving your scores:

1. Analyze your practice test: Go back to the questions you answered incorrectly and understand the mistakes you made. This will help you identify the types of questions or specific topics that you need to work on.

2. Study strategically: Focus on the areas where you struggled the most in the practice test. Working on these topics will likely give you the greatest improvement in your overall score. Don't neglect your strong areas but spend more time on the areas that need improvement.

3. Learn test-taking strategies: Familiarize yourself with time management techniques, such as skipping difficult questions and coming back to them later, or eliminating incorrect answer choices. Additionally, get to know the format of the test, how questions are asked, and the types of answer choices.

4. Practice, practice, practice: Regular practice is key to improvement. Take full-length practice tests under simulated test conditions, work on specific sections, and get comfortable with the format and timing of the test. The College Board provides free practice tests and questions on their website, or you can use other resources like Khan Academy or CollegeVine.

5. Stay confident: Believe in yourself and stay focused on your goals. Keep a positive mindset and remember that with consistent effort and practice, you can improve your scores.

I hope this helps you interpret your practice SAT scores and gives you some tips for improvement. Good luck with your test preparation!

About CollegeVine’s Expert FAQ

CollegeVine’s Q&A seeks to offer informed perspectives on commonly asked admissions questions. Every answer is refined and validated by our team of admissions experts to ensure it resonates with trusted knowledge in the field.

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Management Exams /

How to Improve Logical Thinking? Tips to Improve Logical Reasoning for Management Exams

Updated on
May 16, 2024

Logical thinking is an act of analysing the situation and coming up with a sensible solution for every problem. It is a skill one must inculcate to analyse any problem, come to a solution, and make a rational decision objectively. Logical reasoning involves a lot of logical thinking and it is a major part of every competitive exam. The stronger your logical reasoning skills are, the easier it will be for you to solve logical problems in any exam. Ultimately, if you know how to improve and strengthen logical thinking, the decisions will be effective and help you reach your career goals. To know more about “How to Improve Logical Thinking?” , continue reading the blog post below.

Table of Contents

1.1 Partaking in Creative Activities
1.2 Participating in Social Activities
1.3 Learning a New Skill
1.4 Asking Meaningful Questions
2 Best Books to Improve Logical Thinking
3.1 Topics Covered Under Logical Reasoning
4.1 Practice Regularly
4.2 Understand Logical Principles
4.3 Read Diverse Topics
4.4 Solve Problems Systematically
4.5 Develop Critical Thinking Skills
5 Logical Reasoning Books for Management Exams

How to Improve Improve Logical Thinking?

If you are willing to improve your logical thinking abilities, listed below are some easy tips you can follow:

Partaking in Creative Activities

Taking part in creative activities such as reading, painting, writing, solving puzzles etc is a major source to improve your logical reasoning abilities. All creative activities help you perform better in any situation.

Participating in Social Activities

Developing meaningful relationships with other people can help you broaden your perspective and in turn, improve your thinking ability. When one becomes familiar with someone and learns about their perspective, the approach to solving any problem becomes easy.

Learning a New Skill

Learning a new skill gives a sense of accomplishment. It is just like learning a new habit and improving your lifestyle. Skill enhancement is a major part of career as well as professional development.

Asking Meaningful Questions

Asking logical questions about the things you accept as fact gives mental and conceptual clarity. When you ask questions, you uncover more about topics you have not yet considered before.

Also Read: Logical and Analytical Reasoning – A Modern Approach

Best Books to Improve Logical Thinking

Listed below are some meaningful reads that everyone can prefer:

Also Read: Number Series Questions for Competitive Exams

What is Logical Reasoning?

Logical reasoning questions are designed in a way to measure your logical thinking and problem-solving abilities. One is mainly tested based on whether one can analyse the images being displayed, puzzles, and symbols and then logically come to a conclusion. There are mainly two types of logical reasoning: Verbal Reasoning and Non-Verbal Reasoning .

Topics Covered Under Logical Reasoning

Listed below are a few topics that are covered under logical reasoning:

Number and Letter Series
Seating Arrangement
Logical Sequence
Venn Diagrams
Binary Logic
Blood Relations
Logical Connectives

Also Read: 20+ Questions of Seating Arrangement Reasoning

Tips to Improve Logical Reasoning

Now that we have covered How to improve logical thinking, let us explore tips to enhance logical reasoning. Learning to solve problems using your logical reasoning abilities helps you succeed personally and also gives you greater results. Listed below are some quick tips to help you improve your logical reasoning abilities:

Practice Regularly

Like any skill, logical reasoning improves with practice. Dedicate time regularly to solve logic puzzles, brain teasers, or even mathematical problems.

Understand Logical Principles

Familiarize yourself with basic logical principles such as deduction, induction, and abduction. Learn about logical fallacies to recognize flawed reasoning questions.

Read Diverse Topics

Expose yourself to diverse topics and viewpoints through reading. Analyze arguments in articles, essays, or debates to identify premises, conclusions, and reasoning patterns.

Solve Problems Systematically

When faced with a problem, break it down into smaller parts and approach each step systematically. Practice breaking down complex problems into manageable parts.

Develop Critical Thinking Skills

Question assumptions, evaluate evidence, and consider alternative perspectives. Critical thinking is essential for logical reasoning as it helps in analyzing arguments objectively.

Also Read: 20+ Questions of Statement and Assumption | Logical Reasoning ✏️

Logical Reasoning Books for Management Exams

By practising multiple logical reasoning questions, one will be able to score well in any desired competitive exams. The table below shows the books one can prefer to prepare for logical reasoning questions.

Vaishnavi Shukla

Vaishnavi has 2+ years of experience in SEO and Content Marketing. She is highly proficient in English, possessing exceptional language skills and a deep understanding of English grammar and communication. Currently working on Ed Tech, Finance, Lifestyle, and other niches. All her works are infused with love for writing!

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When Prison and Mental Illness Amount to a Death Sentence

The downward spiral of one inmate, Markus Johnson, shows the larger failures of the nation’s prisons to care for the mentally ill.

Supported by

By Glenn Thrush

Photographs by Carlos Javier Ortiz

Glenn Thrush spent more than a year reporting this article, interviewing close to 50 people and reviewing court-obtained body-camera footage and more than 1,500 pages of documents.

Published May 5, 2024 Updated May 7, 2024

Markus Johnson slumped naked against the wall of his cell, skin flecked with pepper spray, his face a mask of puzzlement, exhaustion and resignation. Four men in black tactical gear pinned him, his face to the concrete, to cuff his hands behind his back.

He did not resist. He couldn’t. He was so gravely dehydrated he would be dead by their next shift change.

Listen to this article with reporter commentary

“I didn’t do anything,” Mr. Johnson moaned as they pressed a shield between his shoulders.

It was 1:19 p.m. on Sept. 6, 2019, in the Danville Correctional Center, a medium-security prison a few hours south of Chicago. Mr. Johnson, 21 and serving a short sentence for gun possession, was in the throes of a mental collapse that had gone largely untreated, but hardly unwatched.

He had entered in good health, with hopes of using the time to gain work skills. But for the previous three weeks, Mr. Johnson, who suffered from bipolar disorder and schizophrenia, had refused to eat or take his medication. Most dangerous of all, he had stealthily stopped drinking water, hastening the physical collapse that often accompanies full-scale mental crises.

Mr. Johnson’s horrific downward spiral, which has not been previously reported, represents the larger failures of the nation’s prisons to care for the mentally ill. Many seriously ill people receive no treatment . For those who do, the outcome is often determined by the vigilance and commitment of individual supervisors and frontline staff, which vary greatly from system to system, prison to prison, and even shift to shift.

The country’s jails and prisons have become its largest provider of inpatient mental health treatment, with 10 times as many seriously mentally ill people now held behind bars as in hospitals. Estimating the population of incarcerated people with major psychological problems is difficult, but the number is likely 200,000 to 300,000, experts say.

Many of these institutions remain ill-equipped to handle such a task, and the burden often falls on prison staff and health care personnel who struggle with the dual roles of jailer and caregiver in a high-stress, dangerous, often dehumanizing environment.

In 2021, Joshua McLemore , a 29-year-old with schizophrenia held for weeks in an isolation cell in Jackson County, Ind., died of organ failure resulting from a “refusal to eat or drink,” according to an autopsy. In April, New York City agreed to pay $28 million to settle a lawsuit filed by the family of Nicholas Feliciano, a young man with a history of mental illness who suffered severe brain damage after attempting to hang himself on Rikers Island — as correctional officers stood by.

Mr. Johnson’s mother has filed a wrongful-death suit against the state and Wexford Health Sources, a for-profit health care contractor in Illinois prisons. The New York Times reviewed more than 1,500 pages of reports, along with depositions taken from those involved. Together, they reveal a cascade of missteps, missed opportunities, potential breaches of protocol and, at times, lapses in common sense.

A woman wearing a jeans jacket sitting at a table showing photos of a young boy on her cellphone.

Prison officials and Wexford staff took few steps to intervene even after it became clear that Mr. Johnson, who had been hospitalized repeatedly for similar episodes and recovered, had refused to take medication. Most notably, they did not transfer him to a state prison facility that provides more intensive mental health treatment than is available at regular prisons, records show.

The quality of medical care was also questionable, said Mr. Johnson’s lawyers, Sarah Grady and Howard Kaplan, a married legal team in Chicago. Mr. Johnson lost 50 to 60 pounds during three weeks in solitary confinement, but officials did not initiate interventions like intravenous feedings or transfer him to a non-prison hospital.

And they did not take the most basic step — dialing 911 — until it was too late.

There have been many attempts to improve the quality of mental health treatment in jails and prisons by putting care on par with punishment — including a major effort in Chicago . But improvements have proved difficult to enact and harder to sustain, hampered by funding and staffing shortages.

Lawyers representing the state corrections department, Wexford and staff members who worked at Danville declined to comment on Mr. Johnson’s death, citing the unresolved litigation. In their interviews with state police investigators, and in depositions, employees defended their professionalism and adherence to procedure, while citing problems with high staff turnover, difficult work conditions, limited resources and shortcomings of co-workers.

But some expressed a sense of resignation about the fate of Mr. Johnson and others like him.

Prisoners have “much better chances in a hospital, but that’s not their situation,” said a senior member of Wexford’s health care team in a deposition.

“I didn’t put them in prison,” he added. “They are in there for a reason.”

Markus Mison Johnson was born on March 1, 1998, to a mother who believed she was not capable of caring for him.

Days after his birth, he was taken in by Lisa Barker Johnson, a foster mother in her 30s who lived in Zion, Ill., a working-class city halfway between Chicago and Milwaukee. Markus eventually became one of four children she adopted from different families.

The Johnson house is a lively split level, with nieces, nephews, grandchildren and neighbors’ children, family keepsakes, video screens and juice boxes. Ms. Johnson sits at its center on a kitchen chair, chin resting on her hand as children wander over to share their thoughts, or to tug on her T-shirt to ask her to be their bathroom buddy.

From the start, her bond with Markus was particularly powerful, in part because the two looked so much alike, with distinctive dimpled smiles. Many neighbors assumed he was her biological son. The middle name she chose for him was intended to convey that message.

“Mison is short for ‘my son,’” she said standing over his modest footstone grave last summer.

He was happy at home. School was different. His grades were good, but he was intensely shy and was diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder in elementary school.

That was around the time the bullying began. His sisters were fierce defenders, but they could only do so much. He did the best he could, developing a quick, taunting tongue.

These experiences filled him with a powerful yearning to fit in.

It was not to be.

When he was around 15, he called 911 in a panic, telling the dispatcher he saw two men standing near the small park next to his house threatening to abduct children playing there. The officers who responded found nothing out of the ordinary, and rang the Johnsons’ doorbell.

He later told his mother he had heard a voice telling him to “protect the kids.”

He was hospitalized for the first time at 16, and given medications that stabilized him for stretches of time. But the crises would strike every six months or so, often triggered by his decision to stop taking his medication.

His family became adept at reading signs he was “getting sick.” He would put on his tan Timberlands and a heavy winter coat, no matter the season, and perch on the edge of his bed as if bracing for battle. Sometimes, he would cook his own food, paranoid that someone might poison him.

He graduated six months early, on the dean’s list, but was rudderless, and hanging out with younger boys, often paying their way.

His mother pointed out the perils of buying friendship.

“I don’t care,” he said. “At least I’ll be popular for a minute.”

Zion’s inviting green grid of Bible-named streets belies the reality that it is a rough, unforgiving place to grow up. Family members say Markus wanted desperately to prove he was tough, and emulated his younger, reckless group of friends.

Like many of them, he obtained a pistol. He used it to hold up a convenience store clerk for $425 in January 2017, according to police records. He cut a plea deal for two years of probation, and never explained to his family what had made him do it.

But he kept getting into violent confrontations. In late July 2018, he was arrested in a neighbor’s garage with a handgun he later admitted was his. He was still on probation for the robbery, and his public defender negotiated a plea deal that would send him to state prison until January 2020.

An inpatient mental health system

Around 40 percent of the about 1.8 million people in local, state and federal jails and prison suffer from at least one mental illness, and many of these people have concurrent issues with substance abuse, according to recent Justice Department estimates.

Psychological problems, often exacerbated by drug use, often lead to significant medical problems resulting from a lack of hygiene or access to good health care.

“When you suffer depression in the outside world, it’s hard to concentrate, you have reduced energy, your sleep is disrupted, you have a very gloomy outlook, so you stop taking care of yourself,” said Robert L. Trestman , a Virginia Tech medical school professor who has worked on state prison mental health reforms.

The paradox is that prison is often the only place where sick people have access to even minimal care.

But the harsh work environment, remote location of many prisons, and low pay have led to severe shortages of corrections staff and the unwillingness of doctors, nurses and counselors to work with the incarcerated mentally ill.

In the early 2000s, prisoners’ rights lawyers filed a class-action lawsuit against Illinois claiming “deliberate indifference” to the plight of about 5,000 mentally ill prisoners locked in segregated units and denied treatment and medication.

In 2014, the parties reached a settlement that included minimum staffing mandates, revamped screening protocols, restrictions on the use of solitary confinement and the allocation of about $100 million to double capacity in the system’s specialized mental health units.

Yet within six months of the deal, Pablo Stewart, an independent monitor chosen to oversee its enforcement, declared the system to be in a state of emergency.

Over the years, some significant improvements have been made. But Dr. Stewart’s final report , drafted in 2022, gave the system failing marks for its medication and staffing policies and reliance on solitary confinement “crisis watch” cells.

Ms. Grady, one of Mr. Johnson’s lawyers, cited an additional problem: a lack of coordination between corrections staff and Wexford’s professionals, beyond dutifully filling out dozens of mandated status reports.

“Markus Johnson was basically documented to death,” she said.

‘I’m just trying to keep my head up’

Mr. Johnson was not exactly looking forward to prison. But he saw it as an opportunity to learn a trade so he could start a family when he got out.

On Dec. 18, 2018, he arrived at a processing center in Joliet, where he sat for an intake interview. He was coherent and cooperative, well-groomed and maintained eye contact. He was taking his medication, not suicidal and had a hearty appetite. He was listed as 5 feet 6 inches tall and 256 pounds.

Mr. Johnson described his mood as “go with the flow.”

A few days later, after arriving in Danville, he offered a less settled assessment during a telehealth visit with a Wexford psychiatrist, Dr. Nitin Thapar. Mr. Johnson admitted to being plagued by feelings of worthlessness, hopelessness and “constant uncontrollable worrying” that affected his sleep.

He told Dr. Thapar he had heard voices in the past — but not now — telling him he was a failure, and warning that people were out to get him.

At the time he was incarcerated, the basic options for mentally ill people in Illinois prisons included placement in the general population or transfer to a special residential treatment program at the Dixon Correctional Center, west of Chicago. Mr. Johnson seemed out of immediate danger, so he was assigned to a standard two-man cell in the prison’s general population, with regular mental health counseling and medication.

Things started off well enough. “I’m just trying to keep my head up,” he wrote to his mother. “Every day I learn to be stronger & stronger.”

But his daily phone calls back home hinted at friction with other inmates. And there was not much for him to do after being turned down for a janitorial training program.

Then, in the spring of 2019, his grandmother died, sending him into a deep hole.

Dr. Thapar prescribed a new drug used to treat major depressive disorders. Its most common side effect is weight gain. Mr. Johnson stopped taking it.

On July 4, he told Dr. Thapar matter-of-factly during a telehealth check-in that he was no longer taking any of his medications. “I’ve been feeling normal, I guess,” he said. “I feel like I don’t need the medication anymore.”

Dr. Thapar said he thought that was a mistake, but accepted the decision and removed Mr. Johnson from his regular mental health caseload — instructing him to “reach out” if he needed help, records show.

The pace of calls back home slackened. Mr. Johnson spent more time in bed, and became more surly. At a group-therapy session, he sat stone silent, after showing up late.

By early August, he was telling guards he had stopped eating.

At some point, no one knows when, he had intermittently stopped drinking fluids.

‘I’m having a breakdown’

Then came the crash.

On Aug. 12, Mr. Johnson got into a fight with his older cellmate.

He was taken to a one-man disciplinary cell. A few hours later, Wexford’s on-site mental health counselor, Melanie Easton, was shocked by his disoriented condition. Mr. Johnson stared blankly, then burst into tears when asked if he had “suffered a loss in the previous six months.”

He was so unresponsive to her questions she could not finish the evaluation.

Ms. Easton ordered that he be moved to a 9-foot by 8-foot crisis cell — solitary confinement with enhanced monitoring. At this moment, a supervisor could have ticked the box for “residential treatment” on a form to transfer him to Dixon. That did not happen, according to records and depositions.

Around this time, he asked to be placed back on his medication but nothing seems to have come of it, records show.

By mid-August, he said he was visualizing “people that were not there,” according to case notes. At first, he was acting more aggressively, once flicking water at a guard through a hole in his cell door. But his energy ebbed, and he gradually migrated downward — from standing to bunk to floor.

“I’m having a breakdown,” he confided to a Wexford employee.

At the time, inmates in Illinois were required to declare an official hunger strike before prison officials would initiate protocols, including blood testing or forced feedings. But when a guard asked Mr. Johnson why he would not eat, he said he was “fasting,” as opposed to starving himself, and no action seems to have been taken.

‘Tell me this is OK!’

Lt. Matthew Morrison, one of the few people at Danville to take a personal interest in Mr. Johnson, reported seeing a white rind around his mouth in early September. He told other staff members the cell gave off “a death smell,” according to a deposition.

On Sept. 5, they moved Mr. Johnson to one of six cells adjacent to the prison’s small, bare-bones infirmary. Prison officials finally placed him on the official hunger strike protocol without his consent.

Mr. Morrison, in his deposition, said he was troubled by the inaction of the Wexford staff, and the lack of urgency exhibited by the medical director, Dr. Justin Young.

On Sept. 5, Mr. Morrison approached Dr. Young to express his concerns, and the doctor agreed to order blood and urine tests. But Dr. Young lived in Chicago, and was on site at the prison about four times a week, according to Mr. Kaplan. Friday, Sept. 6, 2019, was not one of those days.

Mr. Morrison arrived at work that morning, expecting to find Mr. Johnson’s testing underway. A Wexford nurse told him Dr. Young believed the tests could wait.

Mr. Morrison, stunned, asked her to call Dr. Young.

“He’s good till Monday,” Dr. Young responded, according to Mr. Morrison.

“Come on, come on, look at this guy! You tell me this is OK!” the officer responded.

Eventually, Justin Duprey, a licensed nurse practitioner and the most senior Wexford employee on duty that day, authorized the test himself.

Mr. Morrison, thinking he had averted a disaster, entered the cell and implored Mr. Johnson into taking the tests. He refused.

So prison officials obtained approval to remove him forcibly from his cell.

‘Oh, my God’

What happened next is documented in video taken from cameras held by officers on the extraction team and obtained by The Times through a court order.

Mr. Johnson is scarcely recognizable as the neatly groomed 21-year-old captured in a cellphone picture a few months earlier. His skin is ashen, eyes fixed on the middle distance. He might be 40. Or 60.

At first, he places his hands forward through the hole in his cell door to be cuffed. This is against procedure, the officers shout. His hands must be in back.

He will not, or cannot, comply. He wanders to the rear of his cell and falls hard. Two blasts of pepper spray barely elicit a reaction. The leader of the tactical team later said he found it unusual and unnerving.

The next video is in the medical unit. A shield is pressed to his chest. He is in agony, begging for them to stop, as two nurses attempt to insert a catheter.

Then they move him, half-conscious and limp, onto a wheelchair for the blood draw.

For the next 20 minutes, the Wexford nurse performing the procedure, Angelica Wachtor, jabs hands and arms to find a vessel that will hold shape. She winces with each puncture, tries to comfort him, and grows increasingly rattled.

“Oh, my God,” she mutters, and asks why help is not on the way.

She did not request assistance or discuss calling 911, records indicate.

“Can you please stop — it’s burning real bad,” Mr. Johnson said.

Soon after, a member of the tactical team reminds Ms. Wachtor to take Mr. Johnson’s vitals before taking him back to his cell. She would later tell Dr. Young she had been unable to able to obtain his blood pressure.

“You good?” one of the team members asks as they are preparing to leave.

“Yeah, I’ll have to be,” she replies in the recording.

Officers lifted him back onto his bunk, leaving him unconscious and naked except for a covering draped over his groin. His expressionless face is visible through the window on the cell door as it closes.

‘Cardiac arrest.’

Mr. Duprey, the nurse practitioner, had been sitting inside his office after corrections staff ordered him to shelter for his own protection, he said. When he emerged, he found Ms. Wachtor sobbing, and after a delay, he was let into the cell. Finding no pulse, Mr. Duprey asked a prison employee to call 911 so Mr. Johnson could be taken to a local emergency room.

The Wexford staff initiated CPR. It did not work.

At 3:38 p.m., the paramedics declared Markus Mison Johnson dead.

Afterward, a senior official at Danville called the Johnson family to say he had died of “cardiac arrest.”

Lisa Johnson pressed for more information, but none was initially forthcoming. She would soon receive a box hastily crammed with his possessions: uneaten snacks, notebooks, an inspirational memoir by a man who had served 20 years at Leavenworth.

Later, Shiping Bao, the coroner who examined his body, determined Mr. Johnson had died of severe dehydration. He told the state police it “was one of the driest bodies he had ever seen.”

For a long time, Ms. Johnson blamed herself. She says that her biggest mistake was assuming that the state, with all its resources, would provide a level of care comparable to what she had been able to provide her son.

She had stopped accepting foster care children while she was raising Markus and his siblings. But as the months dragged on, she decided her once-boisterous house had become oppressively still, and let local agencies know she was available again.

“It is good to have children around,” she said. “It was too quiet around here.”

Read by Glenn Thrush

Audio produced by Jack D’Isidoro .

Glenn Thrush covers the Department of Justice. He joined The Times in 2017 after working for Politico, Newsday, Bloomberg News, The New York Daily News, The Birmingham Post-Herald and City Limits. More about Glenn Thrush

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Sat / act prep online guides and tips, how to improve your sat reading and writing score: 8 strategies.

SAT Strategies

Are you struggling with an SAT Reading and Writing score between 300 and 500? You're not alone—hundreds of thousands of students are scoring in this range. But many don't know the best ways to break out of this score range and get a 600 or higher.

Here, we'll discuss how to improve your SAT Reading score specifically and why it's so important to do so. Unlike other fluffy articles out there, we'll be focusing on actionable strategies. Put these 8 strategies to work and I'm confident you'll be able to improve your SAT Reading score.

Brief note: this article is suited for students scoring below 600 on Reading and Writing. If you're already above this range, my perfect SAT Reading score article is more appropriate for you.

In this article, I'm going to discuss why scoring high is a good idea, address what it takes to score a 600, and then go into specific SAT Reading tips and strategies.

Stick with me—this is like building a house. First, you need to lay a good foundation before putting up the walls and pretty windows. In the same vein, we need to understand why you're doing what you're doing before we dive into our top tips and strategies for SAT Reading.

Note that I will talk mainly about getting to 600, but if your goal is 500 or lower, these concepts still equally apply.

Getting a 600 on SAT Reading and Writing: Understand the Stakes

At this SAT score range, improving your low SAT Reading and Writing score to a score in at least the 600 range will dramatically boost your chances of getting into better colleges.

Let's take a popular school, Penn State University, as an example. Its average SAT score is 1265 . Its 25th percentile score is 1220, and 75th percentile is 1380. Furthermore, its acceptance rate is 55%. In other words, a little more than half of all applicants are admitted. But the lower your scores, the worse your chances will be of getting in.

Based on our analysis, if you score around 1110, your chances of admission to Penn State drop to 25%, or around 1/4 chance. But if you raise your SAT score to 1370, your chances of admission go up to 75%—that's a much higher chance of admission!

The Reading and Writing section is especially important if you want to apply to humanities or language programs. These programs expect your SAT Writing score to be better than your Math score. So if you score low on this section, they'll likely doubt your ability to do college-level humanities work.

As you can see, it's really worth your time to improve your SAT score. Hour for hour, it's the best thing you can do to raise your chance of getting into college .

Know That You Can Raise Your SAT Reading and Writing Score

This isn't just supposed to be a vague, happy-go-lucky message you see on a juice carton.

I mean, literally, you and every other student can do this.

In my job here at PrepScholar, I've worked with thousands of students scoring in the lower ranges of 300-500 on Reading and Writing.

Time after time, I've seen students beat themselves up over their low scores because they think improving them is impossible. This breaks my heart.

I know that more than anything else, your SAT score is a reflection of how hard you work and how smartly you study. Not your IQ and not your school grades. Not how Mr. Anderson in 10th grade gave you a C on your essay.

Here's why: the SAT is a weird test. When you take it, don't you get the sense that the questions are nothing like what you've seen in high school?

You're right; they aren't. The SAT wants to test your college readiness, and part of that is testing whether you can take what you've learned so far and apply that to solve new, unfamiliar problems. But that doesn't mean you can't prepare for the task—I'm here to show you how.

SAT Reading and Writing Is Designed to Trick You — You Need to Learn How

I bet you've had this problem: in SAT Reading and Writing, you often miss questions because of an unlucky guess. You'll try to eliminate a few answer choices, and the remaining answer choices will all sound equally good to you.

This was one of the major issues when I was studying for the SAT, and I know it affects thousands of my students at PrepScholar. Here's the secret: t he SAT is purposely designed this way to confuse you .

Normally in English class, the focus is on how to analyze a text and make a compelling argument. You can frequently write an essay about anything you want, as long as you can back it up with evidence. Similarly, grammar is mostly considered as part of constructing a clear argument — your writing makes sense but you probably don't know the exact rules you're following.

The SAT has a unique problem. It's a national test, which means it needs a level playing field for all students around the country. It can only test topics that every high schooler will learn. Since they can't test obscure and challenging topics, the College Board has to find different ways of making some questions more difficult, typically by testing familiar concepts in strange ways. Moreover, every question needs a single, unambiguously, 100% correct answer.

Imagine if each question had two answer choices that might each be plausibly correct. When the scores came out, every single student who got the question wrong would complain to the College Board about the test being wrong. The College Board would then have to invalidate the question, weakening the power of the test.

SAT Reading Tricks

SAT reading questions disguise the fact that they only have one correct answer by asking questions like:

The author would most likely agree with which of the following statements?
The first paragraph primarily serves to:
In line 20, 'dark' most nearly means:

Notice a pattern here? The phrasing encourages you to waver between two or three answer choices that are most likely.

When it works, you guess randomly. And then you get the question wrong.

Students fall for this trick millions of times every year. But if you learn the tricks the SAT Reading plays on you, you can avoid them.

SAT Writing Tricks

SAT Writing questions are all about topics you've learned in school and probably use every day: subject-verb agreement, run-on sentences, pronoun choice, etc. But, in order to make the test more difficult, the SAT tests these concepts in strange ways . This trips up students who don't prepare but rewards students who understand the test well.

Take a look at this example sentence:

The commissioner, along with his 20 staff members, run a tight campaign against the incumbent.

Can you spot the problem? The error is in subject/verb agreement. The subject of the sentence is commissioner, which is singular, but the verb is "run." Because the subject is singular, it should really be "runs."

If you didn't recognize this, you fell for a classic SAT Writing trap. It purposely confused you with the interrupting phrase, "along with his 20 staff members." You're now picturing 20 people in a campaign—which suggests a plural verb!

The SAT Writing section is full of examples like this, and they get trickier. Nearly every grammar rule is tested in specific ways, and if you don't prepare for these, you're going to do a lot worse than you should.

Here's the good news: this might have been confusing the first time, but the next time you see a question like this, you'll know exactly what to do.

If you prepare for the SAT in the right way, you'll learn the tricks the SAT plays on you . To improve your score, you just need to:

Learn the types of questions that the SAT tests
Learn strategies to solve these questions, using skills you already know
Practice on a lot of questions so you learn from your mistakes

The point is that you can learn these skills even if you don't consider yourself a good reader or a good English student. I'll go into more detail about exactly how to do this.

What It Takes to Get a 600 in Reading and Writing

If we have a target score in mind, it helps to understand what you need to get that score on the actual test. We're going to use 600 as our score target, because this is above average and will make you competitive for a lot of schools.

In the past, we could calculate fairly precisely how many questions you needed to get right in order to get a 600. Unfortunately, the adaptive format makes these calculations impossible for the digital SAT, but we can make an estimate based on the previous tests and the paper versions of the current test.

If you're aiming for a 600, I estimate that you need to answer 70%-75% of all questions right . Is this fewer than you thought? A 75% on a grammar test at school might give you a C, but on the SAT it can be more than enough for your target score.

However, remember that the digital SAT is adaptive , so how you perform on the first module determines which questions you'll see on the second. The numbers above are a very rough estimate and you shouldn't count on being able to miss a specific number of questions. Instead, the take away here is that you don't need to get every question right — not even close.

9 Strategies to Improve Your Low SAT Reading and Writing Score

We've covered why raising your SAT reading and writing score is important, why you specifically are capable of improving your score, and roughly how many questions you need to get right to reach your target. Now let's get into actionable strategies that you should use in your own studying to maximize your score improvement.

Strategy 1: Understand All Your Mistakes

Every mistake you make on a test happens for a reason. If you don't understand exactly why you missed a question, you'll make the same mistake over and over again.

Too many students scoring at the 400-600 level on SAT Reading refuse to study their mistakes .

It's hard. I get it. It sucks to stare your mistakes in the face. It's draining to learn difficult concepts you don't readily understand.

So the average student will skip reviewing their mistakes and instead focus on the areas they're already comfortable with. It's like a warm blanket. Their thinking goes like this: "So I'm good at Big Picture questions? I should do more Big Picture problems! They make me feel good about myself."

The result? No score improvement.

You don't want to be like these students. So here's what you need to do instead:

On every practice test or question set you take, mark every question you're even just 20% unsure about.
When you grade your test or quiz, review every question you marked and every incorrect question. This way even if you guessed a question correctly, you'll make sure to review it.
In a log, write the gist of the question, why you missed it, and what you'll do to avoid making that mistake in the future. Have separate sections by subject and sub-topic (e.g., Big Picture, Inference, Vocab, etc.).

It's not enough to just think about it and move on. It's not enough to just read the answer explanation. You have to think hard about why you specifically failed on a question.

For Reading questions, you must find a way to eliminate every single incorrect answer. If you were stuck between two answer choices, review your work to figure out why you couldn't eliminate the wrong answer choice.

For Writing questions, figure out what concept the question is testing. Then determine if you missed the question because you didn't know the rule, didn't understand the question, or rushed and picked the wrong answer even though you knew the correct one.

If you don't do this, I guarantee you will not make any progress.

But if you do take this structured approach to your mistakes, you'll now have a running log of every question you missed as well as your reflections on why you made the mistakes you did.

Strategy 2: Know What's REALLY on the Test — And Prepare Accordingly

When you go into battle, you need to know your enemy. The same is true when studying for the SAT — in order to raise your score on the test, you need to know exactly what you'll see on the exam and focus your prep on the most commonly tested subjects.

This may sound intimidating, but the truth is that the SAT asks the same types of questions over and over again. Once you know what to expect on the test, it's actually a lot LESS scary.

First of all, you need to know what the most important grammar rules are and how they work in order to do well on SAT Reading and Writing.

The good news is that certain grammar rules are far more common than others on the SAT. For example, punctuation is the #1 grammar rule on the test —and almost six times more common than modifiers !

What this means is that you can get more bang for your buck if you study correctly. Instead of reading a grammar book cover to cover, you should focus on the most critical grammar rules to improve your score most.

And here's a great listing of the top 12 SAT grammar rules you should know . I won't list them here since the article I linked to is a much better explanation. For more tips on SAT grammar, check out our guide to all essential grammar rules you should know .

Just as important as knowing what to study is knowing what not to study. Many students are tempted to spend a lot of their prep time on vocabulary — it's satisfying to run through flashcards and the SAT apps and games can be fun. But obscure SAT vocab is no longer tested on the exam, with the focus having moved to understanding words in context.

These days, the majority of SAT vocabulary will be words you already know. Take the following example:

Here are some more examples of words you'll need to understand in context for the SAT :

These are somewhat advanced words, but they're nowhere near the level of the words you used to have to know, such as "apportionment" and "expropriated."

If you have a pretty typical vocabulary of an American teen, there will be at most two to three SAT Reading questions that'll really stretch your vocabulary. But like I mentioned above, you don't need to get every question right.

Strategy 3: Find Your Skill Weaknesses and Drill Them

If you're like most students, you're better at some areas on SAT Reading and Writing than you are at others. You might know pronouns really well, for instance, but you're not very strong at big picture questions. Or maybe you're really good at vocab in context but have no idea what a faulty modifier is.

You don't have an unlimited amount of time to study. You have a lot of schoolwork, you might be an athlete or have intense extracurriculars, and you've got friends to hang out with. This means that for every hour you study for the SAT, it needs to be the most effective hour possible.

In concrete terms, you need to find your greatest areas of improvement and work on those .

Too many students study the "dumb" way. They just buy a prep book and read it cover to cover. When they don't improve their SAT scores, they're shocked.

Studying effectively for the SAT isn't like painting a house. You're not trying to cover your bases with a thin layer of understanding.

What these students did wrong was that they wasted time on subjects they already knew well—and didn't spend enough time improving their weak spots.

Studying effectively for the SAT is like plugging up the holes of a leaky boat. You need to find the biggest hole and fill it. Then you find the next biggest hole and fix that. Soon you'll find that your boat isn't sinking at all.

How does this relate to SAT Reading and Writing? You need to pinpoint the skills you're having most trouble with and then do enough practice questions until they're no longer a weakness. Fixing up the biggest holes.

For every Reading and Writing question you miss, you have to identify the type of question it is and why you missed it. Once you notice patterns to the questions you miss, you can find extra practice for question types that are difficult for you.

Say you miss a lot of questions related to commas (a very common SAT Writing mistake). You need to find a way to get lesson material to teach yourself the main concepts you're forgetting. You then need to find more practice questions for this skill so you can drill your mistakes. This is by far the best way to improve your SAT score.

Strategy 4: Only Use High-Quality Practice Materials

SAT Reading and Writing are very specific in how they work and how their answers are phrased. If you want to improve your score, you have to use realistic SAT Reading and Writing sources. If you don't, you'll develop bad habits and accidentally train the wrong skills.

Think about it like this: say you're trying out for the baseball team. Instead of practicing with real baseballs, you decide to practice with Wiffle balls. It's a lot cheaper and easier, and hitting the ball makes you feel good about your skills.

You train and train and train with a Wiffle ball. You understand how the Wiffle ball curves when it's thrown, how to hit it, and how to throw it.

Eventually, you try out for the baseball team. A pitch comes, but it's way faster than you've ever practiced with. It doesn't curve like a Wiffle ball does.

Swing, and a miss.

You've trained with the wrong thing, and now you're totally unprepared for baseball.

SAT Reading works the exact same way. Train with poorly written tests, and you'll develop bad habits and unhelpful strategies.

Far and away, the best sources for SAT Reading passages are official SAT practice tests . This is why we include these official practice tests in our SAT prep program—so that we can accurately gauge your progress and provide you with quality training.

The problem is that there aren't that many official SAT practice tests available. Because you want to use these to train your endurance for the full-length test, it's best to try to conserve them.

This means that to get enough SAT Reading and Writing practice, you'll need to use other materials, too.

Our first suggestion is to use prep resources specifically geared toward the SAT. Be careful, though, since test-prep companies tend to release poor-quality passages and questions — and many have not updated their questions to the new digital passage format. Check out our picks for the best SAT prep books here .

To write realistic questions, you need to understand the SAT inside and out. That's why we've created what I believe are the highest quality Reading questions available anywhere . Here's what we've done:

We've deconstructed every official SAT practice test—question by question, answer by answer. We've statistically studied every question type on the test and understand exactly how questions are phrased and how wrong answer choices are constructed.
As head of product, I'm responsible for content quality. I hire only the most qualified content writers to craft our test content . This means people who got perfect SAT scores, who have hundreds of hours of SAT teaching experience, and who graduated from Ivy League schools .

All of this results in the most realistic, highest quality SAT Reading questions.

Even if you don't use PrepScholar, make sure that whatever resource you do use undergoes the same scrutiny we exercise. If you're not sure how helpful something is or notice lots of negative reviews, it's best to avoid it.

Strategy 5: Learn to Eliminate the 3 Wrong Answers

The most important principle of SAT Reading and Writing is that there is always one — and only one — unambiguously correct answer. This has a huge implication for the strategy you should use to find the right answer.

Here's the other way to see it: out of the four answer choices, three of them have something that is wrong about them. Only one answer is 100% correct.

You know how you try to eliminate answer choices and then end up with a few at the end that all seem equally likely to be correct? Well, you're not doing a good enough job of eliminating answer choices. Remember, every single wrong choice can be crossed out for some reason.

"Great, Allen. But this doesn't tell me anything about how to eliminate answer choices."

Thanks for asking. There are a few classic wrong answer choices the SAT loves to use. Let's look at an example.

Imagine you just read a passage that focuses on how human evolution shaped the environment. It gives a few examples. First, it talks about how the transition from earlier species like Homo habilus to neanderthals led to more tool usage like fire, resulting in wildfires and shaping the ecology. It then discusses Homo sapiens 40,000 years ago and their overhunting of species, such as woolly mammoths, to extinction.

After, we run into a question asking, "Which of the following best describes the main subject of the passage?" Here are our possible answer choices:

A: The transition between Homo habilus and neanderthals

B: The study of evolution

C: How the environment shaped human evolution

D: The plausibility of evolution

E: The influence of human development on ecology

Note that we're using five answer choices for illustration purposes only—in reality, the SAT only has four answer choices per Reading question.

As you're reading these answers, a few of them probably started to sound really plausible to you, but in fact each of the answers from A to D has something seriously wrong with it. Each one is a classic example of a wrong answer type given by the SAT. Let's look at just what these are.

Wrong Answer 1 (A): Too Specific

This type of wrong answer focuses on a smaller detail in the passage. It’s meant to trick you and make you think to yourself, "Well, I saw this mentioned in the passage, so it’s a plausible answer choice."

Wrong! Ask yourself: can this answer choice really describe the entire passage? Can it basically function as the title of this passage?

In the end, you’ll find that it’s just way too specific to convey the point of the overall passage.

Wrong Answer 2 (B): Too Broad

This type of wrong answer has the opposite problem as the one above in that it’s way too broad. While theoretically the passage concerns the study of evolution, it focuses on just one aspect of it, especially as it relates to the impact of evolution on the environment.

To give another ludicrous example, say you talked to your friend about your cell phone and he said your main point was the universe. Yes, you were talking about the universe in that you both live in the universe, but this was clearly only a tiny fraction of your conversation.

In short, answer choice B is simply far too general to be a good answer to this question.

Wrong Answer 3 (C): Reversed Relationship

This wrong answer choice can be tricky because it mentions all the right words. But of course the relationship between these words needs to be correct as well. Here, the relationship is flipped: the passage focuses on how human evolution shaped the environment, not the other way around.

Students who read too quickly often make careless mistakes like these!

Wrong Answer 4 (D): Unrelated Concept

Finally, this kind of wrong answer preys on students' tendency to overthink questions. If you’re passionate about arguing about evolution, for example, this answer might be a trigger answer for you since any discussion concerning evolution becomes a chance to argue about its plausibility.

Of course, even though this concept appears nowhere in the passage, some students just aren't able to resist choosing this answer choice.

Do you see the point? On the surface, each answer choice sounds as though it could possibly be correct. But possibly isn't good enough. The right answer must be 100%, totally right. Wrong answers might be off by even just one word, so you need to know how to eliminate these.

Carry this thought into every SAT Reading passage question you do.

Strategy 6: Skip the Most Difficult, Time-Consuming Questions

Here's an easy strategy most students don't do enough.

Remember what I said above about not needing to get every question right? Based on past tests and the current scoring scale, we estimate you can miss up to 12 questions (out of 54) and still score a 600.

What does this mean? You can completely completely skip the hardest questions and still hit your goal. That gives you way more time on more straightforward questions - the questions you have a good chance of getting right. If you're usually pressed for time on SAT Reading and Writing, this will be a huge help.

In each module, you get 32 minutes to answer 27 reading and writing questions. This can be hard for students to get through - it's just 71 seconds to answer each question.

The average student will try to push through all the questions. "I've got to get through them all, since I've got a shot at getting each question right," they think. Along the way, they'll probably rush and make careless mistakes on questions they SHOULD have gotten right. And then they spend 5 minutes on the last question, making no progress and wasting time.

But trying to get every single question right is the wrong approach.

Here's what I suggest instead. Try each question, but skip it after 30 seconds if you're still not getting anywhere. It's not always clear if Reading questions are ordered by difficulty, since you can't tell right away which questions will be harder or easier for you. You should try out each one but move on if it's costing you too much time.

By doing this, you can raise your time per easy/medium question to 100 seconds per question or more. This is huge! It's a 30% boost to the time you get per question. As a result, this raises your overall chances of getting easy/medium questions right.

And the questions you skipped? They're so hard you're honestly better off not even trying them. These questions are meant for 700-800 scorers. If you get to 600, you have the right to try them out—but not before you get to 600.

Bonus: If all of this is making sense to you, you'd love our SAT prep program, PrepScholar .

We designed our program around the concepts in this article because they actually work. When you start with PrepScholar, you’ll take a diagnostic that will determine your weaknesses in over forty SAT skills, including individual grammar rules. PrepScholar then creates a study program specifically customized for you .

To improve each skill, you’ll take focused lessons dedicated to each skill , with over 20 practice questions per skill. This will train you for your specific area weaknesses, so your time is always spent most effectively to raise your score. For example, if you're weak in Subject/Verb Agreement, we'll give you a dedicated quiz focused on that skill so that you master your weakness.

There’s no other prep system out there that does it this way, which is why we get better score results than any other program on the market.

Check it out today with a 5-day free trial:

Improve Your SAT Score by 160+ Points, Guaranteed

Strategy 7: Don't Pick Answer Choices Based on "Sounding Weird"

The SAT tests proper English grammar very strictly. Imagine that it's a 60-year-old English professor who speaks like he came from 1850. A lot of the language on the test will sound strange to you because it's never how you would phrase sentences yourself in real life .

Here's an example:

The students for whom the scholarships were designed left the school voluntarily for health reasons.

This sentence is 100% grammatically correct. But you probably wouldn't talk like this with your friends or teachers.

Students often fall for weird-sounding language because it seems as if there must be an error. But the SAT (sneaky like it always is) knows this about you. And it designs traps for students to fall into.

Here's what you should do instead. For every wrong answer choice you eliminate, you should justify to yourself clearly why you are eliminating that answer choice.

Strategy 8: Guess on Every Question You Don't Know

You might already know this one, but if you don't, you're about to earn some serious points.

You may have heard that the SAT penalizes you for wrong answers, but that is no longer true. (In fact, it hasn't been for quite a while.)

There is no penalty for getting a wrong answer, so there's no reason to leave any question blank.

Before you finish the section, make sure every question has an answer filled in. On the review page, every numbered box should be solid blue, like so:

For every question you're unsure about, make sure you guess as best you can. If you can eliminate just one answer choice, that gives you a much better shot at getting it right.

If you have no idea, just guess! You have a 25% chance of getting it right.

Most people know this strategy already, so if you don't do this, you're at a SERIOUS disadvantage. This is especially important when you're skipping some questions - if you don't guess on the questions, you'll miss out on free points!

Overview: Tips for Raising Your Low SAT Reading and Writing Score

Those are the main strategies you should use to improve your SAT Reading score. If you're scoring around 350, you can use these to get to 500. If you're scoring around 470, boost your score to 600. I guarantee it—as long as you put in the right amount of work and study as I suggest above, you're bound to hit your goal score on test day.

The main point, though, is this: you need to understand where you're falling short and drill those weaknesses continuously. You also need to be thoughtful about your mistakes and leave no mistake ignored.

This is really important for your future. Make sure you give SAT prep the attention it deserves—before it's too late and you get a rejection letter you didn't want.

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The 5 Strategies You Must Be Using to Improve 160+ SAT Points

How to Get a Perfect 1600, by a Perfect Scorer

Series: How to Get 800 on Each SAT Section:

Score 800 on SAT Math

Score 800 on SAT Reading

Score 800 on SAT Writing

Series: How to Get to 600 on Each SAT Section:

Score 600 on SAT Math

Score 600 on SAT Reading

Score 600 on SAT Writing

Free Complete Official SAT Practice Tests

What SAT Target Score Should You Be Aiming For?

15 Strategies to Improve Your SAT Essay

The 5 Strategies You Must Be Using to Improve 4+ ACT Points

How to Get a Perfect 36 ACT, by a Perfect Scorer

Series: How to Get 36 on Each ACT Section:

36 on ACT English

36 on ACT Math

36 on ACT Reading

36 on ACT Science

Series: How to Get to 24 on Each ACT Section:

24 on ACT English

24 on ACT Math

24 on ACT Reading

24 on ACT Science

What ACT target score should you be aiming for?

ACT Vocabulary You Must Know

ACT Writing: 15 Tips to Raise Your Essay Score

How to Get Into Harvard and the Ivy League

How to Get a Perfect 4.0 GPA

How to Write an Amazing College Essay

What Exactly Are Colleges Looking For?

Is the ACT easier than the SAT? A Comprehensive Guide

Should you retake your SAT or ACT?

When should you take the SAT or ACT?

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How to Get a Perfect Score on the SAT® Writing Section: From a Perfect Scoring Tutor!
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How to Write an SAT Essay, Step by Step
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SAT Essay Tips: 15 Ways to Improve Your Score
A less effective essay might also try to discuss cheekbones, eyebrows, eyelashes, skin pores, chin clefts, and dimples as well. While all of these things are part of the face, it would be hard to get into detail about each of the parts in just 50 minutes. " The New Dance Craze ." ©2015-2016 by Samantha Lindsay.
How to Improve Your SAT Writing Score: 9 Key Strategies
Source: Official SAT Practice Test #1. Notice that if you're aiming for a 30/40 on Writing, you need a raw score of 31-32, or around 77%. This means you need to correctly answer a bit above 3/4 of all questions. Whatever you're scoring now, take note of the difference you need to get to a 30.
10 Easy SAT Writing Tips to Get a Perfect Score in 2024
Tip #1: Don't avoid the "No change" answer. One of the easiest ways to improve your performance on the SAT Writing section is to treat the "No change" multiple-choice answer just like any other option. That's because there is no difference between "no change" and the other answers. They are all equal contenders.
SAT Writing Prep: The Best Methods and Strategies
Check out our best-in-class online SAT prep program. We guarantee your money back if you don't improve your SAT score by 160 points or more. Our program is entirely online, and it customizes what you study to your strengths and weaknesses. If you liked this Writing and grammar lesson, you'll love our program.
What Is the SAT Essay?
February 28, 2024. The SAT Essay section is a lot like a typical writing assignment in which you're asked to read and analyze a passage and then produce an essay in response to a single prompt about that passage. It gives you the opportunity to demonstrate your reading, analysis, and writing skills—which are critical to readiness for ...
How to Get a Perfect Score on the SAT® Writing and Language Test
The Challenge of Perfection. To earn an 800, you must score a 44 raw score on the Writing and Language section. A 44 raw score means that you must get every single question right. Take a look at the chart for how the raw scores on the test translate to scaled scores: Raw Score (# of correct answers) Reading Test Score.
5 SAT Essay Tips for a Great Score
Here are 5 tips for writing a killer SAT essay, should you decide to add on that section: 1. Stay Objective. The thing to remember here is that ETS (the company that writes the test) is not asking you for your opinion on a topic or a text. So be sure to maintain formal style and an objective tone.
The SAT Writing Section (Essay): Here's What You Need to Know
For example, with this practice essay, it could look like this: Intro: Braun argues that continuing to invest in space tech and research keeps us competitive in the world economy. Devices: logos, imagery, allusion. Body 1: Logos (logic): paragraph 3, 5, 7. Body 2: Imagery: paragraph 4, 6. Body 3: Allusion: paragraph 8.
5 Must-Know SAT Writing Tips
5 Must-Know SAT Writing Tips. The SAT Writing & Language Test is the second section on the SAT, and it tests you on both grammar and effective use of language. The SAT Writing section consists of 44 questions to complete in 35 minutes, which means you have less than a minute to complete each question. While this may seem fast, it is very doable ...
How to Improve Your SAT Score
With so much information available, we've distilled the most important points into an easy-to-follow list. 1. Set Clear Goals. Before taking (or retaking) the SAT, establish a target score. Considering the average SAT range of the colleges on your list—including those that are test optional -- or the application requirements for scholarships ...
How to Write an SAT Essay, Step by Step
This is the argument you need to deconstruct in your essay. Writing an SAT essay consists of four major stages: Reading: 5-10 minutes. Analyzing & Planning: 7-12 minutes. Writing: 25-35 minutes. Revising: 2-3 minutes. There's a wide time range for a few of these stages, since people work at different rates.
How to Improve Your SAT® Writing Score: 8 Useful Strategies That Work!
You may choose to strategize by spending more time on your weaknesses. Take a practice exam, and collect data about your performance throughout the Writing section. This can help nail down the question types you are struggling to revise, edit, and correct. Focusing on the areas you can improve the most is an efficient way to boost your score.
How to Prepare for the SAT Writing Section
Every SAT administered by the College Board has four sections: Reading, Writing, Math (no calculator), and Math (with a calculator). The Writing section consists of 44 multiple choice questions that students must answer in 35 minutes. Although the number of questions and time constraints of the Writing section may initially seem daunting, the ...
The Top 7 SAT Writing Tips to Boost Your Score
Take a look at this SAT Writing question: In the underlined portion, the verb "has been" is in the present perfect tense. However, in the first clause, the verb "was" is in the simple past tense. The shift from past to present perfect tense does not make sense in the sentence. The verb tenses should be consistent.
These 5 Strategies Can Improve Your SAT Writing Score
3. Become a Grammar Fiend. Speaking of grammar, one of the simplest ways to boost your score is to master the basics of grammar. These are usually fairly simple rules that you can learn in a relatively short period of time. Here are the most important areas of grammar for this section of the SAT:
How to get a perfect score on the SAT writing section: tips ...
I scored a perfect 1600 on the last SAT I took and wanted to get all of my tips for the writing section out there for you guys! This section is not too diffi...
SAT Essay Scoring
Responses to the optional SAT Essay are scored using a carefully designed process. Two different people will read and score your essay. Each scorer awards 1-4 points for each dimension: reading, analysis, and writing. The two scores for each dimension are added. You'll receive three scores for the SAT Essay—one for each dimension—ranging ...
The Reading and Writing Section
The questions on the Reading and Writing section fall into four content domains: Information and Ideas. Measures comprehension, analysis, and reasoning skills and knowledge and the ability to locate, interpret, evaluate, and integrate information and ideas from texts and informational graphics (tables, bar graphs, and line graphs).
How to Get 800 on SAT Writing: 9 Strategies From a Perfect Scorer
Strategy 4: Do a Ton of Practice, and Understand Every Single Mistake. On the path to perfection, you need to make sure every single one of your weak points is covered. Even one mistake on all of SAT Writing can knock you down from an 800. The first step is simply to do a ton of practice.
What is a Good SAT Essay Score?
In 2019, the mean score on the Reading and Writing for the SAT Essay was a 5. For the Analysis section, the mean score was a little lower at 3, simply because Analysis is a skill that high school students spend less time honing than Reading or Writing. For a detailed breakdown of how 2019's test takers performed, here are a few score ...
How to Write an SAT Essay
A good structure guides your SAT essay writing and helps you stay on point, allowing readers to follow your reasoning easily. Jot Down Details. ... And do not forget to improve your SAT essay vocabulary! Revise. Now, let's talk about the SAT essay revision phase. It is a significant step during writing, especially for the SAT essay, in which ...
How to interpret practice SAT scores?
The SAT is scored on a scale of 400 to 1600, with two main sections — Reading and Writing (Evidence-Based Reading and Writing) and Math. Each section is scored from 200 to 800, so the maximum possible score is 1600 (800 for each section). Here's a breakdown of your practice score: 1. Find your scores for each section: Math and Reading & Writing.
How to Improve Logical Thinking? Tips to Improve Logical Reasoning for
How to Improve Improve Logical Thinking? If you are willing to improve your logical thinking abilities, listed below are some easy tips you can follow: Partaking in Creative Activities. Taking part in creative activities such as reading, painting, writing, solving puzzles etc is a major source to improve your logical reasoning abilities.
For Markus Johnson, Prison and Mental Illness Equaled a Death Sentence
On Dec. 18, 2018, he arrived at a processing center in Joliet, where he sat for an intake interview. He was coherent and cooperative, well-groomed and maintained eye contact.
How to Improve Your SAT Reading and Writing Score: 8 Strategies
Strategy 1: Understand All Your Mistakes. Every mistake you make on a test happens for a reason. If you don't understand exactly why you missed a question, you'll make the same mistake over and over again. Too many students scoring at the 400-600 level on SAT Reading refuse to study their mistakes.