The SAT Essay: 15 Tips To Improve It


The SAT Essay: 15 Tips To Improve It

Here you can read about the main 15 tips on how to improve your SAT essay. Just take into account all tips that are presented below and you can get an almost perfect SAT essay score. We can guarantee it.

What Is The Challenge

What should you know about the SAT Essay and score? It is a short writing assignment. It can be called a typical college writing assignment. This assignment will show colleges that you are ready to come to campus and ready to study there and to write. You will be asked to read and after that to analyze the text. The time is limited. You will have about 50 minutes, and during this period, you will have to read a passage of text which contains 650-750 words. Then you must be able to distinguish and analyze the devices which the author has used in the structure of his text and his argumentations. After that, you should write a complete essay which will display all of your thoughts on the matter.

You can see that the SAT essay differs from usual essays that you have been writing in your school at English lessons. The SAT essay demands a special approach and special writing skills to get a good score. You have to overfill your essay with many arguments and persuasive thoughts and meet strict time limits. Only, in this case, you can get a good score.

You can read about the best 15 tips how to get a perfect 8/8/8 SAT essay score here in the article. All of the tips are divided into three big groups. The first group tells how the College Board can distinguish a good SAT essay which deserves a high score. The next group of tips is devoted to the truth which the College Board wants to keep in secret. They actually don’t what this truth to become clear for everyone. The last group of essay writing tips will tell how to write a good SAT essay from the very beginning and till the last word and how to get a high score.

A Good SAT Essay According To The College Board: 5 Tips




There are main components a good SAT Essay should contain (according to the College Board). You can find this information in the scoring criteria of the SAT Essay. If your SAT essay meets this criterion, you will get a high score.

  1. You Should Give a Clear Thesis

The argument which you use in your SAT essay should be clear, and it must be easy to distinguish this argument. Just create your accurate main claim and identify the exact idea. It will be great to describe the methods which were used to support the idea. Then you can score high.

More often the SAT will provide the distinguished main idea of the text and give it in the question. It makes the task easier. In order to get a great score you shouldn’t write about do you agree with the author and his claims or not. You should show how the author uses arguments and if his claims are persuasive.

It's alright if you will copy the exact words of the writer in order to describe his thoughts and his main claim. Contrariwise, this fact can show that you understand the subject and answer on the topic.

  1. Certainly, Include an Introduction and a Conclusion

If you want your score to be more than a 4/8 you should definitely include a skillful introduction as well as a conclusion paragraph in your SAT essay. 

A good introductive paragraph will tell your graders what you will be talking about in your SAT. It allows you to establish the mood and the structure of the SAT. The graders usually read the introduction more attentively because it can indicate the level of skillfulness of the writer so it can determine your score.

It’s good to write both the introduction and the conclusion. In the case when you have not much time, and you have to choose one thing it’s better to choose the introduction. It’s better for your score for sure.

  1. Watch for the Effectiveness of the Language as Well as Word Choice

In order to fulfill all the SAT requirements, you should show the graders your language proficiency as well as effective use of language. It is the special area and the component of the SAT which can take much time and make your score higher. If you don’t master it, you can look at other professional writing assignments.

You should also use a great variety of structures of the sentences in order to get at least 6/6/6 score. The exact and accurate word choice will also help to get a good score. Your SAT should have an objective tone and must be written in the formal style, so avoid any form of informality in your work to score high.

Any grammar mistakes and repetitions are unacceptable. If you don’t want to have additional questions from The College Board, don’t use statements of the first person like “my” “myself” or “me.”

  1. Use the Information from the Text Only

Read the passage carefully and try to use the information from the text only. It’s a big mistake to use any other outside knowledge, although it might be relevant. This will help you not to deviate from the topic and to make your score higher.

It is a great idea to support your SAT using specific facts and details that were described in the passage which you have to analyze in your essay.

  1. Focus Only on Relevant Details in Your SAT

Choose few the most important points or facts and focus on them. You don’t need to write about all details which you will find in the paragraph. Just choose facts that are making the thesis persuasive. You will score higher if you can show that you are able to find the most effective points and devices and can explain their meaning and influence. It means that you should pick the parts of the text which serve as its backbone. This can help you to get a high score.

For example, if you have to write about the face, you should notice the eyes, lips, and nose. And there is no necessity to describe skin pores or dimples.

What The College Board Doesn’t Want You To Know: 5 Tips




Although you can find guidelines on the SAT in public sources, there are still some secrets that are not available for everyone. And knowing these secrets, you can get an advantage and get a high score. 

  1. Look at the Prompt Before Reading the Passage

You should definitely do that because it is known that the prompt always includes the main description of the claim of the author. If you find out what is the main claim of the writer you can focus your essay on the persuasive argument and score high.

  1. Use Facts Accurate

If you want your analysis score to be high, you should understand that when writing your SAT you should not only identify the facts and devices which the author has used in the text and the algorithm how he has built the argument. To get a high score, you have to explain what the effect these devices had and how they have influenced the reader.

You shouldn’t be completely accurate, explaining the effects, but you should be persuasive. You have to convince the reader in your thesis by using quotes for the best score.

  1. The Volume of the SAT Essay Must Exceed One Page

Students always knew that the volume of the SAT essay should exceed one page. But recently the College Board confirmed that the length of the SAT was an important indicator. They said this in the SAT guide.

Too brief or short response will not give the evidence of your writing skills, and you will not score high.

While writing the SAT essay, you will have one scrap page where you can write down the outline of your essay. You will also have another four pages for the SAT writing. It will be good to write at least two pages.

  1. Be Objective When You Read the Text

You should remember that it’s better to be detached when you read the passage. Try to do it even if it’s hard. It will assure your score. Read different persuasive texts and gain your own objectivity. Practice these skills. In this way, you will be able to explain the nature and the effects of the arguments which are used by the author and not only say whether they good or not.  

It’s not so hard as you can imagine. Just choose the topic which is interesting to you and read articles about it. Read the works of the authors whose point of view drastically differs from yours.

If you want to score high, you should be able to distinguish and understand the main thesis of the author and to take different positions on the issue. You must be impartial and objective in order to get a perfect SAT score.

  1. Identify and Memorize Different Persuasive Techniques

After you have studied how to read persuasive articles and stay objective, the next stage is mastering persuasive techniques which will help you to break down all arguments which are used in the passage. There are different techniques which you have to know about. They are frequently used and they can help to build a persuasive argument and receive a good score. The main of them are:

  • Writing style, effective choice of words which can describe the emotions and enhance the ideas;
  • Using of persuasive evidence like facts and accurate examples;
  • Argumentation and discourse which can make a connection between thesis and facts.

You can have a high score without using and knowing some particular persuasive techniques and devices. But, in fact, they make the process much easier.

How To Do It In 50 Minutes: 5 Best Strategies




When a student must write his SAT essay, he has only 50 minutes. This time limit demands fast and attentive reading of the text, analyzing, and after that writing an essay. In order to do all of the stuff in time and get a good score, you should have a plan. Here you can find a detailed plan how to write a good SAT and to get a high score.

  1. Give the Answer to The Prompt

For high a score, you should not only identify devices and summarize the ideas and facts of the passage when you write your SAT essay. You should be ready to make an analysis of the structure of the passage and the way in which author builds ideas and arguments.

If you want to get a good score, you should not assert, you should explain.

  1. Support Your Thesis with Evidence and Facts from the Text

Use the relevant quotes from the text in order to support your own thesis, and there is a great opportunity to get a high score. This fact can show that you have read the text, have understood the author’s thoughts and have analyzed the structure of the author’s arguments.

If you want to explain the argument of the author using your own word constructions you need to be extremely careful in order to get a good score for your SAT essay.

  1. Make Your SAT Essay Organized

You should use the common structure of the SAT essay. It includes an introduction, the body of the essay and the conclusion. The structure of your work must consist of 4 or 5 paragraphs. Following this structure can make you feel organized and can help the graders to see and follow all your persuasive devices. Don’t forget to make a connection between the paragraphs using effective conversions.

  1. Allocate Time for Planning, Reading, Analyzing, Writing, and Revising

You must make sure that you have devoted enough time for every step of the writing. 50 minutes is a quite strict time limit, and you have to get it all and meet time limits.

Reading of the text and making the analysis of the devices and arguments used by the author as well as essay planning and writing are quite important parts of the SAT essay writing. You should make them all in order to get a high score.

  1. Get a Practice

A practice of the reading, analyzing, and writing will help you to write the SAT essay well and to score high. It's so important in the case if you are a slow reader. Ability to analyze the structure and the components and after that to write the essay fast can give you additional time for reading, and you can get a good score.

Here are all main tips that you should be aware of. But you have to understand that this is just the tip of the iceberg. And there are so many other details. And if you think that you are not skilled enough, but you want to get a high score you can always get the professional help with your SAT essay.