C H A P T E R

Getting to Know

1 the Writing
Section of the
New SAT
For over 80 years, high school juniors and seniors have faced the SAT
on their paths to college. During that time, the test has undergone some
changes. However, the new SAT, offered for the first time in March
2005, represents the most significant change in the history of the test.
What does that mean for the more than two million students who take
the test each year? They’ll miss more of the Saturday on which they
take it: The old SAT was three hours long, and the new one is almost
four. Instead of two sections, the test now includes three, and the top
score is 2,400 instead of 1,600. But of even greater importance are the
changes within those sections. Let’s look more closely at what today’s
students will encounter with the new SAT.

 Old versus New

Minor changes have been made to the Math and Verbal sections. Math topics have been expanded to include expo-
nential growth, absolute value, and functional notation. Familiar topics, such as linear functions, manipulations
with exponents, and properties of tangent lines, are given greater emphasis. Skills such as estimation and num-
ber sense will be tested in new formats. The Verbal section is now known as Critical Reading, and has added short
reading passages while eliminating analogies.
The biggest change to the new SAT is the addition of a Writing section; however, all of the material in this
section isn’t entirely new. The Writing section has three parts; the first two are multiple choice, and the last is essay
writing. You’ll have 35 minutes to complete the multiple-choice section, which is broken down into 25- and 10-
minute parts. It contains the same structure and content as the “old” SAT II Writing Test (which was optional,

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 – GETTING TO KNOW THE WRITING SECTION OF THE NEW SAT –

and has now been eliminated), and includes 49 ques- gent preparation or coaching is a combination of three
tions designed to measure your knowledge of basic critical components:
grammar and usage rules as well as general writing
and revising strategies. The questions consist of three 1. studying the material that will be presented
types: identifying sentence errors, improving sentences, 2. studying the test itself
and improving paragraphs. Preceding the multiple- 3. practicing by taking mock tests
choice section is the essay, for which you are given a
prompt to which you have 25 minutes to respond. For most students, working through the second
Here’s an overview of each section: and third components makes the most difference on
test scores. You’ve already learned the math, grammar,
■ Essay. The essay will always be the first section on and critical reading skills that are tested on the SAT.
the SAT. You’ll get a prompt, which will either be While you might need a refresher on some of those
one quote, two quotes, or a sentence that you skills, what’s even more important is understanding the
must complete. Then, there is an assignment that test itself. In this book, we’ll review misplaced modi-
explains what you need to do. You might have to fiers, but we’ll also reveal how they’re used on the test,
agree or disagree with a quote, develop your point and how you can spot them more easily. When you are
of view about an issue related to a quote, or very familiar with the test’s format through study and
explain the choice you made in the sentence practice, your performance will improve.
completion.
■ Identifying Sentence Errors. In each question is
one sentence with four words or phrases under-  Strategies for Test Taking
lined. You need to determine which underlined
portion, if any, contains an error. One of the factors cited in the coachability argument is
■ Improving Sentences. Each question contains the fact that there are methods of approaching the SAT
five versions of a sentence—you choose the one that work much better than others. For example, when
that is most clear and correct. you know that it only makes sense to guess when you
■ Improving Paragraphs. Only about 10% of the can eliminate one or more multiple-choice answers,
questions in the writing section are this type, you are much more likely to get a better score. Likewise,
which is good news. They are the most time- be aware that there are easy questions, which come
consuming, with five or six questions relating to a first, and harder questions, which appear at the end of
passage of about 200 words. The questions can the test. It makes sense to answer the easiest first
involve organization of paragraphs, sentence because the computer scoring your test does not
order, word choice, and grammar issues. discriminate—each right answer, whether to a difficult
or simple question, counts for just one point. Your
Coachability objective is to get as many right as possible within the
The SAT, including the new Writing section, is often allotted time. Hard questions may take a couple of
referred to as a coachable test. That means you can minutes to think through, while during the same time,
improve performance through study and practice, you could have answered three easier questions.
whether with this book, software, or a course. In fact,
many companies in the test-preparation business tout
a hundred- or more point gain for their students. Dili-

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 – GETTING TO KNOW THE WRITING SECTION OF THE NEW SAT –

Determining the Level of Skip questions you don’t know how to answer.
Difficulty You can leave questions blank and still get a good
How do the writers of the SAT determine the level of score. It doesn’t make sense to spend a lot of time on
difficulty of each question? Before the question is a really difficult question if you can skip to others
included in the actual test, it’s put into an experimen- that could be easier for you. If you have extra time,
tal or “equating” section. If you haven’t heard about this you can go back to the tough ones and try again.
section before, here’s the scoop: Every test contains
one of these sections, and it doesn’t count toward your Read carefully.
score. However, since there’s no way to know which sec- Moving too fast can hurt your score. Multiple-choice
tion it is, apply yourself equally to all of the material on questions, especially the last few, can be subtle. If you
the test; don’t waste time trying to identify the experi- miss a word, or otherwise read the question incor-
mental one. rectly, you’ll probably get it wrong. Essays that don’t
Once an experimental test section has been given, directly address the topic get a zero (the lowest score)
the Educational Testing Service (ETS) looks at the no matter how well written they are.
results. If most test takers get a question right, it’s deter-
mined to be easy, and if most get it wrong, it’s hard. The Use your test booklet.
questions in each section, then, are organized from During the test, your booklet may be used to flag
easiest to hardest. If there are fifteen sentence errors questions you’ve skipped (you may have time to get
questions, five will be easy, five will be average, and five back to them), underline or circle key words in a
will be hard. question, and/or eliminate choices you know are
More specific strategies for each section will be wrong. Go ahead and mark up your booklet—once
given in Chapters 2 and 3, but here are a few more you’re done with it, it’s headed to a paper shredder.
general pointers:
Be aware of the time.
Study the directions before taking the test. When time is called, you must put down your pencil
Following the directions exactly is critical. Why and close your book. Keep track so you aren’t caught
spend valuable time during the test poring over off guard; taking practice tests with a timer will help
them? The College Board, which administers the you familiarize yourself with the number of ques-
SAT, reveals the directions word-for-word on their tions and their difficulty in relation to the clock.
website (www.collegeboard.com). Study and under- Remember that if you finish a section early, you can
stand them ahead of time, and you’ll have more time go back and try those you skipped, or check your
to spend answering questions and scoring points. answers (only in that section).

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 Snacking on Test Day

The new SAT is 30 minutes longer than its previous incarnation, so the breakfast you ate before taking the
test won’t give you enough energy to get through it. It’s a great idea to bring foods that give you long-lasting
energy rather than sugary snacks that temporarily elevate your blood sugar. Think nuts, dried fruits, and
cheese (not strong-smelling), as well as bottled water, to improve stamina and concentration.

Come prepared.  Scoring

Bring with you: The Writing section is scored in two ways: Multiple-
choice questions are scored by a machine, and the essay
■ your admission ticket is scored by two graders. The machine simply reads the
■ sharp, number two pencils (at least two) marks you made with your number two pencil. It gives
■ a good eraser you one point for every correct answer, deducts a quar-
■ identification with photo (such as a driver’s ter of a point for every incorrect answer, and gives you
license, a school- or government-issued ID card, zero points for questions left blank.
or a valid passport)
■ a watch (if it has an alarm, turn it off) Should You Guess?
■ snacks, including water: These must be in sealed Every multiple-choice question has five possible
containers within a book bag and can only be answers, meaning that if you have no idea which is
consumed out of the testing room during breaks. correct, a guess will give you a 20% chance of getting it
right. But if you guess wrong, you’ll lose one-quarter of
Leave at home: a point. In other words, for every five questions you
answer with random guessing, you’ll probably get one
■ blank paper, notes, books, and dictionaries right. But you’ll lose a point for the four you got wrong.
■ highlighters, pens, and colored pencils That means random guessing is a waste of time. If you
■ portable listening or recording devices can’t eliminate even one answer, skip the question.
■ cell phones and pagers But what if you can eliminate one or more answer
choices? If you are positive one answer is wrong, you
now have a 25% chance of getting it right, up from 20%
if you couldn’t eliminate any answers. That means for
every four questions you answer this way, one will be
right. Subtract the three-quarters of a point you lose for
the three wrong answers, and you are ahead a quarter
of a point. If you can positively eliminate two answers,
and are guessing between the remaining three, you’ll be
ahead even more. Therefore, if you can narrow down
the answers by even just one, it makes sense to guess.

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 Address the Topic

It can’t be stressed enough how important it is to clearly address the topic. You can write an incred-
ible essay filled with unique insights, mature diction, and outstanding organization and development.
But if it doesn’t address the topic, it will receive a zero.

The Essay  SAT Study Timetable

Scorers of the essay are high school and college teach-
ers who use a scale of 1–6; their two scores are com- Whether you’re reading this book six weeks or six
bined to reach an essay score of 2–12. (Note, however, months before you take the SAT, the steps in your
that an essay written off-topic, no matter how good, timetable remain the same.
will receive a zero.) If the two scores vary by more than
a point, a third reader scores it. Now
Essay scorers are trained to use a holistic Take a practice test, such as the one in Chapter 4. Score
approach, meaning they consider the essay as a whole, your test and analyze the results. For each incorrect
rather than word-by-word. Big issues, such as organi- response, ask yourself:
zation and structure, count more than little ones, such
as an errant spelling mistake or extraneous comma. ■ Was there something you needed to know that
That means essays receiving a twelve may have a cou- you didn’t know? Make a list of the topics you
ple of mechanics errors. need to review and devote extra time to studying
Specifically, scorers look for three things: them.
■ Did you misunderstand the question? What about
1. development of a point of view in response to the question confused or tricked you?
the topic ■ Did you make a careless mistake? Careless mis-
2. strong supporting examples and details takes include transference errors (marking the
3. skillful use of language wrong oval on the answer sheet) and simple mis-
reading, such as mistaking one word for another.
Don’t get put off by the third requirement. Scor-
ers know you have just 25 minutes to write your essay, When you’ve finished your analysis, use it to make
so they don’t expect perfect grammar and punctuation a list of your strengths and weakness. You’ll see which
(although it certainly won’t hurt!). They will look for specific skills need reviewing, and which test-taking
word choices that reflect a strong vocabulary (avoid skills need improving. Then, get out your calendar.
clichés and slang), variety in sentence structure, and How much time can you realistically devote each day
logical development of ideas. We’ll go into greater detail and each week to your SAT preparations? Estimate
about essay specifics in Chapter 3. how long you can spend on each of the four question
types.