practice test

http://www.collegeboard.com/student/testing/sat/prep_one/test.html

SAT essay

How to organize and write the essay

http://sat.collegeboard.com/practice/writing-sat-essay

Prompt 1

Think carefully about the issue presented in the following excerpt and the assignment below.

The word "uncompromising" is often used as a compliment, especially when it describes someone who is completely dedicated to certain principles and values. Uncompromising people have indeed recorded great achievements. But being uncompromising is not always a virtue. People who are uncompromising tend not to consider other people's views, seeing themselves as right and everyone else as wrong. All in all, it is better to be flexible and make compromises.

Assignment: Are people more likely to achieve their goals by being flexible or by refusing to compromise? Plan and write an essay in which you develop your point of view on this issue. Support your position with reasoning and examples taken from your reading, studies, experience, or observations.

Prompt 2

Many persons believe that to move up the ladder of success and achievement, they must forget the past, repress it, and relinquish it. But others have just the opposite view. They see old memories as a chance to reckon with the past and integrate past and present.
(Adapted from Sara Lawrence-Lightfoot, I've Known Rivers: Lives of Loss and Liberation)

Assignment: Do memories hinder or help people in their effort to learn from the past and succeed in the present? Plan and write an essay in which you develop your point of view on this issue. Support your position with reasoning and examples taken from your reading, studies, experience, or observations.

Outline

Paragraph 1

Answer the question. Explain why your answer is LOGICAL, why it MAKES SENSE.  3-4 sentences

Paragraph 2

Support your answer with an example from your life (personal experience).     4 sentences

TRANSITION

Paragraph 3

Support your answer with an example from either..                              4 sentences

something you have read

OR

something from the news

TRANSITION

Paragraph 4

Describe the benefits of agreeing with your point of view. Explain to the reader how agreeing with you will make life better.  2-3 sentences

MODEL ESSAY WRITTEN ACCORDING TO THE OUTLINE for Prompt 1

How the essay is scored

Improving sentences

http://www.collegeboard.com/student/testing/sat/prep_one/improv_sent/pracStart.html

Identifying sentence errors

http://www.collegeboard.com/student/testing/sat/prep_one/sent_errors/pracStart.html

Improving paragraphs

http://www.collegeboard.com/student/testing/sat/prep_one/improv_para/pracStart.html

These are challenging. Do one at a time.