Understanding the Prompts: Completing a Statement or Idea The other type of prompt you may confront will ask you to complete a sentence or idea, such as the one that follows: Many things happen in the course of a person’s life that change his or her future dramatically. One such event I have witnessed was . . . Assignment: Complete the sentence above with an appropriate phrase. Then write an essay supporting your completed statement. This type of prompt requires that you think of examples and situations that illustrate the statement. In an essay in response to this prompt, the readers will be looking for a clear, strongly supported account of an event that led to significant change. This prompt very easily lends itself to the use of personal experience. Or, you could answer using a historical event with which you are very familiar. No matter how you address the prompt, the point is not just to make claims or asser- tions, but also to back them up with evidence, as you will practice later in this section. Test Success Regardless of which type of prompt you face on test day, your basic plan to succeed is the same. You have to come up with a strong opinion or stance in regard to the prompt. If you are unsure in your stance, your writing will be weak and your score will suffer. How- ever, your opinion is not enough. Like a lawyer before a jury, you must convince your reader with evidence that your opinion is valid. This evidence consists of concrete examples, illustrations, and details. In this section, you will practice writing essays that offer con- crete support for your opinions. The essay does not require specific knowledge of literature, history, or current events. The topics are broad enough so that you can use personal experience to support your opinion. However, while you can always rely on personal experience, and certainly many high-scoring essays do so, it is a good idea to brush up on some general areas you are familiar with before the test day. For example, you may have studied topics like discrimination and the civil rights movement that can be applied to many possible questions, so you might want to review these topics. It is important to remember that while the prompts are general, your essay needs to be specific. If you only address the prompt in general terms, without providing specific examples to support your position, you will not receive a high score. Scoring As the expert graders score your paper, they will be grading it holistically. This means that rather than using a point system that awards you a certain number of points for each component, they will be looking at your response as a whole and awarding it a score. How- ever, as they determine that overall score, the graders will be focusing on four areas: meaning (content), development (support), organization (flow of ideas), and language use or mechanics (grammar). Although a specific point value is not assigned for each component, these are the areas that will be assessed and considered when the grader arrives at a score. Scores range from a low of 1 (showing writing incompetence) to a maximum of 6 (demonstrating clear and consistent competence). The graders will focus on the strength of your argument. Are you con- vincing? Do your ideas make sense? Do you have insightful, supported comments on the topic? Do your ideas flow logically? In addition to looking for this content, the graders will be paying attention to your writing style. Is it grammatically fluent? Are you observing the standard rules of grammar, punctua- tion, and spelling? Is your vocabulary sufficient to adequately put forth your ideas? Is your essay interesting? A modified copy of the rubric follows: –THE SAT WRITING SECTION– 232 5658 SAT2006[05](fin).qx 11/21/05 6:45 PM Page 232 ■ Demonstrates outstanding writing skills ■ Includes a clear and insightful point of view and reflects excellent critical thinking, using strong examples and other evidence to support the point of view ■ Contains a strong organization and focus, a clear sense of unity, and a skillful flow of ideas ■ Demonstrates a strong command of language, with varied and appropriate word choice, and mean- ingful variation in sentence structure ■ Contains few, if any, errors in grammar, usage, and mechanics ■ Demonstrates effective writing skills ■ Includes a clear point of view and reflects strong critical thinking, using effective examples and other evidence to support the point of view ■ Contains strong organization and focus, a sense of unity, and a flow of ideas ■ Demonstrates a good command of language, with appropriate word choices and variation in sen- tence structure ■ Contains few errors in grammar, usage, and mechanics ■ Demonstrates competent writing skills, but the quality of the writing may be inconsistent ■ Includes a point of view and reflects competent critical thinking, using sufficient examples to sup- port the point of view ■ Contains a general organizational plan and focus, with some unity and flow of ideas ■ Demonstrates a sufficient but inconsistent command of language, with mostly appropriate word choice and some variation in sentence structure ■ Contains some errors in grammar, usage, and mechanics ■ Demonstrates inadequate but not incompetent writing skills ■ Includes a point of view that reflects some critical thinking, but the point of view may be inconsis- tent or incomplete, and support may be lacking ■ Contains a limited organizational strategy and focus, with a weak or inconsistent sense of unity and flow of ideas ■ Demonstrates a developing but weak command of language, with weak or inappropriate vocabu- lary, little or no variation in sentence structure, and may contain errors in sentence construction ■ Contains many errors in grammar, usage, and mechanics ■ Demonstrates limited writing skills and may contain serious flaws ■ Includes a limited or vague point of view and reflects poor critical thinking, using inadequate or irrelevant examples or other support ■ Displays a weak sense of organization and/or focus, and may lack unity and/or flow of ideas ■ Demonstrates an inadequate command of language, with limited or incorrect vocabulary, and incorrect or flawed sentence structure ■ Contains serious errors in grammar, usage, and mechanics that may make the writing difficult to understand –THE SAT WRITING SECTION– 233 6 5 4 3 2 5658 SAT2006[05](fin).qx 11/21/05 6:45 PM Page 233 ■ Demonstrates incompetence in writing and contains serious flaws ■ Does not contain a point of view, or provides little or no support for the point of view ■ Lacks organization and/or focus, unity, and a flow of ideas ■ Contains serious errors in vocabulary and sentence structure ■ Contains serious errors in grammar, usage, and/or mechanics that make the writing difficult to understand ■ An essay that does not address the prompt or is blank receives a zero. –THE SAT WRITING SECTION– 234 1 0 Managing Your Time The time limit on the essay portion of the test is 25 minutes. Because this is a very limited amount of time in which to compose an essay, it is crucial that you do not spend too long on any one step of the essay writ- ing process. It is important to note that the test admin- istrators realize this is not enough time to do major revisions or extensive editing. In fact, the College Board’s website says that the graders will view this work as a “rough draft.”Of course, this doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t make any attempt at revision or editing, but you should be aware that the examiners are conscious of the time constraint and do not expect perfection. Although you certainly need to keep the time limit in mind, it would be a mistake not to spend ade- quate time on one step in particular: prewriting. It is essential that you take some time at the beginning of the SAT Writing section, between 4–6 minutes, to think about what you are going to write, brainstorm your ideas, and plan a rough organizational strategy. Here is a rough idea of how long to spend on each step of the writing process: Prewriting (brainstorming and planning) 4–6 minutes Drafting and Revising 14–16 minutes Proofreading (Editing) 3–5 minutes Total: 25 minutes Of course, the actual time you spend on each step will vary, but try to keep these rough estimates in mind. For example, if you are still brainstorming, and you glance at your watch and realize 13 minutes have passed, move on quickly to the next step in the writing process! Step One: Brainstorming After your initial interpretation of the prompt (i.e., interpreting the quote(s), agreeing with one of two quotations, or completing a statement), you need to begin generating ideas for writing. The writing process begins with prewriting, the steps you take before you write. Many students make the mistake of writing “off the tops of their heads,” espe- cially in a pressured environment like an SAT essay, and their essays suffer because of this. When you just write as the thoughts flow into your head, and then submit this as a final copy, your ideas may be undeveloped and unsupported. You may move on from one idea to another without giving any support or evidence. You may stray off the topic without realizing it. Your reader may become confused trying to follow your reasoning. The solution to this is to spend time prewriting. There are two steps involved in prewriting: brain- storming and planning. Brainstorming is how you spark your ideas on the topic and record those ideas on paper. There are several ways to brainstorm, and you are free to use any method you are comfortable with. Listing and clustering are two examples of ways to get your ideas down on paper. (Adapted from The College Board) 5658 SAT2006[05](fin).qx 11/21/05 6:45 PM Page 234 Listing Perhaps the easiest form of brainstorming is listing. This means that you just jot down ideas in response to the question as they come to you. You can do this on the scratch paper in the test booklet. At the brainstorming step, do not worry about spelling or even complete sentences. In fact, you should keep your ideas short, limiting them to words or phrases. You may even want to abbreviate certain words to save time. To spark more ideas, you can use questioning, another brainstorming technique. Ask yourself prob- ing questions with regard to the topic, like who, what, where, when, why, and how. These questions are com- monly called “the 5 W’s and H.” This may help you address areas of the question in greater detail and pull out additional ideas. You may generate more ideas than you will use, but you can sift through them later to pull out the relevant points. Example: Listing with Questioning Franklin D. Roosevelt said,“There is nothing to fear but fear itself.” Respond to this state- ment with examples from history, literature, or personal experience. agree—b/c fear is relative to the person fears not the same for everyone—varies, so it can’t be the thing itself (begin asking who? what? where? when? why? how?) me— drowning—terrified thrown in pool as child—traumatized first day of sleep-away camp—ruined whole thing head knows it’s ok now but can’t stop it irrational—bathtub fear for a while can go in pool but only where I can stand up Mom—fear of fire her neighbor’s house as a kid lost her best friend obsessed with smoke detectors, fire escapes in every room also afraid of spiders and snakes loses sleep every time she reads about a fire in paper someone close to her died fear we have is what debilitates us, not the thing we are afraid of most things never happen can stop us from living life Focusing As you look at your brainstorm, you may see that you have veered slightly off the topic as you wrote down your initial thoughts. Also, in a 25-minute essay, you have to choose what you will write about carefully, since you do not have enough time to develop an exces- sive number of different ideas. At this stage, you need to focus your brainstorm. You will have to explain and support all your points using evidence. Try to look for the main points you are trying to make, and group them accordingly. Later, you will want to develop each point into a paragraph with details and examples as support, so try to limit 235 Don’t Panic You have been writing throughout your school experience. Although you are faced with a particular type of writing task and a significant time constraint, remember that you will be using many of the skills you have developed over the years. This section will help you master the writing process in order to respond to any prompt you are given. 5658 SAT2006[05](fin).qx 11/21/05 6:45 PM Page 235 your points to three major categories with examples to support each. This focusing will help you prepare for the next task, writing a thesis statement. Organize your list by grouping similar ideas or topics together, maybe adding a few details, and eliminating things that really don’t fit with the other things you’ve written. Here is a sample of a focused list, based on the brainstorming example given on the previous page: Franklin D. Roosevelt said,“There is nothing to fear but fear itself.” Respond to this state- ment with examples from history, literature, or personal experience. Me— drowning—terrified thrown in pool as child—traumatized first day of sleep-away camp—ruined it head knows it’s ok now but can’t stop it irrational—bathtub fear for a while can go in pool but only where I can stand up Mom—fear of fire her neighbor’s house as a kid lost her best friend obsessed with smoke detectors, fire escapes in every room loses sleep every time she reads about a fire in paper fear we have is what debilitates us, not the thing we are afraid of most things never happen can stop us from living life The writer should eliminate her mother’s fear of spiders and snakes, since they are not supported by the rest of the ideas. The focus seems to be on her mother’s fear of fire. Also, the fact that she lost her best friend tells us she lost someone close to her, so that is redundant and should be left out. Clustering Another brainstorming technique is clustering. This combines the practice of jotting down ideas as they come to you with organizing them visually at the same time. Because you organize your ideas as you write, you may find this technique especially helpful in a situation like the SAT where time is very limited. Start the cluster by writing the topic down in the center of the scrap paper. Then, write ideas down around this topic as they come to you. Quickly put these ideas in circles and attach the circles to the topic by drawing lines. Then, look at the ideas you have just written, and try to expound on these ideas. Again, the questioning technique (using the 5 W’s and H) may be helpful here. When you are finished, you will see that there are some ideas that you have a lot to say about, and others that are dead ends. When you focus your cluster, you will probably choose the two or three ideas with the most circles around them for your essay. Here is an example based on the essay question from the pretest: An influential person is one who leaves a foot- print in the sand of our soul. To me, the most influential person I can think of is . . . Assignment: Complete the sentence above with an appropriate response. Then write an essay support- ing your completed statement. Planning: Creating an Outline Once you focus your brainstorm, you have the raw material for your essay. Now you need to put it in order. This is called the planning stage, and at the end of this stage, you will have a rough outline from which to write your essay. This is invaluable: If you skip this stage, you may wander off your topic when your write your essay. Because you only have 25 minutes, you will not be able to take the time you may normally take to develop –THE SAT WRITING SECTION– 236 5658 SAT2006[05](fin).qx 11/21/05 6:45 PM Page 236 a detailed outline. Look at the ideas you have. You may choose to order them chronologically or in order of importance. Chronological Order If you are using personal experience or history to address the question, chronological order would be the best way to structure your points. For example, if you are writing about the impact of certain events in your life, you would probably want to order the events as they occurred from the earliest point to the most recent. Similarly, historical support is often introduced beginning with the oldest event first and progressing to the most recent. Order of Importance Another way to order your ideas is by importance. There are two ways to use this strategy, and either one is acceptable. You can order using the most important or sig- nificant idea first. For example, if you are discussing a person who was very influential in your life, you may want to put their greatest area of influence first. Then you would progress to the second greatest area of influ- ence next, and end with the least important. Con- versely, you can use the “save the best for last”strategy, in which you would save the greatest or strongest exam- ple for last. This is like building up to a grand finale. Sequencing Once you make a decision as to which strategy you will use, you can use a simple outline or just number your points and bullet your examples. You can then check them off as you incorporate them into your essay. Here is an example of how a student constructed a simple outline based on her brainstorm. An influential person is one who leaves a foot- print in the sand of our soul. To me, the most influential person I can think of is . . . Grandma I. Influenced kids and grandkids A. Always involved in their lives B. Matriarch 1. Advice on dating, money, problems, etc. C. Came to family’s aid 1. Cousin Joe (health problems) II. Hard worker—inspired to reach our goals A. Worked fulltime—kid’s college B. Rock, steady, unchanging 1. Everything else crazy—count on her (parents’ divorce) III. Independent—own voice A. Stood up for her beliefs 1. Didn’t care what others said The student could also have focused the brain- storm by using numbers next to the original list to save time: assigning each main idea a number, and then writing that number next to each appropriate example. Another way to group these ideas would be to draw cir- cles or otherwise cluster them together on the page. Step Two: The Thesis Statement After your brainstorming and planning are complete, you need to come up with your main position. If you have sufficiently brainstormed your topic and have carefully focused your ideas, you are ready to formulate your thesis statement, one of the most vital compo- nents of your essay. A thesis statement is a sentence that expresses the main idea of your essay. It clearly states the topic, or what the essay will address. It also contains an attitude or opinion about the topic, and tells the reader your central position in a nutshell. This is called the con- trolling, or main, idea. In a sense, the thesis statement controls the essay because it will determine what you do and do not include in the rest of the piece. It will help you stay on track. It is important to have a clear, con- cise, well-constructed thesis statement that prepares –THE SAT WRITING SECTION– 237 5658 SAT2006[05](fin).qx 11/21/05 6:45 PM Page 237 . situation like the SAT where time is very limited. Start the cluster by writing the topic down in the center of the scrap paper. Then, write ideas down around this topic as they come to you. Quickly put these. next to each appropriate example. Another way to group these ideas would be to draw cir- cles or otherwise cluster them together on the page. Step Two: The Thesis Statement After your brainstorming. circles and attach the circles to the topic by drawing lines. Then, look at the ideas you have just written, and try to expound on these ideas. Again, the questioning technique (using the 5 W’s and