Prep expert new SAT essay

Shaan Patel is the founder of 2400 Expert Test Prep, a 1 bestselling SAT ACT book author, and MDMBA student at Yale and USC. He raised his own SAT score from average to perfect and teaches students his methods via online classes at prepexpertdotcom The Prep Expert New SAT Essay Guide teaches students how to ace the essay portion of the Redesigned 2016 SAT. Although the essay will now be “optional” on the SAT, most colleges will still require students to submit their “SAT scores with essay.” So it’s absolutely essential that students prepare for this part of the exam. Shaan Patel is famous in the SAT prep world for his essay template that helped tens of thousands of students get perfect scores on the essay portion of the 2400version of SAT. For the New 2016 Redesigned SAT Essay, Shaan has once again created an essay template that will help students achieve perfect scores on New SAT Essay. In addition to Shaan’s essay template, the Prep Expert New SAT Essay Study Guide includes 20 strategies that will teach you: •How to save two minutes of time other students would waste •How to impress your essay graders in 7 seconds or less •How to quickly write a 4page SAT Essay •How to avoid getting writer’s block •How to format every SAT Essay •How to write a compelling thesis •How to write a compelling plan of procedure •How to bring coherency to your essay •How to avoid the one mistake that is detrimental to your SAT Essay score •How to connect different ideas within your SAT Essay •How to avoid writing amateursounding prose •How to quickly find the main idea of the SAT Essay passage •How to create paragraph summaries of the SAT Essay passage •How to identify the 8 most common argumentative tools authors of passages use •How to conduct a thorough analysis of the SAT Essay passage •How to write killer SAT Essay introductions, body paragraphs, and conclusions •How to perfectly mimic example SAT Essays written by Shaan Patel

Copyright (C) 2015 by Patel Educational Services, Inc All rights reserved Published in the United States of America Except as permitted under the United States Copyright Act of 1976, no part of this publication may be reproduced or distributed in any form or by any means, or stored in a database or retrieval system, without the prior written permission of the publisher SAT is a registered trademark of the College Entrance Examination Board, which was not involved in the production of, and does not endorse, this product Enroll in a Prep Expert SAT or ACT Prep Course at www.PrepExpert.com About The Author Shaan Patel Perfect Score SAT Student, Valedictorian, & Homecoming King Winner of $250,000 in Scholarships #1 Bestselling Published Author 40 Under 40 Las Vegas 2015 MD/MBA Student at Yale & USC Shaan Patel is the founder of Prep Expert Test Preparation, a #1 bestselling SAT & ACT book author, and MD/MBA student at Yale and USC He raised his own SAT score from average to perfect and teaches students his methods via online classes at PrepExpert.com CONTENTS INTRODUCTION FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS What Is The Format? How Is It Different? How Is It Scored? Is It Harder? Should I Take The Sat Essay? EXPERT STRATEGIES Skip The Directions Exploit Vocab Fill 3–4 Pages Create a Plan Write Paragraphs Thesis First POP Last Repeat Thesis Stay Active 10 Link & Connect 11 Stay Objective 12 Find PKP 13 First Pass – PS 14 Second Pass – CREW SAID 15 QIS Analysis 16 Introduction Template 17 Body Paragraph Template 18 Body Paragraph Template 19 Body Paragraph Template 20 Conclusion Template PRACTICE SAT ESSAY SAT ESSAY INTRODUCTION Introduction Welcome to the SAT Essay portion of the Prep Expert Course! The New SAT Essay on the 1600-version of the SAT is different than the old SAT Essay on the 2400-version of the SAT Here are a few of the major changes: Optional The essay is now optional However, I expect every Prep Expert student to take the essay portion of the new 1600-version of the SAT I will explain why later Analytical The previous version of the SAT Essay required students to write a persuasive essay You had to convince the reader that your position on a particular topic was the correct one The new version of the SAT Essay requires that students write an analytical essay You now need to analyze how the author of a passage develops an effective argument 50 Minutes You now have much more time to write the SAT Essay On the previous version of the SAT Essay, students were limited to 25 minutes to write a full two-page essay You now have double that time, but must also read and analyze a passage, which you didn’t previously have to But the good news is that we will teach you how to analyze the passage methodically so that you have plenty of time to write a compelling essay Despite these changes, there are still lots of effective strategies to tackle the SAT Essay Previously, at 2400 Expert, students loved our strategies for the prior version of the SAT Essay that allowed them to get perfect, or near-perfect, scores every time And this is still true for the New SAT Essay! Many of the strategies that were applicable to the old SAT Essay are still applicable to the New SAT Essay And the New SAT Essay is more formulaic than ever Even though the College Board tried to change the essay so that students could not game it anymore, we have gamed it again So get ready to learn some powerful strategies to ace the New SAT Essay! SAT ESSAY FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS WHAT IS THE FORMAT? HOW IS IT DIFFERENT? HOW IS IT SCORED? IS IT HARDER? SHOULD I TAKE THE SAT ESSAY? SAT ESSAY FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS What Is The Format? Time 50 minutes Passage Type Argumentative The author of the passage will try to persuade the reader of a particular position Your job is to analyze how effectively the author develops his or her argument Passage Length 650 – 750 words Passage Content Topic for a broad audience You will not need to have prior knowledge of the topic in order to write a compelling SAT Essay Passage Complexity High school level (grades -12) Last Section Unlike the previous 2400-version of the SAT Essay that was always the first section of the SAT, the 1600-version of the SAT Essay is always the last section of the SAT SAT ESSAY FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS How Is It Different? 2400 SAT Essay 1600 SAT Essay Required Optional Persuasive Analytical 25 Minutes 50 Minutes First Section Last Section Required vs Optional On the 2400-version of the SAT, the essay was required and part of your SAT Writing score On the new 1600version of the SAT, the essay is optional and a completely separate score outside of your SAT Evidenced-Based Reading & Writing score Persuasive vs Analytical On the 2400-version of the SAT, the essay was persuasive While you may believe that it’s easier to write a persuasive essay because you are able to write about your opinion, it was actually a difficult task because of the academic evidence you had to provide in order to back up your claims On this 1600-version of the SAT Essay, all of the evidence you need can be found in the passage Therefore, the New SAT Essay actually requires even less outside knowledge than before Your opinion on the topic no longer matters whereas on the previous version of the essay, your opinion on the topic was all that mattered So you should stay as objective as possible when writing your essay – not let your opinion on the topic creep into your essay 10 the passage (i.e this will increase your SAT Essay Reading Subscore) Customization You may want to customize the conclusion You can include other broad and powerful statements that relate to the particular passage at hand Extending your conclusion will help lengthen your essay, but should only be done if you have extra time remaining at the end Now let’s see how to use this Conclusion Template on our example humanities passage: Undoubtedly, Smith is no amateur author Not only does she employ reference to influential authorities, imply broad ramifications, and highlight contrast to build a coherent argument, but she also does so purposefully and proficiently Smith’s adroit use of persuasive literary devices and tactics guarantees that readers will be convinced of her conviction that an education in the humanities is the crux of a highfunctioning society 87 Practice SAT Essay Up until this point we have covered Essay Expert Strategies in silos You likely still have questions about how to put everything together This section is especially important to clarify any confusion that is left regarding the SAT Essay We will now practice an entire SAT Essay together Not only will we write an SAT Essay together, but we will also read an SAT Essay passage together This exercise will give you a good idea of how to create paragraph summaries, identify CREW SAID tools, and use essay templates Practice SAT Essay Passage Adapted from “Deceiving Education” by Shaan Patel ©2015 by Prep Expert Times Originally published August 30, 2006 I believe the federal government is not only uninformative in their depiction of the “progress” of the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act, but downright illusory One of the main objectives of NCLB is to bridge the achievement gap on tests between students of diverse ethnic and economic backgrounds (particularly blacks and whites) But according to The Civil Rights Project conducted at Harvard University, the NCLB has made little progress in accomplishing this goal Yet, President Bush has claimed that the percentage gap between passing whites and blacks has closed by 25 percentage points in the state of Texas on math tests in the past three years What could account for this discrepancy in claims? Undoubtedly, it is the Department of Education’s utter failure to recognize the intrinsic problems with the NCLB act and its deliberate distortion of statistics Before we can discuss how the government skews statistics, we must first understand it does so There are so many problems with the NCLB Act that any government attempt to fix them is like a mechanic repairing a car with no engine – it simply won’t work In Charles Murray’s editorial “Acid Tests” in the Wall Street Journal, he points out that one of the fundamental problems with the NCLB Act is that it undermines the institutions of federalism this 88 country was founded on by nationalizing elementary and secondary education.” It also eradicates any vestige of a child’s inspiration to have a passion for learning or a career in education by constantly bombarding them with stressful tests Furthermore, the act also harms the subject matter that is taught in the classroom and limits teachers to having to spend an inordinate amount of time preparing students on how to pass a test, rather than teaching students how to write Without any progress in the classroom made, the government has one of two choices: to either admit the flaws of the act or to cover up the flaws by manipulating test score data; and they choose the latter There is something inherently wrong with a government when it is willfully skewing studies to fit expectations The government misrepresents the NCLB Act’s actual progress in closing the racial/economic achievement gap by using what are called “pass percentages.” A pass percentage is hard to lucidly define without getting into complex statistical terminology; however, Murray puts it beautifully when he says that pass percentages tell one “whether someone got over a bar, but not how high the bar was set or by how much the bar was cleared.” In other words, pass percentages allow the government to inform the public that a certain test was passed, but allow it to surreptitiously withhold what the passing score on a test was and by how much students exceeded that score However, how the government manipulates statistics to fit its own predictions is trivial compared to the ethical violations it commits when doing so The federal government’s responsibility is not only to keep peace and order over its citizenry, but also to be true to the society that it governs Perhaps I am making the federal government sound like an immoral, dishonest tyrant Even so, when a ruling entity like the government intentionally warps data, it may not be lying, but there is definitely a major trust issue involved In fact, this kind of distortion reminds me of George Orwell’s 1984 in which the Party makes sure that all predictions by the Party are never wrong by rewriting all printed articles to match previous forecasts with current times In the same way, the federal government is misrepresenting figures to match its previous forecast of progress in closing the achievement gap The issue of the government misleading society is far greater than education; it is a major moral concern When the governing body over a 89 group of people deliberately attempts to deceive those very people they are suppose to be most truthful to, it says a whole a lot about the condition of the society we live in as well as the elected officials we vote into office Ultimately, I hope that the No Child Left Behind Act will be left behind and more beneficial educational reforms will one day be instituted 90 Two-Pass Reading Approach Introduction First Pass – Find PKP The first step when tackling an SAT Essay passage (or any passage for that matter) is to find the PKP, or Passage’s Key Point This entails reading the first paragraph and summarizing what you believe to be the author’s thesis in a short, simple sentence So let’s take a look at our example passage I believe the federal government is not only uninformative in their depiction of the “progress” of the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act, but downright illusory One of the main objectives of NCLB is to bridge the achievement gap on tests between students of diverse ethnic and economic backgrounds (particularly blacks and whites) But according to The Civil Rights Project conducted at Harvard University, the NCLB has made little progress in accomplishing this goal Yet, President Bush has claimed that the percentage gap between passing whites and blacks has closed by 25 percentage points in the state of Texas on math tests in the past three years What could account for this discrepancy in claims? Undoubtedly, it is the Department of Education’s utter failure to recognize the intrinsic problems with the NCLB act and its deliberate distortion of statistics PKP: The NCLB is ineffective Introduction Second Pass – Identify CREW SAID Argumentative Tools Because finding PKP is essentially the same thing as coming up with a paragraph summary for the first paragraph, we not need to create a separate paragraph summary for the introduction Instead, we should now reread the first paragraph and identify CREW SAID Argumentative Tools in each sentence 91 I believe the federal government is not only uninformative in their depiction of the “progress” of the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act, but downright illusory One of the main objectives of NCLB is to bridge the achievement gap on tests between students of diverse ethnic and economic backgrounds (particularly blacks and whites) But according to The Civil Rights Project conducted at Harvard University, the NCLB has made little progress in accomplishing this goal Yet, President Bush has claimed that the percentage gap between passing whites and blacks has closed by 25 percentage points in the state of Texas on math tests in the past three years What could account for this discrepancy in claims ? Undoubtedly, it is the Department of Education’s utter failure to recognize the intrinsic problems with the NCLB act and its deliberate distortion of statistics Body Paragraph First Pass – Create Paragraph Summary Before we can discuss how the government skews statistics, we must first understand it does so There are so many problems with the NCLB Act that any government attempt to fix them is like a mechanic repairing a car with no engine – it simply won’t work In Charles Murray’s editorial “Acid Tests” in the Wall Street Journal, he points out that one of the fundamental problems with the NCLB Act is that it undermines the institutions of federalism this country was founded on by nationalizing “elementary and secondary education.” It also eradicates any vestige of a child’s inspiration to have a passion for learning or a career in education by constantly bombarding them with stressful tests Furthermore, the act also harms the subject matter that is taught in the classroom and limits teachers to having to spend an inordinate amount of time preparing students on how to pass a test, rather than teaching students how to write Without any progress in the classroom made, the government has one of two choices: to either admit the flaws of the act 92 or to cover up the flaws by manipulating test score data; and they choose the latter Body Paragraph Summary: The NCLB undermines country’s founding principles and limits teachers Body Paragraph Second Pass – Identify CREW SAID Argumentative Tools Before we can discuss how the government skews statistics, we must first understand it does so There are so many problems with the NCLB Act that any government attempt to fix them is like a mechanic repairing a car with no engine – it simply won’t work In Charles Murray’s editorial “Acid Tests” in the Wall Street Journal, he points out that one of the fundamental problems with the NCLB Act is that it undermines the institutions of federalism this country was founded on by nationalizing “elementary and secondary education” It also eradicates any vestige of a child’s inspiration to have a passion for learning or a career in education by constantly bombarding them with stressful tests Furthermore, the act also harms the subject matter that is taught in the classroom and limits teachers to having to spend an inordinate amount of time preparing students on how to pass a test, rather than teaching students how to write Without any progress in the classroom made, the government has one of two choices: to either admit the flaws of the act or to cover up the flaws by manipulating test score data; and they choose the latter Body Paragraph First Pass – Create Paragraph Summary There is something inherently wrong with a government when it is willfully skewing studies to fit expectations The government misrepresents the NCLB Act’s actual progress in closing the 93 racial/economic achievement gap by using what are called “pass percentages.” A pass percentage is hard to lucidly define without getting into complex statistical terminology; however, Murray puts it beautifully when he says that pass percentages tell one “whether someone got over a bar, but not how high the bar was set or by how much the bar was cleared.” In other words, pass percentages allow the government to inform the public that a certain test was passed, but allow it to surreptitiously withhold what the passing score on a test was and by how much students exceeded that score Body Paragraph Summary: Pass percentages can misrepresent achievement Body Paragraph Second Pass – Identify CREW SAID Argumentative Tools There is something inherently wrong with a government when it is willfully skewing studies to fit expectations The government misrepresents the NCLB Act’s actual progress in closing the racial/economic achievement gap by using what are called “pass percentages.” A pass percentage is hard to lucidly define without getting into complex statistical terminology; however, Murray puts it beautifully when he says that pass percentages tell one “whether someone got over a bar, but not how high the bar was set or by how much the bar was cleared” In other words, pass percentages allow the government to inform the public that a certain test was passed, but allow it to surreptitiously withhold what the passing score on a test was and by how much students exceeded that score Body Paragraph First Pass – Create Paragraph Summary However, how the government manipulates statistics to fit its own 94 predictions is trivial compared to the ethical violations it commits when doing so The federal government’s responsibility is not only to keep peace and order over its citizenry, but also to be true to the society that it governs Perhaps I am making the federal government sound like an immoral, dishonest tyrant Even so, when a ruling entity like the government intentionally warps data, it may not be lying, but there is definitely a major trust issue involved In fact, this kind of distortion reminds me of George Orwell’s 1984 in which the Party makes sure that all predictions by the Party are never wrong by rewriting all printed articles to match previous forecasts with current times In the same way, the federal government is misrepresenting figures to match its previous forecast of progress in closing the achievement gap Body Paragraph Summary: Fundamental Ethical Issue w/ Government Misrepresentation Body Paragraph Second Pass – Identify CREW SAID Argumentative Tools However, how the government manipulates statistics to fit its own predictions is trivial compared to the ethical violations it commits when doing so The federal government’s responsibility is not only to keep peace and order over its citizenry, but also to be true to the society that it governs Perhaps I am making the federal government sound like an immoral, dishonest tyrant Even so, when a ruling entity like the government intentionally warps data, it may not be lying, but there is definitely a major trust issue involved In fact, this kind of distortion reminds me of George Orwell’s 1984 in which the Party makes sure that all predictions by the Party are never wrong by rewriting all printed articles to match previous forecasts with current times In the same way, the federal government is misrepresenting figures to match 95 its previous forecast of progress in closing the achievement gap Conclusion First Pass – Create Paragraph Summary The issue of the government misleading society is far greater than education; it is a major moral concern When the governing body over a group of people deliberately attempts to deceive those very people they are suppose to be most truthful to, it says a whole a lot about the condition of the society we live in as well as the elected officials we vote into office Ultimately, I hope that the No Child Left Behind Act will be left behind and more beneficial educational reforms will one day be instituted Conclusion Summary: NCLB misrepresentation is bigger than education Conclusion Second Pass – Identify CREW SAID Argumentative Tools The issue of the government misleading society is far greater than education; it is a major moral concern When the governing body over a group of people deliberately attempts to deceive those very people they are suppose to be most truthful to, it says a whole a lot about the condition of the society we live in as well as the elected officials we vote into office Ultimately, I hope that the No Child Left Behind Act will be left behind and more beneficial educational reforms will one day be instituted Now that we’ve gone through each paragraph of the passage twice, we are ready to start writing our essay We should start by counting up how many times each CREW SAID argumentative tool was used by the author 96 4 Judging by the above results, I would like to discuss how the author uses word choice, repercussions, and authoritative sources to support his argument We can now begin writing our SAT Essay 97 Practice SAT Essay In “Deceiving Education,” Shaan Patel synthesizes a compelling dissertation that the government is willfully manipulating achievement statistics of its failed No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) Although some detractors may believe the NCLB Act has made progress in the standardization of education, the arguments set forth in the article dismiss such romantic critics as excessively dogmatic in their provincial ideology One of the broader notions presented in the essay is that misrepresenting the NCLB’s ability to have closed the achievement gap is actually a prodigious ethical concern Patel deftly delivers a cogent argument to sway his readers by citing prominent authorities, implying broad repercussions, and using calculated, but powerful diction Throughout the article, Patel highlights several influential sources in order to persuade readers to give credence to his claim that the No Child Left Behind Act is doing more harm than good From the outset, Patel refers to a study conducted at Harvard University that “the NCLB has made little progress in accomplishing [bridging the achievement gap]” (Patel 1) Mentioning a university as prestigious as Harvard is likely no coincidence Patel knowingly uses the weight of the Harvard name to add credibility to his argument Continuing this trend of using highly credible sources to further his argument, Patel then quotes a Wall Street Journal editorial that claims the NCLB Act “undermines the institutions of federalism this country was founded on by nationalizing “elementary and secondary education” (Patel 2) Using one of the most well-known papers in the world, The Wall Street Journal, adds even more authority to his stance In addition, adding that the editorial stated that the NCLB Act is fundamentally in opposition to American ideals likely strikes an emotional chord with 98 many readers Latching onto the reputations of authoritative sources is a brilliant strategy that adds significant weight to Patel’s argument against the NCLB Act Similar to many adept editorial writers, Patel attempts to continually expound the magnitude of his argument by asserting the far-reaching negative consequences of the No Child Left Behind Act Patel states “the act also harms the subject matter that is taught in the classroom and limits teachers to having to spend an inordinate amount of time preparing students on how to pass a test, rather than teaching students how to write” (Patel 2) By referencing how classroom dynamics will change, Patel extends his argument to go beyond just the achievement gap He makes sure every reader is aware that the classroom his or her child learns in will be fundamentally different due to this legislation But Patel doesn’t let the negative repercussions of the No Child Left Behind Act stop in the classroom Near the end of the article, he states “When the governing body over a group of people deliberately attempts to deceive those very people they are supposed to be most truthful to, it says a whole a lot about the condition of the society we live in” (Patel 5) This brings Patel’s argument to the very center of society He masterfully constructs his case to suddenly include all of the ethical and moral issues a society should be concerned with – all stemming from one piece of government educational legislation Lastly, Patel further thoughtfully supplements his argument by using powerful diction to resonate with readers He uses phrases such as “utter failure,” “intrinsic problems,” and “deliberate distortion” in the first paragraph to answer his rhetorical question of “What could account for this discrepancy in claims?” (Patel 1) Certainly, such strong diction makes the Department of Education look far worse than it likely is But because of Patel’s designated word choice, 99 readers may view the government as malevolent and full of machinations Patel continues his admonishment of the government when he says they “surreptitiously withhold” and are “misrepresenting figures” (Patel 2, 3) Depicting the government as a malicious entity with willful intentions to manipulate the public’s mind effectively aids Patel in building his argument that the No Child Left Behind Act has been terrible for our country Undoubtedly, Patel is no amateur author Not only does he employ reference to influential authorities, far-reaching implications, and masterful diction decisions to build a coherent argument, but he also does so purposefully and proficiently Patel’s adroit use of persuasive literary devices and tactics guarantees that readers will be convinced of his conviction that the No Child Left Behind Act is wholly antiAmerican 100 About The Author Shaan Patel Perfect Score SAT Student, Valedictorian, & Homecoming King Winner of $250,000 in Scholarships #1 Bestselling Published Author 40 Under 40 Las Vegas 2015 MD/MBA Student at Yale & USC Shaan Patel is the founder of Prep Expert Test Preparation, a #1 bestselling SAT & ACT book author, and MD/MBA student at Yale and USC He raised his own SAT score from average to perfect and teaches students his methods via online classes at PrepExpert.com 101 ... PRACTICE SAT ESSAY SAT ESSAY INTRODUCTION Introduction Welcome to the SAT Essay portion of the Prep Expert Course! The New SAT Essay on the 1600-version of the SAT is different than the old SAT Essay. .. the New SAT Essay In addition, the New SAT Essay is easy to prep for Although the essay may seem intimidating right now, after you learn the Essay Expert Strategies you will find that the New SAT. .. this is still true for the New SAT Essay! Many of the strategies that were applicable to the old SAT Essay are still applicable to the New SAT Essay And the New SAT Essay is more formulaic than