Tim is a great student who knows how to write a good essay, but the suggested topic for his college application essay (which was simple and personal) made him confused. He knew that a good essay should have an introduction, three body paragraphs, and a conclusion. However, the prompt was so simple that any introduction sounded trite and… hmmm…. boring. The same boredom permeated his whole essay, which contained a list of activities and successes and looked like a resume.

“I don’t know…. What do they actually want?” asked Tim hoping to hear a clear answer.

I said, “Don’t think about them. Think about yourself instead: what do you want to tell the world?”

After a brief discussion we found out that Tim had no idea what he wanted to tell in his essay. For the first time he read the prompt attentively and… began to jot down idea after idea. I asked him not to worry about proper words or grammar (we could work on that later). What we needed at that moment was to accumulate ideas, examples, stories from his life, and to create a rough outline of our future masterpiece. Surprisingly, Tim felt inspired and even poetic! Later he confessed that it was fun to write something really important for himself, not for the teacher.

As a tutor, I advise my students to be honest, sincere, and personal while writing their college application essays: “Avoid general statements about your persistence and will to succeed. Instead of empty and meaningless declarations tell a story. If you like metaphorical language, do not avoid it. A good metaphor can tell a lot about your inner world. Be introspective if you feel like that. If you have doubts about your future career, do not hide it: nobody expects you to choose your future once and forever. In other words, do not try to please anybody but be yourself.

Advice from an experienced tutor.

This is one of the frequently asked questions that I hear from my students: Do I need to go over all theoretical information about Subject, Predicate, Direct object, etc?

The answer is no. Although the SAT Writing and Language section includes pure grammar questions, few of them are about theory. In fact, correct answers to most of the questions require editing skills. If in general you are a good writer, it will help you make the right choice at the test. However, in order to succeed at SAT Language test, you need some basic review of a few grammar topics. The most important are Subject-Verb Agreement, Rules of Punctuation (especially the difference between semi-colon and colon), Faulty Parallelism, Pronouns, and Misplaced Modifier.

Let’s first look at the questions related to Subject-Verb Agreement and see how they can be incorporated into the test.

Here is an example:

Studying grammar rules seem to be a thing of the past.

1. NO CHANGE
2. Seems
3. Will seem
4. Seemed

Although the word rules precedes the underlined verb, the verb agrees not with the rules but with studying. In other words, studying is the subject. Since it is singular, choice (b) is the correct answer.

Here is another sample question:

The collection of paintings entitled “Matisse in Morocco” are one of the most widely traveled exhibits in recent years.

1. NO CHANGE
2. Have been
3. is
4. were

What letter have you picked up for your answer? I hope not (a). The underlined verb agrees with collection, which is singular. Thus, the answer should be (c).

If you still have trouble with questions on Agreement, here is an easy trick. Remember that the subject cannot be a part of a prepositional phrase. As in our second example, the phrase the collection of paintings consists of a noun and a prepositional phrase (of paintings). Since the subject cannot be a part of a prepositional phrase, the only noun left is the collection. 

Most of the agreement questions on the test are relatively easy, but you should be ready to deal with more complicated cases.

Much of what we know about the nineteenth-century tribes come  from German-American anthropologist Franz Boas.

1. NO CHANGE
2. comes
3. are coming
4. came

What do you think about this one? Try it yourself first and read explanations after.

Probably, you have already picked up the correct answer. If still in doubt which word is the subject, recall the prompt about prepositional phrases. In this sentence, all the words after the preposition of are parts of a prepositional phrase. Thus, much is the subject. Since it is singular, the correct answer is (b).  

Do not panic! Three weeks seems like a very short time, but it is surprising how much one can improve.

Let’s imagine that you are a student whose SAT is scheduled ….hmmm… very-very soon. Here is our first session.

OK, what shall we do? Let’s look at the format of the test, starting with Section one: Reading Comprehension. If you have three weeks to go, I would recommend to start with an evaluation: set up your timer for 65 min, turn off your cell phone and – go! After the completion of the Verbal section, calculate your score and – by all means! – compare the results (in percent) of the five separate passages. Some students feel more confident reading Fiction while others score higher on Science or Art. If you learn your strengths and weaknesses, you can focus on the latter and save precious time.

The next step is to analyze your errors. If you work without a tutor, please, do not skip this very important part! Unfortunately, many students do. They hope that taking test after test will somehow (magically!) improve their scores. In reality, they waste their time, repeat the same mistakes, and become frustrated.

I would like to give one more bit of advice for those students who are used to reading slowly. Have a look at the general format of the Reading section and calculate the approximate time you can spend on each passage: 12.5 min.

Write down the completion time for each passage. After you finish each passage, check the time to see how you are doing. This simple trick will help avoid unnecessary stress. In fact, some students are so nervous about time that they rush through the passages finishing 5 or 10 (!) minutes early while making mistakes on many easy questions.

The same approach applies for Section Two: Writing and Language.

First, calculate the time you can allow yourself for each passage (approximately 8 min per passage).

Second, familiarize yourself with the section by taking the test and calculating your scores.

Third, have a look at your errors and try to figure out what you need to do to avoid them. For example, if you do not remember the difference between a comma and a semi-comma, go over the rules of punctuation before the actual test.