Four days until my final SAT for this project (and yes, I feel sad. I hate goodbyes). Saturday’s test will make 7 SATs in 2011, plus the two I took in 1982 (one of whichwas emailed to me by Erik the Red; I can’t wait to take it next week).
I’ve been quieter on the blog front than usual because I’m trying to focus (so hard for some of us). I find that once I start down the internet rabbit hole, hours (days) can evaporate. But I’ll be back after next Saturday, because I have a lot to get off my chest about this whole process.
Most of my SAT time in the last few weeks has been spent studying the basics of math. More on that later.
For the next few days I’m going to write an essay a day so that I’m limbered up for Saturday. As I’ve said before, practice definitely helps.
I just printed out a comment to read carefully from my last post about the Essay, which was left by a high school senior who scored a 2400. His (or her?) critique of my October essay is excellent, and this particular paragraph, worthy of highlighting for others:
My recommendation to you is this: Always be aware of your thesis when you’re developing your examples. You need to be explicit—very, very explicit—when you tie your example(s) back to the thesis. SAT essay readers read really quickly. Clearly linking your example(s) to your thesis is crucial to scoring a 12.
If anyone else is interested in practicing SAT essay writing, here are the College Board prompts from the November SAT.
Ok, signing off now because I’m procrastinating.
llustrations by Jennifer Orkin Lewis
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