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On test day you need to have good ideas ready to answer any sat essay questions so you can write a great essay in under 25 minutes. So to help you put pen to paper fast use any one of these 8 methods for creating a compelling introduction quickly.

1. Understand the sat writing prompts first

Before you write one word, you must know exactly what you need to be writing about. The biggest mistake you can make is to start writing before you’ve fully thought through the prompt. I’ve seen many students write an essay that hardly relates to the prompt because they were so eager to get started that they missed an important point in the prompt. Don’t be one of them.

2. Use an analogy or metaphor to answer your sat essay topics

Analogies are creative. And good analogies can impress graders because they like to reward good thinking. Here’s an analogy a one student created to answer the prompt “Does it always take hard work to make progress?”
“To climb a mountain a person must struggle and strain. And this is the case with any worthwhile goal…”

3. Tell a brief anecdote

Create an engaging introducty by telling a brief anecdote in just a few sentences like in the example below:
When I trained for my first marathon it was difficult and often painful. But I wanted to have the accomplishment of running 26.2 miles so I did it anyway. To make progress in life requires sacrifice.

4. Use a quote that was not used in the prompt

Tip O’Neil, former Speaker of the House of Representatives said that one key to his success in politics was the fact that he memorized great lines of poetry and famous quotes to use when he had to do impromptu speeches.

The same strategy can help you when you take the SAT. Memorize a few quotes that you really like and use them if they fit your topic on test day.
For example for the essay topic “Do mistakes lead to growth?” one of my students wrote
Someone once asked Edison, “how can you feel good about your work, having failed nine-hundred and ninety-nine times to make a light bulb?” To this Edison replied, “I have not failed so many times, I have merely learned nine-hundred and ninety-nine ways not to make a light bulb.” Why did Edison react this way? Because he knew that mistakes are always experiences that lead to learning and growth.
This was a great quote to begin his essay with and would definitely impress SAT Essay graders.

5. Mention a topic in the news

Most educated people are aware of most important stories in the news and it’s good for you to be aware of important events when studying for the SATs. However, when you use a news story it’s important to make sure that it’s not something about Britney Spears or some entertainment related topic. Make sure it’s about something more substantial like the atrocities in Darfour. And stay away from political issues like abortion as you can never be sure of the political views of the people grading your sat essay.

6. Make up an anecdote using very specific details

I had a student that loved to use this technique even though he wasn’t very good at it… at first. Eventually he got good at making up stories that were so specific, that he even fooled me a few times and I knew he was trying to make things up. I personally don’t recommend this strategy because it’s not good preparation for college. Trust me, if you make something up in your Biology course your professor will know it.

7. Use a cliche in an inventive way

Professional writers, academics, journalists and pretty much anyone who knows anyone who judges writing says to avoid clich

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Top level sat writing test is about being able to fully understand the question being asked and putting across an argument to support the opinion being presented in the essay in a quick, methodical, informative, imaginative and sensible format. The essay absolutely must be in third person and written quickly, but should be long enough to show that a clear understanding of the topic and the relevant opinion is based on personal experience, knowledge, observations or what one has read. However, there are five critical steps to getting a top level SAT essay score.

Though a student does not count paragraphs or pages, the longer the sample sat writing prompts is, the better, because this clearly shows that the writer has substantial evidence and examples to back up the opinion being presented. The first critical step is to organize a response in a logical order, starting with a leading or introductory paragraph that catches the SAT grader’s attention, quickly summarizes in a single sentence the theme of the essay and with a maximum of two or three more sentences, establishes the basic opinion regarding the original SAT essay questions. The second step is to use priority organization for the body of the essay, using the most important opinion response first, followed by the second and so on. The third step is use at least a few paragraphs to break down each response in turn (starting with the first), going from the most important points to be made about that response and then repeating this process for the other responses in order as they were originally presented. The fourth step is to ensure that the essay is articulate, using as many SAT words as possible, similar to what a writer would do when they use keywords for a web-based article, as this helps to show that the essay writer has some intelligence. The fourth important step is to ensure that within each response discussed that at least one or more scholarly, historical or literary examples are given, totalling at least three within the entire SAT essay. The fifth and final step is to summarize the entire essay by using the original introductory paragraph as a guideline for the order of the conclusions and to summarize each response in order with at least one sentence, but making the final sentence give a summarized conclusion about the original SAT essay question.

Writing sample sat writing prompts are not difficult if these steps are taken and the student has a clear understanding of their own opinion on the topic being discussed. By using careful mental planning, it is possible to use these five steps to achieve top level SAT graded scores for an SAT essay.

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