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SAT Sample Essays

For a sample SAT essay to be useful for studying, it must meet five criteria: it must be over 400 words, use at least two scholarly examples from literature or history, be organized into paragraphs with an introduction, body, and conclusion, make its points explicitly without needing re-reads, and include the prompt it is responding to. The document provides guidelines for evaluating sample SAT essays to determine if they will effectively help with learning.

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SJRlorenz
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10K views

SAT Sample Essays

For a sample SAT essay to be useful for studying, it must meet five criteria: it must be over 400 words, use at least two scholarly examples from literature or history, be organized into paragraphs with an introduction, body, and conclusion, make its points explicitly without needing re-reads, and include the prompt it is responding to. The document provides guidelines for evaluating sample SAT essays to determine if they will effectively help with learning.

Uploaded by

SJRlorenz
Copyright
© Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
Available Formats
Download as DOC, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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For a sample SAT Essay to be a good guide in helping you

study it must fit each of the following criteria:

1. The essay must be over 400 words in length. Research has


found that 90% of essays over 400 words in length receive
the highest score of 12.
2. The sample SAT Essay must use scholarly examples. There
should be two or three examples with at least one from
literature. Examples from history are also good. If an essay
uses primarily personal experiences it is not a good guide
to helping you learn as SAT graders don't score these as
highly as essays that use content learned in school.
3. The essay must be organized into paragraphs. At the
minimum there is an introductory paragraph with at least a
sentence or two. Then one paragraph to cover each
example. And often a short conclusion. If the essay has
paragraphs that cover multiple examples it won't score as
well and won't serve as a good example for your learning.
4. The essay must make its points explicitly. If you are
reading a sample SAT Essay that you must read between
the lines to get or re-read in order to understand it is not a
good sample for you to learn from.
5. The essay must come with a prompt so that you can see
what it takes to follow the prompt. If the essay is given as
an example without this critical piece of information there
is little you can learn from it.

Below are links to several sample sat essays. Each essay is


rated at the highest possible score

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