{"id":3404,"date":"2013-05-16T06:16:35","date_gmt":"2013-05-16T06:16:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/testpreparations.com\/help\/?p=3404"},"modified":"2014-12-02T08:27:01","modified_gmt":"2014-12-02T08:27:01","slug":"using-writing-prompts-for-sat-and-act-essays","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/schooltutoring.com\/scholarship\/2013\/05\/16\/using-writing-prompts-for-sat-and-act-essays\/","title":{"rendered":"Using Writing Prompts for SAT and ACT Essays"},"content":{"rendered":"

Overview: Following Directions<\/strong>
\nStandardized tests such as the SAT and ACT allow a relatively small amount of time for students to develop meaningful responses on the essay portion.\u00a0 Examiners expect students to follow their initial directions, such as writing in pencil rather than pen, writing in the provided space on the answer sheet, and paying attention to time limits.\u00a0 In order to maximize writing time, they provide the topic and give important clues to the writing plan.<\/p>\n

The Quotation<\/strong>
\nBefore the questions for the writing assignment, examiners present a short excerpt or quotation.\u00a0 This usually sets the tone for the essay that students are to write.\u00a0 It may be something well-known from literature, such as a quote from Shakespeare, or a scenario from everyday life.\u00a0 However, the purpose for the quotation may not be apparent until the assignment a paragraph later.<\/p>\n

The Assignment<\/strong>
\nThese questions make the quotation explicit, and provide structure for the student essay.\u00a0 If the question is asked to develop and defend opinion or point of view about a topic, stay on that topic.\u00a0 Students are asked to support their position, and are given the types of evidence to use.\u00a0 Points are awarded for logical reasoning in a connected thread, good use of readings and literature, as well as life experiences and observation.<\/p>\n

Prewriting<\/strong>
\nEven though the essay is only 25 minutes long (30 for the ACT), it is best to spend at least 5 of them on a plan of action.\u00a0 During this time, jot down notes about \u00a0strategy and what the assignment is about.\u00a0 Write a brief outline, only a few words, giving the structure of your essay.\u00a0 It doesn’t have to be perfect or fully realized.\u00a0 Those few words will lead to many others.<\/p>\n

Writing the Body of the Essay<\/strong>
\nThe introduction is developed from the outline in the prewriting portion.\u00a0 Clearly state a position if the main question asks for a point of view.\u00a0 The next paragraphs elaborate the point of view, stating clear examples from readings, experience, and observations. It is important to develop those examples as fully as possible in the short time frame, and it is permissible to use “I”.\u00a0 The conclusion shows how the writer has developed their point of view and answered the questions given in the assignment portion<\/p>\n

Proofreading, Transitions, Editing<\/strong>
\nDuring the last five minutes of writing, reread quickly, fix any spelling errors, add transitions, and do any final editing that needs to be done.\u00a0 Since the test has to be taken in pencil to receive credit, it is easier to erase and correct misspellings, add or subtract punctuation, or even neatly\u00a0add a word here and there .\u00a0 Practice essays written long before taking the actual test will help build skill for the test day itself.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Overview: Following Directions Standardized tests such as the SAT and ACT allow a relatively small amount of time for students to develop meaningful responses on the essay portion.\u00a0 Examiners expect students to follow their initial directions, such as writing in pencil rather than pen, writing in the provided space on the answer sheet, and paying […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":3188,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2841,3020,2851,3018],"tags":[2882,3246,3249],"class_list":["post-3404","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-act","category-essay-and-writing","category-sat","category-writing-act","tag-essay","tag-prewriting","tag-prompts"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/schooltutoring.com\/scholarship\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3404","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/schooltutoring.com\/scholarship\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/schooltutoring.com\/scholarship\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/schooltutoring.com\/scholarship\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/schooltutoring.com\/scholarship\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3404"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/schooltutoring.com\/scholarship\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3404\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/schooltutoring.com\/scholarship\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3188"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/schooltutoring.com\/scholarship\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3404"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/schooltutoring.com\/scholarship\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3404"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/schooltutoring.com\/scholarship\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3404"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}