SAT WRITING QUESTIONS

Remember, this test is named: SAT I Reasoning Test and it tests reasoning skills more than it tests writing skills.

In this section, you will be given a prompt and you will have to write an essay around that prompt. It could be something as basic as: A penny saved is a penny earned, or something as introspective as: You can run all your life, but not go anywhere. Your job will be to put together a comprehensive essay discussing this topic. You will be graded on a number of issues and given an overall score of 1-6. You have 25 minutes to write the essay, while the grader will have 90 seconds to grade it.

The essay is scored by 2 readers on a scale of 1-6. Below you'll find a specific detail on each score.

6 - EXCEPTIONAL ESSAY - This essay is extremely competent and insightful. Ideas are organized and well developed with specific examples to support the position. Excellent command of sentence structure, grammar, and vocabulary is consistent throughout the piece. It may have minor errors.

5 - GREAT ESSAY - This essay is well developed and effectively addresses the writing prompt. Examples are used to support the essay. Good grasp of sentence structure, grammar, and vocabulary is evident throughout the piece. Occasional errors are present.

4 - GOOD ESSAY - This essay fulfills the assignment. It is organized, but not totally cohesive. Adequate grasp of sentence structure, grammar, and vocabulary is evident throughout the piece. Errors are present.

3 - ACCEPTABLE ESSAY - This essay does not completely fulfill the assignment. Ideas are not well organized or fully developed. There are no examples to support the ideas. Insufficient grasp of sentence structure, grammar, and vocabulary is displayed. Errors are common.

2 - POOR ESSAY - This essay does not fulfill the assignment. Ideas are poorly organized and not fully developed. There are no examples to support the ideas. Poor grasp of sentence structure, grammar, and vocabulary is displayed. Errors are frequent.

1 - UNACCEPTABLE ESSAY - This essay is extremely poor. There is no organization or development. There are no examples to support the ideas. Extremely poor grasp of sentence structure, grammar, and vocabulary is displayed. Errors are severe and the basic meaning is obscured.

Once your two scores are added together, they will translate to a scaled score and account for 30% of your total score on this section.

Below is an example of a 6 and a 1. Which side of the scale do you want to be on?

There are countless lessons throughout history and literature that teach us we cannot comprehend success without knowing failure. From Teddy Roosevelt's Rough Riders to Emily Dickinson's poetry, the lesson is the same: "Failure helps us understand and appreciate success." Many people have succeeded, but do not know the value of that success unless they have also known failure.

In 1898, Teddy Roosevelt recruited a diverse group of cowboys, miners and athletes that he called the Rough Riders. Roosevelt led this colorful band of characters to help the United States win the Spanish-American War. The beginning of the war, though, wasn't very promising for this group. They lost their first battle, and were mocked for their failure. Knowing that these men were downtrodden and thinking about giving up, Roosevelt gave a rousing speech and motivated his men to persevere in the midst of failure. He told them that it was not the critic who counts; the credit actually belonged to the man who was in the arena, whose face was marred with dust and sweat and blood. Even if they failed, at least they failed while daring greatly. The Rough Riders took his words to heart and charged up San Juan Hill, forcing the opposing army to surrender. They were ecstatic about the victory. The country praised them as heroes. Success was as sweet as failure was bitter.

In Emily Dickinson's Success is Counted the Sweetest, she recounted a story of a soldier who had always been victorious in battle, but never fully understood what victory was. She said, "success is counted the sweetest by those who never succeed." It was not until this soldier was defeated and dying that he finally grasped what it meant to succeed. She tells us that you cannot grasp the highs of success until you've felt the lows of defeat.

So it is true in history, literature and life that we need to experience the agony of failure to truly understand and appreciate the beauty of success.

This essay is very insightful and calls upon examples from history and literature to support the opinion. This would be graded a 6.

I totally agree that failure helps us understand success. Without failure we wouldn't know how good success was. In my personal experience, I have learned this lesson as well.

When I was 5, I had a really hard time learning to ride a bike and kept falling off. I didn't let that stop me though. I got right back on the bike and eventually learned how to ride it. It was a lot of work, but I finally did it. It was very special to me because I had not been able to do it in the beginning.

In conclusion, I think that you can understand success a lot better once you have dealt with failure.

This essay lacks insight and does not fully develop any points. It is very short and does not call upon examples from history and literature to support the opinion. This would be graded a 1.

In the following questions, if there is an error, select the one underlined part that must be changed in order to make the sentence correct. If there is no error, select Choice E.

CORRECT ANSWER: A

This question deals with the most common error on the Writing Section, Singular vs. Plural. The subject of this sentence is the set of golf clubs. Since set is singular, the rest of the sentence must also be singular. Since Choice A is plural, that is our answer.

CORRECT ANSWER: A

This question deals with another common error on the Writing Section, Pronoun Confusion. This sentence is ambiguous as to who "he" refers to. It could refer to Kevin, or his co-worker. Since it is unclear, then Choice A is our answer.

CORRECT ANSWER: E

A lot of students forget that 20% of these questions will have no error. This sentence is grammatically correct.

CORRECT ANSWER: D

This question deals with another common error on the Writing Section, Incorrect Comparisons. This sentence is comparing the Dodgers' pitching staff to the entire Angels team. Since we are actually comparing pitching staffs, Choice D is our answer.

In the following questions, there could be an error in the underlined part of the sentence. Choose the answer choice that corrects the error. If there is no error, choose Choice A.

(A) Even though it has been proven to cause cancer, the sunbathers still enjoyed lying out in the sun.

(B) Even though it was proving to cause cancer, the sunbathers still enjoyed lying out in the sun.

(C) Even though it was proven to cause cancer, the sunbathers still enjoyed lying out in the sun.

(D) Even though the sun been proven to cause cancer, the sunbathers still enjoyed it.

(E) Even though the sun has been proven to cause cancer, the sunbathers still enjoyed lying out in it.

CORRECT ANSWER: E

In this sentence, we understand what the writer means - exposure to the sun has been proven to cause cancer. The way it is written though, leads to confusion. In the original sentence, it looks like the sunbathers have been proven to cause cancer. The modifier needs to be next to the noun it is modifying, so Choice E is correct.

(A) Delaware is a safe haven for businesses because of its lax corporate laws many companies incorporate there.

(B) Because of its lax corporate laws, Delaware is a safe haven from many companies and they incorporate there too.

(C) Because of Delaware's lax corporate laws, it is a safe haven for many companies and they incorporate there too.

(D) Delaware's lax corporate laws make it a safe haven for businesses. Because of this, many companies incorporate there.

(E) Delaware's lax corporate laws make them a safe haven for businesses. Because of this, many companies incorporate there.

CORRECT ANSWER: D

Sometimes there is just too much information for everything to fit into one sentence. It is acceptable to break up a long sentence into two different ones. Whenever you see the whole sentence underlined, see if you can break it up.

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