“Begin!”
SAT Essay Prompt: Can knowledge
be a burden rather than a benefit?
Read the quote—don’t ponder the meaning of the quote, it is
simply there to prime ideas. Read the
prompt, again. THINK, for one solid
minute, THINK.
Pencils up, but don’t write your essay just yet.
THINK
It is important to know how much you can write in twenty
minutes. Yes, I know you thought you had
twenty-five minutes, but it is very, very important to take one minute to
THINK, two minutes to ORGANIZE, twenty minutes to WRITE, and two minutes to FIX
your essay. The time that you invest in
thinking about the prompt--taking a position and narrowing your topic—will help
you formulate your thesis around which you can build an effective essay. The students who start writing immediately
will usually run out of ideas half-way through their essay. Fore-thought and organization facilitates
fluency and coherence.
ORGANIZE: Sequence
After you have spent one minute thinking about the prompt,
select appropriate and complementary examples which support your thesis. Choosing a side can also affect the sequence
of the examples. Take, for example,
three novels from a secondary English curriculum: Fahrenheit 451, 1984, and Scarlet
Letter. If you wrote your essay
solely according to chronological order, Scarlet
Letter would come first; but if you focused on the protagonists’ responses
to “knowledge,” Dimsdale represents the midway point between Winston Smith’s
failure and Montag’s victory.
Knowledge = Power (benefit):
1) 1984: Winston
Smith is liberated by knowledge, but is betrays his love;
2) Scarlet Letter:
Dimsdale is liberated by knowledge and dies free;
3) Fahrenheit 451: Montag is
liberated by knowledge and lives free in a new communityà ultimate victory for
GOOD!
On the other hand, if your thesis proposes that knowledge is
a burden, you world present evidence from the novels in a different order,
building up to antagonist’s victory over the protagonist.
Knowledge = Power (burden):
1) Fahrenheit 451:
Beatty holds secret over Montag, but Montag kills him;
2) Scarlet Letter: Chillingsworth
holds secret over Dimsdale; however, Dimsdale neutralizes Chillingsworth power
by declaring his love for Hester.
3) 1984: O’Brien manipulates both
Winston Smith and Julia to betray each otherà ultimate victory for
EVIL!
ORGANIZE: Two or
Three Body Paragraphs?
Look at secondary and tertiary themes or topics that the
novels have in common such as the characters response to technology, the
environment, the government, etc. With
preparation, a quick and confident writer can easily knock out three body
paragraphs of similar length and level of detail. A slower writer, however, may forgo the
second body paragraph about the “Scarlet Letter” in favor of delivering two
fully-fleshed paragraphs about dystopian novels. Perhaps, the writer would swap out “Scarlet
Letter” for “Animal Farm,” “The Handmaid’s Tale,” “Lord of the Flies,” “The
Uglies Trilogy, or even the “Hunger Games.”
A good thesis, supported by the strong examples and concrete details,
are critical for the Point of View rubric.
ORGANIZE: Examples
Besides from books, where do examples come from? Some students write about stories they
recently shared from Tumblr, Facebook, YouTube.
Other students look up and write about whatever is around them. While they scribble away about the History
classroom poster-boys (Martin Luther King, Jr., Cesar Chavez, Gandhi), consider
their contemporaries (Malcolm X, Delores Huerta, Harvey Milk) or recent covers
of TIME magazine (Barack Obama, the “Tank Man” of Tiananmen, or Malala Yousafza
of Pakistan).
For those students who default to Hitler, I’m not going to
say: DON’T; I’m going to ask: WHY? The
answer, “Because it’s EASY,” will result in the low score which your lack of
effort deserves. Stalin, Pol Pot, and Nicolae Ceausescu are alternatives, but it
more interesting to write about people who make ethical decisions in morally
ambiguous situations: pair the protagonists in “All Quiet on the Western Front”
by Erich Maria Remarque with “Things They Carried” by Tim O’Brien.
If you don’t like novels or history, don’t use examples from
your English or History class. If you
are a nerd, write about math; if you are a jock, write about sports; if you are
a musician, write about music.
- Same
rules apply: ANSWER THE PROMPT IN DETAIL.
- Same
process applies: THINK, ORGANIZE, WRITE, FIX.
- Same
rubric applies: POINT OF VIEW, ORGANIZATION, VOCABULARY, GRAMMAR, SENTENCE
STRUCTURE.
Writer’s Block
Finally, what to do when there is nothing but BLANK in your
brain and on your paper. Quick: jot down
your class schedule—what has been the most interesting project or story from
each class? Are you involved with any
extra-curricular activities, jobs, or internships? Write about something that you actually have
personal knowledge about and focus on how you changed during the
experience. Although teachers applaud
academic success, they feel affirmed when their students apply book knowledge
beyond the classroom walls. What would
you rather read: a rehash of the Industrial Revolution or the misadventures of
a robotics team? Narrow your answer and complement
it with an appropriate anecdote, book, historical event, or “passion” which you
can write about in under twenty minutes.
WRITE:
Introduction: Hooks
are nice, but don’t get stuck. Write a
bare bones introductory paragraph:
- Sentence
One: THESIS = OPINION (about the essay prompt) + NARROWED TOPIC.
- Sentence
Two: EXAMPLE 1 + EXAMPLE 2 ( + EXAMPLE 3) will prove THESIS.
- Also
known as the ABC Thesis
Vocabulary—while
you write, vary your Vocabulary: use the word that most clearly conveys your
most.
1.
Mix common words with academic and technical
vocabularies to display mastery
2.
Limit colloquialisms.
3.
Rarely use slang or jargon.
4.
Never use vulgarity.
Sentence Syntax— while
you write, vary your Sentence syntax: use the syntax that most effectively
conveys your position.
- Mix
simple, compound, complex, compound-complex sentences.
- Use
lists or statistics to deliver quick, concrete detail (don’t name drop--be
prepared to develop facts).
- Use
parallelism, analogies, metaphors, dialogue, and quotes carefully.
- Use
sparingly exclamatory and interrogative sentences or rhetorical questions.
Body Paragraph 1:
- Write topic
sentence about EXAMPLE 1.
- Write one
or two sentences anecdote or description about EXAMPLE 1.
- Write two
or three more sentences with concrete detail about how EXAMPLE 1
illustrates THESIS.
Body Paragraph 2:
- Write
a transition from Body Paragraph 1 to Body Paragraph 2
- OR
Skip 2 lines and add Transition 1 later.
- Write topic
sentence about EXAMPLE 2
- Write one
or two sentences anecdote or description about EXAMPLE 2
- Write two
or three more sentences with concrete detail about how EXAMPLE 2
illustrates THESIS.
- Key:
EXAMPLE 2 must develop, expand, or contrast with EXAMPLE 2.
Optional Body
Paragraph 3: Teachers and readers
prefer the standard five-paragraph essay because it allows a writer to fully
expand ideas and fully explore topics.
However, students can deliver a solid four-paragraph if they compare and
contrast their examples in depth. Don’t
forget to skip two lines to add transition later or to expand Body Paragraph
2.
- Write
a topic sentence about EXAMPLE 3
- OR
Skip 2 lines and add Transition 2 later.
- Write one
or two sentences anecdote or description about EXAMPLE 3.
- Write two
or three more sentences with concrete detail about how EXAMPLE 3
illustrates THESIS.
- Key:
EXAMPLE 3 must develop, expand, or contrast with EXAMPLE 1 and 2.
BEWARE: One possible danger of writing a five-paragraph
essay is that as the students writes against the clock, details and vocabulary
drop by the way-side, leaving the essay lopsided by Body Paragraph 3. Do not binge on verbiage—write a “normal”
amount: four to five sentences—the essay still needs “room” for the conclusion. Longer is better; complete and well-balances
is the best.
Conclusion:
- Gather
your examples and link them back to your thesis
- State
how your thesis addresses the SAT prompt.
- Link
your thesis through the SAT prompt to a universal theme/truth.
- State
why your argument “matters.”
FIX
Remember: Leave two minutes to FIX your essay:
- Check
paragraph order—are the examples developed in a logical sequence? If not, label
each paragraph with the correct paragraph number.
- Correct
grammar mistakes, especially verb tenses and dangling participles.
- Look
for “to be” participles and change them to active verbs.
- Scan
for repetition and substitute appropriate synonyms. Add technical vocabulary to demonstrate
mastery.
- Smooth
transitions between paragraphs.
“Pencils down!” Take
a deep breath--there’s a whole lot more test (and life) to come.
--How to Write an SAT Essay by Teacher Jennifer (gagliajn@gmail.com) (updated 05/21/13)