how to write an essay in sat exam

How to Write the SAT Essay

Understanding how to write the SAT essay can be a little intimidating.  There’s no multiple choice to fall back on with the SAT essay. It’s just you, some paper, and a Number 2 pencil, writing an essay out of thin air.

When it feels so open-ended, how do you know exactly what to write for your SAT essay, an essay possibly unlike anything else you’ve written in school?  Lucky for us, the SAT drastically changed its content a few years ago, and the essay is completely different now–and totally formulaic.

You can go into any SAT test totally ready to write the essay, no matter what passage the test offers you.You can be that much more confident about how to write the SAT essay now if you understand a little bit about the old essay and why it’s gone.

Why They Had to Change the Old SAT Essay

Ultimately, the old SAT essay was universally acknowledged as a pretty pointless exercise. It asked students to crank out shoddy, sometimes vapid essays that didn’t resemble anything they’d need to write in college and didn’t give them much room to show off their analytical skills. Basically, kids would read a couple quick prompts, pick a side of a silly argument, and crank an essay out in 25 minutes.The College Board decided this just wasn’t working for them and dumped that whole approach.By noticing exactly what the College Board changed, we can uncover the inside track on how to write an SAT essay.

SAT Essay Basics and What They Tell Us

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You’re given 50 minutes to write the SAT essay.

The days of turning in a glorified rough draft are gone: you have just short of an hour to write the SAT essay, which tells us that the College Board wants an essay that’s extremely organized, thoughtful, and, if you’re going for a top score, even polished.Look out, though: since some students take the essay section and others don’t, the essay comes after the rest of the test so that kids who aren’t writing an essay can go home. Point being, you might be tired by the time it’s time to write.Fifty minutes can fly by when you’re mentally wiped out, so it’s important to be prepared.

No more surprise topics: the SAT essay is always the same assignment.

It’s easier to be prepared when the essay assignment itself is more predictable. The SAT essay section uses an almost identical prompt on every single test; the only thing that differs is the source material, the passage you’ll read and write from.Straight from the College Board, here’s what the prompt will say :“As you read the passage below, consider how [the author] uses evidence, such as facts or examples, to support claims.

evidence, such as facts or examples, to support claims.

reasoning to develop ideas and to connect claims and evidence.

stylistic or persuasive elements, such as word choice or appeals to emotion, to add power to the ideas expressed.

Write an essay in which you explain how [the author] builds an argument to persuade [his/her] audience that [author’s claim]. In your essay, analyze how [the author] uses one or more of the features listed above (or features of your own choice) to strengthen the logic and persuasiveness of [his/her] argument. Be sure that your analysis focuses on the most relevant features of the passage. Your essay should not explain whether you agree with [the author’s] claims, but rather explain how the author builds an argument to persuade [his/her] audience.”

The SAT essay is ONLY an analysis of someone else’s work and ideas.

You’ll find specific tips on how to write the SAT essay below, but did you catch that last sentence in the official prompt?They aren’t kidding: do not go into whether you agree with the author.Think about it this way: the SAT evolves to serve its real customers–colleges–and respond to growing trends they observe in American high schools. They certainly aren’t concerned with teen trends like denim cuts and hairstyles, but they absolutely worry about school trends like widespread grade inflation.You may think it’s wonderful that you can earn extra credit to cover a poor test score, but the College Board is adjusting its tests based on how much grade adjustment is becoming available. Moreover, they wonder if you have strong grades based solely on writing tasks in which you pontificate about your own opinions.Colleges that require the essay for admission want to be sure that you can prepare a solid, academic analysis based entirely on someone else’s ideas. In that case, show them what they want to see and leave your own opinion out of it.

Writing the SAT Essay is Relevant To College Work

While it might take some practice, the SAT essay is very similar to the sort of writing you’ll do in college: say, analyzing why an artist or politician made the choices he made at a particular time. It’s genuinely worthwhile to learn how to write the SAT essay well.After all, doing well in college is the whole point of the SAT, anyway.Let’s look at how you’ll do that.

How To Write an SAT Essay

First, writing an essay is a game of strategy, and–just like in any other game–you’ll build your strategy based on the way you’ll earn points.Two different readers read your essay and grade it independent of each other. You’ll be scored in three different areas, each on a scale of 1 to 4. Those two scores are added together and your official essay score will be reported as three subscores, each out of 8 possible points.I always tell my students that the absolute hardest part of learning to write anything is figuring out what exactly is important enough to include in your work (so we’re clear on what you’re saying) and what to leave out (because you’ll sound like you think your reader is an idiot if you spell out everything ) . The art of writing strikes that balance, and it takes practice.The College Board offers examples of real essays with all sorts of combinations of scoring for the three scored dimensions, which you can learn from here , but here’re the basics:

Scoring Dimension One: Reading

The reading dimension of the essay rates how well you show that you understand what the author of the passage is saying; you’re showing off your reading comprehension in real time, just like in the multiple choice reading section of the SAT.In other words, your essay reader wants to see that you can correctly identify the author’s argument and the specific supporting details she uses to make that case.

How To Improve Your SAT Essay Reading Score

Get out of the gate quickly: in your introduction say that [the author] argues that [what the author wants her audience to believe]. Remember: they want to know that you get it .

Use direct quotes from the passage, just like you would in a paper in school. Don’t extract big chunks, though. Just like your English teacher doesn’t want you to copy down two hundred words from A Tale of Two Cities to stretch the word length of a school assignment, the SAT essay readers want you to extract only snippets and phrases to incorporate into your own writing.

Here’s an example sentence to show you how to work a small quote into your own work: When the College Board website says SAT essays must be “free of… errors of interpretation,” it means that we can’t say the author meant A when she clearly meant B.

Scoring Dimension Two: Analysis

You earn a strong analysis score by explaining how the author builds her argument and appeals to her audience to get them to agree with her. If you want to know how to write an SAT essay, you have to know how other people make their arguments persuasive.

How To Improve Your SAT Essay Analysis Score

Be able to identify logos, ethos, and pathos, also known as the three rhetorical appeals. People in academia have been thinking about the usefulness of these rhetorical appeals for literally thousands of years, so knowing and identifying them can go a long way.

Your SAT essay reader will reward you when you notice

Ethos: the mechanisms that an author uses to build a sense of authority or credibility, thereby earning an audience’s trust. Here an author will go into detail about her own experience, education, or background.

Pathos: these are appeals to audience emotion. When someone arguing to protect the Arctic says, “Think of the poor polar bears,” that’s an appeal to emotion. It’s incredibly effective. Anything an author uses that evokes emotion is part of persuasion and qualifies as part of the argument.

Logos: the facts and sense of rationality an author brings to the table. Yes, you should actually spell out that it strengthens an argument when an author cites facts, figures, and historical situations.

In fact, feel free to use these three ideas as the framework for the body paragraphs of your own SAT essay; if they were good enough for Aristotle, they’re good enough for you.

Scoring Dimension Three: Writing

Finally, remember this is a writing sample, so the mechanics and style of your writing matter, too.

Structure: You need to write a well organized essay that includes a clear introduction, a thesis, and a conclusion. Don’t waste time: give us an intro and a thesis within two or three sentences. When you notice yourself running out of time at the end, make sure you wrap your essay up with a conclusion, even if it’s only a sentence.

Make sure your body paragraphs are concise, independent arguments. Every time you write a sentence, ask yourself, “So what?” It’ll help you know what to say next. If you catch yourself going off the rails, at least be sure the last sentence in each paragraph relates specifically back to your thesis up top.

Vary your sentence structure for sizzle.Study how to correctly use a colon, semicolon, and dash, since you’ll be tested on them in the multiple choice writing section, anyway.Start sentences with words like although and while . These words automatically change your sentence structure, which makes it sound more lively.

While the SAT essay is not a spelling test, the people who read SAT essays for their jobs are the same sorts of people who spell well and are likely to be distracted by goofy mistakes. Don’t give them any reason to doubt you: whenever you can, write with advanced vocabulary words you know–and know how to spell.

Remember, while it may take you time to write the best SAT essay you can, it’ll pay off, both for your score and where it matters most: college. For additional resources on preparing for the SAT test, check out our article on the best SAT prep courses and SAT practice books .

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The Ultimate SAT Essay Study Guide: Tips and Review

We've written the best guide to the SAT essay available anywhere.

To craft this guide, we have carefully read all official material available on the SAT essay from the College Board and read the best SAT books we could find and extracted the most important things you need to know to succeed on the essay section. Based on this research, we're confident that this is the most complete and comprehensive resource available for the SAT essay.

This guide gets deep into every aspect of the SAT essay, from the rubric to prompts to the nuts and bolts of how to write a high-scoring essay . You'll learn the best tips and strategies to use to maximize the value of your SAT essay practice as well as how much time to devote to prepping for the essay.

If you're looking for a comprehensive guide to SAT essay and how to improve your SAT essay scores, this guide is invaluable. Rather than trying to put all the information we've distilled into one long article, we've created this multi-sectioned guide to serve as a table of contents to each of our more in-depth articles.

We'll start by taking a high-level look at the importance of the SAT essay to colleges and which schools care about your SAT essay score. The next section delves into more of the details of the SAT essay prompt and rubric and outlines step-by-step how to write a perfect-scoring SAT essay. Finally, the third part of this guide takes you through tips and strategies to use with the SAT essay.

We suggest reading through this guide in order your first time through, as you would any other test prep resource. Alternatively, if you're just looking for a refresher on certain areas, you can use this guide as a reference you can jump around in as needed.

UPDATE: SAT Essay No Longer Offered

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In January 2021, the College Board announced that after June 2021, it would no longer offer the Essay portion of the SAT (except at schools who opt in during School Day Testing). It is now no longer possible to take the SAT Essay, unless your school is one of the small number who choose to offer it during SAT School Day Testing.

While most colleges had already made SAT Essay scores optional, this move by the College Board means no colleges now require the SAT Essay. It will also likely lead to additional college application changes such not looking at essay scores at all for the SAT or ACT, as well as potentially requiring additional writing samples for placement.

What does the end of the SAT Essay mean for your college applications? Check out our article on the College Board's SAT Essay decision for everything you need to know.

What Do Colleges Think About the SAT Essay?

Something that makes the SAT essay different from all the other sections of the SAT is its optional nature. The articles in this section will inform you about why colleges don't all require the SAT essay and whether or not it makes sense for you to take the SAT with the essay.

Does the SAT Essay Matter? Expert Guide

With the changes to the SAT essay, the importance of your SAT essay score to your college applications has grown somewhat murky. Read this article to find out why colleges still require the essay and what kind of effect it has on your college application.

Should I Take the SAT Essay? How to Decide

There are both positive and negative aspects of taking the SAT essay. This guide goes through different arguments for and against taking the SAT essay and helps you figure out which scenarios apply for you.

Which Colleges Require the SAT Essay? Complete List

Depending on which colleges you want to apply to, you may not need to take the SAT essay at all. Find out if the schools you're interested in require or recommend you take the SAT essay with this article.

Understanding SAT Essay Prompts and the SAT Essay Rubric

The next set of articles unpack the SAT essay prompt and the best way to fulfill the requirements of the essay task. You'll learn how to write consistently high-scoring SAT essays and how to preplan examples and explanations to use on the real SAT essay.

New SAT Essay Prompts: How Are They Changing?

If you're just starting your prep or are unfamiliar with the SAT essay, this article is a great introduction to the essay section. In it, we analyze the difference between the old SAT essay and the current essay for those who took the old SAT and want to see how the new essay differs. This article is also a good summary to come back to if you need a refresher on what the SAT essay asks you to do.

SAT Essay Prompts: The Complete List

One of the most important ways to improve at writing the SAT essay is to practice with official SAT essay prompts. In this article, you'll find all the free and publicly released official SAT prompts currently available, along with instructions on the best ways to use the prompts in your studying.

How to Get a Perfect 8|8|8 SAT Essay Score

Excelling on the SAT essay requires understanding the difference between an almost-perfect and a perfect-scoring essay. This article will take you through my complete analysis of a perfect-scoring SAT essay and how to improve your score. You'll learn what to be sure to do and what to avoid when writing and the key areas to focus on for maximal score increase.

How to Write an SAT Essay, Step by Step

Learn the ins and outs of writing a perfect-scoring SAT essay by following along as we go through the reading, analyzing and planning, writing, and revising stages of a sample essay. You'll get to see the whole process, from scribbled handwritten planning notes to the polished final product. At each step, you'll also discover strategies to enhance your SAT essay writing process.

SAT Essay Rubric: Full Analysis and Writing Strategies

Dive into the intricacies of SAT essay scoring with this item-by-item look at the SAT essay rubric. You'll learn about what you need to accomplish in your essay to achieve high Reading, Analysis, and Writing scores. Plus, you'll get tips on the best way to use the rubric as part of your SAT essay practice.

What's the Average SAT Essay Score?

Read this article to get a good idea of how scores are distributed on the SAT essay and how much your scores really matter.

The Most Reliable SAT Essay Template and Format

On the SAT essay, you'll always be asked to accomplish the same task (explain how the author makes their argument), which makes it possible to plan out your essay's structure ahead of time. This article teaches you how to create your own SAT essay templates for the new SAT.

6 SAT Essay Examples to Answer Every Prompt

Every SAT essay requires reading a passage and analyzing how the author constructs her argument. You can't prepare ahead of time by analyzing the exact passage that will be used, but you can familiarize yourself with techniques frequently used to add impact to argumentative essays.

Learn how to identify the six persuasive techniques most commonly found in SAT essay prompts and the effect each technique has on the reader with this guide.

SAT Essay Strategies and Tips

Now you've gotten both a basic understanding of what the SAT essay is and a good grasp of what's required to write the best SAT essay possible. Huge success!

The next step is to take that knowledge and understanding and apply it in the most effective ways. To help you with that, we've compiled our top strategies and tips for when to take the SAT essay and how to make your SAT essay practice as efficient as possible.

SAT Essay Tips: 15 Ways to Improve Your Score

Your time is a limited and valuable resource when it comes to the SAT essay, both in terms of how much time you have to spend prepping and the 50 minutes you get to analyze and write about the prompt on the real SAT. Read this article to find out what tweaks you can make to your essay writing process that will have a large positive impact on your essay score.

Does Messy Handwriting Hurt Your SAT Essay Score?

Essay graders are trained to read all sorts of handwriting, so it's not likely your essay will be completely thrown out because the graders can't read it. However, even occasionally illegible handwriting can still affect your essay score in negative ways. Find out how messy handwriting might negatively affect your essay score and how to fix the problem in this article.

What's Next?

There's a lot of information in this guide to digest, but your SAT essay practice shouldn't stop at reading this articles and strategy guides. The best way to prep for the SAT essay is to write timed essays in response to real SAT essay prompts .

Before you score your essay on the rubric, be sure to read through our guide to diagnosing your weaknesses and reviewing your mistakes . The article uses examples of multiple choice questions, but the strategies of honing in on your weak spots work equally well for the essay.

Above all, stay motivated ! And if you liked this guide, don't forget to read our other ultimate SAT prep guides for SAT Reading , Writing and Language , and Math .

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Laura graduated magna cum laude from Wellesley College with a BA in Music and Psychology, and earned a Master's degree in Composition from the Longy School of Music of Bard College. She scored 99 percentile scores on the SAT and GRE and loves advising students on how to excel in high school.

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How to write a good SAT Essay

Published September 27, 2020. Updated August 16, 2021.

Ah, the SAT Essay…If you feel like writing isn’t your strong suit, it can be a drag at best and anxiety-inducing at worst.

Luckily, the CollegeBoard provides clear information on the Essay and what is expected of students. That means you can walk into the SAT armed with knowledge about the essay portion of the test.

Even better, we’re here to tell you everything you need to know before test day, including:

• the purpose of the SAT Essay
• what to expect from the passage and prompt
• a sample passage and prompt
• how the Essay is scored
• how to write a high-scoring SAT Essay

Worried about your writing? Submit your paper for a Chegg Writing essay check , or for an Expert Check proofreading . Both can help you find and fix potential writing issues.

Overview of the SAT Essay

The SAT Essay is a component of the SAT designed to assess your ability to comprehend and analyze a complex passage of text intended for a broad audience. You will read a previously published passage (usually between 650 and 750 words) and respond to a prompt within a 50-minute timeframe.

Generally, you will be asked to take evidence from the text to analyze the style and choices of the author’s argument.

The SAT Essay is optional. Yes, you read that right! Some colleges do not require an SAT Essay score for admission, while others do require it, and still others recommend it. That means, if you want to keep your college options open, it may be a good idea to take the Essay.

Click here to use the CollegeBoard’s handy SAT Essay policy lookup tool to find out which colleges do and do not require it.

What is the purpose of the SAT Essay?

The SAT Essay is an opportunity to demonstrate your reading comprehension and analytical and writing skills to the CollegeBoard.

According to the CollegeBoard , the purpose of the SAT Essay is to “show colleges that you’re ready to come to campus and write.” In other words, the essay helps colleges evaluate your writing skills and whether or not you can write at a college level.

What will my passage and essay prompt be?

The CollegeBoard makes an effort to keep passages consistent so that students can prepare accordingly. You can expect your text passage to be a nuanced argument on a complex topic. According to the CollegeBoard , all passages will have 5 things in common:

• Written for a broad audience
• Argue a point
• Express subtle views on complex subjects
• Use logical reasoning and evidence to support claims
• Examine ideas, debates, or trends in the arts and sciences, or civic, cultural, or political life
• Always taken from published works

Note that you will not need past knowledge about the topic to write the essay!

Let’s examine a sample passage and prompt directly from the CollegeBoard. Click this link and go to page 9, Sample Passage 1. The directions read:

“As you read the passage below, consider how [the author] uses

• evidence, such as facts or examples, to support claims.
• reasoning to develop ideas and to connect claims and evidence.
• stylistic or persuasive elements, such as word choice or appeals to emotion, to add power to the ideas expressed.”

After this you’ll read the passage. After that, you’ll find your prompt:

Write an essay in which you explain how [the author] builds an argument to persuade [his/her] audience that [author’s claim]. In your essay, analyze how [the author] uses one or more of the features listed above (or features of your own choice) to strengthen the logic and persuasiveness of [his/her] argument. Be sure that your analysis focuses on the most relevant features of the passage.

Your essay should not explain whether you agree with [the author’s] claims, but rather explain how the author builds an argument to persuade [his/her] audience.

How will my essay be scored?

Two scorers will evaluate your essay, each assigning a score between 1 and 4 in three categories: Reading, Analysis, and Writing. The two scores for each category are added. You’ll receive three scores for the SAT Essay—one for each dimension—ranging from 2 to 8 points.

Your Reading score will reflect how well you demonstrate your understanding of the source text. To score well here, be sure to read the passage thoroughly and feel confident in your comprehension before responding. Using textual evidence in your response will help demonstrate your thorough understanding of the text.

Your Analysis score will reflect the quality of your analysis of the source text. How well do you analyze the author’s argument? Do you use textual evidence to support your claims?

Your Writing score is less about your idea and more about your writing skills. Is your essay structured and easy to follow? Are your thoughts cogent, coherent, and organized? Are your sentence lengths varied? Do you use a wide and correct vocabulary?

Before you turn in that paper, don’t forget to cite your sources in APA format , MLA format , or a style of your choice.

How to write a high-scoring SAT Essay

You should not parrot the author’s argument or the factual content of the passage. You also should not mention your own opinions on the topic.

Instead, explain the author’s argumentative style and choices. Ask yourself: what makes this argument strong? What specific rhetorical devices and persuasive tools does the author use to persuade their audience?

With that in mind, go into the Essay component with a game plan. With only 50 minutes to read the prompt, read the passage, outline your response, and write it, you’d be wise to block out how you plan to use your time. The last thing you want is to spend too long on one step and run out of time for another!

Here’s a handy time breakdown to follow during the 50-minute Essay portion of the test:

• reading the prompt and passage: 10 minutes
• analyzing the text and planning your response: 10 minutes
• writing your essay: 25 minutes
• revising your essay: 5 minutes

Of course, there’s no way to take this exact amount of time for each of these steps. This is only a rough timeline for how you should spend those 50 minutes.

Although you cannot know what your passage is before test day, you can prepare beforehand by reading sample SAT Essays like the one above and writing practice essays from sample prompts .

Interested to learn more? Here is an example SAT essay .

Works cited

“Test Specifications for the Redesigned SAT.” The College Board, 2015, https://collegereadiness.collegeboard.org/pdf/test-specifications-redesigned-sat-1.pdf

Goodman, Peter S. “International Intervention Needed In Syria.” HuffPost , 26 Nov. 2014, www.huffpost.com/entry/syria-international-intervention_b_4653395.

Published September 7, 2020.

By Jolee McManus. Jolee earned a BA in English from the University of Georgia. She has several years of experience as a writing tutor and freelance copywriter and editor.

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SAT Essay: Writing Tips, Test Scores & Examples

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The SAT essay is an optional section of the SAT exam that measures a student's ability to analyze and interpret a given piece of writing. It is a timed, 50-minute essay task that requires students to read a 600-700 word passage and then write a coherent response. This essay is designed to assess reading, writing, and analytical skills.

The SAT essay is scored on a scale of 2 to 8, with 2 being the lowest score and 8 being the highest score. The essay is scored based on three key areas: reading, analysis, and writing. The scores for each area are then added together to get a total score out of 24.

Feeling a little nervous before taking your SAT essay is normal. When you're dealing with something important for your future, it's ok to feel some pressure. That's why the goal of this guide is to help you get ready for this assignment and finally, get the highest SAT essay scoring. Let's take a look at SAT essay examples and the best practices to write it so that you can pass this test successfully.

What Is the SAT Essay?

SAT essay is a short, timed writing assignment that you'll get as part of the SAT. There are two great things about it. First, now the majority of educational institutions don't require an SAT writing essay. It is an optional task, which nevertheless, you are recommended to do. 

Secondly, new SAT essay rules don't require you to reinvent the wheel and deal with something you've never encountered before. At the same time, you shouldn't expect a typical essay-style question; there are no prompts like "Tell us about your favorite book." Instead, you will have to read a specific prompt, for example, a short article or speech, and analyze, interpret, and evaluate a given text.

Purpose of the SAT Essay

The main goal of the SAT essay is to evaluate three academic skills you should have and demonstrate. They are:

A perfect SAT essay wins 5-5-5 in reading, analysis, and writing. That's why you will have to read an assigned prompt first, then analyze the ways authors build their arguments, and describe their approach in writing. SAT essay is meant to be an opportunity for students to show off their writing skills, but it's also meant to test a student's ability to think critically about a topic, and most importantly, the ways an author explains it.

If you ever have trouble with SAT tasks, use college essay help online for the best result.

How to Write an SAT Essay

Keep in mind that SAT essay writing task is timed and requires you to analyze a passage and then support your analysis with evidence from a text. While SAT with essay usually lasts up to 5 hours, you will have up to one hour (usually 50 minutes) to complete a paper after you are done with the test itself. 

So, break down your assignment into four stages and keep track of the timeyou should devote to each of the states.

• Read and analyze — 10 minutes. For the first time, read the passage quickly to get an overall sense of its main idea. Then, re-read it more slowly. Highlight any arguments or opinions that stand out to you. This is critical because if you don't have an idea of what exactly an author is trying to say and what persuasion approaches they use, then it will be hard for you to write an effective analysis based on their argumentation.
• Outline — 10 minutes. Follow a standard essay structure of introduction-body-conclusion. Pay the most attention to the body. Draft three-four paragraphs, following one paragraph — one statement rule. Here, SAT essay practice doesn’t differ from writing any other type of paper.
• Write — 20 minutes. Next, proceed with writing being guided by your outline. We recommend getting started right with a body paragraph. Pick up the writing or reasoning technique an author uses in the passage and explain it, using examples from the test. Do it three-four times discussing different approaches of a writer and highlighting their weak and strong points. Sum up everything in your conclusion. Here you can also briefly state your opinion. Then, get back to the intro. You will feel how easy it is to write it after you have fully understood the passage and analyzed it in your body.
• Proofread and edit — 10 minutes. Don't skip this step! It's very important for your essay to be flawless in terms of spelling and grammatical correctness. So, make sure to provide enough time for essay revision and check everything twice before submission. Although the SAT have an essay as an optional assignment, do your best to show your paper writing skills.

>> View more: How to Write a Good Essay

SAT Essay Outline

Creating a new SAT essay outline before you start writing is a great way to ensure that you cover all necessary ideas. It is also an opportunity to prepare yourself mentally for such a task at hand. When you know what you're going to write and what SAT essay format to follow, you can get in the right mindset for writing effectively. The template you'll find below will help you as well. 

>> Read more: How to Write an Outline for an Essay

SAT Essay Template

• Briefly introduce a topic
• Mention a passage you're going to analyze and its author
• State your thesis statement
• State your first supporting point – how an author uses a specific persuasion technique
• Provide evidence for supporting your point – cite an example for a passage directly
• Explain how the evidence supports your point
• Transition to the next paragraph
• Follow the same structure as shown above
• Elaborate on different points until you reach the necessary essay length
• Restate your thesis
• Summarize your supporting points
• End with a strong concluding statement

You can pay for college essays at any time if you find anything too difficult or mind-boggling.

SAT Essay Prompts

SAT sample essay prompts are written in a way that asks you to analyze and evaluate other writers or speakers. SAT practice essay requires analytical writing on your part. That's why topics and questions for this assignment are diverse. Below you will find some prompts and corresponding samples to get an idea of what to expect from this task and how to deal with it. 

SAT essay is required to make sure you can think critically, and you can't just write about what you've already read. You should form your own opinions and explain them when writing the SAT essay.

Sample SAT Essay Prompt 1 & Answer

So, let’s proceed with real-life examples and discover what to write in an SAT essay. 

For instance, the task may sound as follows: 

Write an essay in which you explain how Bill Gates builds his argument to persuade the audience of the need to address global climate change in his "Innovating to Zero" speech at the TED conference in 2010.

Here is what you can write about.

SAT Essay Sample 1

Bill Gates was at the forefront of the innovation development that is now changing the world. However, these changes are not always positive. In his "Innovating to Zero" speech at TED2010, he set an ambitious goal of achieving zero emissions by 2050. Bill Gates used a combination of emotional, logical, and ethical appeals to persuade the audience of the urgency and importance of tackling climate change. The most prominent persuasion technique that he uses throughout the speech is an emotional appeal. He uses an approach that's on the verge of rhetoric and psychology, making his audience feel compassion and pointing out that 2 million purest people on the globe will be unable to survive climate change. The goal of this technique is to help people realize the true cost of the upcoming disaster, and then — get a solution everyone can contribute to. Next, Bill Gates uses a logical appeal. He says: "We have to go from rapidly rising to fall [carbon emissions], and falling all the way to zero." To add credibility to his persuasion, he cites examples of new technologies that already make a difference. The speaker also supports his statements with statistics and calculations, moving to the concluding part — the call to action. Finally, Gates uses a call to action to encourage the audience to take care and rethink their attitudes toward climate change now. At this moment, he is leveraging the power of his reputation and global recognition of his contribution to technology development. Through this example, we can see how the personality of the speaker significantly amplifies all the persuasion techniques he used during the speech.

Sample SAT Essay Prompt 2 & Answer

Let’s consider one more example and deal with the following task:

Write an essay in which you explain how Sojourner Truth builds her argument to persuade the audience on men's and women's rights equity in her "Ain’t I a Woman" speech at a women's rights convention in 1851 in Ohio, USA.

SAT Essay Sample

The problem of equal gender rights, especially for people of color, has been relevant for over three centuries. History knows many outstanding speakers and activists of both genders, and Sojourner Truth is one of them. Her speech "Ain't I a Woman?" is a worthy example of consistent logic and strong persuasion. The speaker builds her argument using the rhetorical approach of opposition and contrast. She argued that if women were capable of doing hard work and bearing children, then they should be treated as equals to men. Next, she cites examples from her life to show that women are capable of doing even more. In the next sections of her speech, Sojourner Truth asks rhetorical questions and repeats them for better persuasion. "Where did your Christ come from? Where did your Christ come from? From God and a woman! A man had nothing to do with Him." The goal of this tactic is to appeal to religion which was very important for people of that time and help women realize that they are more powerful than they used to think. "If the first woman God ever made was strong enough to turn the world upside down all alone, these women together ought to be able to turn back and get side up again". This statement is the continuation of the previous one. At the same time, it is a passionate, courageous, and driving call to action Sojourner Truth concludes her speech with.

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How Is the SAT Essay Scored? 

SAT essay scores simply. Two independent reviewers from an admission committee rate your paper based on 3 criteria:

They can score you from 1 to 4 points for each criterion. The points each of the reviewers gave are added together and students get a total SAT writing score with 24 points being the maximum. 

Tips for Writing the SAT Essay

So, now you have an idea of what to write in your paper, what kinds of topics to expect, and how your essay will be scored. Find out more SAT essay writing tips to skyrocket your chances of getting the highest grade possible.

• Review successful SAT examples. The best way to get started is by reviewing past essays that got a good SAT essay score. Pay attention to topics and ways other students express themselves in response.
• Practice at home before taking a test. Pick up prompts you like and try writing a piece at home. Exercise with different topics several times. Next, find a passage you've never read before. Set a cutdown timer and try to write an SAT essay under time pressure.
• Read the passage twice. The first time through, focus on understanding what an author is saying and how they're saying it. The second time around, pay more attention to their logic and argumentation.
• Highlight important points during the second reading round. Mark these points with a pencil. So, you can easily find them later when you're writing your essay.
• Focus on analysis. Instead of simply stating your opinion or offering an example, explain why your opinion or example is valid based on what an author has written. You should be able to support your position with evidence from a passage. If there isn't enough evidence in the passage itself, draw from outside sources that support your argument (such as real-world experience).
• Use specific evidence from the passage. Instead of making up your own ideas about what an author was trying to say, use specific examples from a text to support your point of view.
• Use strong vocabulary. SAT essay is a very formal, academic writing prompt, so you need to write with that in mind. Choose words that are more advanced than those you'd use in conversation.
• Proofread and edit twice. Once you've finished your draft, go back and read through it again. Making sure there are no typos or grammatical errors. Be very attentive since during your SAT test, you will not be able to use online tools for grammar and readability checks.

Bottom Line on SAT Essay Writing

SAT practice essays are challenging, but they are also an opportunity to show colleges you're ready to take on the next step in your education. Fortunately, SAT writing essays aren't as hard as they look. All you need to remember is that, at its core, an essay is just an argument — and every good argument has three parts: a claim, evidence for supporting that claim, and a conclusion. Invest your time and effort into getting ready for this assignment. Take a look at new SAT essay samples and try writing some pieces following the structure and tips we've shared in this article. 

If you found our SAT essay blog post helpful, you may also be interested in learning how to write an ACT essay  or succeed at AP English Language and Composition Exam .

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FAQ About SAT Essays

1. how long is the sat with an essay and without an essay.

The SAT without essay usually takes up to four hours. If you have to complete a writing assignment, you will be given extra 50 minutes for it. As for SAT essay length, it is 550-750 words.

2. What is a good SAT essay score?

The highest SAT essay scoring you can earn is five points for reading, analysis, and writing respectively. 3-4 scores on each task are average. 1-2 scores are a low result.

3. What colleges require the SAT essay?

The most famous institutions requiring the SAT essay include but aren't limited to: 

• Harvard University
• The University of California schools
• City University London
• Delaware State University
• Howard University.

4. Should I take the SAT essay?

Despite being an optional task, it is still better to take the SAT essay. If you have a chance to improve your score and you know how to handle this task, take the fullest advantage of this opportunity.

Rachel R. Hill is a real educational devotee. She prides in writing exceptional general guides while listening to every need of students.

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