HERE ARE A FEW VERY CONCRETE TIPS ON THE ESSAY THAT APPEARS ON THE SAT I AND ON THE ACT WITH WRITING. REMEMBER, THIS IS NOT A SCHOOL ESSAY. THIS IS AN ESSAY ON A COLLEGE ADMISSIONS TEST. THEY ARE LOOKING FOR SPECIFIC THINGS. BOTH THE ACT (http://www.act.org/) AND THE SAT (http://www.collegeboard.org/) WILL TELL YOU ON THEIR WEBSITES EXACTLY WHAT THEY ARE LOOKING FOR. HERE ARE SOME VERY GENERAL TIPS FROM ME:
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1. MAKE SURE YOU ANSWER THE QUESTION! YOU WOULD NOT BELIEVE HOW MANY STUDENTS DO NOT DO THIS. THEY ARE ONLY MAKING SURE THAT YOU CAN ANSWER A QUESTION AND PROVIDE A REASONABLE, ORGANIZED ESSAY TO RESPOND TO THE QUESTION.
2. MAKE SURE YOU USE THE INTRO/BODY/CONCLUSION ESSAY METHOD OR SOME OTHER ORGANIZED METHOD TO YOUR WRITING.
3. USE A COUPLE OF DIFFERENT GRAMMAR DEVICES SUCH AS A SEMICOLON, A COLON, A COMPOUND SENTENCE, ETC.
4. PROVIDE SOME TYPE OF REFERENCE TO CURRENT EVENTS, A BOOK YOU READ, HISTORICAL REFERENCE, SCIENTIFIC LITERATURE, ETC. TO BACK UP ANY OF YOUR STATEMENTS.
5. INJECT A LITTLE HUMOR IF POSSIBLE.
6. DO NOT GO OVER THE LENGTH GIVEN!
7. WRITE NEATLY AS YOU POSSIBLY CAN.
8. MAKE YOUR WRITING AS CLEAR, TO THE POINT, AND AS EASY TO READ AS IS POSSIBLE. THE EASIER IT IS TO READ USUALLY THE HIGHER THE SCORE.
9. TRY TO SPELL AS BEST YOU CAN ALTHOUGH YOU CAN STILL MAKE A PERFECT SCORE WITH SOME MISPELLINGS.
10. STEER AWAY FROM ANY CONTROVERSIAL TOPICS! STAY AWAY FROM TALKING ABOUT ANYTHING THAT IS POSSIBLY CONTROVERSIAL IN YOUR ESSAY. TOPICS SUCH AS POLITICS, DEMOCRATS ARE IDIOTS, ETC. ETC. WILL NOT BE EASILY TOLERATED. TALK ABOUT NEUTRAL TOPICS PLEASE.
THESE ARE ONLY A VERY FEW TIPS. I WILL BE POSTING A FULL POST ON THIS LATER. BUT BASICALLY, REMEMBER WHO YOUR AUDIENCE IS! SOME OLD RETIRED TEACHER (POSSIBLY) HAS TO SIT BACK AND READ THIS STUFF!!
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