Prep Expert New SAT Essay PDF

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CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
1. What Is The Format?
2. How Is It Different?
3. How Is It Scored?
4. Is It Harder?
5. Should I Take The Sat Essay?
EXPERT STRATEGIES
1. Skip The Directions
2. Exploit Vocab
3. Fill 3–4 Pages
4. Create a Plan
5. Write 5 Paragraphs
6. Thesis First
7. POP Last
8. Repeat Thesis
9. Stay Active
10. Link & Connect
11. Stay Objective
12. Find PKP
13. First Pass – PS
14. Second Pass – CREW SAID
15. QIS Analysis
16. Introduction Template
17. Body Paragraph 1 Template
20. Conclusion Template
PRACTICE SAT ESSAY
SAT ESSAY INTRODUCTION
Introduction
Welcome to the SAT Essay portion
of the Prep Expert Course! The New
SAT Essay on the 1600-version of
the SAT is different than the old
SAT Essay on the 2400-version of
the SAT. Here are a few of the
major changes:
Optional The essay is now

optional. However, I expect
every Prep Expert student to
take the essay portion of the
new 1600-version of the SAT. I
will explain why later.
Analytical The previous
version of the SAT Essay
required students to write a
persuasive essay. You had to
convince the reader that your
position on a particular topic
was the correct one. The new
version of the SAT Essay
requires that students write an
analytical essay. You now need
to analyze how the author of a
passage develops an effective
argument.
50 Minutes You now have
much more time to write the
SAT Essay. On the previous
version of the SAT Essay,
students were limited to 25
minutes to write a full two-
page essay. You now have
double that time, but must
also read and analyze a
passage, which you didn’t
previously have to do. But the
good news is that we will teach
you how to analyze the
passage methodically so that
you have plenty of time to
write a compelling essay.
Despite these changes, there are

still lots of effective strategies to
tackle the SAT Essay. Previously, at
2400 Expert, students loved our
strategies for the prior version of
the SAT Essay that allowed them to
get perfect, or near-perfect, scores
every time. And this is still true for
the New SAT Essay! Many of the
strategies that were applicable to
the old SAT Essay are still
applicable to the New SAT Essay.
And the New SAT Essay is more
formulaic than ever. Even though
the College Board tried to change
the essay so that students could
not game it anymore, we have
gamed it again. So get ready to
learn some powerful strategies to
ace the New SAT Essay!
SAT ESSAY
FREQUENTLY
ASKED
QUESTIONS
1. WHAT IS THE FORMAT?
2. HOW IS IT DIFFERENT?
3. HOW IS IT SCORED?
4. IS IT HARDER?
5. SHOULD I TAKE THE SAT ESSAY?
SAT ESSAY FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
What Is The
Format?
Time 50 minutes
Passage Type Argumentative. The

author of the passage will try to
persuade the reader of a particular
position. Your job is to analyze how
effectively the author develops his
or her argument.
Passage Length 650 – 750 words.
Passage Content Topic for a

broad audience. You will not need
to have prior knowledge of the
topic in order to write a compelling
SAT Essay.
Passage Complexity High school

level (grades 9 -12).
Last Section Unlike the previous

2400-version of the SAT Essay that
was always the first section of the
SAT, the 1600-version of the SAT
Essay is always the last section of
the SAT.
How Is It
Different?
2400 SAT Essay 1600 SAT Essay
Required Optional
Persuasive Analytical
25 Minutes 50 Minutes
First Section Last Section
Required vs. Optional On the

2400-version of the SAT, the essay
was required and part of your SAT
Writing score. On the new 1600-
version of the SAT, the essay is
optional and a completely separate
score outside of your SAT
Evidenced-Based Reading & Writing
score.
Persuasive vs. Analytical On the

2400-version of the SAT, the essay
was persuasive. While you may
believe that it’s easier to write a
persuasive essay because you are
able to write about your opinion, it
was actually a difficult task because
of the academic evidence you had
to provide in order to back up your
claims. On this 1600-version of the
SAT Essay, all of the evidence you
need can be found in the passage.
Therefore, the New SAT Essay
actually requires even less outside
knowledge than before. Your
opinion on the topic no longer
matters whereas on the previous
version of the essay, your opinion
on the topic was all that mattered.
So you should stay as objective as
possible when writing your essay –
do not let your opinion on the
topic creep into your essay.
25 Minutes vs. 50 Minutes You

have double the time to write the
New SAT Essay compared to the old
SAT Essay. While this may seem like
good news, it all depends on how
long it takes you to read the SAT
Essay passage. If you spend 25
minutes analyzing the passage,
then you don’t really have any extra
time at all. However, I will show you
how to take much less time to read
the passage as well as specific
items to look for in your analysis.
This should reduce the
reading/analysis portion of your
SAT Essay section so that you have
more time to diligently write a well-
developed SAT Essay.
First Section vs. Last Section On

the previous version of the SAT, I
used to say that the SAT Essay is
the most important section of the
SAT because it is the first section.
How well you did on the SAT Essay
used to affect how well you would
do on the rest of the exam. If you
were frantic and unorganized while
writing your SAT Essay, then you
would be frantic and unorganized
during the rest of the SAT. But if
you were confident and organized
while writing your SAT Essay, then
you would be confident and
organized during the rest of the
SAT. Because the New SAT Essay is
now the last section of the SAT, it
no longer has to an impact on the
rest of the SAT. However, you still
want to finish strong so that you
aren’t anxious after the exam.
How Is It Scored?
The New SAT Essay is scored out of

24. You will be given three
subscores of out of 8: Writing,
Reading, and Analysis. Two
separate graders will read your
essay. Each grader will give your
essay a score between 1 – 4 for
Writing, Reading, and Analysis. Here
is an example:
Grader 1 Grader 2
Writing 4 3
Reading 3 4
Analysis 2 3
Score Report
Writing – Final Score 7

Reading – Final Score 7
Analysis – Final Score 5
*Although your score report will not

explicitly give you a score out of 24, it’s
clear here that the total score is 19/24
Subscores
Writing – Your writing subscore

indicates how well you are able to
use proper grammar, transitions,
sentence structure, and organization
in your essay. Many of the grammar
rules from the SAT Writing multiple-
choice section of this course will be
applicable here.
Reading – Your reading subscore
indicates how well you
comprehended the passage. You
must fully understand a passage in
order to score well here. Many of the
strategies from the SAT Reading
section of this course will be
applicable here.
Analysis – Your analysis subscore
indicates how well you evaluated the
author’s ability to develop an
argument. Many of the strategies for
the SAT Essay will cover how to
synthesize the best analysis possible.
What You Really Need to Know
While the above scoring details are

important, what you really need to
know is how the SAT Essay is
scored. The College Board trains
high school English teachers to
grade SAT Essays. The teachers are
given strict instructions as to how
to grade SAT Essays using
standardized criteria. This means
that if your essay is very similar to
an essay that has gotten a perfect
score in the past, then you too
should get a perfect score on the
essay. This is essential in order to
keep the scores standardized and
avoid subjectivity.
Even more important than the

standardized way by which your
essay is scored is how much time
your essay graders are given to
score your essays. In high school,
English teachers might have hours
to grade a handful of essays. But
on the SAT, English teachers only
have a few minutes to grade each
essay…because they have
thousands to grade! With so little
time to actually read your essay,
English teachers cannot scrutinize
essays to look for brilliant insights
and subtle connections.
Therefore, we need to use this time

constraint that English teachers
have to our advantage. If an English
teacher is only going to look at our
essay for a couple minutes and our
essay is on the same topic as
hundreds of other essays that he
or she has read that day, then we
need to figure out a way to stand
out. Not only do we need to stand
out, but we need to stand out
quickly. You must give that English
teacher clear, quick, tangible clues
that you are a smart high school
student who deserves a high score
on the SAT Essay. The Essay Expert
Strategies you learn in this course
will teach you exactly that!
Is It Harder?
Students, especially those who

prepared for the 2400-version of
the SAT Essay previously, might be
wondering whether the New SAT
Essay is easier or harder to write
than before. The old SAT Essay was
very easy to write. The topics were
broad and allowed students to
essentially prepare their examples
ahead of time before seeing the
topic. In addition, we gave students
essay templates that made the
previous version of the SAT Essay
very formulaic. Because SAT Essay
topics were so general, we could
write an almost identical essay for
any topic.
While the above may sound good, I

have even better news! The New
SAT Essay is actually the easiest
version of the SAT Essay ever. The
College Board eventually caught on
to SAT prep companies like Prep
Expert that were giving students
preformed templates to write SAT
Essays. Therefore, it changed the
format of the SAT Essay. Instead of
having general topics that students
could create their own examples
for (which were typically prepared
beforehand…at least for Prep
Expert students), the College Board
decided to change the SAT Essay to
an analysis format so that students
would not be able to have preset
examples ready to write about.
While you may think that this was
smart move by the College Board
to prevent gaming the SAT Essay,
we’ve actually gamed the New SAT
Essay again! Here’s how.
Largely Same – The College Board

has stated that the prompts for the
New SAT Essay are “largely the
same.” This is great news for Prep
Expert students. Whenever
prompts are “largely the same,”
that means that responses can be
the “largely the same.” In fact, I have
created a New SAT Essay Template
that will help you write a very
similar essay for just about any
passage you analyze.
Formulaic – The New SAT Essay is

more formulaic than ever. Because
there are only so many ways that
an author can develop an
argument, there are also only so
many ways you can analyze that
argument. Therefore, I have
developed a very formulaic way to
analyze author arguments for the
New SAT Essay. Although formulaic
may be a bad thing in your high
school English class, it’s actually a
very good thing on the SAT.
Time – Students who took the

2400-version of the SAT always
used to complain 25 minutes
wasn’t enough time to write a full
SAT Essay. But now you have
double the time to write your SAT
Essay: 50 minutes. I recommend
dedicating 15 minutes of your 50
minutes to reading and analyzing
the passage. This leaves you with 35
minutes to compose your essay.
Compared to the meager 25
minutes that students used to
have, 35 minutes will seem like an
eternity!
Should I Take The
Sat Essay?
Yes. All Prep Expert students
should take the New SAT Essay.
Although many students may have
been excited to learn that the SAT
Essay is now optional, the truth is, it
really isn’t. For students who are
applying to competitive
universities, these institutions will
almost always require the “New SAT
with Essay” when submitting
standardized test scores. Because
most Prep Expert students will be
applying to the top 100 universities
in the United States, I expect every
student taking this course to take
the New SAT Essay.
In addition, the New SAT Essay is

easy to prep for. Although the
essay may seem intimidating right
now, after you learn the Essay
Expert Strategies you will find that
the New SAT Essay is perhaps your
favorite portion of the SAT. We will
give you tangible strategies that will
make it easy to write an essay that
is articulate, organized, and
compelling. Our strategies are not
only easy to implement, but also
very standardized so there isn’t a
lot of creativity needed. Because
this portion of the SAT is so easy to
prepare for, students should not
fear it.
The only exception to this rule of

having to take the New SAT Essay is
if you know for certain that you are
not applying to any university that
requires the essay portion of the
SAT. Some students taking this
course may be applying to just 2 or
3 universities. After you confirm
with those few universities that
they do not require the essay
portion of the SAT, then and only
then can you skip out on taking the
SAT Essay.
However, if you are at all uncertain

about exactly which universities
you are going to be applying to,
then I recommend taking the New
SAT with Essay. You don’t want to
be in a situation in which you take
the New SAT without Essay and
then decide later that you want to
apply to a university that requires
the New SAT with Essay. Now, let’s
get started on learning Essay
Expert Strategies to Ace the SAT
Essay!
SAT ESSAY
EXPERT
STRATEGIES
1. SKIP THE DIRECTIONS
2. EXPLOIT VOCAB
3. FILL 3–4 PAGES
4. CREATE A PLAN
5. WRITE 5 PARAGRAPHS
6. THESIS FIRST
7. POP LAST
8. REPEAT THESIS
9. STAY ACTIVE
10 .LINK & CONNECT
11. STAY OBJECTIVE
12. FIND PKP
13. FIRST PASS – PS
14. SECOND PASS – CREW SAID
15. QIS ANALYSIS
16. INTRODUCTION TEMPLATE
17. BODY PARAGRAPH 1 TEMPLATE
20. CONCLUSION TEMPLATE
SAT ESSAY EXPERT STRATEGIES
Skip The
Directions
In order to save time on test day,
do not read the SAT Essay
directions. For most students, the
Saturday morning that they take
the SAT is often the first time they
have ever taken the SAT. Therefore,
they waste a lot of time reading the
directions.
This is true for SAT Math directions,
SAT Reading directions, SAT Writing
directions, but especially true for
SAT Essay directions. SAT Essay
directions are lengthy and take a
long time to read. Because they are
always the same, you should
familiarize yourself with the
directions before test day. Not only
will this save you a few minutes of
time that other students would
waste reading the directions, but
you will also already have a clear
idea of what is required. On the
next page is a reproduction of the
SAT Essay directions you will
encounter on test day.
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.
[Source Text Will Appear Here]
Write an essay in which you

explain how [the author]
builds an a rgument 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
aspects 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 first box is especially useful
because it gives you examples of
certain items that you can analyze
in the passage. The SAT suggests
that you examine how the author
uses evidence/examples,
reasoning, and stylistic elements to
develop his or her argument.
After the first box, the source text

that you are expected to read and
analyze will appear. But before we
discuss how to breakdown this
passage, let’s examine the second
box. The first sentence of the
second box is the most important
part of all of the directions:
Write an essay in
which you explain how
[the author] builds an
argument to persuade
[his/her] audience that
[author’s claim].
This is the key point: your essay
must explain how the author builds
his or her argument.
In the second sentence, the SAT is
giving you permission to analyze
elements other than evidence,
reasoning, and stylistic techniques.
Finally, I believe the College Board

put the last sentence of the
directions in for students who are
accustomed to writing the 2400-
version of the SAT Essay. On the old
version of the SAT, students wrote
persuasive essays on their own
opinions. The SAT explicitly states
in these new directions that
students should stay objective and
not let their own opinions interfere
with the content of the essay.
Exploit Vocab
Use scholarly, intellectual vocabulary

words throughout your SAT Essay.
Your SAT Essay grader does not

know you. He or she does not know
whether you are typically a good
writer or not. Unlike your high
school English teacher who may
know how well you normally write,
the SAT Essay grader will have no
bias. Therefore, you need to signal
to the SAT Essay grader that you
are a smart high school student
who deserves a high score on the
SAT Essay. One way to alert your
grader is through your vocabulary.
By using big vocabulary words in
your essay, readers will
immediately get the impression
that your essay is different from the
hundreds of other essays they have
read that day. Although many high
school English teachers would
cringe if they heard me say that you
should inflate your vocabulary in
order to score higher on an essay,
it’s the truth for the SAT Essay.
Bigger vocabulary words lead to
higher SAT Essay scores.
Using scholarly vocabulary words

early on in your essay is especially
important. I once heard that
people make a first impression
about you 7 seconds after they first
meet you. I believe this is also true
for the SAT Essay. After about 7
seconds of reading your SAT Essay,
graders will form an initial
impression of what score they will
give your SAT Essay. They will then
spend the next couple of minutes
reading through the rest of your
essay confirming their initial
opinion. Typically, their grades
don’t change by more than 1 point
on each subscore from their initial
impression. Therefore, using large
vocabulary words early on in your
essay when graders are forming
that first opinion is especially
important.
You must use vocabulary correctly

in order to positively impact your
SAT Essay score. I purposely say
“correctly” because using large
vocabulary words incorrectly can
actually work against you. You will
appear as though you are trying
too hard if you use large, scholarly
vocabulary words without really
understanding what they mean.
Therefore, I don’t encourage
students to use large vocabulary
words simply for the sake of using
large vocabulary words. Instead,
use big vocabulary words
throughout your essay but only
when absolutely appropriate.
Vocabulary is a tangible measure.

Remember that the SAT is a
standardized test. This means that
essay graders cannot be subjective
in the way that they grade your
test. They cannot score your essay
higher just because they agree with
your analysis. Instead, they have to
look at objective measures that
convey your writing, reading, and
analysis abilities. One tangible,
unbiased measure that essay
graders cannot argue is your
vocabulary. Including intellectual
vocabulary words in your essay will
have the following benefits:
Showcase a command of language –

this will positively impact your
Writing Subscore
Better expression of ideas – this will
positively impact your Reading
Subscore because you will be able to
convey your exact understanding of
the passage
Create more advanced insights – this
will positively impact your Analysis
Subscore
Interestingly, the College Board has

stated that memorization of
obscure vocabulary words is no
longer needed to score well on the
New SAT. This is true for the SAT
Reading section because Sentence
Completions, which used to directly
test vocabulary, have been
eliminated from the exam. But it is
not true for the New SAT Essay.
Therefore, rather than stating that
obscure vocabulary is no longer
needed for the New SAT, it would
be more accurate to state that
obscure vocabulary is not needed
as much for the New SAT. For the
New SAT Essay portion, you still
need to know scholarly vocabulary
words that you probably wouldn’t
use in everyday language. The good
news is that you don’t need to
know nearly as many big
vocabulary words for the SAT as
previous students did.
To help you use large, intellectual

vocabulary words, I have come up
with a list of some common words
that you will likely use in your SAT
Essay. I have then put scholarly
synonyms for these common words
in the tables that follow. While you
are writing your SAT Essay, you can
switch out these common words
for larger synonyms. For example,
instead of using the common word
“argument,” you can replace it with
the scholarly synonym “polemic.”
These tables should only be a
starting point. You should create
your own tables of common words
that you typically use in your SAT
Essay. Then, look up some more
academic synonyms for your
common words.
Common Nouns
On the New SAT Essay, you will
commonly use the following nouns:
argument, society, article, and
result. Instead of always using
these words throughout your essay,
you can replace them for some of
the more scholarly synonyms listed
in the tables below.
Argument
Polemic
Contention
Criticism
Stance
Society
Civilization
Citizenry
Democratic Public
Humankind
Article
Essay
Passage
Editorial
Critique
Result
Consequences
Repercussions
Ramifications
Fallout
Common Verbs
commonly use the following verbs:
persuade, create,support, and take
advantage. Instead of always using
Persuade
Convince
Sway
Prompt
Influence
Create
Synthesize
Engender
Construct
Manufacture
Support
Advocate
Bolster
Reinforce
Fortify
Take Advantage
Capitalize
Exploit
Manipulate
Employ
Common Adjectives
commonly use the following
adjectives: good, bad, necessary,
and clear. Instead of always using
Good
Exceptional
Commendable
Virtuous
Idealistic
Bad
Dreadful
Deficient
Deleterious
Detrimental
Necessary
Indispensable
Fundamental
Imperative
Compulsory
Clear
Lucid
Coherent
Cogent
Explicit
Common Adverbs
commonly use the following
adverbs: intentionally, skillfully,
masterfully, and carefully. Instead
of always using these words
throughout your essay, you can
replace them for some of the more
scholarly synonyms listed in the
tables below
Intentionally
Purposely
Willfully
Consciously
Calculatedly
Skillfully
Adroitly
Dexterously
Adeptly
Deftly
Masterfully
Expertly
Convincingly
Ingeniously
Succinctly
Carefully
Prudently
Judiciously
Scrupulously
Meticulously
Fill 3–4 Pages
You must fill up 3-4 pages of the test

booklet for the SAT Essay.
Longer SAT Essays get higher

scores. It’s simply not up for
debate. Imagine that you are an
SAT Essay grader. You probably
would not give an essay that is only
half a page in length a higher score
than one that is three pages in
length. Natural human inclination
simply favors essays that are longer
in length. Of course, this once again
goes against traditional wisdom.
High school English teachers often
stress that writing is about quality
over quantity. While I do agree that
the 3-4 pages of information that
you write should not be
substandard insights, the physical
length of your SAT essay is
immensely important.
Most students who take the SAT on

Saturday morning have never
practiced an SAT Essay before.
Having never been confronted with
a passage that they need to read,
analyze, and compose an essay
about in under an hour, many
become flustered. They end up
writing half-page essays that are
disjointed, disorganized, and
incoherent. The average student
does not know what he or she
needs to look for in the passage,
how to organize his or her essay,
and to have prepared SAT Essay
templates. Don’t let this be you.
Learn and practice the Expert
Essay Strategies so that you can
write a logical, organized, and
coherent essay.
Essay length is a tangible measure

just like vocabulary. I mentioned
earlier how vocabulary is one
tangible way an essay grader can
get a sense of how “smart” you are.
Another objective measure the
essay grader can use is essay
length. Typically, smarter students
have more to say. A long essay
shows that you have thoughtfully
analyzed the essay and that you
are not just trying to skate by with
minimal effort. If you remember
nothing else about the SAT Essay
section, remember that you need
to use scholarly vocabulary words
and fill 3-4 pages of your essay
answer booklet. These two simple
strategies will significantly raise any
student’s SAT Essay score.
The notion that longer SAT Essays

receive higher scores is not just
something I made up. There is
actually scientific evidence that
proves this hypothesis. In 2005, MIT
conducted a study that found that
longer SAT essays receive higher
scores. Lead investigator, Dr.
Perelman stated, “It appeared to
me that regardless of what a
student wrote, the longer the essay,
the higher the score.” Now I know
you might be thinking, “well this is
for the old 2400 SAT, not the new
1600 SAT.” However, this concept of
longer essays getting higher scores
also applies to the New SAT Essay.
The proof actually comes directly
from the College Board. The
sample essays that the College
Board has released for the New
SAT show a direct correlation
between length and scores. The
essays that receive the lowest
Writing, Reading, and Analysis
Subscores are the shortest in
length. The essays that receive the
highest Writing, Reading, and
Analysis Subscores are the longest
in length. In addition to the
evidence from MIT and the College
Board, thousands of students who
have used Prep Expert have found
that the longer their essays, the
higher their scores. The evidence is
clear: longer SAT Essays get higher
scores.
To read a full passage you’ve never

seen before, analyze the author’s
persuasive techniques, and write a
3-4 page essay on it is not an easy
task. Although you have more time
than on the previous version of the
SAT, you will still need to work
expediently. There is no time to
waste. You should be very efficient
about reading and analyzing the
passage in 15 minutes. Then, give
yourself approximately 35 minutes
to fill 3-4 pages of the SAT Essay
answer booklet. This is most similar
to a surprise in-class essay you may
get in your high school English class
(which I used to despise by the
way). However, unlike your in-class
high school English essay, you will
be fully prepared for anything the
SAT throws at you after you learn
all of the Expert Essay Strategies.
Create a Plan
Create a plan for your SAT Essay before

you start writing.
The essay portion of the SAT can be

intimidating. On test day, you may
see many students open their
essay test booklet and immediately
start writing. You might be worried
and think, “How come I’m not able
to immediately start writing?” Well,
it’s actually a good thing that you
are not just bursting out the gate
into your essay composition.
Students who start writing without
thinking first will get stuck. Without
a concrete plan that helps organize
how the student will navigate his or
her thoughts, the essay will end up
being a series of disjointed
thoughts without a central thread.
Therefore, you must spend a few
minutes at the beginning to
organize your thoughts.
After you have read the passage,

you should create a plan about
what your essay will cover. This will
give you a concrete structure to
organize your thoughts around.
Your SAT Essay plan should not
take longer than 2 or 3 minutes to
write and it will have tremendous
benefits. If you ever get writer’s
block while writing your SAT Essay,
you can refer back to your plan to
recalibrate and get inspiration for
your next sentence. In addition,
your plan helps you organize your
ideas around a central thesis.
So what needs to go in your plan?

The primary items that you need to
include in your plan are the three
tools. “Tools” are the argumentative
techniques that the author uses to
develop his or her argument. We
will discuss the tools in another
Expert Essay Strategy. But for now,
let’s say that the three tools you
think the author uses well in order
to develop his or her argument are
authoritative sources, diction, and
emotional appeal. Simply writing
out these three tools gives
immediate structure to your essay.
These tools are what you will
discuss in your body paragraphs. In
addition to writing which 3 tools
you are going to discuss in your
essay, you want to reference 2-4
paragraphs in the passage that the
author uses those 3 particular
tools very well. Here is an example
of a quick plan you could create
before writing your SAT Essay:
Plan
(1) Authoritative Sources –

Paragraph 2, Paragraph 4,
Paragraph 6
(2) Diction / Word Choice –

Paragraph 1, Paragraph 3,
Paragraph 5
(3) Emotional Appeal – Paragraph 2,

Paragraph 3, Paragraph 5
Write 5
Paragraphs
Write your SAT Essay in a 5-paragraph
format.
For the purposes of the SAT Essay,

a standard 5-paragraph format is
perfect:
Introduction
Body Paragraph 1
Body Paragraph 2
Body Paragraph 3
Conclusion
Each paragraph should be

approximately 3/4 of a page in
length so that you can Fill 3-4
pages. The conclusion may be
shorter since you are likely running
out of time at this point in your SAT
Essay.
This structure works well for the

SAT Essay primarily because of the
body paragraphs. Each body
paragraph will be filled with an
analysis of an argumentative tool
that the author uses. In addition,
the introduction and conclusion
are necessary because the College
Board actually subtracts points
from students who do not have an
opener and closer to their essay.
By adhering to the same format
every time, the less time you waste
thinking of essay structure, and the
more time you spend writing great
content.
Thesis First
Begin every SAT Essay with your thesis.
Similar to the structure of the

2400-version of the SAT Essay that
we previously taught at Prep
Expert, you should begin every New
SAT Essay with your thesis.
However, unlike the previous
version of the SAT Essay in which
your thesis was essentially your
own opinion, the thesis for this New
SAT Essay is fundamentally
different. Instead, this new thesis
will always be a positive one: the
author develops a great argument.
Before we can start our SAT essay

with a thesis though, we need to
understand exactly what a thesis is.
My high school English teacher had
a really good explanation of what a
thesis is that has stuck with me all
these years. He said that a thesis is
a statement that you can place
after, “In this essay, I will prove that
__[insert thesis here]__.” If this
statement makes sense, then you
have a thesis. If this statement does
not make sense, then you do not
have a thesis. Essentially, a thesis is
the argument you are trying to
prove in an essay.
For the purposes of the SAT, we will

use a standard template for the
first-sentence thesis that you will
open every SAT Essay with:
In “[Title of Article],” [Author Name]

synthesizes a compelling dissertation
that [Passage’s Key Point].
Here is an example of how you

would use it on an actual SAT
Essay:
In “The Enduring Value of a

Humanities Education,” Jane Smith
that knowledge relating to the
humanities is indispensable to the
progress of society.
Not a bad way to start an SAT Essay

right? Knowing exactly what you are
going to write for the first sentence
of your SAT Essay is especially
powerful. One of the hardest parts
about writing is simply getting
started. For some reason, the act of
initially putting words to paper is
particularly difficult. But once you
get started, writing the rest of the
sentences becomes easier. By
having a standard opener for every
SAT Essay, we have solved the
problem of getting initial writer’s
block!
POP Last
Okay so now that I have given you

the first sentence of every SAT
Essay introduction, let me give the
last sentence. If you start with your
thesis, you should end with your
POP – or Plan Of Procedure. A Plan
of Procedure outlines exactly what
you will be discussing in the
forthcoming body paragraphs. For
the SAT Essay, a POP is essential
because it helps organize the essay
both for the reader and you. The
SAT Essay grader is likely reading
your essay at lightning speed.
Therefore, it’s helpful if you give
him or her some guide posts as to
what you will be discussing your
essay. In addition, the POP will help
you remember what you need to
discuss in your body paragraphs.
For the purposes of the SAT, we will

use a standard template for the
last-sentence POP to end every SAT
Essay introduction with:
[Author Last Name] deftly delivers a
cogent argument to sway [his/her]
readers by [Insert 3 Argumentative
Tools].
Here is an example of how you

would use it on an actual SAT
Essay:.
Smith deftly delivers a cogent

argument to sway her readers by
citing prominent authorities,
implying broad repercussions, and
using stark contrast.
Don’t worry if you don’t know what I

mean by “3 Argumentative Tools.”
We will discuss exactly what
argumentative tools are soon. For
now, you should only understand
that the first body paragraph of our
essay will discuss how Smith uses
prominent authorities to
strengthen her argument, the
second body paragraph will discuss
how Smith uses broad
repercussions to better her
argument, and the third body
paragraph will discuss how Smith
uses stark contrast to improve her
argument. Using a clear POP such
as this will help your essay achieve
a level of organization that most
students’ essays lack.
Repeat Thesis
Repeat your thesis throughout the SAT

Essay.
It’s not enough to only state your

thesis at the beginning of your SAT
Essay. You must repeat your thesis
in the body paragraphs and
conclusion as well. Remember,
your thesis is that the author has
developed a strong argument using
certain tools and techniques. This
should be clear to the reader no
matter what paragraph of your
essay he or she is reading. Make
sure to repeat your thesis at least
once in every paragraph of your
essay. Of course, you don’t want to
repeat your thesis in the exactly
the same manner each time.
Instead, try to say it in different
words. Here are some examples of
how you can restate your thesis in
body paragraphs:
Throughout the article, Smith

highlights several influential sources
in order to persuade readers to give
credence to her claim that a
humanities education is essential for
both personal and societal success.
Similar to many adept editorial
writers, Smith attempts to
continually expound the magnitude
of her argument by asserting the far-
reaching negative consequences of a
lack of a humanities education.
Smith further thoughtfully
supplements her argument by
highlighting significant differences
between a technology-focused
education and a humanities-focused
education.
Repeating your thesis throughout
your essay will bring coherency to
your composition. Many high
school students struggle to stay on
topic and tend to venture off on
tangents, especially when they are
writing fast under the timed
conditions of a standardized test.
However, by connecting your
paragraphs with the central thesis,
your reader will be able to follow
your arguments easily.
Organization is key on the SAT
Essay and repeating your thesis
often is yet another way to achieve
a high level of organization.
Stay Active
This Essay Expert Strategy relates

to your SAT Essay Writing Subscore
from 2 – 8. Although most of the
grammar that you need to know for
the SAT Essay will be taught in the
SAT Writing section, one item that
many students struggle with is the
active vs. passive voice. Therefore,
we make it a point to teach
students the difference here.
Active Voice – The subject is
actively doing the verb.
Passive Voice – The subject is

passively receiving the verb.
Here are some examples that

illustrate the difference between
subjects doing the action of a verb
versus subjects receiving the action
of a verb.
Active Voice Passive Voice

I aced the SAT. The SAT was
aced by me.
She plays Tennis is played
tennis. by her.
They love to eat. Eating is loved
by them.
The dog fetched The bone was
the bone. fetched by the
dog.
I use two tricks to recognize the

difference between active voice vs.
passive voice. The first is that the
passive voice often uses the word
“by.” The second is that that the
passive voice often uses verb forms
of “to be” (i.e. is, was, been, etc.).
Knowing these two “tricks” will help
you recognize if you start writing in
the passive voice rather than the
active voice. This strategy is not
only useful for the SAT Essay, but
also for the multiple-choice SAT
Writing section.
Link & Connect
You must link and connect your SAT Essay

in order to organize a coherent
composition.
Organization of the SAT Essay is

essential to getting a high score.
One of the ways to make sure that
your essay is coherently organized
is to link and connect. Link means
to make sure that your essay flows
well. Connect means to tie different
concepts in your essay together.
Although the SAT Essay templates
will do much of this for you, you
should still actively think about how
to link and connect your essay as
you are writing.
Transitions
Perhaps the best way to link your

essay together is to use transitions.
Transitions will help your reader
know where you are going in your
essay. Although you do not need to
use a transition in every sentence,
transitions used every few
sentences will help show that you
have mastered the art of linking
ideas. Here are some examples of
transitions that you will commonly
use on the SAT Essay.
Common Transitions
Furthermore
However
Although
In Addition
For Example
Nevertheless
Consequently
Transitions also have another
major benefit other than improving
the flow of your SAT Essay:
transitions can cure writer’s block.
Undoubtedly, under the pressure
of test-day, you will run out of
things to say during your SAT Essay.
But there is a simple strategy you
can use to get out of this situation.
Write down a transition – any
transition – and you will suddenly
be able to write your next
sentence.
You don’t need to know what you

are going to write about before you
write down a transition. Simply put
down “for example,” and you will
think of an example to discuss.
Write down “however,” and you will
think of a contrasting concept to
discuss. Transitions are a terrific
way to get your mind thinking when
you are stuck and don’t know what
to write about next.
Key Ideas
A skilled writer is able to recognize

common themes in the author’s
passage and connect those key
ideas. Being able to find
commonalities among seemingly
disparate concepts is not an easy
task. But with practice, you will
become better accustomed to
coming up with ways to connect
key ideas.
For example, take the following

sentence that I wrote for an essay
about a humanities education:
“Switching from successful
businessmen to venerated
philosophers, Smith continues to
refer to authorities when…” What
were the key ideas I connected
here? Well I recognized the
difference between “successful
businessmen” and “venerated
philosophers,” but was also able to
connect them to the theme of
referring to authorities. This is what
I mean by connecting key ideas in
your SAT Essay. This will take
practice, but the better you get at
this, the higher your SAT Essay
Analysis Subscore will go.
Thesis
Although we discussed repeating

your own thesis at length, you also
need to repeat the author’s thesis
from time to time. Remember the
difference between the two:
Your Thesis – The author built a

great argument using
tools/techniques.
Author’s Thesis – Whatever the
author’s argument is.
For example, in our example essay

about Jane Smith’s “The Enduring
Value of a Humanities Education,”
here is the difference between the
two theses:
Your Thesis – In “The Enduring Value

of a Humanities Education,” Jane
Smith synthesizes a compelling
dissertation that knowledge relating
to the humanities is indispensable to
the progress of society.
Author’s Thesis – Knowledge relating
to the humanities is indispensable to
the progress of society.
In Essay Expert Strategy 8, we

stressed the importance of
repeating your thesis often
throughout the essay. But now I am
stressing the importance of
repeating the author’s thesis
throughout the essay. However,
you may want to state the author’s
thesis in different words. Instead of
stating “knowledge relating to the
humanities is indispensable to the
progress of society” multiple times
throughout your essay, you may
want to state “a humanities
education is essential for both
personal and societal success.”
Essentially, this is just the author’s
thesis restated in different words.
Introduction & Conclusion
Finally, the last piece of advice I

have about linking and connecting
your SAT Essay relates to your
introduction and conclusion. Make
sure that your introduction and
conclusion echo each other. In
your conclusion, you may want to
restate your thesis and summarize
the importance of the
argumentative tools you outlined in
your Plan of Procedure (POP). I will
show you exact templates for both
the introduction and conclusion
soon that will have a lot of this
linking and connecting baked right
into the templates.
Stay Objective
On your SAT Essay, you need to stay

neutral.
You should not have an opinion

about the topic the author is
discussing. Instead, your only
opinion should be that the author
has built a strong argument. This is
the exact opposite of what was
required of students on the 2400-
version of the SAT Essay. On the old
SAT Essay, you needed to have an
opinion about a particular topic
and then defend your opinion.
Students used to write persuasive
essays. Now, students are required
to write analytical essays.
Why did the SAT make this change?

Students learned how to game the
system. When the College Board let
students write about their own
opinions, many students took
advantage of this by writing about
whatever they wanted. Some
students would write about stories
from their lives, use examples from
popular culture, and some would
even go so far as to make up fake
books and poems. Therefore, to
prevent students from using
fictitious and unprofessional
examples, the College Board
decided to revamp the New SAT
Essay so that students would have
to analyze a piece of text. This
means that you can no longer
make up stories or examples for
your SAT Essay. The College Board
solved this problem well.
However, there was another

problem that the College Board
intended to solve by assigning
students an analytical essay. SAT
test writers thought that if they
assign students a text to analyze,
students could no longer use
templates to write their SAT Essay.
Templates were infamous on the
2400-verison of the SAT Essay.
Essentially, test prep companies
like Prep Expert would give
students SAT Essay Templates that
would work for almost any SAT
Essay they would encounter since
the topics were often so general. By
no longer having general topics,
but instead specific passages that
students are required to read,
College Board test writers thought
they have solved the problem of
test prep essay templates.
However, I have good news: I have
developed an even better template
for the New SAT Essay!
Although the passage you see on

test day will not to be one you have
seen before, you can still have a
prepared skeleton for most of your
SAT Essay.
Finally, you should avoid using any
personal pronouns on the SAT
Essay such as "I", "me", and "you."
Instead, try to keep your SAT Essay
as academic as possible. Talk about
society or civilization. Once in a
while, you may use pronouns such
as “we” or “us,” but I would try to
keep this to a minimum. Try not to
insert your own personal opinions
into the SAT Essay. Instead, stay
objective while analyzing the
author’s argumentative techniques
to build a powerful essay.
Find PKP
Anytime you encounter a passage on the

SAT, the first step should be to find the
PKP.
PKP stands for Passage’s Key Point.

This is the core message of the
passage. The PKP is typically found
in the first paragraph of
standardized test passages.
Therefore, you should read the first
paragraph of a passage and try to
identify its PKP. If the PKP is not
apparent to you after reading the
first paragraph, you have two
options. First, you could continue
reading into the second paragraph.
You should do this when the first
paragraph is very short or gives you
information unrelated to the rest
of the passage. Second, you could
reread the first paragraph. You
should do this when the passage is
difficult to understand. We will also
use this strategy of finding the PKP
on the SAT Reading and SAT Writing
sections when we are dealing with
passages.
It is not enough to simply think of a

PKP – you must write it down.
Synthesizing your own PKP is a
powerful exercise. It assures that
you really understand what the
passage is about. If you only think
about the PKP without taking the
time and expending the mental
energy to write one down, you may
in fact have no idea what the
passage is about. However, the PKP
you write down does not need to
be complex. Your PKP is for your
eyes only – so it can be simple. But
you should have a PKP written
down. To illustrate how simple a
PKP can be, let’s use the following
passage.
Adapted from “The Enduring Value of a

Humanities Education” by Jane Smith. ©2015
by Prep Expert Times. Originally published
January 1, 2015.
Malcolm Forbes, the owner and founder

of Forbes magazine, once proclaimed that
“education’s primary purpose is to replace
an empty mind with an open one” – and
no other curriculum better exemplifies
this than the humanities. Similar to other
broad disciplines such as mathematics or
science, the humanities is an all-inclusive
discipline that incorporates five essential
fields of thought: art, history, literature,
music, and philosophy. As a result of
exposure to the diversity of these fields, a
student of the humanities is able to savor
and attain knowledge from a cornucopia
of subjects, and in so doing joins the ranks
of the most versatile and educated
individuals in his or her walk of life. The
very definition of the humanities degree –
that it is one that comprises a study of the
deepest human emotional qualities –
proclaims its authority over other
disciplines like an army general presiding
over his troops.
After reading the first paragraph of

this passage, I would write down my
PKP. In my mind, I think that the
PKP is “A humanities education is
vital to society.” However, I would
not physically write this down in my
test booklet. In order to save time, I
would be more likely to write down
something such as:
PKP: Hum. Edu = Important
Notice how simple my PKP is. I

would write this down in the
margin next to the first paragraph.
While this may sound simple,
knowing the author’s argument is
actually a very powerful technique.
By writing down the PKP, you will
better understand the rest of the
passage. You will also have a better
idea of how to focus your essay
because you understand the
author’s main idea.
First Pass – PS
You will read the SAT Essay passage twice.

On the first pass, create Paragraph
Summaries.
One of the biggest struggles

students have when reading
standardized passages is
determining how to begin. Should
you read the passage thoroughly
first? Should you skim the passage?
Should you take notes? Although
this isn’t as big of a problem for the
SAT Essay section as it is for the SAT
Reading section, we should still
have a strategy for reading an SAT
Essay passage.
I have developed a two-pass

approach for the SAT Essay. In the
first pass, you will create paragraph
summaries of each of the
paragraphs in the SAT Essay
passage. In the second pass, you
will identify argumentative tools
that the author uses in order to
strengthen his or her argument.
However, each pass is done
paragraph by paragraph. This
means, you read the first
paragraph, then come up with the
paragraph summary. Then you
reread the first paragraph and
identify specific argumentative
tools that the author uses in that
paragraph. But for now, we will only
focus on the first pass.
On your first pass of each

paragraph in a passage, you want
to write down a paragraph
summary. The good news is that
you have already done one
paragraph summary – your PKP.
The Passage’s Key Point that you
identified after reading the first
paragraph of the SAT Essay passage
is also your paragraph summary.
Similar to a PKP, paragraph
summaries should be simple.
Remember, paragraph summaries
are for your eyes only. However,
you must create paragraph
summaries because they increase
comprehension. The better you
understand a passage, the higher
your SAT Essay Reading Subscore
will be. While the SAT Essay
templates that we will cover very
soon will help you with your SAT
Essay Writing Subscore and SAT
Essay Analysis Subscore, they will
not help you much with your SAT
Essay Reading Subscore. Therefore,
your paragraph summaries will be
absolutely essential to increase
your SAT Essay Reading Subscore.
Let’s try out an example. Read the

following SAT Essay passage. As you
read each paragraph, come up with
a paragraph summary. Try to
create a simple summary that
captures the essence of the
paragraph, but is still succinct
enough that it doesn’t take up too
much of your time to write down.
After you have created paragraph
summaries, compare your answers
to the paragraph summaries that I
came up with that follow the
passage. You will notice that your
paragraph summaries do not
match mine exactly. That’s okay.
There is no one correct answer for
how a paragraph summary should
look. As long as your paragraph
summaries are short and accurate,
you’re good to go. If you are having
a hard time coming up with
paragraph summaries, don’t worry!
We’ll work with lots of passages in
this course so that you will
eventually get the hang of it.

by Prep Expert Times. Originally published
January 1, 2015.
1. Malcolm Forbes, the owner and

founder of Forbes magazine, once
proclaimed that “education’s primary
purpose is to replace an empty mind
with an open one” – and no other
curriculum better exemplifies this
than the humanities. Similar to other
broad disciplines such as
mathematics or science, the
humanities is an all-inclusive
discipline that incorporates five
essential fields of thought: art,
history, literature, music, and
philosophy. As a result of exposure
to the diversity of these fields, a
student of the humanities is able to
savor and attain knowledge from a
cornucopia of subjects, and in so
doing joins the ranks of the most
versatile and educated individuals in
his or her walk of life. The very
definition of the humanities degree –
that it is one that comprises a study
of the deepest human emotional
qualities – proclaims its authority
over other disciplines like an Army
general presiding over his troops.
2. In one sense, the 21st century – with
its zealous focus on technology in
our quest to enhance our control
over the world – has undermined the
humanities. No longer is it as
fascinating to study human beings
and their mortal accomplishments;
more emphasis and interest is
bestowed on machines and their
industrious capabilities. A 2013 Wall
Street Journal article cited a study
from the Harvard Humanities Project
that found the percentage of
humanities degrees among college
graduates has dropped by 50% since
the 1960s. The advent of
technological innovations, and
society’s emphasis to further
improve those systems, has led
many students to major in these
fields at the grave expense of the
humanities.
3. This is a shame, because in many
ways the subjects that comprise the
humanities represent the very
crucible of civilization. They honor
such men as Socrates, Herodotus,
and Bach, who were considered by
many to be the pioneers of their
fields and fathers of their trades. By
denying themselves education in the
humanities, many students are
denying the very elements that make
us human. If nothing else, the
humanities can help us recognize
and avoid the mistakes of the past.
Philosopher George Santayana once
pointed out that, “Those who cannot
remember the past are condemned
to repeat it”? When students remove
humanities from their education,
they are severing the only remaining
ties that connect us with the past.
4. By ignoring the humanities, students
are deprived of a body of knowledge
so plentiful, so rich, and so powerful
that the lack impedes and impairs
their versatility in speech and
thought. Furthermore, a lack of
appreciation of the humanities would
be woefully detrimental to society as
the American Academy of Arts and
Sciences points out in a report
entitled The Heart of the Matter: The
Humanities and Social Sciences for a
Vibrant, Competitive, and Secure
Nation. Overspecialization in one
field (or, worse, a subfield) is
insufficient to saturate the human
mind with the essential intellectual
criteria needed for an adequate
analysis of the world – and would by
no means engender the sort of
“Renaissance man” who has
advanced science and society
throughout most of Western history.
The Humanities are, for good reason,
considered by many scholars to be
the backbone of academia – and
without them, a scholar is severely
paralyzed, academically and socially.
Therefore, we must further educate
people in this magnificent
constellation of related fields, so that
they can bestow the traditions of a
well-rounded education upon
themselves, and upon their posterity.
5. In the words of Andre Gide, “as long
as we live among men, let us cherish
their ingenuity and humanity, for it
would lead to greatness.” With a
humanities education, one is
prepared for a diversity of roles,
whereas specialization limits one’s
options. With the humanities, one
has the opportunity to understand
the human role in society, and to be
able to learn from previous human
achievements and inanities. Only
through such an education can we
appreciate and savor the continuity
of human progress. Therefore, unlike
other specialized degrees that focus
mainly on a part of the human mind
(e.g., psychology), the human system
(physiology), or human technology
(engineering), the humanities
provide an enlightening and
multilateral view of human existence.
Paragraph
Summaries
Paragraph 1 Hum. Edu. =
Important
Paragraph 2 Technology
Takeover
Paragraph 3 Hum. Have a
Rich History
Paragraph 4 Hum. Make You
More Well-
Rounded
Paragraph 5 Hum. Opens
Many Doors
Second Pass –
CREW SAID
You will read the SAT Essay passage twice.
On the second pass, identify CREW SAID
argumentative tools.
After you have gone through the

first pass of a paragraph, your next
job is to do a second pass of the
paragraph. However, this time
instead of focusing on what the
paragraph is about like in the first
pass, focus on the argumentative
tools that the author uses to
develop his or her argument. By
separating what we need to zero in
on in each pass, we can focus our
mental energy. Multitasking simply
does not work! Reading a passage
both for comprehension and
identification of argumentative
tools at the same time is very
difficult. Instead, focus on one task
at a time. Although we do spend
some extra time reading each
passage twice (compared to most
students who are only reading the
passage once), we will make up for
this lost time when we have
excellent material to write about
because of our two passes. In
addition, the SAT Essay templates
will help us save an enormous
amount of time.
I have identified 8 argumentative

tools that authors of SAT Essay
passages commonly use to
strengthen their argument. You
can remember these 8 tools using
the acronym CREW SAID:
Contrast Similarity
Repercussions Authority
Emotion Imagery
Word Choice Data
Recall from Essay Expert Strategy

#7 POP Last that the Plan of
Procedure requires that we identify
only 3 argumentative tools that an
author uses to build his or her
argument. So why do I have 8 listed
above? Because every passage is
not going to use all 8 of the CREW
SAID argumentative tools. Instead,
an author will likely only use a 4-5
of the 8 tools frequently. It is up to
you to decide which 3 that you
would like to discuss in your SAT
Essay body paragraphs. For
example, you may decide that the
author uses Word Choice,
Authority, and Data the best in
order to develop his or her
argument. Therefore, you would
talk about these three
argumentative tools in your SAT
Essay.
Deciding which three

argumentative tools you want to
discuss in your SAT Essay is really
up to you. But I would suggest
selecting the CREW SAID tools the
author uses frequently so that you
have more to talk about.
Let’s now discuss what each of

these CREW SAID argumentative
tools means.
Contrast
Contrast refers to when an author

highlights differences between two
items. These items could be
people, things, ideas, etc. Using
stark contrast to compare the
positive aspects of one item against
the negative aspects of another
item is a powerful argumentative
technique. Here is an example of
contrast from our example
humanities passage:
With a humanities
education, one is
prepared for a diversity
of roles, whereas
specialization limits
one’s options.
The author contrasts the benefits
of a broad humanities education
against the drawbacks of a
specialized education.
Repercussions
Repercussions refer to when an

author points out the far-reaching
consequences of his or her
argument. Typically, we think of
repercussions as being negative;
however, repercussions can also be
positive. Highlighting the broader
implications of an idea can really
help strengthen an author’s
argument. You can identify when
an author is using repercussions as
an argumentative technique
because he or she is making the
argument a really big deal. Here is
an example of repercussions from
our example humanities passage:
Only through such an

education can we
appreciate and savor
the continuity of human
progress.
The author implies the far-reaching
repercussions of a humanities
education by citing that it is
essential to “human progress.”
Note: This is a common

argumentative tool that authors of
SAT Essay passages will use!
Emotion
Emotion refers to when an author

attempts to make an emotional
appeal to the reader. For example,
if a heartfelt topic such as
childhood is brought up, the
author is likely attempting to tug at
the heartstrings of the reader. Here
is an example of emotional appeal
from our example humanities
passage:
When students
remove humanities
from their education,
they are severing the
only remaining ties that
connect us with the
past.
The author uses emotional appeal
by referring to how the past might
be lost if the youth do not value the
humanities.
Word Choice
Word choice refers to when an

author purposefully uses certain
language in order to build his or
her argument. Using specific
diction can help an author
enhance his or her point. When
certain words, expressions, or
terms really stick out to you, the
author is likely using Word Choice
as an argumentative tool. Here is
an example of word choice from
our example humanities passage:
By ignoring the
humanities, students
are deprived of a body
of knowledge so
plentiful, so rich, and so
powerful that the lack
impedes and impairs
their versatility of
speech and thought.
The author uses royal diction such
as “plentiful,” “rich,” and “powerful,”
to describe the humanities as
influential.
Similarity
Similarity refers to when an author

highlights similarities between two
items. These items could be
people, things, ideas, etc. Using
similarities to compare the positive
or negative aspects of another item
is a powerful argumentative
technique. Here is an example of
similarity from our example
humanities passage:
The very definition of

the humanities degree –
that it is one that
comprises a study of the
deepest human
emotional qualities –
proclaims its authority
over other disciplines
like an army general
presiding over his
troops.
The author uses a metaphor – a
common type of similarity – to
clarify her argument to the reader.
Note: You can also argue that this
sentence uses imagery as an
argumentative technique because
the author paints a picture of the
general presiding over troops.
Every sentence does not have to fit
neatly into one bucket. Often times,
one sentence will use two
argumentative techniques.
Authority
Authority refers to when an author

cites an expert or influencer in
order to add clout to his or her
argument. Citing authorities is a
powerful argumentative technique
that can really strengthen an
argument. When you see a well-
known publication, organization, or
public figure cited by an author,
you can be fairly certain he or she
is using authority to add weight to
the argument. Here is an example
of authority from our example
humanities passage:
Philosopher George
Santayana once pointed
out that, “those who
cannot remember the
past are condemned to
repeat it. ”
The author cites philosopher
George Santayana to add
credibility to her argument.
Note: Citing authorities is one of

the most commonly used
argumentative techniques that
authors of SAT Essay passages use
to enhance their arguments.
Therefore, this can be one of your
go-to CREW SAID argumentative
tools that you discuss in your SAT
Essay.
Imagery
Imagery refers to when an author

paints a picture with words. This
tool is related to word choice
because the specific words an
author chooses can dictate the
vividness of the image. Here is an
example of imagery from our
example humanities passage:
The Humanities are,

for good reason,
considered by many
scholars to be the
backbone of academia –
and without them, a
scholar is severely
paralyzed, academically
and socially.
The author uses the imagery of a
“backbone” being “paralyzed” to
paint a clear picture in the mind of
the reader.
Data
Data refers to when an author uses

statistics or numerical evidence to
support his or her argument. Data
is typically the easiest
argumentative technique to spot in
a passage because numbers stick
out like a sore thumb. Data is also
related to authority because
statistics that a passage cites often
come from an authoritative source.
Using data can bring a lot of validity
to an author’s argument. Here is an
example of data from our example
humanities passage:
A 2013 Wall Street

Journal article cited a
study from the Harvard
Humanities Project that
found the percentage of
humanities degrees
among college
graduates has dropped
by 50% since the 1960s.
The author not only uses data from

a study to support her argument,
but also the authority of the Wall
Street Journal and the Harvard
Humanities Project.
That’s it! Those are the 8
argumentative tools that you need
to know for the SAT Essay. Of
course, these 8 tools are not
comprehensive. There are other
techniques that authors can use to
enhance their arguments. You can
certainly identify other tools if you
are so inclined. But unlike other
students, you won’t have to try to
come up with new argumentative
tools off the top of your head if you
don’t want to. If you decide that
there is another argumentative
technique that the author uses
that is not a part of CREW SAID, feel
free to discuss it if you are
confident. But I would suggest that
before you start your SAT Essay,
write down the following in your
test booklet:
Contrast Similarity
Repercussions Authority
Emotion Imagery
Word Choice Data
This will remind you of the 8

argumentative techniques you
should be looking for as you read
the SAT Essay passage. Remember,
you should look for CREW SAID
argumentative tools during your
second pass. On your first pass, you
read a paragraph and write down a
paragraph summary. This will
assure understanding. On your
second pass, you read the same
paragraph and identify CREW SAID
argumentative techniques that are
used in each sentence. Let’s
practice the second pass now.
by Prep
Malcolm Forbes, the owner and founder

of Forbes magazine, once proclaimed that
“education’s primary purpose is to replace
an empty mind with an open one” – and
no other curriculum better exemplifies
this than the humanities . Similar to
other broad disciplines such as
mathematics or science, the humanities is
an all-inclusive discipline that incorporates
five essential fields of thought: art, history,
literature, music, and philosophy . As a
result of exposure to the diversity of these
fields, a student of the humanities is able
to savor and attain knowledge from a
cornucopia of subjects, and in so doing
joins the ranks of the most versatile and
educated individuals in his or her walk of
life . The very definition of the
humanities degree – that it is one that
comprises a study of the deepest human
emotional qualities – proclaims its
authority over other disciplines like an
army general presiding over his troops
.
Sentence 1 – The author uses

authority by citing the founder of
Forbes magazine.
similarity by finding a parallel between
math/science and the humanities.
repercussions by stating that a
student can become one of the most
important individuals in society
through a humanities education.
similarity by using the metaphor of an
army.
In one sense, the 21st century – with its

zealous focus on technology in our quest
to enhance our control over the world –
has undermined the humanities . No
longer is it as fascinating to study human
beings and their mortal accomplishments;
more emphasis and interest is bestowed
on machines and their industrious
capabilities . A 2013 Wall Street
Journal article cited a study from the
Harvard Humanities Project that found
the percentage of humanities degrees
among college graduates has dropped by
50% since the 1960s . The advent
of technological innovations, and society’s
emphasis to further improve those
systems, has led many students to major
in these fields at the grave expense of the
humanities .

contrast by highlighting how
technology despite its benefits has
actually had a negative effect on the
humanities.
Sentence 2 – The author uses word
choice by selecting words such as
“mortal” to describe humans and
words such as “machines” and
“industrious” to describe technology.
authority when she cites The Wall
Street Journal and the Harvard
Humanities Project. The author also
uses data by citing the 50% statistic.
repercussions by citing the broader
negative implications of technological
advancement.
This is a shame, because in many ways the

subjects that comprise the humanities
represent the very crucible of civilization
. They honor such men as Socrates,
Herodotus, and Bach, who were
considered by many to be the pioneers of
their fields and fathers of their trades .
By denying themselves education in the
humanities, many students are denying
the very elements that make us human
. If nothing else, the humanities can
help us recognize and avoid the mistakes
of the past. Philosopher George
Santayana once pointed out that, “Those
who cannot remember the past are
condemned to repeat it”? . When
students remove humanities from their
education, they are severing the only
remaining ties that connect us with the
past .

repercussions by citing the
major significance of the
humanities.
authority by citing ancient
philosophers.
repercussions by stating that
humanities make us human.
Sentence 4 – I could not
identify a particular CREW SAID
argumentative tool in this
sentence.
authority by citing a prominent
philosopher.
emotional appeal by stating
that the youth can lose the past
if they lose a humanities
education.
By ignoring the humanities,

students are deprived of a body of
knowledge so plentiful, so rich, and
so powerful that the lack impedes
and impairs their versatility in
speech and thought .
Furthermore, a lack of appreciation
of the humanities would be
woefully detrimental to society as
the American Academy of Arts and
Sciences points out in a report
entitled The Heart of the Matter:
The Humanities and Social
Sciences for a Vibrant, Competitive,
and Secure Nation .
Overspecialization in one field (or,
worse, a subfield) is insufficient to
saturate the human mind with the
essential intellectual criteria
needed for an adequate analysis of
the world – and would by no means
engender the sort of “Renaissance
man” who has advanced science
and society throughout most of
Western history . The
Humanities are, for good reason,
considered by many scholars to be
the backbone of academia – and
without them, a scholar is severely
paralyzed, academically and
socially . Therefore, we must
further educate people in this
magnificent constellation of related
fields, so that they can bestow the
traditions of a well-rounded
education upon themselves, and
upon their posterity .
word choice by using regal
diction such as “plentiful,” “rich,”
and “powerful” to emphasize
the importance of the
humanities.
authority by citing a report
conducted by a recognized
organization.
repercussions by implying that
overspecialization can be
detrimental to society.
imagery by using words such as
“backbone” and “paralyzed” to
paint a clear picture for the
reader.
repercussions by instilling
urgency in the reader.
In the words of Andre Gide, “as long

as we live among men, let us
cherish their ingenuity and
humanity, for it would lead to
greatness” . With a humanities
education, one is prepared for a
diversity of roles, whereas
specialization limits one’s options
. With the humanities, one has
the opportunity to understand the
human role in society, and to be
able to learn from previous human
achievements and inanities .
Only through such an education
can we appreciate and savor the
continuity of human progress .
Therefore, unlike other specialized
degrees that focus mainly on a part
of the human mind (e.g.,
psychology), the human system
(physiology), or human technology
(engineering), the humanities
provide an enlightening and
multilateral view of human
existence .

authority by quoting an author.
contrast by differentiating
between the benefits of a
humanities education versus
specialization.
repercussions by stating the
broader benefits of a
humanities education.
repercussions by asserting how
essential a humanities
education is to “human
progress.”
contrast by contrasting
specialized education with
humanities education.
I hope that you now understand

how to identify CREW SAID
argumentative tools as you go
through your second pass of each
paragraph. Note that classifying
every sentence as an
argumentative tactic is not
necessary. Some sentences will
simply not fall neatly into one of
the 8 CREW SAID categories. If this
is the case, continue reading and
leave the sentence unlabeled. After
you have completed your second
pass of every paragraph in the SAT
Essay passage, you are ready to
start writing. To figure out which 3
CREW SAID argumentative
techniques that you are going to
write about, simply count up how
many of each tool appeared in the
passage. For example, for our
passage about the Humanities,
here is the count:
3
8
1
2
2
6
1
1
As you can see, the most used

CREW SAID argumentative
techniques in the humanities
passage were Repercussions (8
times), Authority (6 times), and
Contrast (3 times). Therefore, the
three body paragraphs that we will
write for our SAT Essay will likely
discuss how the author implied
broad repercussions, cited
authorities, and used stark contrast
to fortify her argument. You do not
have to choose the most frequently
used CREW SAID argumentative
tools to be the ones that serve as
your body paragraphs. While using
the most frequently used ones may
give you more content to write
about, you may opt to discuss the
ones that are most interesting to
you in your body paragraphs.
Going through the motions of

identifying CREW SAID
argumentative tools is also useful
because it allows you to stay in
analysis mode. Many students
make the mistake of going into
summary mode i.e. recapping what
the passage said. The essay graders
already know what the passage is
about. They do not want a
summary. Instead, they want to
know what your analysis of the
passage is. By identifying CREW
SAID argumentative tools within
the passage, you are analyzing
every line of the passage. This will
make it easier for you to write a
compelling analysis essay.
QIS Analysis
To write your analysis essay, use the

Quote, Interpret, Significance (QIS)
format.
QIS, which I pronounce as “kiss,” is

the technique we will use to
develop a stellar analysis in the
body paragraphs of our SAT Essay.
QIS stands for Quote, Interpret, and
Significance. When you are
analyzing the passage, you will
quote an excerpt, interpret that
quote, and state the significance of
how this CREW SAID argumentative
tool helps build the author’s
argument. For example, you may
quote how the author cites an
authority in the passage, interpret
what the authority said, and write
about how citing this particular
authority adds credibility to the
author’s argument. Essentially, QIS
is a formulaic way of conducting an
analysis with CREW SAID
argumentative tools.
Let’s go over an example of how we

would use QIS on the humanities
passage we have been working
with.
Quote
The essay opens with a quote from

Malcolm Forbes, the founder of Forbes
magazine, which illustrates the
importance of education (Smith 1).
Start by quoting the passage. But

notice how I don’t actually quote
the passage here. Instead, I
paraphrase. This is perfectly okay,
but you should still cite the part of
the passage you are referring to. To
do this, put the author’s last name
along with the paragraph number
in parenthesis after your quote or
paraphrase. The SAT will number
the paragraphs of the passage for
you.
Interpret
Although Forbes does not specifically

mention the humanities, Smith makes a
connection for the readers.
After you have

quoted/paraphrased a particular
CREW SAID argumentation, you
should interpret it. In this case, I do
not mention how the quote relates
to authority or how it enhances the
author’s argument. Instead, I
interpret the quote itself.
Significance
Smith capitalizes on the prominence and

fame of the Forbes name to lay the
groundwork for her argument from the
very beginning.
Finally, clarify the significance of

the author’s use of the CREW SAID
argumentative tool by stating how
it contributes to the author’s
overall argument. In this case, I
make particular mention of how it
helps initiate a strong argument
from the very beginning of the
passage.
That’s it! This is how you effectively

conduct your analysis when writing
your SAT Essay. Simply do QIS two
to four times in your body
paragraphs and you will have an
essay full of powerful insights.
However, there is one more part of
QIS that is not part of the acronym:
Connect. Remember Essay Expert
Strategy #10 Link & Connect. In
order to transition between your
QIS analyses, you should try to link
and connect them smoothly. Here
is an example of how I would
connect the previous QIS analysis
with the next quote:
Connect
Switching from successful businessmen

to venerated philosophers, Smith
continues to refer to authorities when she
mentions “Socrates, Herodotus, and
Bach,” as well as “Philosopher George
Santayana” (Smith 3).
Notice how I was able to identify

that Smith uses both businessmen
and philosophers as authorities to
strengthen her argument. Making
connections such as this will really
impress your readers because it
shows depth of thought about the
passage. The beauty of the CREW
SAID argumentative tools is that
you have already made many of
these connections! You already
know all the places in the passage
that the author has cited
authorities, implied broad
repercussions, relied on statistical
data, etc.
Introduction
Template
To write a compelling SAT Essay, use the
Prep Expert Introduction Template.
We are finally at every student’s

favorite part of the SAT Essay
section – templates! Essay
templates are fill-in-the-blank
skeletons that allow you to use the
same basic format to structure
every SAT Essay. This saves a
tremendous amount of time
because you do not have to come
up with your own writing format. In
addition, templates will help raise
your score because many of the
Essay Expert Strategies we have
discussed (i.e. Exploit Vocab) are
built into the essay templates. Of
course, you don’t have to use the
essay templates if you don’t want
to. But most students choose to
because they are not that difficult
to memorize (especially after you’ve
practiced the SAT Essay dozens of
times). You can also customize
templates to your own writing style,
and I encourage you to do so.
Before I teach you Prep Expert

Essay Templates, let me first
address two concerns that
students have: plagiarism and bias.
If you use an essay template, why
isn’t it considered plagiarism? The
answer is simple: I am giving you
permission to use my essay
template. Okay, but won’t SAT Essay
graders score your essay lower if
you are using a template? No!
Because the SAT is a standardized
test, essay graders must give
standardized scores. This means
that if you write an essay that is
very similar to a perfect score
essay, then you too must get a
perfect score. Otherwise, the
scores would no longer be
comparable, which would ruin the
whole point of a standardized
exam. In addition, creativity is not a
grading criteria. In fact, creativity
can never be a grading criteria on a
standardized exam because it is
not an objective measure. Finally,
thousands of students have used
our essay templates to score
exceptionally high on the SAT
Essay, so you should too!
Now that your concerns about

essay templates have been allayed,
let’s take a look at the Introduction
Template.
In [Article Title], [Author Name]

that [Passage’s Key Point]. Although
some detractors may believe [What
Detractors Believe], the arguments set
forth in the article dismiss such romantic
critics as excessively dogmatic in their
provincial ideology. One of the broader
notions presented in the essay is that
[Major Idea in Article]. [Author’s Last
Name] deftly delivers a cogent argument
to sway his/her readers by [3 CREW
SAID Tools].
Here are a few key features of the

Introduction Template:
4 Sentences
Sentence 1 – Thesis
Sentence 2 – Shows depth of

thought by showing the reader
that you have thought about the
other side of the argument
Sentence 3 – Identifies one of the

broader themes of the passage
Sentence 4 – POP
Large Vocabulary Words
Using scholarly vocabulary words

early in the essay helps create a
strong first impression
Customization
You may want to customize your

introduction template to be 5-6
sentences or even change some
of the sentence sequencing.
Now let’s see how to use this

Introduction Template on our
example Humanities passage:
In “The Enduring Value of a Humanities

Education,” Jane Smith synthesizes a
compelling dissertation that knowledge
relating to the humanities is
indispensable to the progress of society.
Although some detractors may believe
the advancement of education strictly
focused on technology is key to national
development, the arguments set forth in
the article dismiss such romantic critics
as excessively dogmatic in their
provincial ideology. One of the broader
notions presented in the essay is that an
education in the humanities magnifies a
person’s versatility to be a productive
member of society. Smith deftly delivers
a cogent argument to sway her readers
by citing prominent authorities, implying
broad repercussions, and using stark
contrast.
Body Paragraph 1
Template
Prep Expert Body Paragraph 1 Template.
Throughout the article, [Author’s Last

Name] highlights several influential
sources in order to persuade readers to
give credence to [his/her] claim that
[Repeat Author’s Thesis].
Quote Quote Quot

Interpret Interpret Interpr
Significance Significance Significa
Connect Connect

Body Paragraph 1 Template:
Authority
We are going to assume that the

passage you see on test day is
going to use multiple authorities
in order to help backup the
author’s argument. Therefore,
citing authorities will be the initial
body paragraph every time.
QIS Structure
Every body paragraph will have

essentially the same structure:
Quote, Interpret, Significance.
You will do this 2 – 4 times with
connections in between.
Customization
You may want to customize the

QIS structure. For example,
sometimes you may skip the
interpretation of the quote, you
may combine the Interpretation
and Significance parts of QIS into
a single sentence, or use 4-5 QIS
Analyses in order to have an
extra long body paragraph. In
addition, sometimes the author
will not use Authority as an
argument technique. In this case,
you will have to choose a
different CREW SAID tool to
discuss in body paragraph 1.
Now let’s see how to use this Body

Paragraph 1 Template on our
Throughout the article, Smith highlights

several influential sources in order to
persuade readers to give credence to her
claim that a humanities education is
essential for both personal and societal
success. The essay opens with a quote
from Malcolm Forbes, the founder of
Forbes magazine, which illustrates the
importance of education (Smith 1).
Although Forbes does not specifically
mention the humanities, Smith makes a
connection for the readers. Smith
capitalizes on the prominence and fame
of the Forbes name to lay the
groundwork for her argument from the
very beginning. Switching from
successful businessmen to venerated
philosophers, Smith continues to refer to
authorities when she mentions “Socrates,
Herodotus, and Bach,” as well as
“Philosopher George Santayana” (Smith
3). If her earlier use of a business figure
did not resonate well with some readers,
Smith employs a new strategy to appeal
to those who may value the ancient arts
and philosophy. But Smith’s use of
authorities to support her argument does
not stop with names. She also uses data
such as The Wall Street Journal that
“cited a study from the Harvard
Humanities Project that found the
percentage of humanities degrees among
college graduates has dropped by 50%
since the 1960s” (Smith 2). Mentioning
The Wall Street Journal and “Harvard”
in the same sentence is sure to suggest
authority among her readers. This
strategic use of significant businessmen,
philosophers, newspapers, and
universities adds tremendous credibility
to Smith’s position.
Body Paragraph 2
Template
Similar to many adept editorial writers,

[Author’s Last Name] attempts to
continually expound the magnitude of
[his/her] argument by asserting the far-
reaching [positive/negative]
consequences of [Repeat Main Idea].
Quote Quote Quot
Connect Connect

Repercussions
We are going to assume that the

passage you see on test day is
going to use multiple far-reaching
consequences in order to help
backup the author’s argument.
Therefore, emphasizing
significant repercussions will be
the second body paragraph every
time.
QIS Structure

Customization

extra long body paragraph. In
addition, sometimes the author
will not use Repercussions as an
argumentation technique. In this
case, you will have to choose a
different CREW SAID tool to
discuss in body paragraph 2.


Smith attempts to continually expound
the magnitude of her argument by
asserting the far-reaching negative
consequences of a lack of a humanities
education. She even boldly states that
society’s focus on technological
education actually is “at the grave
expense of the humanities” (Smith 2). To
use diction such as “grave” when
describing the decline in humanities
education certainly increases the weight
of her argument. Smith may in fact be
convincing readers that the
repercussions of a lack of humanities is
far reaching. For example, she later
claims that “by denying themselves
education in the humanities, many
students are denying the very elements
that make us human” (Smith 3). By
equating the “humanities” to being
“human,” Smith increases the importance
of her argument, and captures the
attention of the reader. Ultimately,
strategically calling upon a higher
purpose of the humanities that appeals to
readers builds an even sounder case for
Smith.
Body Paragraph 3
Template
[Author’s Last Name] further

thoughtfully supplements [his/her]
argument by [Last Tool].
Quote Quote Quot

Connect Connect

CREW SAID Tool
Unlike the first two body

paragraphs where I directed you
to two specific CREW SAID tools,
you can choose any CREW SAID
tool you want in Body Paragraph
3.
QIS Structure

Customization

extra long body paragraph.

Smith further thoughtfully supplements

her argument by highlighting significant
differences between a technology-
focused education and a humanities-
focused education. She boldly proclaims
that “in one sense, the 21st century –
with its zealous focus on technology in
our quest to enhance our control over the
world – has undermined the humanities”
(Smith 2). By stating that technology has
detracted from the humanities, she is
clearly highlighting the contrast between
the two. This contrast has a powerful
effect because it makes Smith’s argument
easy to follow for the reader when she
places technology in one bucket and the
humanities in another bucket. But
perhaps the most striking use of contrast
in her essay comes in the final statement,
“Therefore, unlike other specialized
degrees that focus mainly on a part of the
human mind (e.g., psychology), the
human system (physiology), or human
technology (engineering), the humanities
provide an enlightening and multilateral
view of human existence” (Smith 5).
Smith deliberately pits humanities
against other specialized disciplines and
declares that humanities are far superior.
This kind of contrast mechanism further
bolsters her argument that society would
be at a loss without knowledge of the
humanities.
Conclusion
Template
For our final template, let’s tackle
the conclusion. The conclusion is
often the shortest paragraph of
your SAT Essay because you are
running out of time. I have tried to
make the conclusion as simple as
possible. Not only will your hand be
hurting at this point, but you will
also be anxious to be done with the
SAT. Of course, if you have extra
time, feel free to write a longer
conclusion.
Conclusion Template
Undoubtedly, [Author Name] is no

amateur author. Not only does [he/she]
employ [3 CREW SAID Tools Restated]
to build a coherent argument, but
[he/she] also does so purposefully and
proficiently. [Author’s Last Name]’s
adroit use of persuasive literary devices
and tactics guarantees that readers will
be convinced of [his/her] conviction that
[Repeat Author’s Thesis].

Conclusion Template:
3 Sentences
Sentence 1 – This statement is

always going to be true because
the SAT will not give you a
passage written by a novice
writer.
Sentence 2 – This helps bring

everything together by restating
the 3 CREW SAID argumentative
tools you have discussed in your
essay.
Sentence 3 – Repeating the

author’s thesis one last time at
the end of the essay will assure
the reader that you properly
comprehended the passage (i.e.
this will increase your SAT Essay
Reading Subscore).
Customization

conclusion. You can include other
broad and powerful statements
that relate to the particular
passage at hand. Extending your
conclusion will help lengthen
your essay, but should only be
done if you have extra time
remaining at the end.
Now let’s see how to use this

Conclusion Template on our
example humanities passage:
Undoubtedly, Smith is no amateur author.

Not only does she employ reference to
influential authorities, imply broad
ramifications, and highlight contrast to
build a coherent argument, but she also
does so purposefully and proficiently.
Smith’s adroit use of persuasive literary
devices and tactics guarantees that
readers will be convinced of her
conviction that an education in the
humanities is the crux of a high-
functioning society.
Practice SAT Essay
Up until this point we have covered
Essay Expert Strategies in silos. You
likely still have questions about
how to put everything together.
This section is especially important
to clarify any confusion that is left
regarding the SAT Essay. We will
now practice an entire SAT Essay
together. Not only will we write an
SAT Essay together, but we will also
read an SAT Essay passage
together. This exercise will give you
a good idea of how to create
paragraph summaries, identify
CREW SAID tools, and use essay
templates.
Practice SAT Essay Passage
Adapted from “Deceiving Education” by

Shaan Patel. ©2015 by Prep Expert
Times. Originally published August 30,
2006.
1. I believe the federal government is

not only uninformative in their
depiction of the “progress” of the No
Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act, but
downright illusory. One of the main
objectives of NCLB is to bridge the
achievement gap on tests between
students of diverse ethnic and
economic backgrounds (particularly
blacks and whites). But according to
The Civil Rights Project conducted at
Harvard University, the NCLB has
made little progress in accomplishing
this goal. Yet, President Bush has
claimed that the percentage gap
between passing whites and blacks
has closed by 25 percentage points
in the state of Texas on math tests in
the past three years. What could
account for this discrepancy in
claims? Undoubtedly, it is the
Department of Education’s utter
failure to recognize the intrinsic
problems with the NCLB act and its
deliberate distortion of statistics.
2. Before we can discuss how the
government skews statistics, we
must first understand it does so.
There are so many problems with the
NCLB Act that any government
attempt to fix them is like a mechanic
repairing a car with no engine – it
simply won’t work. In Charles
Murray’s editorial “Acid Tests” in the
Wall Street Journal, he points out
that one of the fundamental
problems with the NCLB Act is that it
undermines the institutions of
federalism this country was founded
on by nationalizing “elementary and
secondary education.” It also
eradicates any vestige of a child’s
inspiration to have a passion for
learning or a career in education by
constantly bombarding them with
stressful tests. Furthermore, the act
also harms the subject matter that is
taught in the classroom and limits
teachers to having to spend an
inordinate amount of time preparing
students on how to pass a test,
rather than teaching students how to
write. Without any progress in the
classroom made, the government
has one of two choices: to either
admit the flaws of the act or to cover
up the flaws by manipulating test
score data; and they choose the
latter.
3. There is something inherently wrong
with a government when it is willfully
skewing studies to fit expectations.
The government misrepresents the
NCLB Act’s actual progress in closing
the racial/economic achievement gap
by using what are called “pass
percentages.” A pass percentage is
hard to lucidly define without getting
into complex statistical terminology;
however, Murray puts it beautifully
when he says that pass percentages
tell one “whether someone got over a
bar, but not how high the bar was set
or by how much the bar was cleared.”
In other words, pass percentages
allow the government to inform the
public that a certain test was passed,
but allow it to surreptitiously
withhold what the passing score on a
test was and by how much students
exceeded that score.
4. However, how the government
manipulates statistics to fit its own
predictions is trivial compared to the
ethical violations it commits when
doing so. The federal government’s
responsibility is not only to keep
peace and order over its citizenry,
but also to be true to the society that
it governs. Perhaps I am making the
federal government sound like an
immoral, dishonest tyrant. Even so,
when a ruling entity like the
government intentionally warps data,
it may not be lying, but there is
definitely a major trust issue
involved. In fact, this kind of
distortion reminds me of George
Orwell’s 1984 in which the Party
makes sure that all predictions by
the Party are never wrong by
rewriting all printed articles to match
previous forecasts with current
times. In the same way, the federal
government is misrepresenting
figures to match its previous forecast
of progress in closing the
achievement gap.
5. The issue of the government
misleading society is far greater than
education; it is a major moral
concern. When the governing body
over a group of people deliberately
attempts to deceive those very
people they are suppose to be most
truthful to, it says a whole a lot about
the condition of the society we live in
as well as the elected officials we vote
into office. Ultimately, I hope that the
No Child Left Behind Act will be left
behind and more beneficial
educational reforms will one day be
instituted.
Two-Pass Reading
Approach
Introduction First Pass – Find PKP
The first step when tackling an SAT

Essay passage (or any passage for
that matter) is to find the PKP, or
Passage’s Key Point. This entails
reading the first paragraph and
summarizing what you believe to
be the author’s thesis in a short,
simple sentence. So let’s take a
look at our example passage.
I believe the federal government is

downright illusory. One of the main
objectives of NCLB is to bridge the
achievement gap on tests between
students of diverse ethnic and
economic backgrounds (particularly
blacks and whites). But according to
The Civil Rights Project conducted at
Harvard University, the NCLB has
made little progress in accomplishing
this goal. Yet, President Bush has
claimed that the percentage gap
between passing whites and blacks
has closed by 25 percentage points in
the state of Texas on math tests in the
past three years. What could account
for this discrepancy in claims?
Undoubtedly, it is the Department of
Education’s utter failure to recognize
the intrinsic problems with the NCLB
act and its deliberate distortion of
statistics.
PKP: The NCLB is ineffective.
Introduction Second Pass – Identify

CREW SAID Argumentative Tools
Because finding PKP is

essentially the same thing as
coming up with a paragraph
summary for the first
paragraph, we do not need to
create a separate paragraph
summary for the introduction.
Instead, we should now reread
the first paragraph and identify
CREW SAID Argumentative
Tools in each sentence.
I believe the federal government is

downright illusory . One of the
main objectives of NCLB is to bridge
the achievement gap on tests
between students of diverse ethnic
and economic backgrounds
(particularly blacks and whites). But
according to The Civil Rights Project
conducted at Harvard University, the
NCLB has made little progress in
accomplishing this goal . Yet,
President Bush has claimed that the
percentage gap between passing
whites and blacks has closed by 25
percentage points in the state of
Texas on math tests in the past three
years . What could account
for this discrepancy in claims ?
Undoubtedly, it is the Department of
Education’s utter failure to recognize
the intrinsic problems with the NCLB
act and its deliberate distortion of
statistics .
Body Paragraph 1 First Pass –

Create Paragraph Summary
Before we can discuss how the

government skews statistics, we must
first understand it does so. There are
so many problems with the NCLB Act
that any government attempt to fix
them is like a mechanic repairing a car
with no engine – it simply won’t work.
In Charles Murray’s editorial “Acid
Tests” in the Wall Street Journal, he
points out that one of the
fundamental problems with the NCLB
Act is that it undermines the
institutions of federalism this country
was founded on by nationalizing
“elementary and secondary
education.” It also eradicates any
vestige of a child’s inspiration to have
a passion for learning or a career in
education by constantly bombarding
them with stressful tests.
Furthermore, the act also harms the
subject matter that is taught in the
classroom and limits teachers to
having to spend an inordinate
amount of time preparing students
on how to pass a test, rather than
teaching students how to write.
Without any progress in the
classroom made, the government has
one of two choices: to either admit
the flaws of the act or to cover up the
flaws by manipulating test score data;
and they choose the latter.
Body Paragraph 1 Summary: The

NCLB undermines country’s founding
principles and limits teachers.
Body Paragraph 1 Second Pass –

Identify CREW SAID Argumentative
Tools
Before we can discuss how the

government skews statistics, we must
first understand it does so. There are
so many problems with the NCLB Act
that any government attempt to fix
them is like a mechanic repairing a car
with no engine – it simply won’t work
. In Charles Murray’s editorial
“Acid Tests” in the Wall Street Journal,
he points out that one of the
fundamental problems with the NCLB
Act is that it undermines the
institutions of federalism this country
was founded on by nationalizing
“elementary and secondary
education” . It also eradicates any
vestige of a child’s inspiration to have
a passion for learning or a career in
education by constantly bombarding
them with stressful tests .
Furthermore, the act also harms the
subject matter that is taught in the
classroom and limits teachers to
having to spend an inordinate
amount of time preparing students
on how to pass a test, rather than
teaching students how to write .
Without any progress in the
classroom made, the government has
one of two choices: to either admit
the flaws of the act or to cover up the
flaws by manipulating test score data;
and they choose the latter .

There is something inherently wrong

skewing studies to fit expectations.
The government misrepresents the
NCLB Act’s actual progress in closing
the racial/economic achievement gap
by using what are called “pass
percentages.” A pass percentage is
hard to lucidly define without getting
into complex statistical terminology;
however, Murray puts it beautifully
when he says that pass percentages
tell one “whether someone got over a
bar, but not how high the bar was set
or by how much the bar was cleared.”
but allow it to surreptitiously withhold
what the passing score on a test was
and by how much students exceeded
that score.
Body Paragraph 2 Summary: Pass

percentages can misrepresent
achievement.

Tools
There is something inherently wrong

skewing studies to fit expectations
. The government misrepresents
the NCLB Act’s actual progress in
closing the racial/economic
achievement gap by using what are
called “pass percentages.” A pass
percentage is hard to lucidly define
without getting into complex
statistical terminology; however,
Murray puts it beautifully when he
says that pass percentages tell one
“whether someone got over a bar, but
not how high the bar was set or by
how much the bar was cleared” .
but allow it to surreptitiously withhold
what the passing score on a test was
and by how much students exceeded
that score .

However, how the government

doing so. The federal government’s
responsibility is not only to keep
peace and order over its citizenry, but
also to be true to the society that it
governs. Perhaps I am making the
federal government sound like an
immoral, dishonest tyrant. Even so,
when a ruling entity like the
government intentionally warps data,
it may not be lying, but there is
definitely a major trust issue involved.
In fact, this kind of distortion reminds
me of George Orwell’s 1984 in which
the Party makes sure that all
predictions by the Party are never
wrong by rewriting all printed articles
to match previous forecasts with
current times. In the same way, the
federal government is
misrepresenting figures to match its
previous forecast of progress in
closing the achievement gap.
Body Paragraph 3 Summary:

Fundamental Ethical Issue w/
Government Misrepresentation.
Tools
However, how the government

doing so . The federal
government’s responsibility is not
only to keep peace and order over its
citizenry, but also to be true to the
society that it governs . Perhaps I
am making the federal government
sound like an immoral, dishonest
tyrant . Even so, when a ruling
entity like the government
intentionally warps data, it may not be
lying, but there is definitely a major
trust issue involved. In fact, this kind
of distortion reminds me of George
Orwell’s 1984 in which the Party
makes sure that all predictions by the
Party are never wrong by rewriting all
printed articles to match previous
forecasts with current times .
In the same way, the federal
government is misrepresenting
figures to match its previous forecast
of progress in closing the
achievement gap .
Conclusion First Pass – Create
Paragraph Summary
The issue of the government

education; it is a major moral
concern. When the governing body
over a group of people deliberately
attempts to deceive those very people
they are suppose to be most truthful
to, it says a whole a lot about the
condition of the society we live in as
well as the elected officials we vote
into office. Ultimately, I hope that the
No Child Left Behind Act will be left
instituted.
Conclusion Summary: NCLB
misrepresentation is bigger than
education.
Conclusion Second Pass – Identify

CREW SAID Argumentative Tools
The issue of the government

education; it is a major moral concern
. When the governing body over a
group of people deliberately attempts
to deceive those very people they are
suppose to be most truthful to, it says
a whole a lot about the condition of
the society we live in as well as the
elected officials we vote into office
. Ultimately, I hope that the No
Child Left Behind Act will be left
instituted .
Now that we’ve gone through each

paragraph of the passage twice, we
are ready to start writing our essay.
We should start by counting up
how many times each CREW SAID
argumentative tool was used by the
author.
1
4
4
7
1
3
2
1
Judging by the above results, I

would like to discuss how the
author uses word choice,
repercussions, and authoritative
sources to support his argument.
We can now begin writing our SAT
Essay.
Practice SAT Essay
In “Deceiving Education,” Shaan Patel
that the government is willfully
manipulating achievement statistics of its
failed No Child Left Behind Act
(NCLB). Although some detractors may
believe the NCLB Act has made
progress to the standardization of
education, the arguments set forth in the
article dismiss such romantic critics as
excessively dogmatic in their provincial
ideology. One of the broader notions
presented in the essay is that
misrepresenting the NCLB’s ability to
have closed the achievement gap is
actually a prodigious ethical concern.
Patel deftly delivers a cogent argument
to sway his readers by citing prominent
authorities, implying broad
repercussions, and using calculated, but
powerful diction.
Throughout the article, Patel highlights

several influential sources in order to
persuade readers to give credence to his
claim that the No Child Left Behind Act
is doing more harm than good. From the
outset, Patel refers to a study conducted
at Harvard University that “the NCLB
has made little progress in
accomplishing [bridging the achievement
gap]” (Patel 1). Mentioning a university
as prestigious as Harvard is likely no
coincidence. Patel knowingly uses the
weight of the Harvard name to add
credibility to his argument. Continuing
this trend of using highly credible
sources to further his argument, Patel
then quotes a Wall Street Journal
editorial that claims the NCLB Act
“undermines the institutions of
federalism this country was founded on
by nationalizing “elementary and
secondary education” (Patel 2). Using
one of the most well-known papers in
the world, The Wall Street Journal, adds
even more authority to his stance. In
addition, adding that the editorial stated
that the NCLB Act is fundamentally in
opposition to American ideals likely
strikes an emotional cord with many
readers. Latching onto the reputations of
authoritative sources is a brilliant
strategy that adds significant weight to
Patel’s argument against the NCLB Act.

Patel attempts to continually expound the
magnitude of his argument by asserting
the far-reaching negative consequences
of the No Child Left Behind Act. Patel
states “the act also harms the subject
matter that is taught in the classroom and
limits teachers to having to spend an
inordinate amount of time preparing
students on how to pass a test, rather
than teaching students how to write”
(Patel 2). By referencing how classroom
dynamics will change, Patel extends his
argument to go beyond just the
achievement gap. He makes sure every
reader is aware that the classroom his or
her child learns in will be fundamentally
different due to this legislation. But Patel
doesn’t let the negative repercussions of
the No Child Left Behind Act stop in the
classroom. Near the end of the article,
he states “When the governing body over
a group of people deliberately attempts
to deceive those very people they are
suppose to be most truthful to, it says a
whole a lot about the condition of the
society we live in” (Patel 5). This brings
Patel’s argument to the very center of
society. He masterfully constructs his
case to suddenly include all of the
ethical and moral issues a society should
be concerned with – all stemming from
one piece of government educational
legislation.
Lastly, Patel further thoughtfully

supplements his argument by using
powerful diction to resonate with
readers. He uses phrases such as “utter
failure,” “intrinsic problems,” and
“deliberate distortion” in the first
paragraph to answer his rhetorical
question of “What could account for this
discrepancy in claims?” (Patel 1).
Certainly, such strong diction makes the
Department of Education look far worse
than it likely is. But because of Patel’s
designated word choice, readers may
view the government as malevolent and
full of machinations. Patel continues his
admonishment of the government when
he says they “surreptitiously withhold”
and are “misrepresenting figures” (Patel
2, 3). Depicting the government as a
malicious entity with willful intentions
to manipulate the public’s mind
effectively aids Patel in building his
argument that the No Child Left Behind
Act has been terrible for our country.
Undoubtedly, Patel is no amateur author.

Not only does he employ reference to
influential authorities, far-reaching
implications, and masterful diction
decisions to build a coherent argument,
but he also does so purposefully and
proficiently. Patel’s adroit use of
persuasive literary devices and tactics
guarantees that readers will be
convinced of his conviction that the No
Child Left Behind Act is wholly anti-
American.

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Optional The essay is now

Despite these changes, there are

Passage Type Argumentative. The

Passage Content Topic for a

Passage Complexity High school

Last Section Unlike the previous

Required vs. Optional On the

Persuasive vs. Analytical On the

25 Minutes vs. 50 Minutes You

First Section vs. Last Section On

The New SAT Essay is scored out of

Writing – Final Score 7

*Although your score report will not

Writing – Your writing subscore

What You Really Need to Know

While the above scoring details are

Even more important than the

Therefore, we need to use this time

Students, especially those who

While the above may sound good, I

Largely Same – The College Board

Formulaic – The New SAT Essay is

Time – Students who took the

Should I Take The

In addition, the New SAT Essay is

The only exception to this rule of

However, if you are at all uncertain

As you read the passage

Evidence, such as facts or

[Source Text Will Appear Here]

Write an essay in which you

Your essay should not

After the first box, the source text

Finally, I believe the College Board

Use scholarly, intellectual vocabulary

Your SAT Essay grader does not

Using scholarly vocabulary words

You must use vocabulary correctly

Vocabulary is a tangible measure.

Showcase a command of language –

Interestingly, the College Board has

To help you use large, intellectual

Fill 3–4 Pages

You must fill up 3-4 pages of the test

Longer SAT Essays get higher

Most students who take the SAT on

Essay length is a tangible measure

The notion that longer SAT Essays

To read a full passage you’ve never

Create a plan for your SAT Essay before

The essay portion of the SAT can be

After you have read the passage,

So what needs to go in your plan?

(1) Authoritative Sources –

(2) Diction / Word Choice –

(3) Emotional Appeal – Paragraph 2,

For the purposes of the SAT Essay,

Each paragraph should be

This structure works well for the