The SAT is more than just filling in the right bubbles; you also need to know how to craft a well-developed essay. Professor Rebekah Hendershot’s SAT Writing course is designed to help you master the important skills necessary to organize, plan, and write an impressive essay. Your SAT essay shows the admissions boards that you can effectively answer written prompts, organize your thoughts, and clearly communicate your ideas. She will walk you through her own essay writing process on screen in real-time and teach you how to write clear, concise, and engaging essays. Rebekah will also work with you on grammar, sentence structure, word choice, and style for the multiple choice section of the SAT Writing section. Professor Hendershot has been an editor and instructor for over 6 years, and graduated from the University of Southern California with a master’s degree in Professional Writing. Recommended supplementary material to view SAT questions featured in lesson answer guides: The Official SAT Study Guide by the College Board.
| I. The Essay |
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Essay Basics |
14:46 |
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Introduction |
0:00 | |
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Lesson Overview |
0:07 | |
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What Is An Essay? |
0:28 | |
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| Essayer = To Try, To Attempt |
0:31 | |
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| An Essay is An Attempt to Explain a Thought in Writing |
0:44 | |
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Why Does the SAT Ask for an Essay? |
1:11 | |
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| Designed to Test Your Readiness for College |
1:19 | |
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| Also Tests Your Ability to Think on Your Feet and Express Your Thoughts Clearly |
1:34 | |
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What They're Looking For |
2:05 | |
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| Good Writing |
2:11 | |
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| Good Content |
2:57 | |
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The Prompt |
3:35 | |
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| Always the Same Form: An Excerpt Following By a Question |
3:37 | |
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| Sample Prompt |
3:58 | |
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Essay Scoring |
5:22 | |
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| Two Readers Read Each Essay and Score It on A Scale from 1-6 |
5:51 | |
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| Essay Readers Are Encouraged to be Forgiving and to Reward Students for Writing Well |
6:16 | |
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| Essay Readers Are Trained to Ignore Handwriting |
6:34 | |
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Essay Scoring: 6 |
6:46 | |
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Essay Scoring: 5 |
7:42 | |
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Essay Scoring: 4 |
8:20 | |
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Essay Scoring: 3 |
9:03 | |
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Essay Scoring: 2 |
10:18 | |
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Essay Scoring: 1 |
11:19 | |
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Essay Scoring: 0 |
12:15 | |
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Tips for a Better Essay |
12:25 | |
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| Outline Before You Write |
12:39 | |
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| Use a Variety of Examples |
12:56 | |
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| Use Abstract and Concrete Nouns |
13:49 | |
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The Essay Prompt |
8:06 |
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Intro |
0:00 | |
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Lesson Overview |
0:07 | |
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The Prompt |
0:28 | |
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| Always the Same Form: An Excerpt Following By a Question |
0:30 | |
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| Sample Prompt |
0:47 | |
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Why the Prompt is Horrible |
1:30 | |
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| No Opportunity to Prepare Before the Test |
1:34 | |
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| Timed Conditions |
1:46 | |
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| Your SAT Essay is a First Draft |
2:03 | |
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Why the Prompt is Awesome |
2:23 | |
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| The Prompt Explains the Excerpt For You |
2:27 | |
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| Prompt Asks the Same Question in Two Ways |
2:58 | |
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| It's the First Section of the SAT |
3:09 | |
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| Readers Know This is Your First Draft |
3:28 | |
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| There is No Wrong Answer and No Penalty for Guessing |
3:38 | |
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Three Ways to Answer the Prompt |
3:55 | |
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| Agree |
4:08 | |
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| Disagree |
4:11 | |
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| In the Middle - Scarecrow |
4:14 | |
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Yes |
4:18 | |
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No |
4:47 | |
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Scarecrow |
5:22 | |
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Tips for Acing the Prompt |
6:31 | |
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| Make Sure You Answer the Question You Were Asked |
6:36 | |
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| Pay Attention to the Language Used in the Excerpt |
6:43 | |
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Outlining Your Essay |
12:20 |
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Intro |
0:00 | |
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Lesson Overview |
0:09 | |
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Why Outline? |
0:29 | |
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| A Good Outline is Like a Road Map |
0:58 | |
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| An Outline Lets You Arrange Your Examples in the Best Possible Order |
1:11 | |
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| Outlining Helps You Remember Your Examples |
1:26 | |
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Outlining Method 1: The Formal Outline |
1:54 | |
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Outlining Method 2: The Informal Outline |
4:35 | |
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Outlining in Action, Example 1 |
5:26 | |
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| Thesis |
6:17 | |
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| Example 2 |
8:43 | |
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Outlining Tips |
10:44 | |
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| Read the Prompt Carefully |
10:51 | |
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| Practice Outlining |
11:06 | |
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| Don't Waste Time with Complete Sentences |
11:39 | |
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| Choose Examples That Can Be Jotted Down in a Few Words |
11:50 | |
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| Make Sure Your Outline Aligns with Yes/No/Scarecrow |
12:07 | |
| II. Grammar |
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Grammar Errors: Part 1 |
19:49 |
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Intro |
0:00 | |
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Lesson Overview |
0:09 | |
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Verbs |
0:32 | |
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| Subject-Verb Agreement |
0:46 | |
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| Issues With verb Tense |
0:49 | |
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| Singular Subjects take Singular Verbs |
0:52 | |
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| Examples |
1:35 | |
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| Collective Nouns Are Singular |
2:47 | |
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| Gerunds As Subjects Are Singular |
3:20 | |
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| Examples |
3:31 | |
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| Verb Tense Should Remain Consistent |
4:32 | |
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| Example |
6:05 | |
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| The SAT Likes to Switch Would and Will |
6:33 | |
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| Example |
6:58 | |
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| The SAT Likes to Switch Gerunds |
7:22 | |
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| Example |
7:38 | |
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Pronouns |
8:33 | |
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| All Pronouns Must Agree with Their Antecedents in Number and Gender |
8:35 | |
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| Example |
8:46 | |
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| If a Sentence Uses 'One' or 'You' to Describe an Undetermined Person, It Must Not Switch Between the Two Terms |
9:55 | |
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| Example |
10:16 | |
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| Pay Attention to a Pronoun's Case |
10:52 | |
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| Examples |
11:21 | |
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Adjectives vs. Adverbs |
12:31 | |
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| Adjectives Modify Nouns or Pronouns |
12:40 | |
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| Examples |
13:17 | |
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Parallel Structure: Lists |
14:26 | |
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| When a Sentence Contains a List or Series of Items, Each Item Should Appear in the Format |
14:37 | |
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| Examples |
14:47 | |
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Word Pairs |
15:38 | |
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| Correlative Conjunctions Are Always Paired Up a Certain Way |
15:41 | |
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| Example List of Words |
15:53 | |
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| Example Sentences |
16:15 | |
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For Extra Grammar Help |
19:16 | |
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Grammar Errors: Part 2 |
11:02 |
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Intro |
0:00 | |
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Lesson Overview |
0:09 | |
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Noun Agreement |
0:31 | |
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| Nouns Must Agree In Number When They Are Connected with Other Nouns By a Linking Verb |
0:34 | |
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| Example |
1:07 | |
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Comparatives vs. Superlatives |
1:46 | |
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| Comparatives |
1:53 | |
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| Superlatives |
2:05 | |
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| Examples |
2:20 | |
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Relative Pronouns |
3:04 | |
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| Who vs. Whom |
3:10 | |
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| Example |
3:23 | |
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| Which vs. That |
3:47 | |
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| Examples |
4:18 | |
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| Where vs. Which |
4:59 | |
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| Examples |
5:14 | |
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Double Negatives / Double Positives |
5:53 | |
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| Don't Use More or Most with the Comparative or Superlative Form of an Adjective |
6:16 | |
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| Examples |
6:29 | |
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Conjunctions |
7:02 | |
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| Continuers |
7:10 | |
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| Contradictors |
7:23 | |
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| Example |
7:44 | |
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| Cause-and-Effect Conjunctions |
8:23 | |
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| Example |
8:37 | |
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| Only One Conjunction Is Usually Necessary to Connect Two Clauses |
8:58 | |
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| Example |
9:14 | |
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Redundancy |
9:44 | |
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| The SAT Occasionally Includes Redundant Phrases in Sentence |
9:49 | |
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| Example |
10:06 | |
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For Extra Grammar Help |
10:34 | |
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Grammar Errors: Part 3 |
12:19 |
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Intro |
0:00 | |
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Lesson Overview |
0:09 | |
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Sentence Fragments |
0:28 | |
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| A Sentence Must Contain Both a Subject and Verb |
0:33 | |
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| Example |
0:59 | |
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Commas and Semicolons |
1:25 | |
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| Independent Clauses Are Clauses That Contain a Subject and Verb |
1:33 | |
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| To Join Independent Clauses, Use a Comma and A Coordinating Conjunction |
1:41 | |
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| Example |
2:15 | |
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| To Join Independent Clauses, Use a Semicolon Only |
2:31 | |
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| To Join Independent Clauses, Use a Semicolon and a Conjunctive Adverb |
3:05 | |
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| Example |
3:19 | |
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| To Join Independent Clauses, Review |
3:42 | |
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Passive Voice |
4:10 | |
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| Active Construction |
4:17 | |
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| Passive Construction |
4:21 | |
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| Example |
4:46 | |
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| Sometimes the Passive Voice is Necessary to Correct a More Serious Error |
5:23 | |
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| Examples |
5:35 | |
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Modifiers |
6:47 | |
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| Dangling Modifier |
7:02 | |
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| Example |
7:13 | |
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| Misplaced Modifiers |
7:54 | |
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| Example |
8:15 | |
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Parallel Phrases |
9:05 | |
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| Conjunctions or Comparisons Must involve Elements Phrased in Parallel Ways |
9:17 | |
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| Example |
9:25 | |
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The Subjunctive |
10:07 | |
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| Used to Express Needs, Requests, Suggestions, ad Hypothetical Situations |
10:13 | |
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| Major Distinction Between the Subjunctive Mood and Indicative Mood |
10:46 | |
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| Example |
11:11 | |
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For Extra Grammar Help |
11:45 | |
| III. Practice Test |
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Answer Guide: Section 1 (Essay) |
27:48 |
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Intro |
0:00 | |
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Lesson Overview |
0:14 | |
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The Prompt |
1:07 | |
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| Assignment |
1:35 | |
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Outline |
2:18 | |
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Essay |
6:03 | |
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Answer Guide: Section 5 (Writing) |
17:23 |
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Intro |
0:00 | |
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Lesson Overview |
0:11 | |
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Sentence Improvement |
0:35 | |
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| Question 1 |
0:36 | |
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| Question 2 |
1:09 | |
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| Question 3 |
1:55 | |
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| Question 4 |
2:35 | |
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| Question 5 |
2:50 | |
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| Question 6 |
3:48 | |
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| Question 7 |
4:20 | |
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| Question 8 |
5:06 | |
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| Question 9 |
5:44 | |
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| Question 10 |
6:36 | |
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| Question 11 |
7:10 | |
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Error Identification |
7:36 | |
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| Question 12 |
7:48 | |
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| Question 13 |
8:09 | |
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| Question 14 |
8:21 | |
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| Question 15 |
8:48 | |
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| Question 16 |
9:12 | |
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| Question 17 |
9:29 | |
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| Question 18 |
9:53 | |
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| Question 19 |
10:06 | |
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| Question 20 |
10:43 | |
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| Question 21 |
10:54 | |
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| Question 22 |
11:03 | |
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| Question 23 |
11:52 | |
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| Question 24 |
12:00 | |
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| Question 25 |
12:25 | |
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| Question 26 |
13:03 | |
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| Question 27 |
13:25 | |
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| Question 28 |
13:52 | |
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| Question 29 |
14:19 | |
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Paragraph Improvement |
14:40 | |
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| Question 30 |
14:41 | |
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| Question 31 |
15:02 | |
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| Question 32 |
15:36 | |
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| Question 33 |
15:58 | |
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| Question 34 |
16:20 | |
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| Question 35 |
16:52 | |
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Answer Guide: Section 10 (Writing) |
8:36 |
| | |
Intro |
0:00 | |
| | |
Lesson Overview |
0:11 | |
| | |
Sentence Improvement |
0:28 | |
| | |
| Question 1 |
0:29 | |
| | |
| Question 2 |
1:07 | |
| | |
| Question 3 |
1:30 | |
| | |
| Question 4 |
1:49 | |
| | |
| Question 5 |
2:26 | |
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| Question 6 |
3:22 | |
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| Question 7 |
3:57 | |
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| Question 8 |
4:30 | |
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| Question 9 |
5:13 | |
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| Question 10 |
5:51 | |
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| Question 11 |
6:24 | |
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| Question 12 |
6:53 | |
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| Question 13 |
7:16 | |
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| Question 14 |
7:51 | |
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