[...]... USING PETERSON’S NEW SAT WRITING WORKBOOK TO IMPROVE YOUR SCORE Peterson’s New SAT Writing Workbook has been designed to give you concentrated practice in the skills you will need for both the essay and the multiple-choice questions on the Writing section of the SAT I Employ the following steps to get the most from using this book: 1 • Apply the test-taking strategies as you practice writing the timed... WRITING SECTION ON THE NEW SAT I Beginning with the Spring 2005 administration of the SAT I, the College Board added a Writing section to the test Along with changes to the Math section, the new Writing section is expected to provide a better assessment of how prepared students are for college The basic facts about the new Writing section are the following: The Writing section will consist of two parts:... understanding writing prompts with exercises for practice • A review of the writing process • Strategies for planning and writing the essay • A sample writing guide to help you pace your writing • Timed essays for practice • 10 rules for effective writing, followed by exercises Chapter 1 ABOUT THE ESSAY ON THE SAT I Your goals for this chapter are to learn the • Basic information about the Writing section... skills in writing clearly expressed, coherent, and well-developed prose Practice for the SAT I by using the writing strategies and practice exercises in this book and you will be on your way to turning these strategies into life-long habits www.petersons.com 2 Part I Practicing Your Essay Writing Skills In Chapters 1 through 5, you will find • Basic information about the writing section on the SAT I •... FUTURE The writing process, effective writing guidelines, and standard English conventions that you are learning in Peterson’s New SAT Writing Workbook apply to whatever you write, whenever you write The words whatever and whenever are important to remember Using this book to improve your writing for the SAT I is one reason to buy it It is equally important to use the writing process, strategies, and standard... www.petersons.com PART I: PRACTICING YOUR ESSAY WRITING SKILLS Prewriting • • • • • Allow 2–4 minutes for this step Read and study the question in detail Jot down ideas, facts, and examples Develop your thesis Order your ideas in a logical pattern to support your thesis Writing • Allow approximately 12 16 minutes to shape your essay • Write your essay following the pattern you determined during the prewriting... start writing, you can be confident that your clear, coherent, unified—and neatly written—essay will shine in each scorer’s pile of vague, incoherent, fragmented, and illegible essays www.petersons.com 10 CHAPTER 1: ABOUT THE ESSAY ON THE SAT I CHECK YOUR WRITING SKILLS How does your writing right now measure up against the characteristics readers use to score your essay? Find the most recent piece of writing. .. at this kind of writing is to practice “Practice makes perfect,” as the old saying goes Continue on to Chapter 2 to begin practicing dissecting writing prompts 11 www.petersons.com PART I: PRACTICING YOUR ESSAY WRITING SKILLS PRACTICAL ADVICE As you begin to practice for the essay, keep the following strategies in mind: • Make sure that your essay is long enough to demonstrate your writing skills •... can you • Repeat the basic information about the writing section on the SAT I? • List the characteristics that readers will be looking for as they score SAT I essays? www.petersons.com 12 Chapter 2 DISSECTING THE WRITING PROMPT Your goals for this chapter are to • Learn how to determine what you are being asked to write about • Practice pulling apart writing prompts to understand them • Practice thinking... the SAT I • Elements of the scoring rubric The Writing section of the SAT I assesses • How clearly you can express your ideas when writing “on demand” • How well you know and can apply the rules of standard written English “On demand,” according to the College Board, is the kind of writing you will do in college on tests and in the workplace in memos, email messages, or letters—short pieces of writing . Your Writing Skills 11 Writing as the Only Preparation 11 Practical Advice 12 Check Off 12 Chapter 2: Dissecting the Writing Prompt 13 The Directions 13 The Writing Prompt 14 The Assignment 14 Check. Items 16 4 Verbs 16 5 Check Your Writing Skills 17 2 Pronouns 17 4 Check Your Writing Skills 17 6 Modifiers and Comparisons 17 7 Check Your Writing Skills 17 9 Idioms 18 0 Check Your Writing Skills 18 1 Contractions. for Punctuation . . 10 4 Check Your Writing Skills 10 7 Answers and Explanations 10 9 Check Your Writing Skills 11 3 Answers and Explanations 12 5 More Practice 12 8 Check Off 13 1 PART II Practicing