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For those of you who took the SAT II writing, how did you prepare for the test? Please describe what you did, how long you spent, and what book(s) you used. Include your score.

By ABC on Thursday, January 02, 2003 - 07:59 pm: Edit

Read the Kaplan book for the Writing SAT II. Read it front to back and you are golden.

By bump on Friday, January 03, 2003 - 11:34 pm: Edit

bump

By Wade Leahy on Saturday, January 04, 2003 - 06:45 am: Edit

I scored 800. I wrote an essay a day the week before the test-- it's a pretty good practice. Gets you in the right state of mind.

By bump on Saturday, January 04, 2003 - 04:00 pm: Edit

bump

By bump on Tuesday, January 07, 2003 - 05:22 pm: Edit

bump

By Dori on Tuesday, January 07, 2003 - 06:19 pm: Edit

i used the princeton review book...i honestly don't remember my score cuz i'm gonna retake it in may anyway (along with my AP's) but it was something in the 600 - 700 range...

i agree with the above comment, practice writing essays, when u see a topic in any review book sit down and write the essay, time yourself,(remember u have 20 minutes) then compare it to the essays in the book. you can also go to ur english teach for help. that's what they're there for.

By hmm on Wednesday, February 19, 2003 - 09:45 pm: Edit

I didn't prepare... got a 670 the first time (I didn't really read the essay prompt) and a 780 the next time (I read the prompt this time.)

By pisces on Wednesday, February 19, 2003 - 11:15 pm: Edit

SAT II Writing isnt something you can prepare for. You might want to look over the type of questions, since those can be kind of intimidating. Mine was "There is always a however." I was freaking out at first- it doesnt even seem like a question. Basically, writing is actually a skill that you acquire over time, not something you can memorize.

By help on Thursday, February 20, 2003 - 01:44 am: Edit

Hey guys, I started this thread on January second. Whell, I have now taken the writing SAT and have just found out that I earned an 800!!!

Pisces is wrong, you can easily study for this test. I find it silly when people say things like one can not study for a ______ test, _____ is a skill you learn over a lifetime. I have seen many variations of this statement all over this board. Whell, I would like to reasure all of you who have not learned ______ over your entire lifetime.

To study for this test, I used the Barons prep book, and it was really good. Make sure that you learn all of the different types of questions that they ask. I think that if I did not study I simply would not know what types of mistakes to look for. For the essay part, I recomend writing about books. It seems to me that this is much easyer than writing about anything else because almost any book will fit any question if you mold it right. I had a terrible english teacher last simester and we did not read any books, so the night before I went on spark notes and read some summaries of books that I had read in past years. That really helped. In total, I probably studied intensively for about a month and took aproximately 10 practice tests (only 40 minutes). I only practiced the free response question a few times

By the way, my biggest fear about the writing was that I really am a TERRIBLE speller. I thought that this would get in the way of a good essay grade. It did not.

By pisces on Thursday, February 20, 2003 - 01:55 am: Edit

To Help:
Congratulations. maybe studying did help you, maybe it didnt. Personally, I took the test with no prep and got an 800. I still dont think that you studied how to write a good essay, you must have already known it. And also- for my essay, I wrote about abortion, Roanoke Virginia, and political debates- so you dont have to write about books.

By capricorn on Thursday, February 20, 2003 - 07:07 am: Edit

Pisces IS wrong. You study for the multiple choice part the same way you study for the multiple choice on the SAT I. As for the essay, everybody knows that all you have to do is spend a week or two before the test memorizing 20 minutes worth of writing that has at least 3 examples in it from a novel, a play, a movie, history, current events or whatever. You perfect it the same way you would perfect a term paper and then just commit it to memory, it isn't all that hard. Just practice writing it for 20 minutes every day the week before the test. Then on the day of the test you just have to macke sure you add in a reference to the topic they give you., but that's really easy. For instance my topic was There Is Always A However. I just started the essay by saying something like "It's true that nothing in life is ever simple and no issue is completely black or white. There is always a however." I used that as my intro and then just launched into my memorized essay. Believe me, it's much easier to study for the SAT 2 than the SAT 1.

By Kk02 (Kk02) on Thursday, February 20, 2003 - 07:36 am: Edit

Hey all!
I differ from Pisces' viewpoint. Prepping really helps out. I got a 480 when I just walked into the test room and was told that the first test would be writing.

I really prepped the next time I took it, relearning the grammar from 5th and 6th grade and practicing the common types of errors and stuff that show up. I got a 730.

Prepping, especially, the way so that you know what type of questions you'd be seeing is of real help. You can almost scan the sentences for improvements that you've seen frequently appear on the SAT 2.

By Phantesi (Phantesi) on Tuesday, February 25, 2003 - 08:10 pm: Edit

I didn't study at all and I got a 770 in November 2002. The writing is something you either do well or you don't-hopefully you do. Maybe knowing a few basic terms would help you out for multi-choice. Good luck!

By Ivyhope (Ivyhope) on Tuesday, February 25, 2003 - 11:05 pm: Edit

thats not really true... i went from 720 to 740 to 790 on writing all because i studied different aspects of multiple choice. you should learn grammar rules (you'd be surprised hoe many there are.. some are so obscure) and then you'll do better