Nov 10, 2022
SAT Writing Tips
With over 15 years of experience in tutoring for the ACT/SAT, here are the top 7 tips I share with students for the SAT Writing sections.
Even though grammar rules start to spring to mind (or at least you should think that they are probably testing grammar) when you look at this section, the test is testing both grammar and content. Now there won’t be any questions about comprehension or spelling (thank goodness), but let’s talk about some tips to help with the questions that will appear!
1. Petite
Petite means short or small. To save time and effort when going through the English/Writing section, start with the shortest answer choice. I know that this sounds too easy to be true! Nevertheless, the SAT is actually testing is that you are using the most concise, grammatically correct answer. If the shortest answer is grammatically correct, then go for it! Now if you don’t read the answer choices in and only pick the shortest one for every answer, I can promise that you aren’t going to score very well.
2. Punctuation
The simplest (fewest punctuation marks) is also a good way to go! Most people put WAY too many commas in when we are writing. Here is a great resource to help with the punctuation rules (Purdue OWL Punctuation Rules), but a tip is to start with the fewest punctuation marks and see if that works!
3. Whom vs whom
One of the most common questions I get asked is in regards to who vs whom. How often do you use the word whom? Probably not often at all, and that is how often you want to choose whom as an answer on the test – not often! The real answer is that who is a pronoun that replaces the subject. Whom is a pronoun that acts as a direct or indirect object.