The Old SAT Essay

This essay used to be a persuasive essay in which students had to choose a side, but this is no longer the case.

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The New SAT Essay That Launched in March 2016

The new SAT essay, as of March 2016, is a new animal. You can find more information about it here.

First, it is no longer required; it is optional. Check with the college or university of your choice to see if they require that your students complete the new SAT essay.

Second, it is no longer a persuasive essay. It is analytical and tests “reading, analytical, and writing skills.” Students will read a professionally written persuasive essay and then analyze the methods by which the author tries to persuade readers, supported by examples from the text. In other words, they’ll read a passage and then “write an essay that analyzes how the author made an argument, used evidence and styled ideas.”

Third, instead of 25 minutes to write the essay, students have 50 minutes. I think it’s safe to assume students have more time to complete this essay because they now have to read an example essay.

To compare the two SAT essay requirements, go here.

You can learn more about the new 2016 SAT essay here , and you can find sample prompts for the new SAT essay here, along with very helpful examples of student essays and the scores they earned.

The Power in Your Hands contain five different persuasive methods . In other words, students using The Power in Your Hands will easily recognize the methods used in the persuasive essay of the new SAT essay prompt because they’ve already learned those methods and practiced them!

You can learn more about the new 2016 SAT essay here , and you can find sample prompts for the new SAT essay here, along with very helpful examples of student essays and the scores they earned.

Here are some online resources to help you practice for either version of the SAT:

https://sat.collegeboard.org/practice/

https://sat.collegeboard.org/practice/sat-practice-test

https://sat.collegeboard.org/home

http://www.kaptest.com/sat/kaplan-sat-prep/free-sat-practice-test