Conquering SAT writing

About the College Hill Method
Part I: Introduction
Lesson I : The importance of good writing skills
Writing: a tool for success
Why students are not being prepared for college writing
Beware the pitfalls of academic-speak
Beware the salesoeop1e
The real "secret" to acing the SAT essay
Lesson 2: The SAT Writing
What does the SAT Writing test？
What's on the SAT Writing?
What is the experimental section?
What will I be asked to write about on the essay?
How is the essay scored?
How will colleges use the SAT Writing score?
Isn't it true that Ernest Hemingway would have failed the SAT essay?
Don't the essay graders give scores based primarily on length and number of paragraphs?
Will colleges see my SAT essay?
How is the overall Writing score determined?
Are some SATs easier than others?
If I take the SAT, will I also have to take the SAT I1: Writing?

Part Ⅱ: The Essay
Lesson 3: Lay the groundwork
I. Know what the readers are looking for
2. Read good persuasive prose
3. Learn to read like a writer
4. Be specific
5. Prepare with Source Summaries
6. Practice
7. Know the instructions
8. Overcome perfectionism
Lesson 4: Analyze the writing task
I. Give yourself time to think
2. Read the assignment carefully
3. Define your terms to show your point of view
4. Stay focused on the question
Lesson 5: Gather your ideas
I. Brainstorm examples before picking a thesis
2. Keep your mind open
3. Choose specific examples
4. Choose interesting examples
5. Choose manageable examples
Lesson 6: Organize your essay
I. Craft your thesis
2. Write a manageable outline
3. Connect your ideas logically
4. Play devil's advocate
Lesson 7: Write the essay
I. Use natural language
2. Use strong verbs
3. Write with personality and intelligence
4. Use personal and concrete nouns
5. Minimize jargon and slang
6. Eliminate wordiness
7. Minimize prepositional phrases
8. Eliminate redundancy
9. Don't state the obvious
10. Eliminate cliches
11. Connect your thoughts logically
12. Vary your sentence structure and length wisely
13. Eliminate sentences to nowhere
14. Choose your words carefully
15. Explain but don't overexplain
16. Leave your reader thinking
17. Don't tell us what you're doing——just do it
Answer Key
Lesson 8: Practice your essay writing skills
I. Practice essays
2. Sample graded essays

Part Ⅲ: The Multiple-Choice Questions
Lesson 9: Improving sentences
I. How to attack Improving Sentences questions
2. Be careful
3. All else being equal, shorter is better
4. Check for danglers
5. Watch out for extra problems
Answer Key
Lesson I O: Identifying sentence errors
I. How to attack Identifying Sentence Errors questions
2. Make sure it's a legitimate mistake
3. How to attack tough Identify Sentence Errors questions
Answer Key
Lesson Ⅱ: Improving paragraphs
I. How to attack Improving Paragraphs questions
2. Consider your attack options
Answer Key

Part Ⅳ: The Fundamental Rules of Grammar for Writing and Editing
Interlude：Keeping perspective
Lesson 12：The parts of speech
Lesson 13：Subject．verb agreement
Lesson 14：Parallelism
Lesson 15：Comparison problems
Lesson 16：Pronoun problems
Lesson 17：Modifier problems
Lesson 18：Tense and voice problems
Lesson 19：Idiom problems
Lesson 20：Mood problems
Lesson 21：Diction problems
Lesson 22：I rregular verbs
Lesson 23：Awkwardness and coordination

Part V：Three Practice Tests
Practice Test 1
Practice Test 2
Practice Test 3
Vocabulary