What is on the SAT Writing section?

In 2005, the SAT I was reconfigured and the SAT Writing portion was added for the first time.  The Writing portion is an area your parents and even older siblings will know almost nothing about.  Make sure to know what you’re in for!

The SAT I has three Writing sections—two of them are multiple choice, and the other is an impromptu essay.

The Essay will always be Section 1.  You will be given a short prompt – usually a yes-or-no question about ethics – and then asked to write a two-page response.  You will have 25 minutes.  It’s important to be in “essay writing mode” when you first show up for the test, and then be able to switch gears afterward for the other sections.

There are three types of questions in the first multiple choice section:

(1)    Sentence Improvement (questions 1-11),
(2)    Error Identification (questions 12-29), and
(3)    Paragraph Improvement (questions 30-35).

All three test your understanding of standard English grammar.  You will be asked to identify grammatical errors, re-phrase sentences or phrases, and edit a short passage for both grammar and clarity.

At the end of the test, you will see section 10, which is a 10-minute, 14-question multiple choice section involving only sentence improvement questions.

Obviously, sentence improvement questions are the primary focus of the test, so they should be your primary focus for studying.  Fortunately, sentence improvement questions are also the easiest to prepare for!  In fact, the concepts tested in sentence improvement also appear in the other types of questions, so by studying one, you’re really preparing for every multiple choice question.