SAT Writing

Writing

• Overall Strategy

• When there are no suitable options:

  • Even if you think you don’t understand, about half of them are actually understandable, so chant “Let’s calm down and think again.”
  • Also, strive for explicit thinking.
  • Aim to eliminate redundancy, but if you can explain why an option other than the most simple one is correct, don’t be too swayed by redundancy and choose that one.

• Points to note:

  • Pronouns should be “who/whom”, not “which”.
  • Do not connect two standalone sentences with a colon.

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Here are some miscellaneous notes:

• Thoughts on /blu3mo-private/SAT_Papers:

  • I still don’t understand the grammar around commas.
  • It seems important to consciously rotate your head.
    • It’s similar to SAT Reading.
  • There are many conjunctions that I don’t know, so I want to grasp them (like “to that end”).

• I get sleepy while solving problems.

  • I want to believe it’s just because of lack of sleep or the effects of cold medicine.
  • Well, I want to be conscious of raising my energy level.
    • I feel like the feeling of “I can probably do it” leads to a lack of tension.

• Time allocation:

  • 8 * 4 = 32, so about 8 minutes per question.
  • If I’m conscious of the time, I should be able to finish without any problems.

• Grammar I had forgotten:

  • “whom”

    • Use “whom” when asking “who is it?” and wanting to answer with “him/her/them”.

  • Don’t use “which” to refer to people.

  • “That these are ~~~.”

  • “Having being ~~, ~~.”

  • Correlative conjunctions:

    • “either ~ or ~”
    • “As ~, so ~” (parallelism is important)
    • “Neither ~ nor”
    • “No sooner ~ than”
      • no sooner ～ than … | Examples of English Grammar to Remember

  • Commas:

    • In general, exclude unnecessary ones.
    • • Use a comma.
    • • Normally (in the case of an essential phrase), a comma is not needed.
      • In the case of a non-essential phrase (”, who came from the US”), enclose it with commas.
    • Ref: SAT Punctuation: Tips for Commas, Colons, and Dashes
    • Others:
      • There are also commas like “He said, ”~~,” and did it.”
      • Do not use a comma sandwich for a profession right before a name.

  • Semicolon:

    • Can be used between two standalone entities.

  • Colon:

    • Used for enumeration or explanation (both dependent and independent clauses).

  • Dash:

    • Used for a colon sandwich or in a colon-like way.

  • Transition words (ones I didn’t know):

    • “Consequently”
    • “Subsequently”
    • “Besides”, “Moreover”
    • “Singularly”, “Chiefly”
    • “Namely”

  • Present perfect/past perfect:

    • If there is no reason to have “had/have”, it is redundant, so generally omit it.

• SAT Black Book (only noting things I haven’t been conscious of before):

  • Writing:
    • Follow the rules of the SAT.
    • “No change” is equally likely to other options.
  • 

• Writing, parallelism is important.

  • Matching tenses with the surrounding context.
  • Basis for judgments that are easy to forget.

• “that”, “those”, “these”

  • In writing, I often choose “unidiomatic” options and get them wrong.

• Section 2:

  • It seems good to read one page and then solve that part, repeating the cycle.
  • Pay attention to whether the logical relationship is maintained in connecting sentences.
  • Also focus on redundancy and clarity.
  • Additionally, I’m realizing that redundancy is quite important.