If I Took the Sat Writing Section Once Do I Need It Again

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The Sat underwent some major revisions in 2016, and one of the biggest changes is that its previously required essay is now optional. This can be confusing for some students and parents. Should you take the essay? Will colleges require the essay or non? Will taking the essay make your application stronger?

Read on for answers to all these questions. This guide will explain what the Sabbatum essay is, what the pros and cons of taking it are, and how you tin can make the best choice for you.

UPDATE: Sat Essay No Longer Offered

In Jan 2021, the College Board appear that later June 2021, it would no longer offer the Essay portion of the Sat (except at schools who opt in during Schoolhouse Day Testing). It is now no longer possible to accept the Saturday Essay, unless your school is ane of the small-scale number who choose to offer information technology during SAT School Twenty-four hour period Testing.

While nigh colleges had already fabricated Sabbatum Essay scores optional, this move by the College Board means no colleges now require the Sat Essay. Information technology will likewise likely lead to boosted college application changes such not looking at essay scores at all for the SAT or Act, also as potentially requiring boosted writing samples for placement.

What does the end of the SAT Essay mean for your college applications? Check out our commodity on the College Lath's SAT Essay decision for everything yous need to know.

What Is the SAT Essay?

The Sabbatum essay is one of the sections of the Sabbatum. After being required since its inception, the College Lath has at present decided to brand the essay optional. This is similar to the ACT, whose essay has always been optional.

During this section, students will be given 50 minutes to write an essay. The essay for the new SAT is very dissimilar than it was for the previous version of the SAT. You can read all virtually the changes to the SAT here, simply, as a brief overview, the essay will give you a passage past an author who is taking a stance on an outcome. Your job will be to analyze how the author built that argument.

If y'all choose to take the essay, it will be its own section of the SAT, and the score y'all get on the essay will be divide from your score on the rest of the exam. Your primary Saturday score will exist out of 1600 while your essay volition be graded across 3 different categories: Reading, Analysis, and Writing. For each surface area, your essay will be given a score from ii-8.

Below is a sample prompt from one of the official practice tests released by the College Board. Hither you lot can read the entire prompt, including the passages you would need to analyze.

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Do Colleges Crave the Saturday Essay Now That It's Optional?

So, the College Lath has now made the essay an optional part of the SAT, simply does that modify how colleges view the essay (or if they even view it at all)? Kind of. Some schools that used the essays before no longer require them now that both the ACT and Saturday accept made the essays optional, but other schools continue to require the Saturday essay.

Each school makes this conclusion individually, so there are no patterns to follow to try and approximate who volition require the essay and who won't. Fifty-fifty top schools like the Ivy League are divided on whether to require the essay or non.

This tin brand things confusing if you lot're applying to college soon and don't know if you should take the Saturday essay or non. The post-obit sections of this guide will explain the benefits and drawbacks of taking the essay and walk you through different scenarios so you lot tin brand an informed conclusion.

The #i Consideration: Practise Whatsoever of the Schools You're Interested in Require the Essay?

The accented most important cistron, the factor that matters more than anything else in the residue of this guide, is if any of the schools you're applying to or thinking of applying to require the Sabbatum essay.

The best way to get this data is to  Google "[school name] Sabbatum essay requirement," look direct on each schoolhouse's access webpage, orcheck out our list of the schools that require the SAT essay.

Notice this information for every schoolhouse you plan on applying to, even schools you lot're not certain y'all want to use to, just are considering. If even i school y'all're interested in requires the Sabbatum essay, then y'all should have it, regardless of any other factors. There is no manner to take but the Sat essay by itself, and so if you accept the Saturday without the essay and and then, afterwards, realize you lot need an essay score for a school you're applying to, y'all will have to retake the unabridged examination.

So, if a school yous're interested in requires the SAT essay, your choice is clear: have the essay when yous take the SAT. Nonetheless, what if the schools you're interested in don't require the essay? If that'southward the instance, you accept some other factors to consider. Read on!

Benefits of Taking the SAT Essay

If none of the schools you're thinking of applying to crave the Sat essay, why would you want to take it? The ii primary reasons are explained beneath.

#ane: You're Covered for All Schools

Taking the Sat essay means that, no matter which schools you terminate upwardly applying to, yous will absolutely have all their Saturday requirements met. If yous decide to apply to a new schoolhouse that requires the Saturday essay, that won't exist a problem because you'll already have taken it.

If you lot already are absolutely sure about which schools yous're applying to and none of them require the essay, then this may not be a big deal to you lot. All the same, if you have a tentative listing of schools, and you've been adding a school or removing a school from that list occasionally, yous may want to be better prophylactic than sad and take the SAT essay, just in case.

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Taking the Sabbatum essay means you lot have all your bases covered, no matter which schools you stop upwardly applying to.

#2: A Proficient Score May Boost Your Application Slightly

While it's highly unlikely that your SAT essay will be the deciding factor of your college application, there are some cases where it can give you a pocket-sized leg upwardly on the competition. This is the case if a school recommends, only doesn't require the essay, and that school is particularly competitive.

Having a strong SAT essay score to submit may strengthen your application a bit, especially if yous are trying to show stiff English/writing skills.

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Drawbacks to Taking the SAT Essay

There are also costs to taking the Saturday essay; here are iii of the well-nigh common:

#1: It's Some other Section to Study For

If you choose to take the essay, that means you lot have an entire extra Sabbatum section to study and prepare for. If you lot already feel like you have a ton of SAT prep to exercise or accept doubts about staying motivated, calculation on more work can brand you feel stressed and end up hurting your scores in the other SAT sections.

#ii: It Makes the Exam Longer

Taking the essay will, evidently, increase the total time yous spend taking the Saturday. You're given fifty minutes to write the essay, and, including fourth dimension needed for students non taking the essay to leave and things to become settled, that will add almost an hour to the test, increasing your total SAT examination fourth dimension from almost three hours to four hours.

If you struggle with keeping focused or staying on your A game during long exams (and, let's be honest, information technology's not hard to lose concentration later on several hours of answering Sabbatum questions), adding an additional hour of test time tin reduce your test-taking endurance and brand you feel tired and distracted during the essay, likely making it hard for you to get your best score.

#three: The Essay Costs Extra

Taking the Sabbatum with the essay will as well toll y'all a bit more money. Taking the Sabbatum without the essay costs $46, just if you cull to take the essay, it costs $14 extra, raising the total toll of the Sat to $lx.

Withal, if y'all're eligible for an Sabbatum fee waiver, the waiver besides applies to this section of the exam, and so you still won't take to pay anything if you choose to have the essay.

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Taking the essay probable means the price of taking the SAT volition be slightly higher for you lot.

Should Y'all Take the SAT Essay? Five Scenarios to Assistance You lot Make up one's mind

At present you know what the Saturday essay is and the pros and cons of taking it. So, what should you lot decide? 5 scenarios are listed below; observe the one that applies to your situation and follow the advice in guild to brand the best decision for y'all.

Scenario 1: You're planning on applying to at least one schoolhouse that requires the essay

As mentioned above, if even one school you're thinking nigh applying to requires the SAT essay, you should take it in order to avoid retaking the entire SAT once more at a later engagement because you need an essay score.

Scenario 2: None of the schools you're applying to expect at essay scores

If none of the schools you're thinking most applying to fifty-fifty look at SAT essay scores, so you shouldn't take it. Even if you get a perfect score, if the schools don't consider essay scores, and then taking it will have no benefits for yous.

Scenario 3: The schools y'all're applying to don't require the Saturday essay and aren't highly competitive

In this case, you don't need to have the SAT essay, unless you lot're trying to make upwardly for weak writing skills in other parts of your awarding.

Scenario 4: The schools you lot're applying to recommend the Sabbatum essay and are more than competitive

For this scenario, you should take the SAT essay in order to give your application an extra boost, unless you really think you'd perform poorly or preparing for and taking the essay would cause your scores in other sections to decline.

Scenario 5: You aren't sure where y'all're going to employ yet

If you're not sure which schools you want to utilize to, then you should take the Saturday essay, but to be safety. This way you're covered no matter where you end up applying to college.

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If the idea of figuring out which colleges to apply to has you lot equally dislocated as this blue panda, your safest option is to take the Sat essay.

Decision

Because of the College Board's contempo decision to make the SAT essay optional, students are at present faced with the decision of whether they should accept information technology or not.The all-time way to decide is to learn the essay policy for each of the colleges you're interested in applying to. Some schools volition nevertheless require the essay, some won't even look at an applicant's essay scores, and other schools don't require the essay but will look at your score if you do have it.

Use these school policies to help make up one's mind whether you should take the essay. Think, if you stop upwardly needing to submit an essay score, yous volition have to retake the entire Sabbatum, and then brand sure yous take accurate and up-to-appointment information for each school you are thinking of applying to.

What's Side by side?

Have you decided to take the essay and desire to know how to offset studying? Nosotros have a pace-by-footstep guide that explains how to write a not bad Sat essay.

Desire more than examples of sample prompts? Here are all of the real Saturday essay prompts that have been released by the Higher Lath.

Are you aiming for a perfect Saturday essay score?Check out our guide on how to go a perfect viii/viii/8 on the Sabbatum essay.

Desire to meliorate your Saturday score by 160 points?Nosotros've written a guide about the top 5 strategies you must be using to have a shot at improving your score. Download it for free at present:

Get eBook: 5 Tips for 160+ Points

Accept friends who also need assistance with test prep? Share this commodity!

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Virtually the Author

Christine graduated from Michigan State University with degrees in Environmental Biology and Geography and received her Main's from Knuckles University. In high school she scored in the 99th percentile on the Saturday and was named a National Merit Finalist. She has taught English language and biology in several countries.

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Source: https://blog.prepscholar.com/should-i-take-the-sat-essay

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