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WRITING SKILLS ARE KEY TO ACT AND
SAT SUCCESS
By Dr. J. Raymond Huntington
Virtually everyone who’s been to college knows firsthand about the
connection between writing well and doing well in courses ranging
from business to the humanities. Yet there is ample evidence that
too many students aren’t mastering the skills they need for higher
education or the workplace.
According to a report produced by the National Commission on Writing
in America’s Schools and Colleges, The Neglected “R”: The Need for a
Writing Revolution, most fourth-grade students spend less than three
hours a week writing. This is approximately 15 percent of the time
they spend watching television. The organization also notes that by
the first year of college, less than 50 percent of the freshman
class is able to “produce papers relatively free of language errors,
or to analyze arguments or synthesize information.”
With statistics like these, it’s easy to see why so many students
stumble during their early college years and end up spending six or
more years to graduate. It’s also easy to see why more college
admissions officers are paying attention to the new writing tests
that are now part of the ACT Assessment and SAT. Officials at both
ACT and the College Board, which administers the SAT, have both
stated concerns about students’ overall performance on these
assessments, with both organizations asserting that too many
students are not building needed skills through their regular
studies.
So if problems with reading, study skills or other factors have made
it difficult for your child to write well, it’s important to ask
your child’s teachers for extra help as soon as possible. In the
meantime, here are some additional ways to build writing skills both
in and out of school:
Write for practical reasons. Students need meaningful writing tasks
that are designed to meet objectives, and writing letters is a good
way to learn how to write persuasively. In a letter to return a
purchase, for example, simply explaining why you’re dissatisfied and
why you expect to have your money refunded teaches you how to
articulate an objective, reinforce that objective with facts, and
reach a desired resolution. This activity also reinforces the value
clear writing skills in everyday life.
Write to express feelings. Keeping a diary or journal can be a very
effective way to encourage self-expression and strengthen writing
skills. Writing about personal feelings, successes and
disappointments can also help students resolve conflicts. When
people write about things that concern them, they’re more apt to
strive for “just the right words” to describe how they’re feeling.
Learn to argue on paper. This tactic will be especially interesting
to parents. The next time your child expresses a point of view or
petitions you for a special favor or privilege, pull out a pen and
see how well the case can be made on paper. A five-paragraph essay
can be a good model, with the first paragraph stating the child’s
desire or point of view, the next three paragraphs (or sentences)
providing supporting evidence for that point of view, and the last
paragraph summarizing the key point and supporting evidence. Many
teachers find the five-paragraph essay to be a good tool for helping
students organize their thoughts, so these skills can have a direct
impact on writing proficiency and performance.
Summarize reading assignments. As students reach middle and
secondary school, homework assignments tend to require more reading
and analyzing. After reading a chapter or an important section of an
assignment, students should do a “notes page” summarizing the key
facts and restating, in their own words, the most important points
to remember. This process enhances retention and further strengthens
writing skills as well.
# # #
Dr. Raymond J. Huntington is co-founder of Huntington Learning
Center, which has helped children achieve success in school for 26
years. For more information about how Huntington can help your
child, call 1 800 CAN LEARN.
SNAPSHOT: The Write Way to SAT and ACT Success
SAT
The writing component is a mandatory section on the SAT. Students
are allowed 35 minutes to answer multiple choice questions and 25
minutes to write an essay.
The multiple choice questions measure a student’s ability to:
• Improve sentences and paragraphs
• Identify errors in diction, grammar, sentence construction,
subject-verb agreement, proper word usage and wordiness
The essay section measures students’ ability to:
• Organize and express ideas clearly
• Develop and support a main argument or point of view
• Use appropriate word choice and sentence structure
Source: The College Board (
www.collegeboard.org )
ACT
ACT offers a 30-minute Writing Test as an optional component. It’s
optional because not every higher education institution requires a
writing test, and because the ACT also measures a student’s writing
ability on its English test. About half of the high school juniors
who took the ACT Assessment on April 9 of this year chose to take
the optional writing test – a 17 point increase from last year. The
ACT offers a listing of colleges and universities that require
students to take a writing test at
www.actstudent.org .
In the writing section of the ACT, the test taker is presented with
two sides to an issue. Students are then asked to take a position on
the issue – either one of those presented or one of their own.
Students must then present a well-reasoned argument in a short essay
in support of that issue. Students’ scores are based on their
ability to do the following:
• Express judgments clearly
• Maintain a focus on the topic throughout the essay
• Develop a position by using logical reasoning and supporting
points
• Organize ideas in a logical way
• Use language clearly and effectively
The ACT writing test is scored on a level of one to six, and
students receive individualized feedback from the essay graders as
part of their score.
Source: ACT ( www.act.org ) |
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