How to brainstorm for SATwriting

“OK, now you can start your essay.” Madam Ong.

Straight away I will be squeezing my brain hard so that I can get some “juice’, BUT UNFORTUNATELY, I can’t get any “juice”. Then I share my problem with my roommate, so called “chicken”. Then, he gave me some tips on how to start brainstorming examples. After he shared his approach with me, I started to google for tips on brainstorming examples. And here are some:

1. Read the newspaper and keep a list of all the major stories. Stories that can imply something are most useful as you can use the story to illustrate some moral values or facts. The current health care debate, for example, might get you pondering the reasons opposing sides have such a hard time compromising. But, Madam Ong’s advice is that avoid using latest politics issues as one of the examples. So, pick some stories or issues that are relevant.

2. List out all the novels and story books that you have read. Then, make some notes of the novel’s or stories’ themes and moral values in the list. For example, you have read Harry Potter, and then you can include Harry Potter in your list and also note the themes in the novel, like friendship, determination and many more. With that particular list, you can refer what you have read and which one you can use in your essay.

3. Jot down all of your significant life experiences. Don’t censor yourself and only write the “serious” events. Remember, SAT writing is creative writing and not a very “academic” or serious writing.

Try to make this activity as stress free as possible: don’t start your lists the night before the test and stay up until 4 AM brainstorming. Rather, begin writing a couple weeks early and add to the list whenever something pops into your head. Review your ideas the night before the test, and don’t be surprised when three or four great examples come to you as soon as you see your essay prompt. We bet it will feel great to be the one scribbling furiously while everyone else is still staring at the blank page.