does the essay boost your sat score

What are your chances of acceptance?

Calculate for all schools, your chance of acceptance.

Your chancing factors

Extracurriculars.

What is a Good SAT Essay Score?

Is your SAT score enough to get you into your dream school?

Our free chancing engine takes into consideration your SAT score, in addition to other profile factors, such as GPA and extracurriculars. Create a free account to discover your chances at hundreds of different schools.

Students taking the latest version of the SAT have a lot of questions about the Essay section in particular. When the College Board redesigned the SAT in 2016, the Essay section was the aspect of the test that changed most substantially.

As a result, it is the section that is least understood. Keep reading to learn how we approach setting a good target score for this often enigmatic section of the SAT.

What Is the SAT Essay?

Students taking the optional Essay section are provided with a written argument and asked to analyze it. Check out the College Board’s example prompt with sample graded responses to get a sense of what the exam looks like.

Is the SAT Essay Required?

This is the only optional section of the SAT. It does not impact your overall score out of 1600. Instead, your Essay grade stands alone on your score report.

While the College Board does not require the SAT Essay, certain schools do. 

Schools that Require the SAT Essay

• All of the University of California schools
• Benedictine University
• City University London
• Delaware State University
• DeSales University
• Dominican University of California
• Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University
• Howard University
• John Wesley University
• Kentucky State University
• Martin Luther College
• Molloy College
• Schreiner University
• Soka University of America
• Southern California Institute of Architecture
• Texas A&M University—Galveston
• United States Military Academy (West Point)
• University of North Texas
• West Virginia University Institute of Technology
• Western Carolina University

Discover how your SAT score affects your chances

As part of our free guidance platform, our Admissions Assessment tells you what schools you need to improve your SAT score for and by how much. Sign up to get started today.

Additionally, these schools do not require the SAT Essay but recommend it.

Schools that Recommend the SAT Essay

• Abilene Christian University
• Albany College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences
• Allegheny College
• Amherst College
• Art Institute of Houston
• Augsburg University
• Austin College
• Caldwell University
• California State University, Northridge
• Central Connecticut State University
• Central Michigan University
• Cheyney University of Pennsylvania
• Coastal Carolina University
• Colby College
• College of Wooster
• Colorado School of Mines
• Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art
• Corban University
• Cornerstone University
• Dallas Christian College
• Duke University
• Eastern Illinois University
• Eastern Nazarene College
• Easternn University
• Endicott College
• Five Towns College
• Gallaudet University
• George Washington University
• Georgia Highlands College
• Greenville University
• Gwynedd Mercy University
• High Point University
• Hofstra University
• Holy Family University
• Husson University
• Indiana University South Bend
• Indiana University Southeast
• Indiana Wesleyan University
• Inter American University of Puerto Rico: Barranquitas Campus
• Juilliard School
• Keiser University (West Palm Beach)
• Lehigh University
• Madonna University
• Manhattan College
• Marymount California University
• Massachusetts Maritime Academy
• McMurry University
• Mercy College
• Modern College of Design
• Montana Tech of the University of Montana
• Morehouse College
• Mount Saint Mary College
• Mount St. Joseph University
• National-Louis University
• New Jersey City University
• Nichols College
• North Park University
• Occidental College
• Ohio University
• Oregon State University
• Purdue University Northwest
• Randall University
• Randolph-Macon College
• Reading Area Community College
• Rowan University
• Rutgers University—Camden Campus
• Rutgers University—Newark Campus
• Saint Michael’s College
• Seton Hill University
• Shiloh University
• Shippensburg University of Pennsylvania
• Silver Lake College of the Holy Family
• Southern Illinois University of Carbondale
• Southern Oregon University
• Spring Hill College
• Sul Ross State University
• SUNY Farmingdale State College
• SUNY University at Stony Brook
• Tarleton State University
• Texas A&M International University
• Texas A&M University
• Texas State University
• The King’s College
• United States Air Force Academy
• University of Evansville
• University of La Verne
• University of Mary Hardin—Baylor
• University of Massachusetts Amherst
• University of Minnesota: Twin Cities
• University of New England
• University of Northwestern—St. Paul
• University of the Virgin Islands
• University of Toledo
• University of Washington Bothell
• VanderCook College of Music
• Virginia Union University
• Wabash College
• Webb Institute
• Webber International University
• Wesleyan College
• William Jewell College

Should You Take the SAT Essay Section?

We recommend taking the Essay section just in case you want to apply to one of the schools that requires or recommends it. If you’re absolutely sure you won’t apply to any of these schools, you can skip it. Just know that you can’t retake the SAT essay alone, so if you change your mind and want to apply to a school that requires the Essay section, you’ll have to retake the whole test.

How Is the SAT Essay Scored?

Your essay will be evaluated on three criteria—Reading, Analysis, and Writing.

The Reading grade is meant to gauge how well you understand the passage content. Did you absorb the information you just read? Especially when the details are not intuitive, your readers will be checking to see that you read closely and caught the nuance of the piece.

The Analysis score relates to how well you represented the argument that the writer made. Your goal in the Essay section should be to determine what the writer’s main argument is and describe how they present it. 

Finally, your score in Writing reflects your own command over the English language. Your capacity to write clear, well-structured sentences that use a wide range of vocabulary will determine this grade.

Two readers each give the essay a score between 1 and 4, depending on how well each reader thinks you did in the three categories. Their grades are then summed to give you a three-part grade. The highest grade you can receive is 8, 8, 8, while the lowest possible score is 2, 2, 2. To give an example, one student may score a 5, 4, 4, which would mean that their readers submitted the following feedback:

What’s a Good, Average, and Bad SAT Essay Score?

In 2019, the mean score on the Reading and Writing for the SAT Essay was a 5. For the Analysis section, the mean score was a little lower at 3, simply because Analysis is a skill that high school students spend less time honing than Reading or Writing.

For a detailed breakdown of how 2019’s test takers performed, here are a few score distributions:

Here’s a rough breakdown of the percentile scores based on the most recent College Board data. Here’s how this chart works: say you scored a 6 on the Reading section. According to the data, that means that you performed better than 70% of other essay writers.

SAT Essay Score Percentile Rankings

Source: College Board and CollegeVine data analysis

How Should You Understand and Improve Your SAT Essay Score?

Unless your SAT Essay score is rock-bottom, you should not feel the need to retest just to improve your Essay score. If you received a low score that you feel isn’t representative of your writing abilities, focus on crafting stellar college essays instead of retaking the SAT just for the Essay section.

If you were unhappy with your SAT Essay score AND your overall SAT score, however, then you should consider retaking the test with the Essay section. 

Here are a few tips on how to improve your SAT Essay score:

1. Annotate the passage. Read carefully. Start by boxing the main argument of the passage, then put a star next to three or four places where the author employs a strategy to win the readers over. These may include:

• Refuting a counter argument
• Raising a question
• Providing anecdotal evidence
• Using statistics to support a claim
• Citing historical examples
• Employing rhetorical devices, such as metaphor

2. State the main point of the passage author. Make it clear that you understand what the author is trying to say by stating their thesis clearly in your essay response. No one reading your essay should have any doubt as to what you think the main point of the passage is.

Make the author’s thesis clear at the beginning of your response as well as in your concluding paragraph. Tie back to it often within your body paragraphs too.

3. Outline before you write. Spend 3-5 minutes organizing your thoughts. Build up 2-4 points about the argument’s structure. Think of yourself as a debate coach. Give feedback on the persuasion tactics the author used. Which ones were most effective? What could they have done to sway their audience even more?

Remembered the strategies you starred when you were annotating? These are the building blocks of the author’s argument, and your essay should provide analysis of how effectively these building blocks were used.

4. DO NOT include your personal opinion. The essay exists to assess whether you can analyze an argument. It has nothing to do with your personal views. If you find yourself defending or disagreeing with the passage, that is a good sign that you are missing a chance to analyze the argument’s structure.

5. Proofread your essay. Give yourself 2 minutes towards the end of the section to improve the language you used. Search for spelling and grammar mistakes, as well as weak word choice. Replace monosyllabic words like “good” and “is” with more dynamic vocabulary, such as “striking” or “constitutes.” This is a quick and easy way to boost your Writing score.

For more advice on how to study for the Essay section, check out our How to Get a Perfect Score on the SAT Essay and The Ultimate Guide to the New SAT Essay .

Want to know how your SAT score impacts your chances of acceptance to your dream schools? Our free Chancing Engine will not only help you predict your odds, but also let you know how you stack up against other applicants, and which aspects of your profile to improve. Sign up for your free CollegeVine account today to gain access to our Chancing Engine and get a jumpstart on your college strategy!

Related CollegeVine Blog Posts

Which program are you applying to?

Accepted Admissions Blog

Everything you need to know to get Accepted

April 12, 2014

How Does the Essay Affect Your SAT Score?

Although the SAT essay is going to be optional before long (when the test changes in 2016), as of right now it’s a must. So, love it or hate it, your essay will influence your SAT score, and the admissions offices at the colleges you’ll apply to will see that score. So let’s answer one key question: how much does the SAT essay actually count for?

The Numbers

First, the essay is scored according to its own grading system. There will be two readers—real people, not a Scantron machine!—who read and judge your writing, each assigning a mark of zero to six. Zero is the worst (in case that wasn’t totally obvious), but it’s only used for the absolutely ungradable essays. If you write on a completely different topic than what’s assigned, for example, you will get a zero. That means no memorizing a fantastic essay ahead of time! You have to write on the topic they give you. You’d also get a zero if you wrote in another language, say, or simply put no clear thoughts on paper.

A six, on the other hand, is reserved for long, structured essays that are full of clear, concrete ideas, high-level vocabulary, and correct grammar. There’s a bit more to it, but that’s the gist.

After each reader goes through and marks your essay, the two scores will be added to give you a score of 0–12 (if you actually wrote anything remotely relevant, that’s 2–12).

Then that score, in turn, is added to the raw score from the Writing multiple-choice questions, since the essay is just a part of the Writing Section. The multiple-choice sections count for more points, altogether.

Then, once they have the raw total of your essay score and your multiple-choice score added up, they convert that score into the scaled, 200–800 score.

The Importance of the Essay

The scaled score is a little bit hard to explain—how it’s calculated, I mean—and it’s not worth really getting stuck talking about. All that matters is the zero to twelve score ends up affecting how many hundreds are in that scaled score. And I did say that the multiple-choice counts for more than the essay, but that doesn’t mean the essay isn’t important.

In truth, the SAT essay score counts for around 30% your total writing score—in the ballpark of 200 points, altogether. It’s not the only thing, but it’s a significant piece of the puzzle.

And what about those who say the essay doesn’t matter? Simply put, they’re usually wrong . Most schools were really skeptical of the Writing Section when this version of the SAT first debuted it back in 2005. And sure, some are still not totally signed on, but for the most part it does factor into your admissions. And 99% of the time, you’ll have no idea how much that lady who works in the admissions office cares about your Writing score—you’ll just have to trust that a high score is better than a low one.

And for that high score, you need to put some energy into preparing to write your essay!

About Us Press Room Contact Us Podcast Accepted Blog Privacy Policy Website Terms of Use Disclaimer Client Terms of Service

Accepted 1171 S. Robertson Blvd. #140 Los Angeles CA 90035 +1 (310) 815-9553 © 2022 Accepted

Choose Your Test

• Search Blogs By Category
• College Admissions
• AP and IB Exams
• GPA and Coursework

Do Longer SAT Essays Really Score Higher?

SAT , SAT Writing

Rumor has it, the longer your SAT essay, the higher your score. Could this be true? Does essay length affect your score?

Let's unpack this belief and talk about the best strategies for scoring high on the SAT essay.

UPDATE: SAT Essay No Longer Offered

(adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});.

In January 2021, the College Board announced that after June 2021, it would no longer offer the Essay portion of the SAT (except at schools who opt in during School Day Testing). It is now no longer possible to take the SAT Essay, unless your school is one of the small number who choose to offer it during SAT School Day Testing.

While most colleges had already made SAT Essay scores optional, this move by the College Board means no colleges now require the SAT Essay. It will also likely lead to additional college application changes such not looking at essay scores at all for the SAT or ACT, as well as potentially requiring additional writing samples for placement.

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

Rumor Has It...

When Milo Beckman was 14 and attending Stuyvesant High School in New York City, he started to suspect that the key to a high score on the SAT essay was simply filling up all the lines. He himself had already taken the SAT twice, and he found that his longer essay got a higher score , even though he thought it was inferior and contained lots of inaccuracies.

To investigate this, Milo asked students at his high school to report their scores and the number of lines they wrote on their essays. Out of 115 essays, he found that the longer ones almost always received higher scores. Milo concluded that the more you write, the better you score. 

Milo Beckman hasn't been the only person to come to this conclusion. Lee Perelman, former director of writing across curriculum at MIT, holds to his position that the more words you put on the page, the higher your score will be . He also has some other tips for guaranteeing a high score that we'll take a look at below. To read more about Milo and Lee's studies, check out this intriguing article.

What does the College Board think?

So what does College Board have to say about these claims? Unsurprisingly, they're not having it. According to College Board, length often correlates with quality, but it does not in and of itself predict a good score. Instead, longer essays often have well developed arguments supported by nuanced examples.

Quality, not quantity, they insist, is what the SAT essay is all about. 

So what does College Board think it takes to score a 12? And what are our suggestions for tackling the SAT essay?

Let's take a look at the best strategies, but first, a quick review of how the essay is scored.

How Is the Essay Scored?

The highest score you can achieve on the SAT essay is a 12. The lowest is 2 (or 0, I suppose, if you were to leave it completely blank!).

Two graders will read your essay and score it from 1 to 6. If they have very different opinions on your score, then a third reader will be brought in to give her input. Then these scores are added together.

College Board says that its graders base their scores on five main domains:

• The development of a point of view supported by appropriate examples and effective evidence.
• Organization, coherence, and logical progression of ideas.
• Skillful language with a varied vocabulary.
• Variety in sentence structure.
• Good grammar, syntax, and mechanics.

An essay that achieves a 6 is strong in all these areas and almost free of errors. Lower grades are progressively weaker in their points of view, supporting evidence, organization, vocabulary, sentence variety, and grammatical accuracy.

Do these criteria seem easier said than done? Here we detail 15 key tips you need to know to fulfill these expectations and score highly on the SAT essay.

You'll notice that none of these criteria mentions essay length. According to College Board, an essay does not necessarily need to fill all the pages or be five paragraphs to be insightful, use skillful language, or develop a point of view. The testmakers also stress that students should read the entire assignment given to them, including the extra reading material, which is usually a quote.

As you saw above, Milo Beckman and Lee Perelman think otherwise. So what do we think about all these tips and strategies— should your essay be as long as you can make it?

Or do they? With these strategies, the SAT essay might start to feel very simple indeed!

How to Score Highly On the Essay

Write a lot.

Milo and Lee have a point—generally speaking, longer essays do score better. However, length really doesn't guarantee a high score if you don't write skillfully, develop a point of view, and use 2 to 3 well thought-out, relevant, and persuasive examples.

You want to use all the strategies listed in this article to guarantee a high score. These approaches, in turn, will help facilitate your writing a long essay that merits a high score.

You may argue, "But what if I can achieve all those things in less sentences?" I would say, it's great that you can be so concise, but on the SAT, less is not more. More is more.

Check out our best tips on How to Score a 12 on the SAT Essay here. I'll go over a few of these strategies below, with some links throughout for you to read more in-depth advice.

Pick a Side

Lee Perelman stresses that students should always pick a side when answering the prompt, and I tend to agree. This doesn't mean that nuanced, middle ground essays can't score well. However, it is much more challenging to argue well for both sides in such a short, pressure-packed time frame.

Even if you don't have a strong, passionate feeling on the prompt you're given, make it slightly easier on yourself and choose one side. No one is going to hold you to this opinion in the future. It's more about showing you can develop and support a strong point of view through writing , rather than revealing how you personally feel about this topic or that topic.

The SAT uses 6 types of essay prompts again and again. Read about the 6 types here, along with examples!  And for the complete list of SAT essay prompts, this article has everything you need to know.

Use Tried and True Structure

Again, you only have 25 minutes! Don't try to awe the graders with postmodern literary experimentation or a rap song. Stick to the 5 paragraph structure —introduction, three paragraphs with supporting examples, and conclusion.

Your introduction should close with your thesis statement, and your conclusion should have a strong last line that sums everything up with a punch.

You can see how using this structure relates to writing a long essay—a true five paragraph essay, with 5 to 7 sentences per paragraph, should just about fill up all the available pages you're allotted in your test booklet.

For a step-by-step breakdown of exactly how to write the SAT essay, examine this article here.

Use Smooth Transitions and Varied Sentence Structure

Both your individual sentences and general ideas should flow smoothly and logically. Transitions words like "furthermore, additionally, alternatively, similarly, therefore, because of this, for example," and many others, can help connect sentences, paragraphs, and concepts.

On a similar note, you don't want every sentence to start with a simple 'subject-verb' construction: "I think, I said, I had," over and over again, for instance. Mixing up your sentence structure will help your essay read smoothly.

This will probably happen naturally as you write, and you can improve by practicing and paying attention to sentence structure as you read books, news articles, and magazines in your day to day.

These complex and varied sentence structures will also contribute to your writing a long SAT essay.

Have Go-To Examples

Your SAT essay will achieve the expected length if you are able to provide specific, thoughtful examples to support your point of view. But what if your mind goes blank during the actual test?

To help avoid this worst-case scenario, you should show up with some go-to examples on hand. This article has some great examples of literary, historical, and current events examples that can be used to support a wide range of different arguments.

Again, complex examples that you understand well will help you develop a full, long, five paragraph essay. As Milo Beckman and Lee Perelman suggested, you don't have to worry too much about accuracy, either!

Pace Yourself

You may be worrying that you can't fill up the essay pages in such a short amount of time. This is where practice and training is key.

Your hand might ache and feel ready to fall off by the end of the 25 minute essay section, but you'll be able to finish the essay in time if you hit the ground running.

How to structure your essay time:

• 3-4 minutes planning and structuring your essay
• 15-18 minutes drafting
• 2-3 minutes at the end to read over your essay and revise.

As long as you do some serious prep, you can spend the majority of your time drafting,  not staring at a blank page. This should be more than enough to achieve to create a nuanced, well developed, and long SAT essay.

But seriously, are longer essays better?

So Is a Longer Essay Better?

For the most part, I would agree with Milo and Lee that longer essays do tend to garner higher scores on the SAT. However, they need to incorporate all those other elements, too—a well developed argument, detailed examples, skillful language, and logical organization.

All of these elements help facilitate writing a longer essay, so they really go hand in hand. While you don't have a lot of time to produce this work, you can prep for it by using these tips and strategies and practicing leading up to the SAT.

Writing is a skill like any other. It's not a fixed thing, like you're good at writing or you're not—instead, you can grow your skills and get better with practice. As you're prepping, maybe you can even ask a friend, family member, or teacher to "grade" your essay and give you feedback for improvement.

After all your preparation and these strategies, you should be able to craft a clear, lengthy essay that scores highly on the SAT. 

What's Next?

Are you deciding between the new SAT and the old SAT? Read about all the differences between the two tests here so you know what to expect.

Is the essay on the new SAT any different from previous essays? We break down the new SAT essay here.

Are you aiming for a perfect score? This perfect scorer explains how you can achieve the highest score, too.

Trending Now

How to Get Into Harvard and the Ivy League

How to Get a Perfect 4.0 GPA

How to Write an Amazing College Essay

What Exactly Are Colleges Looking For?

ACT vs. SAT: Which Test Should You Take?

When should you take the SAT or ACT?

Get Your Free

Find Your Target SAT Score

Free Complete Official SAT Practice Tests

How to Get a Perfect SAT Score, by an Expert Full Scorer

Score 800 on SAT Math

Score 800 on SAT Reading and Writing

How to Improve Your Low SAT Score

Score 600 on SAT Math

Score 600 on SAT Reading and Writing

Find Your Target ACT Score

Complete Official Free ACT Practice Tests

How to Get a Perfect ACT Score, by a 36 Full Scorer

Get a 36 on ACT English

Get a 36 on ACT Math

Get a 36 on ACT Reading

Get a 36 on ACT Science

How to Improve Your Low ACT Score

Get a 24 on ACT English

Get a 24 on ACT Math

Get a 24 on ACT Reading

Get a 24 on ACT Science

Stay Informed

Get the latest articles and test prep tips!

Rebecca graduated with her Master's in Adolescent Counseling from the Harvard Graduate School of Education. She has years of teaching and college counseling experience and is passionate about helping students achieve their goals and improve their well-being. She graduated magna cum laude from Tufts University and scored in the 99th percentile on the SAT.

Ask a Question Below

Have any questions about this article or other topics? Ask below and we'll reply!

Does the SAT Essay Matter? | Should You Highlight It on Your College Application or Remove It?

The essay used to be a major part of the SATs, but now that it has become optional and on the brink of discontinuation, I bet you're wondering: "Does the SAT essay matter?" or "Should I showcase the essay portion of my SATs?"

If you're on this boat and would like some clarity, read further. This post should help you understand if the optional essay is beneficial to you (or not) and if you should highlight it on your college application or remove it completely.

College Board Terminates Optional Essay Portion

College Board, the organization responsible for the development and management of the SAT, introduced the SAT essays in 2005. From its introduction, the essay portion of the SAT included rhetorical analysis.

SAT writing was made optional in 2016, giving school districts and colleges the control of whether they would require applicants to take the SAT essay (or not). Many colleges still require applicants to submit their SAT scores with the optional SAT essay writing included.

In January 2021, College Board announced that it would terminate the SAT essay section by June 2021. As such, if you are taking a new SAT voluntarily after this date, you no longer have the SAT writing option.

The SAT essay will only be available in states (like Delaware and Oklahoma), where it’s required as part of SAT School Day administrations. If you're still in high school and your batch is scheduled to take the SAT - see the best prep books here - on a school day, ask your teacher or guidance counselor about whether the SAT essay will be included.

Two Reasons to Showcase Your SAT Essay

Because the optional essay is no longer applicable to any new student who would want to take the SAT voluntarily from July 2021 onward, this guide is only for any student:

• Who already took the SAT essay before June 2021
• Who will be taking the SATs with essays at their respective high schools after June 2021? If you really want to highlight your writing skills, check with your high school and see if your SAT includes essay writing.

If you fall under these two types of students, then here are two situations where your SAT essay could still matter:

1. The Ease of Applying to any School.

In the past, when you take the SAT along with the optional essay ( check out the best prep courses), your SAT record would automatically include any old and new SAT essay score and SAT score you've taken.

If you already applied to all the schools you wanted to, and they didn't require the SAT essay, you might think you're safe from having to take the essay. But if you wanted to submit applications to more colleges (that require the SAT essay), you're going to have a problem.

Having the SAT essay section already taken and as part of your SAT report means you can apply to any university you want.

Even today, the admissions officers of many schools, colleges , and universities would still consider the SAT essay section. For example, Harvard states that "Harvard admission officers review all material that an applicant submits, so if you have already taken Subject Tests or the essay portion of the SAT, you may still submit it along with your other application materials."

2. The Optional Essay Could Give You a Leg Up

Even if the SAT served as a standardized test used by multiple colleges and schools, the College Board has no power over the admissions process of these schools. As such, every school you sent college applications to follow their own criteria.

For most schools, the most common criterion is high school grades and SAT scores. If all applicants have similar grades, schools would then look at other extracurricular activities, read letters of recommendation, and SAT writing.

Although it is highly unlikely that your SAT writing alone could be the deciding factor of your college applications, giving the admissions officers options that could showcase your skills gives you a leg up on your competition.

Make sure you include your SAT essay score if:

• You are applying to schools that are highly competitive.
• You are super-selective with the colleges you submit your application to.
• The college you're eyeing "recommends" writing the SAT essay but does not actually require the essay.

As you can see, SAT writing would be a thing of the past in the coming years, but this doesn't mean you should just hide your essay score if you already took the SATs. For some college admissions, this essay could be used as evidence of your strong writing skills.

Essay Portion FAQs

Students always stress about the essay portion of the exam, even if it is the least considered score on your SAT record.

Now that College Board announced the discontinuation of the SAT essay, I'm sure there would be more questions. Here, I'll try to answer some common inquiries about the future of SAT Essay:

Is it Worth Taking the SAT Essay?

If you're not sure which college or university you would apply to, taking the SAT essay section is totally worth the trouble. (Of course, this would only be possible if you're attending high school with state-required SAT School Day).

In case you didn't get into your preferred college or university that doesn't require the SAT essay, you wouldn't have to retake the SAT again if you discovered that your second, third or fourth choice of schools still require SAT writing portion as part of their admissions process.

I recommend you list at least 7 schools you want to apply to. Check their college admissions and verify if they still consider the SAT essay score. If all the colleges do not, then skip the optional essay completely.

What's a Good Essay Score?

In the past, if you take the SAT essay, you receive a score from two different people, analyzing your reading, analysis, and writing skills with 1 to 4 points for each category/dimension. You'll receive 3 separate essays SAT scores (one for each dimension) ranging from 2 to 8 points. Unlike the SAT score, your essay points won't be added together.

Once SAT essays are discontinued, the essay score you currently have on your record would probably be based on the old criteria.

•  A perfect SAT essay score is three 8s or a 4 from both graders in all three categories.
• The average essay score is 5 for reading, 3 for analysis, and 5 for writing. A good essay score is anything above these averages.

Does the SAT Essay Matter?

If the colleges you want to apply to requires all applications to have SAT and SAT essay scores included, then it does matter. If the college of your choice doesn't indicate this, it could still matter under the following circumstances:

• Your personal essay included in your college application isn't the best. You're hoping that your SAT or ACT essay would totally make up for your past writing. 
• You already have an SAT essay score from a past exam.

Which Schools Require the Essay?

According to College Board, there wouldn't be any universities that would require the essay after June 2021. However, if you already have the scores, it is highly likely that colleges would still consider your essay scores if you submitted them along with your application.

Your best bet is to check with the colleges you’re interested in and confirm their policies about the SAT essays. If you take the SAT with Essay, colleges may consider your scores as part of their admissions review process.

Why Did College Board Discontinue SAT Essay?

If you're wondering why College Board didn't keep the essay optional, the org explained that they are "adapting to respond to the changing needs of students and colleges" and that the "change simply streamlines the process for students who have other, more relevant opportunities to show they can write an essay as part of the work they’re already doing on their path to college."

The decision was brought about by the 2020 pandemic and how it “accelerated a process already underway at the College Board to reduce and simplify demands on students.”

As part of this change, the SAT Test Subjects would also be removed from the exam.

SAT in 2021 and Beyond

So what sections would be left in the SAT?

If you're going to take the SAT anytime from July 2021 and beyond, expect to take three hours (not including breaks) for two sections. The first section focuses on math (and is worth 800 points), while the second section is on evidence-based reading and writing (also worth 800 points).

As you can see, SAT will still continue with its two main exam sections, but no more essay sections will be available in the future even if you opted for it.

SAT Subject Tests, available in 20 subject-based standardized tests in math, science, English, languages, and history, were also discontinued in June 2021. Like essays, Subject Tests were optional and are taken separately from the main SAT.

Leonard Haggin

I created this site to help students like you learn from the experiences my team had learned during our extensive academic careers. I am now studying Law at Stanford, but I also make time to write articles here in order to help all you fellow students advance in your academic careers and beyond. I hope our efforts on Study Prep Lounge will arm you with the knowledge you need to overcome whatever trial or test you find in front of you.

Leave a Reply:

Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment.

Automated page speed optimizations for fast site performance