Since the big May SAT is this weekend, I’ll post some helpful tips throughout the week to help raise your score!
    Today I want to talk about the biggest mistake I see my students making on the essay. It wastes gobs of time, and simply fixing this one error can make your essay a lot less painful to write.
    The biggest mistake is: Introductions that drag on forever. Most of the time, students taking the SAT feel the need to pad out their first paragraph, so they write anywhere from 4 to 7 sentences. Sometimes they will literally take up the entire first page! Worse, all too often these sentences are almost totally devoid of content: they just repeat the same thought over and over and over again. Here’s a typical introductory paragraph:

I agree that courage is the most important of all virtues. While there are many virtues that are important for one to possess, courage is the most important of them all. If one is a coward, how can one put whatever virtues one may possess into action? Although a person with other virtues may be a good person, I myself cannot truly admire them if they do not also possess courage. Because courage is the most important of any virtues one may have, a person is not truly admirable unless they are brave.

    Ugh! Didn’t your eyes glaze over reading that? The reason it’s so boring is that the author isn’t saying anything. There’s pretty much no new information or ideas contained in the 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and 5th sentences. The author simply repeats the topic sentence, over and over, in slightly different words. The writer has wasted tons of space and precious time and hasn’t succeeded in advancing the essay one inch. Sadly, he has succeeded in making the reader hate his horrible essay!
    So don’t do that! Your introduction does not need to be longer than two sentences, and probably shouldn’t be longer than three. Unless you’re trying something unusual and cute for your intro (for example, relating a story or a long quotation) then three sentences is more than enough to suffice. While it’s crucial to have some kind of introduction, it’s perfectly fine if it’s very short. In fact, it’s better! Get it done with as quickly as possible and move on to your body paragraphs — that’s where you’re really being graded.
    A better introduction might look like this:

I agree that courage is the most important of all virtues. Three examples illustrate this point: the bravery of George Washington and our founding fathers, the failure of Neville Chamberlain to address the Nazi menace, and the heroism of Martin Luther King Jr.

    Isn’t that better? Two sentences, no wasted words, no wasted time, and the reader is eager to read more. Good things do come in small packages! And by the way, this is good advice for your closing paragraph, as well.