Writing the SAT essays can be the most intimidating aspect of the test for many students. While some students seem to have an easier time writing than others, there are several things you can do ensure you do well on test day. Let’s take a look at a few.
 
First, make sure you know the territory. Here are several essay prompts from the December, 2010 administration of the SAT. Also, here are several essays and their scores, with explanations. In reviewing those scored essays, where do you think you fall now? That answer will give you an idea of how much work you need to put into preparing for this portion of the SAT.
 
Nothing will help your writing more than actually writing and having someone knowledgeable and experienced critique your writing.  Here is where your English teacher can potentially help you.  Take the above scored essays to your teacher as examples of good and poor SAT essays.  Then, take all the essay prompts from above and write your own essays and have your teacher critique them.  A piece of advice, initially work with several teachers and decide which one is providing the best help.  Focus your time with that teacher.  At first, do not worry about the time issue; that doesn’t mean spend 4 hours on an essay.  However, it would be wise to learn to write a great essay and then introduce the time constraint.
 
You only have 25 minutes so adapt a standard format that you follow with each essay. Here is a suggested format (it is not the only acceptable format).

1. Answer the initial ‘yes’ or ‘no’ question. Starting from a premise of ‘sometimes’ or ‘it depends’ will require an essay that is too long to complete in the allotted time.

2. The classic 5 paragraph essay works as well as anything else.
- Give your answer, support your answer, and then reiterate your answer.

3. Support your answer with 1 or 2 complete, solid examples from history, literature, current events, etc.,. More examples are fine, but the makers of the SAT have made it a point to state that 1 or 2 well-developed examples are preferable to 3 or more undeveloped examples.

Don’t worry about making your essay perfect. The graders realize there is insufficient time to create an ideal essay. What they’re really looking for is a well-crafted first draft.

Don’t ignore the value of reading examples of well written essays. You can learn a lot from the writing of others. Compare the style to your own. What are they doing differently? What is the same? What can you do to improve? There are a lot of resources online and in the bookstore to find great examples of well-written SAT essays. Don’t ignore your English teacher as a resource as well. Another possibility, most colleges have writing labs which help students with their writing. If you went in there and explained that you needed help with your SAT essays, not many will turn you down. If you have a local college or university, it would be worthwhile to check out.

It’s never too early to start preparing. Evaluate where you are currently. Educate yourself. Practice and get some help. Some committed practice will really pay-off when the actual test date arrives.

 
This was a guest post submitted to us by Teach-nology.com
 
Teach-nology.com is The Online Teacher Resource and has been producing high quality resources for teacher and homeschoolers since 1998. They offer too many printables and worksheets to list.

(This is a guest blog post written by Matt Stout)
Matt Stout was once a college student. He is now a small business lawyer, an unrepentant serial entrepreneur and proud moderator of Biztag.com, where he blogs about entrepreneurs and the innovative companies they create. If you are an entrepreneur, he would love to hear your story.

When I was in college, during the pre-internet days, the only summer jobs available for college students were low paying and uninteresting. If you were really lucky, you landed a job as a lifeguard and worked on your tan. If not, you were glad to have a job mowing lawns or raking leaves. And in last place—any job that required you to learn the phrase “Would you like fries with that?” Well, not much has changed as far as summer jobs go, but for college entrepreneurs, the news is much better.
CNN Money has an interesting article on Landing That Summer Gig, which many college students will try to do as soon as school lets out. The numbers in the article are far from encouraging, and the advice for those students without work lined up is to “start looking now, be persistent and apply for as many jobs as possible.” To an entrepreneur that sounds like a horrible process just to land a job that the article states will pay you $10.20 per hour. And even worse, the columnist suggests that one “really can’t be too picky when it comes to seasonal work.” True enough. But if having a job for low pay wasn’t bad enough, how about a job you don’t even like? No thanks. However, this stark news may be a blessing in disguise since the tight job market will likely force many would-be clock punchers to take the leap and start their own businesses. Now that is a decision no college entrepreneur will regret when looking back on “How I Spent My Summer Vacation.”
More to the point, some entrepreneurial students are taking the next logical step and questioning the whole wisdom of going to college to find a “good job.” Fast Company Magazine asks Is College Really Worth It? using an elaborate “infographic” to frame the debate that economists have been arguing about for decades—what do students really do while in college and how does this activity translate into monetary terms upon graduation. What college entrepreneurs will appreciate about this blog entry is what is missing—no discussion about how these extra-curricular activities like “9 hours a day spent on games, cell phones, Facebook” can translate into businesses started by college students. Of course, this obsession with social media can also be turned into a positive. Interesting that the “debate” deals only with the earning power (read “median salary”) of those college graduates who go on to get the dreaded J.O.B. upon graduation. Calculating the huge payouts that many college entrepreneurs receive when selling their innovative companies or “going public” would skew the numbers so much that this upside is left to the imagination.
There’s a lesson in here, and looking back, it is that there is no better time or place in the world than college for a budding entrepreneur to succeed. Think about it—aside from attending classes on a semi-regular basis, everything else is taken care of. Hot food is provided on a regular basis, computer labs are open 24-7, libraries stocked with every book imaginable are at your fingertips, smart professors and students are everywhere, and even financially challenged students (like I was) can pay their way through with low interest student loans if family cannot help. With food, clothing and shelter out of the way, and before life’s other responsibilities get heaped on (children, mortgages, retirement planning, etc) college is the best time to start a business.
But how do you do that while majoring in Philosophy or English, like I did? Well, that’s a good question. In my day, you had to juggle the day’s required reading, and then stay up all night to work on your business. But if you know you’re an entrepreneur at heart, why not major in entrepreneuship? Sounds like a no brainer to me, and you can bet I would have been the first to sign up if my college had offered such a major. Entrepreneur Magazine has a section that helps students like this pick the right entrepreneurship program at the best colleges and universities. Each year they profile the Top 25 Graduate and Top 25 Undergrad entrepreneurial programs in the country. It used to be that you had to learn “how to” be an entrepreneur on your own, and outside of the classroom—now these top schools have majors in entrepreneurship, designed to keep the next generation’s Michael Dell and Bill Gates from dropping out.
If you’re somehow not already convinced to forgo the summer job flipping burgers to devote your time and energy into building the next great tech company, then how about some inspiration from your peers. Check out Inc Magazine’s America’s Coolest College Start-ups 2010. Inc.com profiled college student-run companies from across the United States. They are running very different businesses, and you can vote for your favorite collegiate entrepreneur and check out last year’s picks to see how their dorm room start ups have grown. Talk about inspiration—these nine student entrepreneurs took cool ideas and launched their companies while still in school, and that’s not easy. The first step was telling their parents “No, I’m not going to get a summer job. I am going to build a business and I need your support.”
After announcing your plans to become a college entrepreneur instead of a summer wage slave, you’ll need resources and support from those business owners who are your age and also balancing their schoolwork. No better place for that interaction than YoungEntrepreneur.com. The YE Blog is frequently updated with insightful articles geared toward, not surprisingly, “young entrepreneurs.” More than that, the site itself is packed full of inspiration and resources which will be useful for entrepreneurs of every age.
Matt Stout was once a college student. He is now a small business lawyer, an unrepentant serial entrepreneur and proud moderator of Biztag.com, where he blogs about entrepreneurs and the innovative companies they create. If you are an entrepreneur, he would love to hear your story.

Someone just sent me this really amusing Twitter video about a Twitter app callr “Twittelah”. I hope that you enjoy this video!
And please leave comments with your thoughts!

When I was an undergraduate buying textbooks, or any books for that matter, was straightforward, I went to the bookstore and bought the book, or I went online and bought it on Amazon. If I could not afford the book I got a student loan to pay for textbooks (close to $12000 of student loans over 7 years of education went to textbooks). Sometimes I even got a textbook scholarship, but this was rare. All and all I did not have to concern myself with worrying, and had a complete disregard for how I would pay back my student loans. Moreover, the financial aid department at my school often encouraged me to think this way.

Today things are different. Sure you can still act as I once did, and many students do just that, but the reality is that student loans are harder to come by, and the job market being what it is, everyone is struggling and will likely continue to struggle after graduation. This is why I want to share what little wisdom I have acquired during my years as a student.

It has been brought to my attention that I do not make any money from the maintenance of this blog, this is totally true. This blog exists, and We Compare Books itself was founded because I want to help students. I feel an affinity with students, and I do not want them to repeat my mistakes. On that note I would urge you to read this blog, if you are a student, and please take the advice to heart. If you are a professor who cares about your students, you can share this blog’s URL with them. If you are a parent, or know anyone who could benefit from the information here, I would urge you to spread this news. The world has changed, and we cannot afford to keep living as though it has not.

All this to say: compare prices. It is imperative that you check prices, all over the Internet and at your local bookstore. This is the only way you can be sure to get the best prices for all your books.

The cost of college textbooks can easily add several hundred dollars to your semester’s bill when purchased from the school’s bookstore. In addition, today’s textbooks are more complex affairs with digital CDs and DVDs stuffed in the jackets to give them a multimedia flavor. Along with these additional perks, the cost of the book has to increase. cost of living raises for 2009 might not affect students as much as people with mortgages, cars, and families, but the changes in the economy still make a difference. Students still have to manage to come up with the difference to fund their textbook purchases. What’s a struggling student to do? Here are a few strategies to help you save some money on textbooks.

Check Out Online Retailers

Online retailers like Amazon.com and Abebooks.com allow individual sellers to post any book they want to sell. Often, you can search their library and compare costs to see if you can get a better deal online than you can at the college bookstore. Just be sure to read the fine print and get the same edition and features required by the course before you buy. They have both used and new books that are available for purchase. Factor in the cost of shipping too, as this will affect the final cost.

Should You Have To Buy New

If you find that you can’t get a better deal online, go and buy it at the bookstore and upon immediately finishing the course either sell it back or post it on Amazon.com as a seller. Odds are, if you take this route, you won’t have spent much more than buying it used when you factor in the money you make for reselling your book. Don’t wait too long, however, as college textbooks, in particular, are frequently updated into new editions. Even if your book comes with a CD or DVD, you can resell that or sell only the textbook version. Either way, you will be recouping some of the money you spent last semester to spend on this semesters new listing of required textbooks.