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Daniel Van Nostrand

Writing Skills and Test Prep

Updated: Nov 21, 2019

Advanced writing skills are important for high school and college readiness, but they can give students a boost on the SAT and ACT as well. Many people think that the SAT and ACT test very specific skills, and it's common to say that they "only test how good you are at taking the test." As indicated above, that is simply not true. Both the SAT and ACT test students on their core writing skills.


1. Writing sentences that are short, simple, and to the point.


2. Making sure that everything in a paragraph follows the same main idea.


3. Using the right transitions (however, therefore, despite) to connect ideas.


Developing those skills in middle and high school can give students a head start on test prep at the same time they are working toward better grades in their core classes.


For the reasons mentioned above, Express AWP intentionally mixes test prep with its high school and college readiness exercises. It's a simple fact that students with more advanced writing skills score higher on the SAT and ACT English tests, and we want to take advantage of that as much as possible. Approximately 30% of Express AWP exercises are designed to mimic the style of both major standardized tests, so students are becoming more familiar with what to expect on the test at the same time they're improving their writing skills.


For the reasons mentioned above, Express AWP intentionally mixes test prep with its high school and college readiness exercises. It's a simple fact that students with more advanced writing skills score higher on the SAT and ACT English tests, and we want to take advantage of that as much as possible. Approximately 30% of Express AWP exercises are designed to mimic the style of both major standardized tests, so students are becoming more familiar with what to expect on the test at the same time they're improving their writing in a paragraph. Because those are skills that students should be developing during middle school and high school, they have (hopefully) been preparing for standardized tests for years.


One of the main goals of Express AWP is to help students apply what they have learned to their own writing, and once they have done that it is fairly easy to apply those same skills to standardized tests.


Thanks for reading, and write on!

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