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Acing the AP English Lit Essay: It's All About the Outline
Reblogged from The InstaEDU Blog: Last night I conducted my first InstaEDU tutoring session in the subject of AP English Literature. It provided me with some helpful insight into the essays many of you...
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Writers on Writing: Colin Nissan’s Ultimate Guide
Hello there, Mad Skills students! So tell me — how was it? Did you find yourself firing on all cylinders, racing down a 25-minute highway to standardized testing glory? I am referring, of course, to...
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Writers on Writing: Joan Didion’s Why I Write
Joan Didion is one of those writers whose command of language seems so natural, so indelibly true and brazenly honest, that you’d imagine she simply popped out of the womb with an inherent ability to...
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The SAT Essay Workbook: More Practice Exercises, (Free Download!)
Hey there, Mad Skills students. Check out the latest free, downloadable SAT essay practice material from Mad Skills Vocabulary: Happy studying! - the mad pen Filed under: SAT Essay, The Five-Paragraph...
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Check Out the Latest from Mad Skills: The SAT Essay Ebook
Hello there, students! I’m pleased to announce the latest study guide from Mad Skills — The SAT Essay: How to Plan and Practice. It’s a practical, comprehensive guide to every aspect of the SAT essay,...
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SAT Question of the Day
College Board’s SAT Question of the Day: The following sentence contains either a single error or no error at all. If the sentence contains an error, select the one underlined part that must be changed...
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5 Things You Should Know About the SAT Essay
If you’re taking the SAT tomorrow, you are probably: a. nervous, b. indifferent, c. dreading the fact that you have to wake up early on a Saturday for a three-and-a-half hour cognitive slugfest, d....
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Writers on Writing: Benjamin Samuel’s The Comma from Which My Heart Hangs
Next up in the Mad Skills Writers on Writing series is Benjamin Samuel, whose recent article in McSweeney’s Internet Tendency offers a loving — and vividly illustrated — look at the humble comma. In...
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Mark Twain on Getting Started
Experiencing writer's block? Take Mark Twain's advice on getting started. Continue reading →
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Anne Lamott on Overcoming Writer’s Block
“I encourage my students at times like these to get one page of anything written, three hundred words of memories or dreams or stream of consciousness on how much they hate writing — just for the hell...
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Ernest Hemingway on Quitting While You’re Ahead
“The best way is always to stop when you are going good and when you know what will happen next. If you do that every day … you will never be stuck. Always stop while you are going good and … Continue...
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Barbara Kingsolver on Getting the Job Done
Image credit: kingsolver.com “I learned to produce whether I wanted to or not. It would be easy to say oh, I have writer’s block, oh, I have to wait for my muse. I don’t. Chain that muse to your desk …...
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How to Write a Great SAT Essay: Part One
The SAT Essay In Everyday Life Imagine you are chatting with a friend over coffee. You and your friend — we’ll call him Danny — are laughing about something funny your health teacher said in class...
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How to Write a Great SAT Essay: Part Two
The SAT Essay: How To Read The Prompt Look for words or phrases that are repeated. SAT essay prompts tend to be a little wordy, so it is important to slow down, breathe, and look closely at the most...
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How to Write a Great SAT Essay: Part Three
The SAT Essay: How to Choose an Opinion It might seem funny to think of an opinion as something you choose. To some degree, don’t opinions arise from your unique worldview, your personal experiences,...
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How to Write a Great SAT Essay: Part Four
How to Organize the SAT Essay In Part Four of this Mad Skills series, we’ll discuss how to organize your ideas into a killer SAT essay. Be sure to read Parts One, Two and Three for more tips on...
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How to Write a Great SAT Essay: Part Five
SAT Essay Practice: College Board Prompts + Exercises The best way to practice writing the SAT essay is to apply the principles we discussed in Parts One, Two, Three, and Four to as many SAT topics as...
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Neil Gaiman on Writer’s Block
“Suggestions? Put it aside for a few days, or longer, do other things, try not to think about it. Then sit down and read it (printouts are best I find, but that’s just me) as if you’ve never seen it …...
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