Pencils down: How the SAT encourages bad writing

The SAT essay section might be useless in determining writing aptitude and, in fact, could encourage bad writing. Also, a look at what skills you might need in order to become a speechwriter, a freelancing process that can’t fail, and the 2,000-year-old communication system called social media.

Writing under pressure: Any professional writer faces deadlines, and it could be argued that with marketers’ need for more content and journalists’ need for more news, today’s writers face greater time contraints than ever. before Which brings us to this Slate piece about the SAT essay portion. Matthew J.X. Malady writes that the section, in giving students only 25 minutes to complete an essay, is actually encouraging bad writing due to its even faster review process, which is often less than three minutes per essay. The section therefore encourages tricks, not quality writing, to get a scorer’s attention, the argument goes. Is the essay section even necessary? The recognition of writing’s importance to student success is nice, but is a high-pressure, timed essay the best way to discover creativity and command of language? Even the most overworked journalist seldom finds himself in this kind of situation. As one college writing professor put it in the story: