如何提高SAT作文考试水平

SAT考试作为美国的“高考”已经成为中国学生申请美国大学的敲门砖。为了进入一个好的大学，他们必须拿到一个好的分数。然而，SAT考试的第一个task——写作——就给中国学生设置了一个障碍。众所周知，写作，不管是SAT写作、GRE写作还是TOEFL写作，一直以来都是中国学生的一个弱项。(中国考生的GRE写作平均分在3.2左右，满分6分;托福写作平均分20分，满分30分)

那么如何才能取得一个写作高分呢?首先我们需要研究一下SAT作文的评分标准。

一、逻辑分

SAT写作6分标准里第一个项目是这样说的“fectively and insightfully develops a point of view on the issue and demonstrates outstanding critical thinking, using clearly appropriate examples, reasons and other evidence to support its position.”从这里我们可以看到，SAT满分标准最强调和重视的是众考生的逻辑思维以及他们对特定事物的思辨性的考虑。Insight是指大家对事物深入而深刻的看法，中文可以理解成洞察力。Critical thinking则是辩证性的思考。Using clearly appropriate examples, reasons and other evidence to support its position是要大家用例子，理由或者其他证据去证明自己的观点。需要注意的是在例子、理由和证据前面有一个clearly，也就是说考官的要求是要大家清晰的表达自己的看法。这个清晰其实就是强调大家的一种逻辑性。例子理由要与你的观点密切相关。例子理由如何支撑文章的观点要非常清晰的得以体现。

我们来看一篇学生习作的开头段：In our world, truth and lie exist in a way the same as that of the black and white. It’s obviously for us to see that one of them is opposite to the other. So[e1] many people think directly[e2] that they are not same at all. But in fact, they are the same things in the whole, because both of them are little [e3] parts compared to the integration. Their function is to make the integration execute fluently and fective, which can benit more people. So my idea is that truth or lie is just a kind of formation. [e4] What determines our choice is the result can really help people rather than tangle with the apparent formation.[e5]

学生习作的题目是Do circumstances determine whether or not people should tell the truth。我们看到上面的习作中有一些逻辑连接词so，but，because等。明显的，在这一段中，学生的逻辑非常混乱。看到第一个批注中的内容：“注意此处的逻辑关系。‘明显的他们有区别，但是，一些人。。’注意是转折应该用however或者but等。但是，再接着看到后面一句你用的but，也就是说前面不能用转折关系了，要改用although的让步关系。而且，后面解释的时候已经表达了第一段第二句的意思，所以建议删掉第二句话。”(该段落的其他问题见旁边的批注)

再来看一下学生根据修改意见修改后的开头段：In our world, truth and lie exist in a way the same as that of the black and white. So many people consider that they are not the same at all. In fact, both of them are parts of the integration. That is, they are the same things. And the reason of their existence is that it can supply more ways for people to release their emotion. As far as I am concerned, I vote that people don’t have to always tell the truth, because sometimes it can hurt people, whom maybe you would have helped. 修改后的内容在表达上清晰了许多。

二、结构分

满分标准中的第二个要求：is well organized and clearly focused, demonstrating clear coherence and smooth progression of ideas.’’

一篇完整的SAT作文结构应该是这样的：

P1 Introductory sentence. Thesis. Sentence previewing three examples.

P2 Transition + topic sentence. Support sentence. Additional support (Example 1). Closing sentence summarizing the paragraph (with the take-away point).

P3 Transition + topic sentence. Support sentence. Additional support(Example 2). Closing sentence summarizing the paragraph (with the take-away point).

P4 Transition + topic sentence. Support sentence. Additional support (Example 3). Closing sentence summarizing the paragraph (with the take-away point).

P5 Conclusion.

现在许多学生的写作的一个很大的问题在于，开头段结尾段的结构能够得到保证，但是中间段落的Topic Sentence和 Concluding Sentence不喜欢写。单纯的在开头段后举例是不能有力的证明自己的观点的。每个中间段的完整结构必须有分支观点句，支撑句和结论句。分支观点句往往是例子要告诉人们的道理或者作者要通过例子表达的内容的总括。结论句往往是对例子的分析：“在这个例子中，通过什么从而使什么怎么样。”

通过上文提到的题目为例，以下是依据该题的一个完整中间段落：

If life is considered more important than honesty, lies can be justified.

A very representative example of this point is the story of Nicolaus Copernicus, the vanguard of modern astronomy. His idea that the earth rotates around the sun and human beings are just part of the nature was so radical at his time that the Roman Catholic Church accused him of serious crime of heresy. Knowing that he would die if he continued to tell his theory publicly, he told lies that he recanted his theory. And so he protected his life. His idea though he renounced in front of the church, he secretly continued his research. In this case, Nicolaus did not tell the truth. However, he followed his heart and he contributed tremendously to the scientific community. Circumstances justified his lies because life is much more valuable than anything else on earth.

黄色标注的部分为结构提示部分。第一个和最后一个句子是分支观点句和结论句。Example所在的句子是例子的引出，in this case 举例完后对例子的总结分析。这样一个中间段落才称得上是一个结构完整的中间段。这也是众多考试写作是应该注意的一个重要问题。