You probably know by allowing yourself twenty more minutes in bed that it is not a long time. But 25 minutes is what your child gets to: (i) read two prompts; (ii) make a decision; (iii) organize and structure a response; (iv) write it; and for the SSAT (not ISEE), since it's always the first section administered, (v) feel good enough about it such that it's not a distracting thought throughout the remainder of the test.
The SSAT essay does not receive a score, but admissions officers absolutely read it. It's a writing sample they see that they know has not been edited by a parent, tutor, or school. The essay reveals thinking clarity, organization, voice, and maturity. To that end, you don't need to craft a masterpiece in 25 minutes. You just need to communicate clearly.
This article is organized into four sections: What to expect; What schools are evaluating and quick examples; General strategy considerations; and for what it's worth, full examples from my daughter's practice tests.
What to Expect / General Strategy Considerations
You get two prompts and must choose one to address.
Creative Prompt
- Example: "You hear a knock at your door at midnight. When you open it..."
- Students must finish the story
- Admission officers look for structure, clarity, and voice—not plot brilliance
Argumentative Prompt
- Example: "Is teamwork more important than individual effort?"
- Students should take a stance and provide 2–3 supporting points that are written clearly and concisely
- Schools do not care what stance your child takes—only that their argument is logical, and ideally organized thoughtfully
What Schools Are Evaluating
Nobody expects brilliance, or even something remotely refined. They expect:
- Clarity
- Organization
- Coherence
- Basic grammar
- Reasonable spelling (note: neither the at-home nor Prometric SSAT platforms automatically offer spell check functionality; spell check accommodations for any testing format are possible, but would need to be pre-approved)
- Voice
- Maturity
- Follow-through
Admission officers would rather read a simple story or argument—executed cleanly—than an elaborate or complicated/nuanced story or argument that is jumbled or, worse, unfinished. A solid SSAT essay tends to have:
- A clear beginning, middle, and end
- Paragraphing—even for the creative writing prompt
- Age-appropriate vocabulary
- Complete sentences and logical flow
- No sprawling cast of characters or disparate arguments/ideas
Quick examples of stronger vs. weaker writing:
Creative Prompt
Stronger opening: "The knock at the door snapped me awake. My parents were asleep, and the hallway was dark, but something told me I needed to answer it."
Weaker opening: "I heard a knock on the door, and it scared me. But I got up and opened the door."
In the stronger opening, there is imagery that creates an atmosphere; and it feels controlled. The weaker opening is too matter-of-fact; it reiterates the prompt without adding to it, and feels redundant ('door' is used twice), and feels rushed—but without anything in the story justifying the rush to open the door.
Argumentative Prompt
Stronger opening: "Teamwork leads to better solutions because different people contribute different strengths."
Weaker opening: "Teamwork is good sometimes, but not always because it depends on people and circumstances."
The stronger opening presents an opinion, and a singular main idea. The weaker one has an unclear thesis, and open ended idea that will likely manifest in the student attempting to corroborate the statement with a litany of nebulously connected ideas.
General Strategy Considerations and How to Practice
Eighth graders may not have been formally taught about how to brainstorm and bullet ideas. Although 25 minutes does not feel like enough time, students should avoid the compunction to simply start writing. This is especially the case for the paper-based format, because it will be difficult to make wholesale additions or edits once something has already been written.
I strongly recommend practicing taking five minutes before starting on the final response to plan. Keep in mind that students are provided with a medium to work through/scratch out ideas that is separate and distinct from the section offered to capture the 'final response.' Paper-based testing offers students one separate piece of scrap paper. Students doing at-home testing may use portions of the two pieces of blank paper that serve 'at-home' students as scrap paper for the entire test (said another way: advisable to not squander your only two pieces on rough essay thoughts in case they are needed to work through math). Prometric testing offers a whiteboard and dry erase (usually).
General Strategy: Spend 5 Minutes Planning, 15 Minutes Writing and Revising, and 3–5 Minutes Proofreading
Minute 1: Choose the easier prompt—whichever one it is that sparks an immediate idea
Minutes 2–5:
- For creative prompts: (1) Identify a protagonist; (2) Identify a conflict; (3) Imagine a quick beginning, middle, and end path; (4) Be ready to hasten the middle and jump to a strong conclusion if you are running short on time
- For argumentative prompts: (1) Pick a stance; (2) Identify two reasons; (3) Identify one example per reason; (4) Start with your stronger reason, and be ready to kill one if you're running short on time
- For simplicity, shoot for and practice writing three paragraphs
Minutes 6–20: Write (see below for more)
The last 3–5 minutes: Proofread (see below for more)
Minutes 6–20 - And About Writing
I don't advise trying to learn a new way of writing simply for the SSAT; especially if you're short on preparation time, go with a flow you're already trained on. Definitionally, what I mean by this is: you may need to start with the intro and end with the conclusion, or you may feel comfortable with writing the body first and then looping back around to the intro and conclusion.
Both orders of operation have their merits; you should go with what aligns best with how you already think.
Writing the intro first: Many people (myself included), like to start with the intro because it serves as an outline to the rest of your writing. So it may feel slower at first, but ideally, you're making up time later by spending more time upfront structuring what you will cover in the middle and end.
Writing the body first: Some people naturally do this. In the context of SSAT essay writing, this may be a good strategy especially if you feel reasonably good about the quality of your ideas, but maybe less so about how succinctly and cogently you're able to summarize the ideas as an intro and end. By writing the middle first, you're giving your brain a few more minutes to have the ideas kick around before forcing yourself to summarize the gist.
Whether you start with the intro, or from the middle, the common goal is to have a strong and clear opening. And ideally, you will also have a coherent middle, and a conclusive ending statement that shows follow-through.
The Last 3–5 Minutes - And About Proofreading
The goal in these last minutes should be to wrap it up if you've not already done so. That will be more important than proofreading. But if you're in a position to proofread, then do not mistake these last minutes as your opportunity to make any degree of wholesale revisions.
The goal of proofreading is to amplify clarity as best as you can with surgical edits:
- Correct egregious spelling and grammar mistakes
- Strike words—or even sentences—that are unnecessary, or even—upon re-read, more distracting than relevant
- Replace words—only where appropriate with more precise words (about this last point, the recommendation is not to replace words with bigger words you presume will impress Admissions Officers; it is to use a word with a more exacting definition that represents your idea better)
Practicing the Essay
In my SSAT Prep article, I counsel against spending too much time practicing the essay, seeing as how it is not scored; nonetheless, the essay is an important component of your overall application. A minimum, 5–6 hours in aggregate—specially spread out over 2–4 weeks—is a reasonable amount of time to devote to practicing. If that sounds reasonable, I'd suggest:
- Three creative prompts
- Three argumentative prompts
- Practicing all of them strictly within the 25-minute format
- Practicing starting from the beginning vs. middle at least once or twice early on, but otherwise practicing using the rubric you're most naturally comfortable with
- And if you're used to doing work on a computer, but are planning to take a paper-based test, practice writing out these essays—not for the sake of practicing handwriting, but to make sure you get a sense for how much time it takes you to write, and how cramped your hand may feel after writing furiously for 15–20 straight minutes
For What It's Worth: Full, Unedited Examples From My Daughter's Practice Tests
For further transparency, I've left all typos / grammar mistakes (flagging obvious ones in red font), and specious (sometimes plain bad) ideas / arguments as is (you'll notice obvious misspellings as well as careless typos (here vs. hear) and other grammar mistakes (then vs. than)). Also, since we were short on SSAT and application prep time, I neither ever reviewed my daughter's practice essays, nor did I recommend a strategy or tips/tricks she should consider. She's a good enough writer, and I trusted her to get the hang of the essays as she went through the practice tests.
Example #1 from Test Innovators (September 20th)
This is from the first ever practice SSAT my daughter took—which she took cold (meaning without ever having taken a test like this before, and without any context provided by me about the test).
Prompt A (selected): What are the three traits that you value the most in your friends?
Prompt B: What do you think are the three most important qualities for a teacher to have?
Response:
The three traits I value most in my friends are loyalty, honesty, and a good nature. I value loyalty because I want my friendships to last a lifetime, and I would prefer to not be betrayed or ignored by them down the line. For instance, if I were in real need of emotional support, I would like to receive it instead of just being brushed off for a prior appointment.
I value honesty in my friendships because without it, any conversations had with them would go absolutely nowhere. Being friends with someone who is dishonest would get boring incredibly fast. They wouldn't state their own opinions and would just tell me what they think I would want to here. A conversation with no depth and a single opinion would become very slow and unenjoyable. I would also want honesty in a friendship so my friend wouldn't lie to me when it mattered. If I invite my friend on an outing and they didn't feel like going, I would have liked to hear their honest feelings that they didn't want to go out instead of some bogus excuse.
I value a good nature in my friends simply because it makes hanging out with them just that much more fun! I much prefer hanging out with someone flexible and easy to talk to then some one rigid and one dimensional. I find it much easier to talk to someone when I can understand where they come from and what they think, and when they can make a conversation flow. I enjoy hanging out with people who have these three qualities.
Example #2 from Test Innovators (September 21st)
Prompt A: What is an important or useful skill that you learned outside of school? What purpose does this skill serve in your life?
Prompt B (selected): What are the three most important life skills that everyone should know, and why?
Response:
Three of the most important life skills that everyone should know are honesty, positivity, and how to be flexible. Honesty is important in life because without it, you won't be able to forge powerful, strong connections with friends. People like honesty. It helps them feel safe and it lets them put their trust in you. Dishonest people that make lying a life style will never get someone's complete trust and most of all, they will never trust someone fully because they will be constantly worried that their friends or aquaintances will find out what they lied about and turn against them.
Positivity is important for keeping yourself happy. Someone who is unable to look on the bright side in life will, on the inside, or maybe even the outside, feel like a zombie. They will just trudge through life and the same boring routine over and over again, day by day. They may just feel constant misery as they plow through life, which they look onto as a depressing swamp. People who can look on the bright side of things look happier and healthier than anyone of any class who is stuck in the cycle of misery. They could skip through life as if they were always in their favorite place, and even if they feel down sometimes, they can always pick themselves up again and keep going.
Flexibility is an incredibly important life skill to have. It means that you can accept change, even if you don't always enjoy the change. Flexible people can deal with sudden, inexplicable change, whether that's to a schedual or something bigger and more unpleasant. Sometimes it's harder to accept change, and it may take longer to digest, but if you're flexible, given enough time you could get used to the big change. Inflexible people struggle. They stick tightly to one schedual and pprotest if things go even a little bit awry. They are harder to be around because of their strict constraints around timing and places you can go.
Of course, these three important life skills don't just have a strict positives. There are many people who exist in the middle of these two extreme sides. And everyone who does can probably remain comfortably where they are, in a nice middleground between the two poles, or they can seek to better themselves and all their skills, not just the three listed here.
Example #3 from the Official SSAT website (October 2nd)
Prompt A: With what literary character do you most identify and why?
Prompt B (selected): When making important decisions, should you rely on only factual information, or is it sometimes better to follow your gut instinct? Support your answer with reasons and examples.
Response:
When making important decisions, one should rely on factual information over a gut feeling whenever possible. Let's say you are at a rock climbing competition, and you are about to try a difficult climb. When you watched climbers before you try it, it seemed as though they all fell on the same move, trying the same thing. So you focus on the move, and plan out a better way of doing it. Now let's say you're trying this climb, and you make it to this difficult move. Your gut may tell you to make the same move as all the other climbers who fell because maybe it just feels better. But you watched their experience from the ground and choose to do the move in the way you had decided before climbing. Now you have successfully done the move, and soon after the whole climb. But, you wonder, what would have happened if I had just chosen to follow my gut.
Logical thinking and problem solving with limited information are key components to all aspects of life. They are applicable not just in school, used when you maybe have a difficult test or a problem you may not know, but everywhere in life, when you need to solve a problem with not quite enough information. This skill goes hand in hand with following a gut feeling. If you have limited information, and apply all of it that you possibly can, from there it's generally a good idea to follow your gut.
In a rock climbing setting, if the route you planned out using your facts and information doesn't work, and you are already on the wall, it's always a good idea to follow your gut. In the rock climbing competition, in an alternate universe, maybe your planned stratagy for the climb's difficult move doesn't work, but you manage to hold on to the wall and get back into your original position. Now you have no plan, but only a feeling that maybe you have the correct body type and set of abilities for the move others fell on. You don't have time to simulate the move in your head, so you go for it and you feel your hand hit the hold you needed to get. Soon after, you complete the climb.
Problem solving is amazing when you have factual information to go off of, but if you get to a point where you have no idea what to do next, you should always trust your gut.
Example #4 from Test Innovators (October 26th)
Prompt A (selected): What are three things you do in your day-to-day to try to make the world a better place?
Prompt B: What do you think is the most serious problem facing the world right now? What do you think should be done to address it?
Response:
Three things I do throughout my day to day life to try to help make the world a better place are that I always remain positive, I give money or food/water to New York's homeless population, and I learn about current events. I always try to be positive because I think that anyone that you meet can effect your attitude, even a stranger you only see for a short while. When I see someone depressed or someone who looks like they really don't want to be where they are, I get sadder, and if I'm out with someone, it really puts a damper on everyone's level of enjoyment. Of course the opposite is true too. If I, or my friends, see someone enjoying their day to the fullest, I feel obliged to try and do the same. I am always wanting to have a positive effect on someone's day.
New York has a very large homeless population. In recent years especially, the population has exploded. But even before that, there were still quite a lot of people living on the streets. My entire life has been spent in New York, and through out it, I've seen people in a range of circumstances, many of them bad. Because of this, I always carry cash in my pocket to give out, or, if the situation allows it, I will go into a nearby store to purchase a meal or drink for someone. Even if I'm not able to do any of this, I will still try and flash a smile that says "I see you", and gives as much comfort as possible.
Lastly, in my free time, I learn about current events. I believe that the more someone knows about current events, the more they can prepare to provide help for future events, and the more help they can provide in current ones. For instance, someone who sees a food drive at their school but has no idea what it is for is most likely not going to donate without an incentive. However, if someone were to approach that person and tell them what the drive was for, and educate them on why the food was needed, they would be much more likely to donate.
I currently don't have enough resources to do much outside of what I'm already doing to help with these issues, but when I have access to more ways to help and provide support for everyone suffering, whether they are in my city or on the other side of the world, I will definitely devote
[Author note: time ran out]
Example #5 from the official practice SSAT website (November 1st)
Prompt A: Which three literary characters would you invite to dinner and why? What would you want to talk about with them?
Prompt B (selected): What book do you think students should be required to read and why?
Response:
I think students should be required to read Bluets by Maggie Nelson. Bluets is a book centered around, and entirely about, the author's love of the color blue. It is also a metaphore for grief, and how the color blue helped the author process it. While it may seem boring at first, it holds so much symbolism in it's 200 something pages that it would be amazing for students to improve their analysis and deep reading skills on. Plus, it belongs to a genere that the students most likely have never seen before, meaning it would also be helpful in exposing them to new books and ideas.
Bluet's writing contains many references to outside materials, such as other texts and myths. It also has hordes of similies and metaphores drawing lines between love, grief, and the color blue. The book touches on some innapropriate material when drawing some of its connections, so I belive it would work best if it was read by more mature students (10th grade and up). It would also work best with older kids because they would have had more exposure to other, different texts, in completely separate generes from Bluets. This would lead to more fruitful discussions when talking about both the writing style and the book's uniqueness.
Bluet's allure doesn't just stem from its material, though. The author's experience writing it would also make a great talking point. "How would you feel if you wanted to write a book on only one subject, but said subject fell completely outside of societal norms?" This question could lead to a fruitful discussion about not only the authors experience/the challenges she faced writing this novel (alienation, ect), but also how the students would react if put in her position.