Essay Writing for the SAT

I'm getting more panicked by the day about having to write an essay on the SAT. My own English teacher thinks that I write well. I wonder if the strangers grading the test will like my work. Do you have any last-minute recommendations for me? I'll be taking the test in May. - Panicked Junior
Answer: Don't worry about the teachers who are reading your essay. Most are high-school and college English teachers like your own teacher. They are very accustomed to reading first-draft essays, which this essay is, and do not expect you to write a literary masterpiece in the short period of time that you have. In addition, two readers will be scoring your essay, and a third will score it if the two readers' scores are more than one point apart.
Our best advice to you is to go online to the College Board Web site at www.collegeboard.com to read all the information about the essay. Pay particular attention to the directions so you will not have to devote much time to this section on the test day. Also, study the sample essays and their scoring to get a better idea of what will be expected of you. And do remember that when you are supporting your position with reasoning and examples, they can be from your own personal experiences and do not have to be from literary works or significant world events.
Do write several essays under the exact same conditions that you will have on test day so that you will have confidence in your ability to handle this part of the test. This means hand-writing the essays, following the space requirements. It is especially important for you to write your essay by hand if you have become accustomed to writing most of your essays on the computer. Your handwriting should be legible. You might ask someone to check that it is. Finally, you need to know that the essay will be the first section of the SAT that you will take.