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Yesterday, I wrote about why students should lay off the five-paragraph essay in favor of the four-paragrapher on standardized tests. When time is of the essence, as it certainly is on the SAT and the ACT, it’s hard to come up with one good example to support your argument, let alone three different ones that actually make sense. Aim for two good ones instead and you might even have a minute or two left over to edit your work.

You also have a better chance of avoiding the “huh?” response from the essay scorer.

Case in point: As a test prep tutor who also scored practice tests for kicks, I once came across a student’s five-paragraph essay that discussed motivation in regard to one’s conscience—meaning that the good people of this world are guided by their conscience, rather than the desire to be popular or financially successful. The writer wrote an excellent introductory paragraph followed by three examples of good, conscience-driven people: Nelson Mandela, Mahatma Gandhi, and George Clooney.

Yes, you read correctly. George Clooney.

With all due respect to Mr. Clooney and his efforts to bring our attention to the crisis in Darfur, Mr. Clooney is more well-known as a movie star. Therefore, he doesn’t really belong in an essay that also talks about world icons such as Mandela and Gandhi. Even though the essay did make some logical sense in the end, it also stopped me in my tracks—which is something that you really don’t want to do to the SAT/ACT scorers. The scorers spend a whopping three minutes on your essay, so it is your goal to have them read it from beginning to end without stopping for too many grammatical errors, spelling mistakes, and George Clooney references.

It was clear to me that in the time crunch, the student simply couldn’t come up with a more fitting third person to include in the essay. Had the student simply stopped with the two examples—thus writing a four-paragraph essay—I would have awarded the top score automatically, because the writing was solid and, for the most part, error-free. I did not deduct for George Clooney reference, but I could have, because his inclusion threatened the overall logic of the essay. I was forced to read a little deeper—something the essay scorer won’t have time to do—in order to see what the writer was trying to do.

Neither the SAT nor the ACT requires you to write a fact-based essay; therefore, don’t try to impress the scorer with an essay about the American Revolution, the Ming Dynasty, or the history of television. Make it easy on yourself and try to find a way to make your essay more personal, which makes writing—dare I say it?—more fun. 

As a former English teacher, I am well aware of the importance of the five-paragraph essay in a student’s development as a writer. It’s a very nice and neat formula—write an introduction with a thesis, support it with three specific examples, and conclude with a strong paragraph that sums everything up. This format works especially for struggling writers, who often benefit from having more structure.

That said, the five-paragraph essay is not always feasible in the 30 minutes allowed on standardized tests like the SAT and ACT. Many students believe that a five-paragraph essay is absolutely necessary in order to earn a top score on the writing portion of those tests, but in reality, all you need is a solid four-paragraph essay.

There is some truth behind the myth that essay graders will automatically give you an above-average score if you write a five-paragraph essay. This, however, has more to do with the effort it appears you have put into the essay rather than the actual number of times you indented. Scorers like it when they see you’ve written legibly for the full 30 minutes because it means you take writing seriously and have aimed to please.

A four-paragraph essay is a great—and obvious—compromise between a three-paragraph and a five-paragraph essay. Since it is—duh—shorter than its five-paragraph counterpart, you will have more time to write and FINISH a cohesive essay in the time allotted. Yes, three times is often the charm, but two strong examples will work just as well when defending an argument. When you are taking a test for three hours straight, you will appreciate the fact that you can safely cut corners whenever you can.

Why not a three-paragraph essay, you ask? Go ahead and write one, but know that unless each of the paragraphs are long (7-10 sentences) and very well-developed, you could get a lower score, just because the scorer might think that you could have written more about the topic.

Some of you will still aim to write five-paragraph essays and some of you will succeed. Others will write four-paragraph essays that masquerade as five-paragraphers, with the third example stuck on there like you were playing pin-the-tail-on-the-donkey. Still others will run out of time and submit an essay that ends up in the air, like the season finale of Lost. But never fear; there is still time before the next ACT and SAT to revamp your plan of attack.

Check back with this blog tomorrow for Acing the SAT/ACT Essay, Part II: You Wrote about WHAT?