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.