What It Takes to Ace the SAT II / Poem: Walking to Work

Happy Birth­day, fun­ni­fam­i­ly!

Would Shake­speare Get Into Swathmore?

We and our col­leagues at The Prince­ton Review have spent many years train­ing stu­dents to take the SAT II, and have care­ful­ly ana­lyzed the Col­lege Board­’s essay-grad­ing cri­te­ria. To receive a high score a stu­dent should write a long essay of three or more para­graphs, with each para­graph con­tain­ing top­ic and con­clud­ing sen­tences and at least one sen­tence that includes the words “for exam­ple.” When­ev­er pos­si­ble the stu­dent should use poly­syl­lab­ic words where short­er, clear­er words would suf­fice. The SAT essay will not be a place to take rhetor­i­cal chances. Flair will win no points; the high­est-scor­ing essays will be earnest, long-wind­ed, and predictable.

Walk­ing to Work
–by Ted Kooser

Today, it’s the obsidian
ice on the sidewalk
with its milk white bubbles
pop­ping under my shoes
that pleas­es me, and upon it
a lump of old snow
with a trail like a comet,
that somebody,
prob­a­bly falling in love,
has kicked
all the way to the corner.

(from Sure Signs: New and Select­ed Poems)