12.Practice.Tests.for.the.SAT_2015-2016_1128p

12 Practice Tests for the SAT
Practice Test Nine Answers and Explanations 809
I
Answers and
Explanations
Truly, then, my personal experience shows that teaching a
subject to someone else can help you to more thoroughly
know the subject in question. In this life, we all have certain
skills. When we choose to share these skills with others, we
become teachers and increase our own understanding and
mastery of the skill we pass on.
SECTION 1
6 Score Essay
Many of us are familiar with the expression, ''Those who
can, do. Those who can't, teach." However, this phrase
neglects the essential role of teachers. To teach a subject,
you have to know the subject and figure out how to pass
on that knowledge to others, and this process improves
your own mastery of the subject that you teach. Thus,
teaching a subject does enhance your knowledge of that
subject, as I discovered from personal experience.
One of my favorite subjects in high school has always been
English. I love words and writing. My freshman English teacher
noticed my enthusiasm, so she recruited me to work in an
after-school program as a tutor for middle school students
who needed to improve their writing before getting to high
school. At first, I was nervous about taking on this responsibility.
After all, I didn't really know how I managed to write well or
why I liked doing it so much. But my teacher convinced me to
join the program, and I soon realized how teaching someone
else to write could improve my own writing.
My seventh-grade student had a wonderful imagination, but
she couldn't put her ideas together on paper in a way that
made sense. She was very frustrated by low grades on her
creative essays, and after reading one of her compositions,
I could understand both her frustration and her teacher's
low evaluation. This student's problem was primarily a result
of poor narrative flow. Her ideas were wonderfully interesting,
but she jumped from one topic to another so quickly that
it was very difficult to understand what she was trying to
say. As she and I discussed her essays, I had to find ways
to explain to her what was missing and how to improve her
writing. I was obligated to put into words certain parts of the
writing process that I hadn't really thought about before.
As we continued our meetings, I realized that not only was
I learning from her but that my own writing was also improving.
My advice to my student led me to re-evaluate and
refine my compositions. If I hadn't had the opportunity to
teach this student, I would not have gained this knowledge
and insight about my own writing.
6 Score Critique
All essays are evaluated on four basic criteria: Topic, Support,
Organization, and Language. This essay begins strongly with
an introduction that explains the author's interpretation of
the prompt and clearly announces her opinion. The introduction
transitions smoothly into the first body paragraph, which
introduces the author's example, based on her personal
experience. This paragraph moves smoothly into the next,
which further develops and supports the author's single
example. Finally, the concluding paragraph neatly wraps up
the author's argument. This author clearly took time to plan
her essay, resulting in a coherent and consistent essay that
is well organized and offers sufficient support for her thesis.
The author's use of specific details, particularly in the third
paragraph, makes the essay outstanding. In addition, the
author uses varied sentence structure and language to
express her ideas. She includes numerous key words and
phrases (however, thus, one, At first after all, but) to help
guide her reader as she develops her essay. The author's
attention to detail, as evidenced by a lack of grammatical
or spelling errors, also indicates that she allowed herself
sufficient time to proofread her essay at the end.
4 Score Essay
It's interesting to claim you can learn more about a subject
if you teach it. In a way, this makes alot of sense, since you
would have to explain the subject to your students, which
would make you think more about the subject or do additional
research to supplement your teaching. However, I think this
idea only applies to certain situations. An example of when
it doesn't work is the movie Mona Lisa Smile. An example
of when it does work is my experience coaching a youth
soccer team.
In Mona Lisa Smile Julia Roberts plays an art teacher at
Wellesley College. All of her students are girls from wealthy
families. These students don't want to learn anything that
isn't in their textbooks but Julia Roberts forces them to look