The SAT Prep Black Book

SAT Writing Multiple Choice

The Unwritten Test Design Rule For Improving Paragraphs on the SAT

For the most part, the rules for Improving Paragraphs are essentially the same as the rules for Improving Sentences, because most of these questions are questions that could have appeared as Improving Sentences questions. The only questions you”ll have to deal with in this section that are really new are the ones about adding and deleting sentences, so the rule below bears mentioning:

SAT Improving Paragraphs Rule: Ideal Paragraphs

According to the SAT Writing section, the best paragraphs mention each concept in the paragraph more than once.

So whenever you”re asked if a sentence should be deleted from a paragraph, choose to delete a sentence if the sentence introduces a topic that isn”t mentioned elsewhere in the paragraph. And whenever you”re asked if a sentence should be added, choose to add the sentence that will restate the most ideas in the original paragraph, or that introduces the fewest new concepts to the paragraph.