Is the SAT Essay Required

Is the SAT Essay Required Typically, a portion of SAT prep time is dedicated to success on the essay section. As of late, however, a large number of schools are making the SAT essay optional to applicants. Ivy League schools including Brown, Harvard, and Yale are no longer requiring students to sit for the essay section of the exam. This begs the question, what does this mean for you? Is the SAT essay really required? When examining the requirement behind the SAT essay, its important to understand the SAT essay basics, the benefits and drawbacks of taking the essay, and how recent changes apply to you. Looking to gain a deeper understanding of the SAT essay requirement? Keep reading to learn more about whether the SAT essay is truly required. SAT essay basics The SATs essay is a 50-minute assessment in which youre asked to read a passage and to then write an essay that explains how the author forms his or her persuasive argument. A successful SAT essay will point to evidence from the passage as support for its explanation. The essay is scored on the following criteria: Readinghow well you understood the passage and its central ideas. Analysisyour ability to give insightful analysis of the passage and to evaluate the authors use of evidence and reasoning. Writingyour essay is well organized and shows a good command of standard writing conventions and style. [RELATED: What is an Average SAT Score?] Changes to the SAT essay In 2016, the SAT changed its essay portion from required to optional. This began raising the question for students and colleges alike as to whether to continue using the essay for admissions. Now that the essay is optional for test-takers, many schools are changing their application requirements, as well. In the first eight months of 2018, a slew of prominent schools, including Harvard, Dartmouth, and Yale, announced that they would no longer require the SAT essay. The end result is that only a handful of schools nationwide require the essay, although others still recommend that students take it. There are several reasons schools give for dropping the essay requirement. One primary reason is that many public school students are now able to take the SAT for free during the school day, and those tests dont always include the optional essay, which costs an additional amount. Also, colleges and universities generally already require applicants to show their writing ability in other ways, making the essay test less essential to some admissions processes. [RELATED: ACT and SAT Test Dates for 2018-2019] Who should take the SAT essay? Although the essay is now optional for test-takers and most colleges are no longer requiring it, that doesnt mean you shouldnt consider taking it. First, find out whether any of the schools youre interested in require or recommend the essay. You can find this information here. If your schools of interest require you to submit an essay score, be sure to sit for it on test day. Additionally, if the schools youre interested in dont require the SAT essay, it could still be a good way to showcase your writing skills to these schools. If you choose not to take the essay, inquire about other ways you can show your writing skills to these potential schools. Regardless of whether a school requires or recommends the SAT essay, they still view writing as an important skill for college success. Typically, schools will require their own essays as part of the overall application process, and some are asking students to submit a graded high school essay as an example of their writing skills. Use those opportunities, as well as the SAT essay if you so choose, to showcase your style and analytical abilities, and make the case that youre a worthy applicant. [RELATED: What I Wish I Knew About Taking the ACT/SAT] Any topics you want to know more about? Let us know! The Varsity Tutors Blog editors love hearing your feedback and opinions. Feel free to email us at blog@varsitytutors.com.

Can Life Coaching Help Build Confidence

Can Life Coaching Help Build Confidence Need to Boost Your Self-Confidence? Maybe a Life Coach Could Help ChaptersWhat Services do Life Coaches Offer?Methods Used by Life Coaches to Help Build ConfidenceAs the professional world seems to be moving faster each day, and the practice of networking makes every social interaction all-the-more valuable, having confidence in yourself and your skills is more important than ever before.But what if you find it difficult to throw yourself into a conversation with someone else? Or you fear being judged by others in public?If you’re often struggling to get your voice heard more generally, whether it be in a professional setting, among friends, or even trying to talk to make conversation with the people you come across in your everyday life, you might have been wondering about what you can do to help this.Some people put their low amount of social interaction down to having an introverted personality, but introversion, while it is often associated with shyness, is not down to a lack of confidence. In fact, you can be an introvert who is perfectly co mfortable going about their personal and working lives, but a lack of confidence can make this significantly more difficult.So, how might improving your levels of self-confidence change the way you experience life?There are many reasons people want to increase their confidence. From climbing the career ladder to simply having the courage to take up a new hobby, being more confident in yourself will not only open up multiple opportunities, but it will also help you get more out of life.Whether you're looking for success or you want to feel confident in your own skin, life coaches can help you ¦ source: Pixabay - ernestoeslavaActing more confident is not the same thing as feeling confident, however, so if you’re hoping to become more confident, rather than learning how to act like a confident person, think about hiring a life coach to help you reach your goal.Life coaching is a method of talk therapy used by people who want guidance on altering their lifestyles. There are many type s of life coaching available for various purposes, including services to help with professional goals such as career coaching programs, business coaching, leadership coaching, corporate coaching services, executive coaching, business coaches for entrepreneurs and coaching sessions for those looking for guidance with a career change or improving their work-life balance.In addition to these, there are coaches and trainers who help people with personal coaching services such as wellness coaching.Personal coaching focusses on personal development in a way that relates to someone’s personal life, rather than their professional success.People seek the services of a personal coach for many reasons. For instance, they may be working towards transformational change to their lifestyles and need someone to motivate them and keep them moving forward towards their goal. In other situations, clients may have a goal in mind yet they may be unsure as to how to reach it â€" in this case, a wellnes s coach could put them on the right path before helping them to succeed with their dreams.Building confidence can be done with personal coaching services. To learn more about life coaching to improve your confidence as well as finding a life coach to suit our needs, read on!Methods Used by Life Coaches to Help Build ConfidenceHiring a life coach isn’t like buying a product from the supermarket â€" in order to see tangible results, you’ll have to put in the hard work that your coach is asking of you. This means heeding their advice and practising the methods and plans assigned to you.Whether they specialise in a certain area or usually take a holistic approach with their treatment, life coaches use a variety of methods to help people overcome certain feelings which contribute to low self-worth. While some involve learning and practising new skills, others centre around reflection on your place in society.Here are just some methods used by life coaches in cases of low self-confide nce, self-esteem or self-image which you may see in your life coaching sessions:ReflectionOne of the most common ways in which coaches help people to realise their self-worth is to have them take stock of their positive attributes as a means of empowering them. For instance, if someone feels like a fraud in their career (a common issue for those with low self-esteem), they may be asked to list the achievements and positive attributes that led to their position.Life coaches often suggest writing lists of the things their clients like about themselves source: Pixabay - StockSnapReflecting on your personal qualities, achievements and your positive attributes, achievements, and the areas in which you are already confident can lift your spirits and give you a good foundation to build on.Reject negative thoughtsThe root of low levels of confidence is often to do with having a negative mindset when it comes to the opinion which is held of oneself. Life coaches prescribe several exercises t o help their clients change their self-perception. These may involve accepting compliments from other people without self-deprecating or making positive affirmations in front of a mirror as part of a client’s morning routine.Identify and remove sources of negativity from your lifeWhen discussing your personal experiences, your coach may identify some possessions, situations or people who are having a negative impact on your confidence.In order to help resolve your problems, your life coach may ask you about the prospect of removing some of these things from your life. This can be a difficult and sometimes impossible task, and it is up to each individual to make their own decision when it comes to dealing with muting these negative sources.Challenge yourselfConfidence is to do with your level of self-belief, and whether you have faith in your own abilities. This is why coaches are keen to learn about their clients’ personal goals when helping them to boost their confidence.By fin ding out what clients what to achieve or learn to do better, coaches often make plans for them to challenge themselves outside of their sessions. The idea behind this is that confidence when people prove their own abilities to themselves.Practice confidence-building skillsMany people with low self-esteem and self-image believe that they are viewed in a negative way by others. Due to the fact that these feelings can also make people feel like an imposter in their profession or peer group, life coaches often recommend practices which contribute to a good self-image. Examples of these practices include expanding one’s knowledge in certain areas as well as starting a self-care routine.Reading up on various subjects and learning about new ones can help with confidence by giving shy people something new to share with others, while practising self-care can help them enjoy spending time with themselves, thus improving their self-worth.See how a life coach can help with depression.Or, how life coaching can help you to lose weight.