Good writing skills bolster SAT success.

• Position: Education

Writing counts. The ability to compose a clear, concise, proper sentence signals your intelligence and gives you an edge in business. Moreover, for high school students, it now plays an even bigger role in shaping the academic future. The new SAT has a writing section that counts for a big part of the test's overall score--and that, points out grammar guru Jane Straus, represents a huge opportunity.

"High school students who aren't math geniuses just got handed a wonderful gift," says Straus, author of The Blue Book of Grammar and Punctuation. "Why? Because for most of us, composing a proper sentence is far easier than calculating the area of a quadrilateral. Just take the time to memorize some simple rules and you can ace a significant section of the SAT."

In March 2005, a new section was added that includes an essay and multiple-choice grammar questions. This section is worth 800 points, a third of the new "perfect score" of 2400. (The highest possible scores on the verbal--renamed "critical reading"--and math sections will remain 800 each.)

As Straus points out, math skills tend to build on each other. If you are lost throughout Algebra I, you definitely are not going to excel in Algebra II. Writing is not like that. You can sit down with a book of grammar rules, read it a few times, study several examples of the rules in action, and you "get it." Even if someone does not grasp every rule instantly, quick improvement is likely to follow. This especially is true if...