作者：Jonathan Haagen     翻譯：Peter Mu

        準(zhǔn)備SAT的學(xué)生幾乎都知道這門考試是有許多“潛規(guī)則”可遵循。比如,有些語法點(diǎn)的出現(xiàn)頻率要遠(yuǎn)高于其他語法知識；閱讀部分的某些話題討論頻率也高于其他內(nèi)容。這些經(jīng)驗(yàn)?zāi)軒椭愣唐趦?nèi)提升備考效率。

    有些規(guī)則在寫作當(dāng)中也適用。比如，文章越長越容易得高分，使用歷史和文學(xué)做例證的高分幾率要大于個人經(jīng)歷，文章的邏輯性和思想性比文章內(nèi)容本身更重要…

    讀到這里，你可能在想，“如果寫文章的規(guī)律性如此明顯，我為什么不準(zhǔn)備一個寫作模板來以不變應(yīng)萬變？”

    在我看來，寫作模板卻是把雙刃劍。請學(xué)生在使用的時(shí)格外小心，尤其是你參加完培訓(xùn)班所獲取的統(tǒng)一模板。

    在寫作培訓(xùn)中，許多老師們傾向于傳授學(xué)生寫作內(nèi)容，而非寫作思路。這種培訓(xùn)模式很可能讓學(xué)生適得其反。在今年一月份的香港SAT考試中，幾名來自同一培訓(xùn)機(jī)構(gòu)學(xué)生，因使用了統(tǒng)一的寫作模板，結(jié)果這幾位學(xué)生的考試成績遲遲沒有公布。焦急的學(xué)生和家長在多次詢問后，終于得到了美國大學(xué)考試委員會的回復(fù)：由于寫作內(nèi)容雷同，幾名學(xué)生被懷疑考場作弊，成績待調(diào)查結(jié)束后再公布，但也有可能取消該次考試成績。但愿這些學(xué)生能最終能涉險(xiǎn)過關(guān)，但有些學(xué)生可能要重新參加考試。一旦再次參加考試，他們的試卷要面臨比其他學(xué)生更加嚴(yán)格的審核。對于一些高三的學(xué)生，由于已經(jīng)是最后一次考試機(jī)會，他們也因此不得不接受放棄美國留學(xué)的結(jié)局。

    當(dāng)然并不是所有使用寫作模板的學(xué)生都會被懷疑為作弊，但他們要承擔(dān)很大的風(fēng)險(xiǎn)。當(dāng)我們受益于那些所謂的"考試技巧"的同時(shí)，也要注意它給我們帶來的負(fù)面影響。建議同學(xué)們不斷提升自己的寫作能力，平時(shí)注意拓展自己的知識面以增加寫作素材，否則你可能會成為下一個犧牲品。

Know the formula. Beware the unoriginal.

Any student preparing for the SAT will quickly learn that there are certain rules that will contribute to success. Certain types of grammar points come up much more frequently than others. Certain themes are covered more often than others on the critical reading sections. The ways in which you improve sentences and paragraphs and the process of answering sentence completion questions all can be improved by following certain strategies.

This is also true for the essay. There are certain things that we know to be true. The longer the essay, the better the chance you have of getting a good score. Using examples from history and literature is better than using only examples from your own life. The logic and ideas behind the examples are more important than their accuracy. Despite what other training centers in China contend, Chinese students tend to do better when they use at least one Chinese example.

Reading this, you might think to yourself: “Why not just create a template?” Given that anyone can suddenly get nervous, it could seem wise to try to write your essay before entering the testing site. There are some positives to doing this. There are drawbacks as well. Where students should be very very careful, however, is when their SAT training center gives them a template or examples to work from.

This style of teaching, which is very common among many Chinese SAT training centers, teaches students “what to write” not “how to write” and it often produces simply catastrophic consequences for the students involved.

At a recent  offering of the SAT in Hong Kong, several students who followed this training center template found later that their scores had been withheld without any explanation. When the frantic students and parents finally got a response from the College Board, they learned that their scores had been called into question over concerns that their essays were plagiarized. Some of these students may be able to have their scores approved, but most will have to take the SAT again. When they do, their new scores will be under greater scrutiny. For some students in their senior years, they will have to make the choice of whether to take an extra year to prepare or to give up their dream of attending an American university.

Obviously, not every student who follows a test center template for the essay will be penalized. In fact, most will probably not encounter any problems. However, you should ask yourself if it is really worth the risk. You will benefit greatly from knowing the relevant strategies for the SAT. However, you must beware being unoriginal. In nearly every case it will mean you achieve below your potential, and in some cases, like those of the students in Hong Kong, it could mean having your scores canceled altogether.