Your ability to choose, support, and develop an argument will determine much of your essay score. And language is the tool that you’ll use to construct and convey your argument.

To help you maximize your essay score, we’ve collected the most relevant elements of language and writing an argument you’ll need to maximize your score. As you study these concepts, don’t get too caught up in the formal or grammatical names. The names are there simply because we have to call these concepts something, but don’t be intimidated or turned off! Concentrate on the concepts behind the names.

To make these concepts more digestible, we’ve pared down the huge subject of writing to what actually matters most for the essay. We’ve also taken some small liberties with terminology for the sake of simplicity.