“Perhaps most fundamentally, though, the SAT essay could spur high schools to step up their writing instruction. It's a change that Krista Jackson, a junior at Homestead High School in Cupertino, would welcome. ‘In some classes,’ she says, ‘they have maybe one essay a month, if even that.’ And instruction is often lacking or rote: Remember the five-paragraph model? ‘A lot of times when we write our essays, our teacher will say how to write,’ says Krista. ‘And then we feel like we're filling in a formula.’”