Handwriting is becoming a lost art. Unfortunately, this is one occasion where your skill with a pencil matters. Graders read tons of essays each day. If they cannot decipher your script, they will lower your score. Do yourself a favor and write legibly. Remember the basic essay structure you learned in school: introductory paragraph, body paragraphs and a conclusion?
The SAT essay graders love it! Your introduction should describe the text and paraphrase the argument being made, as well as introduce the specific elements of the passage and argument that you will discuss in the essay. Use your body paragraphs to back up your thesis statement by citing specific examples. Use short, relevant quotes from the text to support your points. Blanking on terminology? If you do know the official terms, though, feel free to use them!
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Step 3 : Quickly think of real-life or literary examples that fit the criteria in Step 2 blue boxes. Following our "cooperation is better" thesis, we can talk about when people cooperated to great success - like the Civil Rights movement, or Abraham Lincoln's cabinet during the Civil War.
We could also discuss how competition is inferior through examples like the subprime mortgage crisis of , or the North Korea vs South Korea standoff. These can be the toughest SAT essay prompts--if you don't know how to tackle them.
The easiest way to really knock this essay type out of the park is to say yes, it is possible, and then think of an example.
The other side--no, it isn't possible--is harder to logically prove , but it can be done. Unlike the two prompt types above, this one is more simplistic - just find evidence that can support your thesis in a straightforward way.
If you write "No, it's not possible for any obstacle to be turned into something beneficial," you just need to find evidence for when obstacles exist but don't lead to anything helpful. Step 3 : Quickly think of real-life or literary examples that fit the criteria in Step 2 see blue boxes.
To support the No thesis, we could use the example of how gender discrimination against women and income inequality has caused far more harm than the good it has caused. These can be logically complicated, depending on which side you choose. If you say x is the result of y , then you just have to think of examples that illustrate it. If you choose the other side, though, then you have a harder logical task in front of you--your examples have to fit a much narrower definition to make sense.
For example, if our thesis is "Yes, learning is the result of experiencing difficulties," we can either argue with evidence of a time when learning IS the result of difficulty, or when a lack of difficulty led to an absence of learning.
Both types of evidence support your thesis. For our Yes thesis, we could talk about how the difficulty of unmanageable healthcare costs in the USA led to learning and the Affordable Care Act. We could also use the other type of evidence and talk about how Jay Gatsby's lack of difficulty in having immense wealth led to poor learning about what really makes him happy.
These kinds of SAT essay prompts are so open-ended that they lend themselves to all kinds of examples and interpretations. But for this same reason, they can be overwhelming and confusing. Let's consider the Yes thesis. We can use evidence that problems in the past that are being solved today, or innovations today that didn't previously exist. To support our Yes thesis, we can find examples of problems that are better now - women's rights, slavery, and reduced violence.
We can also discuss recent innovations that dramatically improve quality of life, like the Internet and widespread access to education. Much like the "state of the world" questions, these can be supported by almost anything, but can also get away from you if you're not careful. See the diagram below for some ideas of how to manage these prompts.
Let's consider the No thesis that people don't learn from the past - we would have to find an example of when someone repeated a mistake that they could have avoided from history.
A great example to use for our No thesis is comparing Hitler and Germany to Napoleon. In , Napoleon fought a war on multiple fronts, fighting the Spanish army and the Russian Empire simultaneously. This led to a drastic dilution of focus and led to his defeat. A century later in World War 2, Hitler fought on two fronts as well, facing the Allies in Europe and Russia at the same time. He too was defeated through this mistake. Now that you know the basic types of SAT essay prompts and the types of arguments they require, what can you do with this information?
A few different things: one is to practice with these questions, thinking of one or two examples to support at least one answer to each question. We've written a guide to 6 SAT essay examples you can use to answer nearly every prompt.
We show you how to construct an SAT essay , step by step. If you want to get a perfect SAT essay score, read this. Another is to take a look at our comprehensive SAT essay prompts article, which gives you lots more questions to think about answering and supporting with the arguments above.
Practice using sample essay 1. Practice using sample essay 2. Learn more about how the essay is scored. Back Close. Select a Question Introduction. Select a Prompt Introduction. Essay Introduction.
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