<p>Can you tell me what kind of examples we're supposed to use in ACT essays?</p>
<p>Do we use our personal experiences?
(last year I got suspended from school bc I wore blah blah)</p>
<p>or a hypothetical situations?
(If we are not allowed to wear jeans then blah blah)</p>
<p>and definitely not from a literature or history, right? (unlike SATs)</p>
<p>thnx in advance</p>
<p>Why the focus on "examples"? Make an argument, and support it--if there are examples that support your argument and are clearly relevant, use them; otherwise, don't use any.</p>
<p>Personal examples are more likely to be relevant an argument about school uniforms or extending high school for another year than literary or historical examples.</p>
<p>from today's ny times (re: SAT essay and is probably true for ACT):</p>
<p>write in cursive
make it long
use the third person</p>
<p>can we BS a lot like on the SAT essay? do they check for truthful information?</p>
<p>Hah... do you really think that the members of the ACT commission- or whatever they're called- are going to track down every single test-taker(or one, for that matter...) to do a background check as to whether or not they DID get in a fight with a friend, or yelled at for an essay they wrote, or whatever else you feel like alluding to?</p>
<p>Giving examples helps support your essay. To the OP, the three you mentioned, including literary/historical, are great genres to pull from. I sent this list earlier to some one, it's what I use to brainstorm ideas for support:</p>
<p>*personal: anecdotes/experiences/stories.. This is the stuff YOU, your friends, relatives, parents, or anyone else you know has experienced (this is a category/body paragraph that can be used for virtually any prompt)
*literary: this stuff comes from every single novel of merit you have ever read, but mostly that stuff you were assigned in English class (ie to kill a mockingbird, pride and prejudice, the power of one) (this is another universal category but can be difficult to use if you have a poor memory)
*historical: this is a great category to find information from if you know your history (think the world wars, american revolution, the european renaissance, and so on)
*biblical/morality: although using the bible for parables can be a great resource, dont forget the rules of society (morals, specifically) when brainstorming ideas for evidence (another universal theme)
*current events: local, state, national, international happenings (recent hurricanes, poverty, AIDS, war, so on)
*cultural: this includes generational differences, ageism, racism, gang violence, mass media, celebrities, the technology craze, so on
*other universal factors: keep in mind that the prompt is based off of teen/student interests, so some other key aspects to keep in mind are: convenience factor, age factor, ethics factor, time factor, and money factor, all of which can be applied universally</p>
<p>edit: I took the ACT last April and scored a 12 on writing. I used the last category a lot.</p>
<p>If you are writing an essay that makes rational arguments and supports them well, you are probably not going to have time to work in To Kill a Mockingbird without seeming really contrived. You need to focus on supporting your argument with reasoning and making the connections clear. If there's an example that contributes to that, it will come to you at the right time.</p>
<p>Saint_paul's last sentence makes a lot of sense to me. Your essay will probably include real, everyday examples that everyone can understand. This makes me think that the best support for the position you take in your essay is what's TRUE. Do you really think that your school should have uniforms because of some book you read in English class? If so, go for it, but I'm willing to bet you formed an opinion based on your own life experience and reasoning. Those ideas are the ones you'll be best able to fully develop in a way that makes sense to the reader.</p>
<p>I have read form ACT study guides that it is better if you should write in both agreeing and disagreeing with the topic question. is that true ?</p>
<p>No, you need to take a stance on one side; but it's a good idea to RESPOND to the the other side, to refute it.</p>