<p>It was my first attempt at writing SAT essay so I would be very grateful if somebody could grade it. Thank you in advance!</p>
<p>Prompt: </p>
<p>We often hear that we can learn much about someone or something just by casual observation.
We are not required to look beneath the surface or to question how something seems. In fact, we are urged to trust our impressions, often our first impressions, of how a person or a situation seems to be. Yet appearances can be misleading. What seems isnt always what is.</p>
<p>Assignment: Is the way something seems to be not always the same as it actually is? Plan and write an essay in which you develop your point of view on this issue. Support your position with reasoning and examples taken from your reading, studies, experience, or observations. </p>
<p>MY ESSAY:</p>
<p>Many people tend to look at things superficially without getting a deeper insight into them. However, a famous proverb says, Dont judge a book by its cover. In other words, the way something seems to be is not always the same as it actually is. This concept is illustrated throughout literature, technology and personal experience.</p>
<p>One compelling example of how casual observation may lead us into false perception of reality is the life of Helen Keller. A famous American writer and activist lost her sight and hearing at a very young age. Consequently, the impossibility to fully communicate made people think of her as a person with limited intellectual ability. However, it was not true for Anne Sullivan, who discovered that Helen reasoning was exactly the same as in the case of a person without any disorders. Sullivan taught Keller to speak and read, which eventually resulted in her becoming the first deaf blind person to earn a Bachelor degree. Their example may serve as a remainder so as not to form our beliefs relying on first impressions.</p>
<p>Another credible example of the idea that we should not be urged to trust our first impressions was the American entrepreneur and inventor Steve Jobs. His youth was riddled with frustration over formal schooling. It came to the point when his teachers needed to bribe him to study. Therefore, no one expected Jobs to become a world-renowned CEO of Apple Inc. However, he proved to be an extremely talented technologist whose devotion to computers enabled millions of people around the world to interact using his sophisticated products. Jobs is a prime example of the fact that we should look beneath the surface to learn the truth about someone or something.</p>
<p>A final illustration of the fact that appearances can be misleading is shown in my personal experience. In my second year of high school a new student called Susan joined our class. Despite our tremendous efforts to make her feel comfortable in the new environment, she eschewed every single attempt we made to help her. Consequently, my class started to perceive her as a selfish person, unwilling to cooperate in a group. It was not until the end of the first term that we finally found out the reason for her unusual behavior. Sadly, the girl had experienced hardship in her previous school where she was awfully treated by her fellow classmates. As a result, she was afraid of creating closer relationships with anyone in our class. Only after a long talk with Susan she became more open and soon turned out to be an extremely fascinating human being. Her example taught us not to judge people too quickly.</p>
<p>As we have seen in these literary, technological and personal experience examples, we may often misjudge a person by relying on the first impression. It is worth remembering that things are usually different from what they seem to be. As Anne Wilson once said: Dont let your perfunctory look cover the truth about a person.</p>