It seems that everyone always has these great examples that relate to the prompt.
For the the both my SATs, I resorted to personal examples. The first asked if making volunteering mandatory for a length of time was a good idea. The other was “Do works of art have the power to change people’s lives? 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.”
For both of these topics, it was pretty easy for me to just write about a personal example. If I had more time, maybe I could have thought of a famous person and how a work of art changed their life…but I can’t think of anything else.
Can you guys describe your writing process? Do you try to fit the topic to something you’ve already worked out? Is it OK to use personal examples? I’m aware that some people try to stick to stock examples…which seems disingenuous. But if it works…
I also read an AMA by a former essay grader who claimed that students often end up using examples from their history/english classes. http://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/qt5xw/by_request_i_was_an_sat_essay_scorer_ama/c408tpr
“For example, in the December admission, I’d say 20-25% of the essays would revolve around the Civil War/Adventures of Huck Finn/Frederick Douglas (you get the idea.) February was 20-25% The Great Gatsby/Roaring 20s, March would be the Great Depression/Grapes of Wrath, etc. Those were the ones that stuck out the most to me, anyway.”
I suppose it could be better to just stick to the tried-and-true and write an unremarkable essay than take risks.