On my first and only SAT, I received a 7. Here is my practice essay:
Deception fails to ever be justified. Individuals may argue that it is permitted when it protects someone. However, deception leads to an excessive amount of lying. For instance, deception prompted me to become an extremely dishonest person.
When I was in the tenth grade, I began to notice negative qualities about an old friend named Erica. Erica was rather close with several of my best friends. Therefore, I struggled to accept my disdain for her. She was incredibly pretentious, perfidious, and downright impudent. I pretended to be her friend to avert drama between myself, her, and my true friends. Despite so, this action caused treacherous consequences.
Every time Erica tried to contact me or converse with me, I hid behind a mask of smiles. I had to develop a plethora of excuses to avoid her. It took more effort to act friendly than to openly admit my dislike. I could not stand her presence and cringed at the sight of her. I finally decided to tell the truth to my friends. Ironically, they felt the exact same way.
We thought that by concealing our actual feelings, we were protecting each other. On the other hand, we just brought anguish to ourselves. In the end, we stopped communicating with Erica. As a result, we have never been happier.
As can clearly be seen, deception should never be permitted. The action only causes deleterious effects. If one chooses to deceive another, the individual creates a hostile environment. If one is completely honest, the person has a peace of mind and benefits in other ways. Evidently, honesty is most definitely the best policy.
I am sorry. I don’t know why it did not indent…
Deception fails to ever be justified. Individuals may argue that it is permitted when it protects someone. However, deception leads to an excessive amount of lying. For instance, deception prompted me to become an extremely dishonest person.
When I was in the tenth grade, I began to notice negative qualities about an old friend named Erica. Erica was rather close with several of my best friends. Therefore, I struggled to accept my disdain for her. She was incredibly pretentious, perfidious, and downright impudent. I pretended to be her friend to avert drama between myself, her, and my true friends. Despite so, this action caused treacherous consequences.
Every time Erica tried to contact me or converse with me, I hid behind a mask of smiles. I had to develop a plethora of excuses to avoid her. It took more effort to act friendly than to openly admit my dislike. I could not stand her presence and cringed at the sight of her. I finally decided to tell the truth to my friends. Ironically, they felt the exact same way.
We thought that by concealing our actual feelings, we were protecting each other. On the other hand, we just brought anguish to ourselves. In the end, we stopped communicating with Erica. As a result, we have never been happier.
As can clearly be seen, deception should never be permitted. The action only causes deleterious effects. If one chooses to deceive another, the individual creates a hostile environment. If one is completely honest, the person has a peace of mind and benefits in other ways. Evidently, honesty is most definitely the best policy.
I think you should try and give more examples rather than just of Erica! 
Avoid giving examples from your personal life and try not to ever use first person. Strive to find examples from primarily history and literature. At least 2 examples are required; 3 is a good target. 4 is probably overkill and also too much to do in too little time. Also, your essay needs to be longer. In handwriting, it needs to fill nearly 2 pages of lines.
Kinda off topic but what’s that one Shakespeare play that would be perfect for this prompt?
@Spurs2014 Much Ado About Nothing?
Yes haha that’s the one I’m thinking of, thanks @normanxi
Simmer down on the diction, spend more time on the length, examples, and fluidity of text.
Although your personal example is on topic, it could be shortened to one paragraph. Ideally, you should have one-two (although two examples overall is definitely sufficient) other examples from literature or history.