<p>If you could rate and give me some pointers please that'd be awesome!! This is going to be my first SAT so I'm going to need all the help and tips I can get. The prompt is Thomas Paine's quote "That which we obtain too easily, we esteem too lightly." and we're supposed to either agree or disagree.
My essay:</p>
<p>Thomas Paine wrote this quote in his pamphlet "Common Sense" in order to rally support for the American Revolution, and it is as relevant now as it was then. The idea that the amount of effort we invest influences how much we value it was made especially obvious to me when I was studying for an AP exam.
In 9th grade, I had decided to take the AP Art History class online, little knowing how difficult it could be, especially when combined with the delicate balancing act that was academics, extracurriculars, and my (minimal) social life. But, I muddled through the online course anyway, sometimes resubmitting certain assignments more than 5 times to insure my A. There were times when I had to frantically call up my teacher minutes before they clocked out for the day to rectify a mistake, or hurriedly email tech support after my computer shut down in the middle of some enormous, 100-question exam on Gothic architecture. I somehow finished the course about 2 weeks before the deadline, relived but exhausted.
Of course, the hard work was far from over- I had the AP exam looming, and I had yet to prepare- my AP teacher herself had warned me I would be much better off studying for the exam with a prep book than with the online course, which had an excess of superfluous facts and dates. So I brought a stack of library books home and spent my days up until 1 o'clock probing these tomes and taking scrawled pages of notes. I didn't even leave my room during spring break, as I was taking a barrage of practice Art History tests and trying not to neglect my other 2 APs and my regular homework. It was a stressful time, and I was never happier when I found out my APs were on the first days of testing.
After the test, I was a mixture of relieved and proud, and I thought I didn't have to ever worry about the difference between Monet and Manet again. But I was surprised to find that I had come to enjoy Art History- that my endless hours of lucubration had led to me developing a passion for it. No longer was I rattling off facts, dates, artists, cultures, or mediums- I was describing artwork in detail, and I genuinely enjoyed being able to fully appreciate art in all its context.
So Thomas Paine was right when he stated this quote, that an object's value increases with the care and effort that is input to create it. My Art History knowledge, which at first I abhorred, eventually became prized as I spent more and more time exploring and learning, and my effort has certainly increased its value to me.</p>